An Excerpt from Act II. Scene II of Ben Johnson’s Volpone | Edited by Jessica Bartel
1 Volpone: You all know (honourable Gentlemen) I never valu’d this ampulla[1], or Villa[2], at less than eight Crownes,
but for this time, I am content, to be depriv’d of it for sixe; sixe Crownes is the price; and less in curtesie
I know you cannot offer me: take it, or leave it, however, both it, and I am at your service. I aske you not,
as the value of the thing, for then I should demand of you a thousand Crownes, so the Cardinalls Montalto,
5 Fernefe, the great Duke of Tuscany, my gossip, with diners other Princes have given me ; but I despise
money: only to show my affection to you, honorable gentlemen, and your illustrious State here, I have
neglected the messages of these Princes, mine owne offices[3], fram’d my journey hither, onley to present
you with the fruits of my travels. Tune your voyces once more, to the touch of your instruments, and give
the honorable assembly some delightful recreation.
10 Peregrine: What monstrous , and most painful circustance is here, to get some three, or foure Gazets[4]?
Some three-pence, i’th whole, for that ’twill come too.
Song.
You that would last long, lift to my song,
Make no more coyle, but buy of this oyle.
15 Would you be ever faire? and young?
Stout of teeth? and strong of tongue?
Tart of palat? quick of eare?
Sharpe of fight? of nostril cleare?
Mosit of hand? and light of foot?
20 (Or I will come nearer to it)
Would you live free from all diseases?
Do the act, your mistres pleases;
Yet fright all aches from your bones?
Here’s a medicine for the nones.[5]
25 Volpone: Well, I am in a humor (at this time) to make present of the small quantity my coffer[6] conatines:
to the rich, in courtesie, and to the poore, for Gods sake. Wherefore, nowe marke; I ask’d you sixe Crownes,
and sixe Crownes, at other times, you have payd me; you shall not give me sixe Crownes, nor five, nor foure,
nor three, nor two, nor one; nor halfe a Duckat; no, nor a Muccinigo[7]: six pence it will cost you, or sixe hundred
pound–expect no lower price, for by the banner of my front, I will not bate a bagatine[8], that I will have onley
30 a pledge of your loves, to carry something from amongst you, to show, I am not contemn’d by you. Therefore,
now, toss your handkerchiefs, chearfully, chearfully; and be advertised, that the first heroique spirit, that deignes
to grace me, with a handkercheif, I will give it a little rememberance of something, beside, shall please it better then
if I had presented it with a double Pistolet[9].
Peregrine: Will you be that heroique Sparke, Sir Pol?
35 [Celia at the window throws down a handkerchief]
O fee![10] the windore has prevented you.
References
[1] Latin ampulla is a small nearly globular flask or bottle, with two handles.
[2] A country mansion or residence, conjoined with a farm, farm-buildings, or other houses attached; occupied by a person of position and wealth.
[3] Volpone’s Duties.
[4] A Venetian coin of small value.
[5] A panacea; a cure for all ailments or any occasion.
[6] A box, chest: particularly, a strong box in which money or valuables are kept.
[7] Coin worth ninepence.
[8] Bate: to diminish or reduce; he will not lower his price.
[9] A spanish gold escudo (golden coin).
[10] Fee: to hire oneself or to make use of an occasion.
References provided by The Oxford English Dictionary, www.oed.com (Simpson, J. A, E. S. C Weiner, and Oxford University Press. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2Nd ed. /ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.)
Editor’s Justification
For this project, the main source I used in the initial construction of this excerpt of Volpone, was the original 1607 publication, because the majority of the variations were not only minor in scale but largely in punctuational disparities—which, while this can definitely impact the meaning, meant that the literal words on the page remained largely unchanged throughout all three editions. In the context of this as an assignment, I have bolded the parts of the excerpt that I have altered from the initial publication, whether it was with a subsequent edition or my own preference, but I do not think that makes for a very readable story and am interested in pursuing alternative solutions. Additionally, I chose not to modernize this text, as the vast majority of the references, scenarios, and opinions are now obsolete and very contextually dependent on their era, and thus would not benefit from a modern metamorphosis, as it would more likely take away from the story than add to it.
Regardless, the two major changes I made were to present the full character name before each line of dialogue, and the addition and placement of the stage directions on line 35. Personally, I changed the shorthand because I sometimes found it to be confusing when reading further in the play with more characters, and since this is an excerpt, the reader would otherwise have no context for the characters that are not Volpone. In terms of the stage directions, I added them in from both the 1616 and 1692 editions as they have the same textual contents, but I moved the placement from after the dialogue to in medias res, because line 36 “O fee!” is prompted by the action of Celia throwing down the handkerchief, not succeeded by it. The other few changes I made, were to ignore the substitution of the letter I in the Song for both “med’cine” and “to’t”, as both did not alter the cadence of the song beyond repair, and it helps to make the message clearer.
The first grammatical change I made was to the semicolon on line 3, “offer me;”, which I changed to a colon in order to help break up the run of his longer sentences, and give the reader more context to the finality of his statement—his staunch refusal to be underpaid for an act he has not yet even completed. Secondly, I chose to unbracket the commas on the “, onley,” in line 29 as they are extraneous and detract from the flow of the sentence anyways—this change was also made in the 1692 edition. I found that a lot of the punctuation in this piece, though the sentences did tend toward the longer side, was still readable and applicable to the sentence structures we operate in today, so not as many changes were sustained as commas and colons were the main variations.
Above is the condensation of three editions of Ben Jonson’s Volpone, or The Foxe, relying primarily on the textual authority of the originally published edition circa 1607, Ben: Ionson his Volpone or The foxe. It is supported by a version of the play found in The Workes of Benjamin Ionson, from 1616, and a variant found in The works of Ben Jonson which were formerly printed in two volumes, are now reprinted in one: To which is added a comedy, called The new inn: With additions never before published, 1692.
Line 1 of this Catalogue is “Volp. You all know (honourable Gentleman) I never valew’d this[,]” occurring on E2R of the 1607 original, page 470 of the 1616 edition, and page 162 of the 1692 edition.