"Hail to the world's soul, and mine.
More glad than is
The teeming earth to see the longed-for sun
Peep through the horns of the celestial ram,
Am I, to view they splendor, darkening his"
At the beginning of the play, Volpone is standing in front of his shrine of amassed gold. Here, he speaks directly to the shrine as if it is a holy or divine being. He also suggests that his shrine is brighter than the sun, showcasing his skewed perspective on the importance of wealth. This opening emphasizes Volpone's greediness and self-absorption.
"What a rare punishment is avarice to itself!"
At the beginning of the play, Volpone is surrounded by legacy-hunters who wish to become his heir so they can inherit his wealth when he dies. Here, he mocks these hunters by suggesting that their greedy behavior will eventually be punished. Of course, Volpone's greedy nature will itself be punished by the end of the play.
"This makes me young again, a score of years."
Corbaccio is one of the legacy hunters after Volpone's fortune. When he sees Volpone seemingly wasting away and in poor health, he makes this remark. This quotation showcases Corbaccio's scavenger nature – it is only through Volpone's decay that Corbaccio feels more lively and young.
"I muse, the mystery was not made a science,
It is so liberally professed!
Almost All the wise world is little else, in nature,
But parasites, or sub-parasites."
Mosca is Volpone's "parasite," or a servant who is wholly dependent on Volpone for his livelihood. In this quotation, Mosca reflects on his own parasitism while also arguing that the majority of "wise" men have themselves been parasites. The play proves Mosca correct, as it appears that all the central characters are dependent on another at some point.
"Oh, God and his good angels!
Whither, whither Is shame fled human breasts?
That with such ease,
Men dare put off your honours and their own?
Is that, which ever was a cause of life,
Now placed beneath the basest circumstance?
And modesty an exile made, for money?"
This quotation occurs during Volpone's attempted seduction and attempted rape of Celia. When Celia realizes that her husband has exchanged her and her body so that he may become Volpone's heir, she questions how things as important as love and sex have become devalued in comparison to wealth and money. Celia is the ethical voice of the play, as she shows how the male characters' obsession with wealth has created a shameful version of humanity.
"See, here, a rope of pearl; and each, more orient
Than the brave Egyptian queen caroused:
Dissolve, and drink 'em."
In his attempted seduction of Celia, Volpone tells her that she will enjoy luxurious and expendable pleasures. Here, he tells her she will have pearls more beautiful than those that adorned Cleopatra. Moreover, he will offer her a life that allows her to "dissolve" and "drink" these pearls, suggesting that money is so abundant for him that he can discard precious materials with ease.
"I would I could forget I were a creature."
Though Volpone is an early modern comedy, there are many dark and bleak moments that underlie the comic plot. In this example, Celia is facing a court who will not believe her story, likely because she is a woman. Here, Celia expresses her desperation by wishing to "forget" she is a "creature," ultimately suggesting that she is wishing for her own death.
"I'll bury him, or gain by him: I am his heir."
Mosca finally realizes that Volpone will never reward him or understand that he was the reason Volpone amassed such a large fortune. Here, Mosca forcefully steps into the role of "heir" to Volpone, devising a plot to strip him of his wealth, even if it means Volpone dies.
"Outstripped thus, by a parasite!"
Voltore is enraged that Mosca is named Volpone's heir – more enraged, it would seem, than he is at the loss of his own chances. Voltore's anger toward Mosca underscores the importance of social order to the characters in the play; Mosca's status as a "parasite" makes his new position as Volpone's heir seem impossible to the other legacy-hunters, who see the promotion of Mosca as a personal affront to their own status.
"Let all that see these vices thus rewarded
Take heart, and love to study 'em.
Mischiefs feed Like beasts.
Till they be fat, and then they bleed."
At the end of the play, the Judge provides the moral of the performance to the characters on stage, but also to those watching in the audience. He announces that greed and vice will always be punished, warning the audience that unethical behavior will eventually be slaughtered like a hunted animal.
