'hither,
And, nobly nam'd Martius, so, twice being Censor,
Was his great Ancestor.'
In his second edition he reads:
'hither
And nobly nam'd; so, twice being Censor,
Was his great Ancestor.'
Pope reads:
'hither.
†And Censorinus, darling of the people
(And nobly nam'd so for twice being censor)
Was his great ancestor.'
In his note on the passage he says, "This verse I have supply'd. A line having been certainly left out in this place, as will appear to any one who consults the beginning of Plutarch's life of Coriolanus, from whence this passage is directly translated."
Notwithstanding that the words 'darling of the people' are not in the passage referred to, the line inserted by Pope was accepted by all subsequent editors down to Singer.
Steevens, in his edition of 1773, omitted 'for' in the second line; and in his edition of 1793, instead of 'twice being censor' read 'being censor twice.'
Singer (ed. 1856) reads: