Volpone Act 1 Quotes

Question 1

Scene 1: first Volpone lines about his shrine

Answer 1

“Good morning to the day ; and, next, my gold: / Open the shrine, that I may see my saint.”

Question 2

Scene 1: Volpone quotes about his love of money he wishes to kiss it

Answer 2

“Let me kiss, / With adoration, thee, and every relic / Of sacred treasure in this room.”

Question 3

Scene 1: Volpone quote on his love for money with mythological / religious comparisons

Answer 3

“Riches, the dumb god that giv’st all men tongues”

Question 4

Scene 1: Mosca quote on money vs wisdom in nature

Answer 4

“Riches are in fortune / A greater good than wisdom is in nature.”

Question 5

Scene 1: Volpone on the pleasure of gaining money

Answer 5

“Yet, I glory / More in the cunning purchase of my wealth, / Than in the glad possession.”

Question 6

Scene 1: Volpone quote about the greedy hopes of the other birds visiting him

Answer 6

“With hope, that when I die, which they expect / Each greedy minute, it shall then return / Tenfold upon them (…) “playing with their hopes, / And am content to coin ‘em into profit.”

Question 7

Scene 2: quotes from the song about fools

Answer 7

“Fools, they are the only nation / Worth men’s envy, or admiration (…) All they speak, or do, is sterling (…) His very face begetteth laughter, / And he speaks truth”

Question 8

Scene 2: Volpone quote about the birds of prey visiting him believing he is dying

Answer 8

“Vulture, kite, / Raven, and gorcrow, all my birds of prey, / That think me turning carcass, now they come”

Question 9

Scene 2: Volpone reference to the fox and crow fable

Answer 9

“And not a fox / Stretched on the earth, with fine delusive sleights, / Mocking a gaping crow?”

Question 10

Scene 2: Mosca quote on the effect of rich clothing on disguising a fool

Answer 10

“Hood an ass with reverend purple, / So you can hide his two ambitious ears, / And he shall pass for a cathedral doctor.”

Question 11

Scene 3: Mosca quote about age

Answer 11

“Age will conquer.”

Question 12

Scene 4: Mosca tells Volpone’s view on doctors

Answer 12

“Most of your doctors are the greater danger, / And worse disease, t’escape. (…) they flay a man, before they kill him.”

Question 13

Scene 4: Corbaccio’s reaction to hearing bad news about Volpone’s health

Answer 13

"O, good."
"Good."
"'Tis good."
"Good symptoms, still."
"I conceive you, good."

Question 14

Scene 4: Corbaccio feels younger as a benefit from Volpone’s illness

Answer 14

“sure I shall outlast him: / This makes me young again, a score of years.”

Question 15

Scene 4: example of Corbaccio’s bad hearing

Answer 15

Mosca: “Your worship is a precious ass -
Corbaccio: “What say’st thou?
Mosca: “I do desire your worship, to make haste, sir.”

Question 16

Scene 4: Volpone on old age - death called on, sense

Answer 16

“death so often called on, (…) their limbs faint, / Their sense dull, their seeing, hearing, going, / All dead before them (…) And all turns to air!”

Question 17

Scene 5: Mosca quote about heirs laughing and weeping

Answer 17

“The weeping of an heir should still be laughter, / Under a visor.”

Question 18

Scene 5: Corvino’s insult to Volpone believing he is deaf

Answer 18

“His nose is like a common sewer, still running.”

Question 19

Scene 5: quotes of Mosca’s description of Celia - White, bright

Answer 19

“A beauty, ripe, as harvest! / Whose skin is whiter than a swan, all over! / Than silver, snow, or lilies! (…) Bright as your gold, and lovely, as your gold!”