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poore Suters . . . strong breaths A diligent search through Ray's English Proverbs; Bohn's Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs; Lean's Collectanea of Proverbs and Folklore; Heywood's 800 Epigrams on 800 Proverbs; Florio's First Frutes; Florio's Second Frutes; the Indices to the twelve series of Notes & Queries has failed to trace even a parallel to this saying put in the mouth of the 2 Citizen. I am therefore reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is original with Shakespeare; I say reluctantly, since were another example forthcoming we might be led to an interpretation of its exact meaning better than that thus far offered.—Schmidt (Lex.), under the meaning of ‘strong,’ of evil odor, quotes the present line, as does also Bradley (N. E. D.).—Case (Arden Sh.) likewise so explains this phrase, saying that the word is here used in a double sense. Now, in spite of this formidable array, I cannot but think that ‘strong’ is here used only in direct opposition to ‘poor.’ A suitor with an evil-smelling breath would hardly be likely to commend either himself or his suit; but one who realises that he has a poor, or weak gift of oratory, would have need to have a strong, or a large amount of, breath to carry out his argument. Schmidt cites All's Well, V, ii, 5: ‘I am now, sir, muddied in fortune's mood, and smell somewhat strong of her strong displeasure’; but this is merely an example of ‘strong’ in the sense of evil-smelling, and is in no way parallel with the present line. Case quotes other passages both in this play and Jul. Cæs. wherein reference is made to the malodorous breaths of the multitude. An ounce of civet, good apothecary!—Ed.
William Shakespeare. Horace Howard Furness, Jr., A. B.; Litt. D. The Tragedie of Coriolanus. Philadelphia and London. J. B. Lippincott Company.
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