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Crux (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for "cross", "gallow", or "t-shape") is a term applied by palaeographers
Palaeography

Palaeography, pal?ography , or paleography is the study of ancient handwriting, and the practice of deciphering and reading historical manuscripts....
, textual critics
Textual criticism

Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the Writing of manuscripts....
, bibliographers
Bibliography

Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology ....
, and literary scholars to a point of significant corruption in a literary text. More serious than a simple slip of the pen or typographical error, a crux (probably deriving from Latin crux interpretum = "crossroad of interpreters") is difficult or impossible to interpret and resolve. Cruxes occur in a wide range of pre-modern (ancient
Ancient history

Ancient history is the history from the History of writing until the Early Middle Ages in Europe, the Qin Dynasty in China, the Chola Empire in India, and some less defined point in the rest of the world ....
, medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, and Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
) texts, printed and manuscript.

gh widely exposed to readers and scholars, the texts of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
's plays yield some of the most famous literary cruxes.






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Crux (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for "cross", "gallow", or "t-shape") is a term applied by palaeographers
Palaeography

Palaeography, pal?ography , or paleography is the study of ancient handwriting, and the practice of deciphering and reading historical manuscripts....
, textual critics
Textual criticism

Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the Writing of manuscripts....
, bibliographers
Bibliography

Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology ....
, and literary scholars to a point of significant corruption in a literary text. More serious than a simple slip of the pen or typographical error, a crux (probably deriving from Latin crux interpretum = "crossroad of interpreters") is difficult or impossible to interpret and resolve. Cruxes occur in a wide range of pre-modern (ancient
Ancient history

Ancient history is the history from the History of writing until the Early Middle Ages in Europe, the Qin Dynasty in China, the Chola Empire in India, and some less defined point in the rest of the world ....
, medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, and Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
) texts, printed and manuscript.

Shakespearean examples

Though widely exposed to readers and scholars, the texts of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
's plays yield some of the most famous literary cruxes. Some have been resolved fairly well. In Henry V,
Henry V (play)

Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in 1599. It is based on the life of King Henry V of England, and focuses on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War....
 II.iii.16-7, the First Folio
First Folio

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
 text has the Hostess describe Falstaff
Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare as a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England....
 on his death-bed like this: ...his nose was sharp as a pen, and 'a Table of green fields. Lewis Theobald
Lewis Theobald

Lewis Theobald , United Kingdom textual editor and author, was a landmark figure both in the history of William Shakespeare editing and in literary satire....
's editorial correction, "and 'a [he] babbl'd of green fields", has won almost universal acceptance from subsequent editors. Similarly, the "dram of eale" In Hamlet
Hamlet

Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle King Claudius, who has murdered King Hamlet, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude ....
 I,iv,36 can be sensibly interpreted as "dram of ev'l [evil]."

Other Shakespearean cruxes have not been so successfully resolved. In All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written between 1601 in literature and 1608 in literature, and it was first published in the First Folio in 1623 in literature....
, IV.ii,38-9, Diana observes to Bertram, I see that men make ropes in such a scarre, That we'll forsake ourselves. Editors have reached no consensus on exactly what "ropes in such a scarre" can mean, or how it should be amended: "no satisfactory explanation or emendation has been offered." Perhaps the best alternative that has been proposed is "may rope 's [us] in such a snare." Another unresolved Shakespearean crux is the "runaway's eyes" in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a Shakespearean tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young "Star-crossed" whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families....
, III,ii,6.

Sometimes a crux will not require emendation, but simply present a knotty problem of comprehension. In Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second of Shakespeare's tetralogy that deals with the successive reigns of Richard II of England, Henry IV of England , and Henry V of England....
, IV,i,98-9, Sir Richard Vernon describes Prince Hal and his comrades as appearing: All plum'd like estridges, that with the wind bate
Bate

Bate and similar can mean:...
d like eagles having lately bath'd... This is most likely a reference to some obscure assertion about animal behavior, and has sent researchers poring through dusty volumes in search of an explanation.

Typographic conventions

In editions of Greek and Roman authors, a crux is marked off by obeli
Dagger (typography)

A dagger is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is also called an obelus, cross, or Obelism, from a Greek language word meaning "roasting spit" or "needle", or obelisk, its diminutive ....
, to indicate that the editor is not confident enough either to follow the manuscript reading or to print a conjecture.