Perhaps we might read:
'At Grecian sword, contemning 't.'
It has also been suggested to us that 'Contenning' is the remnant of a stage-direction [containing herself]. But we know of no similar instance in any old edition.
Note III.
I. 4. 31. A copy of the second Folio, which was in the possession of Mr Singer, is said to have 'a Heard,' not 'you Heard.'
Malone, in his Supplement to Steevens's edition of 1778, proposed to read:
'You shames of Rome, you! hoards of boils and plagues
Plaister you o'er.'
Note IV.
I. 9. 41-53. Theobald, at Warburton's suggestion, read the whole speech as follows:
'Mar. May these same Instruments, which you profane,
Never sound more! when drums and trumpets shall
I' th' field prove flatterers, let camps, as cities,
Be made of false-fac'd soothing! When Steel grows
Soft, as the parasite's silk, let Hymns be made
An overture for th' wars!—No more, I say;
For that I have not wash'd my Nose that bled,
Or foil'd some debile wretch, which, without note
Here's many else have done; you shout me forth
In acclamations hyperbolical;
As if I lov'd, my little should be dieted
In praises, sauc'd with lies.'