' Another suggestion might be that the words 'But be thyself are
equivalent to 'Be but thyself.'
11. 5, 6. _And ever at thy season be thou free To spill the venom when
thy fangs o'erflow._ This keeps up the image of the 'viperous'
murderer--the viper. 'At thy season' can be understood as a reference to
the periodical issues of the _Quarterly Review_. The word 'o'erflow' is,
in the Pisan edition, printed as two words--'o'er flow.'
1. 7. _Remorse and self-contempt._ Shelley frequently dwells upon
self-contempt as one of the least tolerable of human distresses.
Thus in the _Revolt of Islam_ (Canto 8, st. 20):
'Yes, it is Hate--that shapeless fiendly thing
Of many names, all evil, some divine--
Whom self-contempt arms with a mortal sting,' &c.
And in _Prometheus Unbound_ (Act i)--
'Regard this earth
Made multitudinous with thy slaves, whom thou
Requitest for knee-worship, prayer, and praise?
And toil, and hecatombs of broken hearts,
With fear and self-contempt and barren hope.'
Again (Act ii, sc. 4)--
'And self-contempt, bitterer to drink than blood.'
+Stanza 38,+ 1.
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