Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,92
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,
And carriage of the article design'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,96
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in 't; which is no other—
As it doth well appear unto our state—101
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms compulsative, those foresaid lands
So by his father lost. And this, I take it,104
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
[Ber. I think it be no other but e'en so;108
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch, so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.
Hor. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.112
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;116
90 moiety competent: equal amount
91 gaged: staked
94 carriage: import
design'd: drawn up
96 unimproved: unproved (?); cf. n.
hot and full: exceedingly ardent
97 skirts: outskirts
98 Shark'd up: picked up at haphazard
list; cf. n.
resolutes: desperadoes
99 For . . . diet; cf. n.
100 stomach; cf. n.
103 compulsative: involving compulsion
106 head: origin
107 romage: commotion, hustle
109 sort: fit
112 mote: minute particle of dust
113 palmy state: flourishing sovereignty
