Page 2426 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1
P. 2426
uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or, rather, unlettered, or, ratherest,
unconfirmed fashion - to insert again my haud credo for a deer.
DULL
I said the deer was not an awd grey doe, ’twas a [20] pricket.
HOLOFERNES
Twice-sod simplicity! Bis coctus!
O thou monster Ignorance, how deformed dost thou look!
NAT HANIEL
Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book.
He hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink. [25] His intellect
is not replenished. He is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts.
And such barren plants are set before us that we thankful should be -
Which we of taste and feeling are - for those parts that do fructify in
us more than he.
For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool, [30]
So were there a patch set on learning, to see him in a school.
But omne bene, say I, being of an old father’s mind;
Many can brook the weather that love not the wind.
DULL
You two are book-men - can you tell me by your wit
What was a month old at Cain’s birth that’s not five weeks old as yet?
[35]
HOLOFERNES
Dictynna, goodman Dull. Dictynna, goodman Dull.
DULL
What is Dictima?
NAT HANIEL
A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the moon.
HOLOFERNES
The moon was a month old when Adam was no more, [40]
And raught not to five weeks when he came to five-score.
Th’allusion holds in the exchange.
