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SHAKESPEARE'S 
 
 TRAGEDY OF 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Edited, with Notes, 
 
 WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., 
 
 J i 
 
 FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 
 
 WITH ENGRA VINGS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 1885. 
 

 
 ENGLISH 
 
 CLASSICS. 
 
 Edited by WM. 
 
 J. ROLFE, A.M. 
 
 Illustrated. i6mo, Cloth, 56 cents per 
 
 volume ; Paper, 40 cents per volume. 
 
 Shakespeare's Works. 
 
 The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew. 
 
 Othello. 
 
 AlFs Well that Ends Well. 
 
 Julius Cassar. 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream. 
 
 The Comedy of Errors. 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
 Cymbeline. 
 
 Hamlet. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 Komeo and Juliet. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 As You Like It. 
 
 Love's Labour 's Lost. 
 
 The Tempest. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 Twelfth Night. 
 
 Timon of Athens. 
 
 The Winter's Tale. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 King John. 
 
 Henry VI. Part I. 
 
 Richard II. 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. 
 
 Henry IV. Part T. 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. 
 
 Henry IV. Part II. 
 
 Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 
 
 Henry V. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
 Kichard III. 
 
 Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, etc. 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 Sonnets. 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 Titus Andronicus. 
 
 Goldsmith's Select Poems. 
 
 Gray's Select Poems. 
 
 Published by HARPER & 
 
 BROTHERS, New York. 
 
 y&T* sluy of the above works will he sent by wail, postage prepaid, to any pari 
 
 of the Uiiited States, 
 
 on receipt of the price. 
 
 
 Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers. 
 
0^ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction to Antony and Cleopatra . 9 
 
 I. The History of the Play. 9 
 
 II. The Historical Sources of the Plot n 
 
 III. Critical Comments on the Play. 12 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA 27 
 
 Act T - 29 
 
 " II 48 
 
 " III 76 
 
 " iv. :■. — - 103 
 
 " v 129 
 
 Notes 147 
 
 ****. 
 
Subtle as Sphinx (L. L. L. iv. 3. 342). 
 
Cleopatra's needle. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 I. THE HISTORY OF THE PLAY. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra was first printed in the folio of 
 1623, where it occupies pages 340-368 in the division of 
 "Tragedies;" but it was probably written in 1607 or very 
 
IO ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 early in 1608. There can be little doubt that it is the " An- 
 thony and Cleopatra " which was entered on the Stationers' 
 Registers, May 20th, 1608, by Edward Blount, one of the 
 publishers of the folio. As no edition was brought out, it 
 was re-entered by Blount in 1623 as one of the plays in the 
 folio "not formerly entered to other men." 
 
 It was formerly supposed that this play was written soon 
 after Julius Ccssar, with which it is connected historically in 
 the person of its hero; but we now know that Julius Ccesar 
 (see our ed. p. 8) was produced some seven years earlier. 
 As Dowden* has well shown, the "ethical " relations of An- 
 tony and Cleopatra connect it with Macbeth on the one hand, 
 and with Coriolanus on the other. He remarks : " The events 
 of Roman history connect Antony and Cleopatra immediate- 
 ly with Julius Caesar; yet Shakspere allowed a number of 
 years to pass, during which he was actively engaged as au- 
 thor, before he seems to have thought of his second Roman 
 play. What is the significance of this fact? Does it not 
 mean that the historical connection was now a connection 
 too external and too material to carry Shakspere on from 
 subject to subject, as it had sufficed to do while he was 
 engaged upon his series of English historical plays? The 
 profoundest concerns of the individual soul were now press- 
 ing upon the imagination of the poet. Dramas now writ- 
 ten upon subjects taken from history became not chron- 
 icles, but tragedies. The moral interest was supreme. The 
 spiritual material dealt with by Shakspere's imagination in 
 the play of Julius Ccesar lay wide apart from that which 
 forms the centre of the Antony and Cleopatra. Therefore 
 the poet was not carried directly forward from one to the 
 other. 
 
 " But having in Macbeth (about 1606) studied the ruin of 
 a nature which gave fair promise in men's eyes of greatness 
 and nobility, Shakspere, it may be, proceeded directly to a 
 * Shakspere : His Mind and Art, American ed. p. 247 fol. 
 
INTRODUCTION. II 
 
 similar study in the case of Antony. In. the nature of An- 
 tony, as in the nature of Macbeth, there is a moral fault or 
 flaw, which circumstances discover, and which in the end 
 works his destruction. In each play the pathos is of the 
 same kind — it lies in the gradual severing of a man, through 
 the lust of power or through the lust of pleasure, from his 
 better self. By the side of Antony, as by Macbeth's side, 
 there stood a terrible force, in the form of a woman, whose 
 function it was to realize and ripen the unorganized and un- 
 developed evil of his soul. Antony's sin was an inordinate 
 passion for enjoyment at the expense of Roman virtue and 
 manly energy ; a prodigality of heart, a superb egoism of 
 pleasure. After a brief interval, Shakspere went on to ap- 
 ply his imagination to the investigating of another form of 
 egoism — not the egoism of self-diffusion, but of self-concen- 
 tration. As Antony betrays himself and his cause through 
 his sin of indulgence and laxity, so Coriolanus does violence 
 to his own soul and to his country through his sin of haughti- 
 ness, rigidity, and inordinate pride. Thus an ethical tend- 
 ency connects these two plays, which are also connected in 
 point of time; while Antoiiy and Cleopatra, although histori- 
 cally a continuation of Julius Ccesar, stands separated from 
 it, both in the chronological order of Shakspere's plays and 
 in the logical order assigned by successive developments 
 of the conscience, the intellect, and the imagination of the 
 dramatist." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra is well printed in the folio, and the 
 textual difficulties are comparatively few and slight. 
 
 II. THE HISTORICAL SOURCES OF THE PLOT. 
 
 For this, as for the other Roman plays (cf. Julius Ccesar, 
 p. 9, and Coriolanus, p. 10) the poet drew his materials from 
 Sir Thomas North's translation of Amyot's Plutarch. How 
 closely he followed his authority the illustrative extracts from 
 North in the Notes will show. To earlier plays on the sub- 
 
12 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 ject (Daniel's Cleopatra, the Countess of Pembroke's Trag- 
 edie of Antonie, etc.) it is evident that he owed nothing. 
 
 III. CRITICAL COMMENTS ON THE PLAY. 
 [From Coleridge's "Notes and Lectures on Shakspeare.'''' *] 
 
 Shakspeare can be complimented only by comparison 
 with himself: all other eulogies are either heterogeneous, as 
 when they are in reference to Spenser or Milton ; or they 
 are flat truisms, as when he is gravely preferred to Corneille, 
 Racine, or even his own immediate successors, Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, Massinger, and the rest. The highest praise, 
 or rather form of praise, of this play, which I can offer in my 
 own mind, is the doubt which the perusal always occasions 
 in me, whether the Antony and Cleopatra is not, in all exhi- 
 bitions of a giant power in its strength and vigor of maturi- 
 ty, a formidable rival of Macbeth, Lear, Hamlet, and Othello. 
 Feliciter audax is the motto for its style comparatively with 
 that of Shakspeare's other works, even as it is the general 
 motto of all his works compared with those of other poets. 
 Be it remembered, too, that this happy valiancy of style is 
 but the representative and result of all the material excel- 
 lences so expressed. 
 
 This play should be perused in mental contrast with Ro- 
 meo a?id Juliet — as the love of passion and appetite opposed 
 to the love of affection and instinct. But the art displayed 
 in the character of Cleopatra is profound ; in this, especially, 
 that the sense of criminality in her passion is lessened by 
 our insight into its depth and energy, at the very moment 
 that we cannot but perceive that the passion itself springs out 
 of the habitual craving of a licentious nature, and that it is 
 supported and reinforced by voluntary stimulus and sought- 
 for associations, instead of blossoming out of spontaneous 
 emotion. 
 
 Of all Shakspeare's historical plays, Antony and Cleo- 
 * Coleridge's Works (Harper's ed.), vol. iv.'p. 105 ful. 
 
IN TROD UC TION. 
 
 J 3 
 
 patra is by far the most wonderful. There is not one in 
 which he has followed history so minutely, and yet there are 
 few in which he impresses the notion of angelic strength so 
 much — perhaps none in which he impresses it more strongly. 
 This is greatly owing to the manner in which the fiery force 
 is sustained throughout, and to the numerous momentary 
 flashes of nature counteracting the historic abstraction. As 
 a wonderful specimen of the way in which Shakspeare lives 
 up to the very end of this play, read the last part of the con- 
 cluding scene. And if you would feel the judgment as well 
 as the genius of Shakspeare in your heart's core, compare 
 this astonishing drama with Dryden's All for Love. 
 
 Note. — Compare what Campbell the poet says of the play, and par- 
 ticularly the comparison with Dryden : 
 
 " If I were to select any historical play of Shakespeare, in which he 
 has combined an almost literal fidelity to history with an equal faithful 
 adherence to the truth of nature, and in which he superinduces the merit 
 of skilful dramatic management, it would be the above play. In his 
 portraiture of Antony there is, perhaps, a flattered likeness of the origi- 
 nal by Plutarch ; but the similitude loses little of its strength by Shake- 
 speare's softening and keeping in the shade his traits of cruelty. In 
 Cleopatra, we can discern nothing materially different from the vouched 
 historical sorceress; she nevertheless has a more vivid meteoric and 
 versatile play of enchantment in Shakespeare's likeness of her than in a 
 dozen of other poetical copies in which the artists took much greater 
 liberties with historical truth : he paints her as if the gypsy herself had 
 cast her spell over him, and given her own witchcraft to his pencil. 
 
 " At the same time, playfully interesting to our fancy as he makes this 
 enchantress, he keeps us far from a vicious sympathy. The asp at her 
 bosom, that lulls its nurse asleep, has no poison for our morality. A 
 single glance at the devoted and dignified Octavia recalls our homage 
 to virtue ; but with delicate skill he withholds the purer woman from 
 prominent contact with the wanton queen, and does not, like Dryden, 
 bring the two to a scolding-match. The latter poet's All for Love was 
 regarded by himself as his masterpiece, and is by no means devoid of 
 merit ; but so inferior is it to the prior drama, as to make it disgracefu' 
 to British taste for one hundred years that the former absolutely ban- 
 ished the latter from the stage. A French critic calls Great Britain the 
 island of Shakespeare's idolaters ; yet so it happens, in this same island, 
 
14 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 that Dryden's All for Love has been acted ten times oftener than Shake- 
 speare's Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 " Dryden's Marc Antony is a weak voluptuary from first to last. Not 
 a sentence of manly virtue is ever uttered by him that seems to come 
 from himself; and whenever he expresses a moral feeling, it appears not 
 to have grown up in his own nature, but to have been planted there by 
 the influence of his friend Ventidius, like a flower in a child's garden, 
 only to wither and take no root. Shakespeare's Antony is a very differ- 
 ent being. When he hears of the death of his first wife, Fulvia, his ex- 
 clamation, 'There 's a great spirit gone !•' and his reflections on his own 
 enthralment by Cleopatra mark the residue of a noble mind. A queen, 
 a siren, a Shakespeare's Cleopatra alone could have entangled Mark An- 
 tony, while an ordinary wanton could have enslaved Dryden's hero." 
 
 [From Mrs. yamesoit's " Characteristics of Women" *] 
 
 Of all Shakspeare's female characters, Miranda and Cleo- 
 patra appear to me the most wonderful : the first, unequalled 
 as a poetic conception ; the latter, miraculous as a work of 
 art. If we could make a regular classification of his charac- 
 ters, these would form the two extremes of simplicity and 
 complexity , and all his other characters would be found to 
 fill up some shade or gradation between these two. 
 
 Great crimes, springing from high passions, grafted on 
 high qualities, are the legitimate source of tragic poetry> 
 But to make the extreme of littleness produce an effect like 
 grandeur — to make the excess of frailty produce an effect 
 like power — to heap up together all that is most unsubstan- 
 tial, frivolous, vain, contemptible, and variable, till the worth- 
 lessness be lost in the magnitude, and a sense of the sublime 
 spring from the very elements of littleness — to do this, be- 
 longed only to Shakspeare, that worker of miracles. Cleo- 
 patra is a brilliant antithesis, a compound of contradictions, 
 of all that we most hate, with what we most admire. The 
 whole character is the triumph of the external over the in- 
 nate ; and yet like one of her country's hieroglyphics, though 
 she present at first view a splendid and perplexing anomaly, 
 * American ed. (Boston, 1857), p. 304 fol. 
 
INTRODUCTION. I5 
 
 there is deep meaning and wondrous skill in the apparent 
 enigma, when we come to analyze and decipher it. But how 
 are we to arrive at the solution of this glorious riddle, whose 
 dazzling complexity continually mocks and eludes us ? What 
 is most astonishing in the character of Cleopatra is its anti- 
 thetical construction — its consistent inconsistency, if I may use 
 such an expression — which renders it quite impossible to re- 
 duce it to any elementary principles. It will, perhaps, be 
 . found, on the whole, that vanity and the love of power pre- 
 dominate ; but I dare not say it is so, for these qualities and 
 a hundred others mingle into each other, and shift and 
 change, and glance away, like the colours in a peacock's 
 train. 
 
 In some others of Shakspeare's female characters, also 
 remarkable for their complexity (Portia and Juliet, for in- 
 stance), we are struck with the delightful sense of harmony 
 in the midst of contrast, so that the idea of unity and sim- 
 plicity of effect is produced in the midst of variety ; but in 
 Cleopatra it is the absence of unity and simplicity which 
 strikes us ; the impression is that of perpetual and irrecon- 
 cilable contrast. The continual approximation of whatever 
 is most opposite in character, in situation, in sentiment, 
 would be fatiguing were it not so perfectly natural: the 
 woman herself would be distracting if she were not so en- 
 chanting. 
 
 I have not the slightest doubt that Shakspeare's Cleo- 
 patra is the real historical Cleopatra— the "Rare Egyptian" 
 — individualized and placed before us. Her mental accom- 
 plishments, her unequalled grace, her woman's wit and wom- 
 an's wiles, her irresistible allurements, her starts of irregu- 
 lar grandeur, her bursts of ungovernable temper, her vivacity 
 of imagination, her petulant caprice, her fickleness and her 
 falsehood, her tenderness and her truth, her childish suscep- 
 tibility to flattery, her magnificent spirit, her royal pride, the 
 gorgeous Eastern colouring of the character; all these con- 
 
1 6 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 tradictory elements has Shakspeare seized, mingled them in 
 their extremes, and fused them into one brilliant impersona- 
 tion of classical elegance, Oriental voluptuousness, and gypsy 
 sorcery. 
 
 What better proof can we have of the individual truth of 
 the character than the admission that Shakspeare's Cleo- 
 patra produces exactly the same effect on us that is recorded 
 of the real Cleopatra? She dazzles our faculties, perplexes 
 our judgment, bewilders and bewitches our fancy ; from the 
 beginning to the end of the drama, we are conscious of a 
 kind of fascination against which our moral sense rebels, but 
 from which there is no escape. The epithets applied to her 
 perpetually by Antony and others confirm this impression : 
 " enchanting queen !" — " witch " — " spell " — " great fairy " — 
 "cockatrice" — "serpent of old Nile " — "thou grave charm !"* 
 are only a few of them ; and who does not know by heart 
 the famous quotations in which this Egyptian Circe is de- 
 scribed with all her infinite seductions? 
 
 " Fie ! wrangling queen ! 
 Whom every thing becomes — to chide, to laugh, 
 To weep ; whose every passion fully strives 
 To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd." 
 
 " Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
 Her infinite variety : . . . 
 
 for vilest things 
 Become themselves in her." 
 
 And the pungent irony of Enobarbus has well exposed her 
 feminine arts, when he says, on the occasion of Antony's in- 
 tended departure, 
 
 " Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly : I have 
 seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment. 
 
 Antony. She is cunning past man's thought. 
 
 Enobarbus. Alack, sir, no ! her passions are made of nothing but the 
 finest part of pure love. We cannot call her winds and waters, sighs 
 and tears ; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacs can 
 
 * Grave, in the sense of mighty or potent. 
 
IN TROD UC TION. 1 7 
 
 report : this cannot be cunning in her ; if it be, she makes a shower of 
 rain as well as Jove." 
 
 We learn from Plutarch that it was a favourite amusement 
 with Antony and Cleopatra to ramble through the streets 
 at night, and bandy ribald jests with the populace of Alex- 
 andria. From the same authority, we know that they were 
 accustomed to live on the most familiar terms with their 
 attendants and the companions of their revels. To these 
 traits we must add, that with all her violence, perverseness, 
 egotism, and caprice, Cleopatra mingled a capability for 
 warm affections and kindly feeling, or rather what we should 
 call, in these days, a constitutional good-nature ; and was 
 lavishly generous to her favourites and dependents. These 
 characteristics we find scattered through the play ; they are 
 not only faithfully rendered by Shakspeare, but he has made 
 the finest use of them in his delineation of manners. Hence 
 the occasional freedom of her women and her attendants, in 
 the midst of their fears and flatteries, becomes most natural 
 and consistent: hence, too, their devoted attachment and 
 fidelity, proved even in death. But as illustrative of Cleo- 
 patra's disposition, perhaps the finest and most characteris- 
 tic scene in the whole play is that [ii. 5] in which the mes- 
 senger arrives from Rome with the tidings of Antony's mar- 
 riage with Octavia. She perceives at once with quickness 
 that all is not well, and she hastens to anticipate the worst, 
 that she may have the pleasure of being disappointed. Her 
 impatience to know what she fears to learn, the vivacity with 
 which she gradually works herself up into a state of excite- 
 ment, and at length into fury, is wrought out with a force 
 of truth which makes us recoil. . . . The pride and arro- 
 gance of the Egyptian queen, the blandishment of the wom- 
 an, the unexpected but natural transitions of temper and 
 feeling, the contest of various passions, and at length— when 
 the wild hurricane has spent its fury — the melting into tears, 
 faintness, and languishment, are portrayed with the most 
 
 B 
 
18 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 astonishing power, and truth, and skill in feminine nature. 
 More wonderful still is the splendour and force of colouring 
 which is shed over this extraordinary scene. The mere idea 
 of an angry woman beating her menial presents something 
 ridiculous or disgusting to the mind ; in a queen or a tragedy 
 heroine it is still more indecorous ;* yet this scene is as far 
 as possible from the vulgar or the comic. Cleopatra seems 
 privileged to " touch the brink of all we hate " with im- 
 punity. This imperial termagant, this " wrangling queen, 
 whom every thing becomes," becomes even her fury. We 
 know not by what strange power it is, that in the midst of 
 all these unruly passions and childish caprices, the poetry 
 of the character and the fanciful and sparkling grace of the 
 delineation are sustained and still rule in the imagination ; 
 but we feel that it is so. . . . 
 
 In representing the mutual passion of Antony and Cleo- 
 patra as real and fervent, Shakspeare has adhered to the 
 truth of history as well as to general nature. On Antony's 
 side it is a species of infatuation, a single and engrossing 
 feeling: it is, in short, the love of a man declined in years 
 for a woman very much younger than himself, and who has 
 subjected him to every species of female enchantment. In 
 Cleopatra the passion is of a mixed nature, made up of real 
 attachment, combined with the love of pleasure, the love of 
 power, and the love of self. Not only is the character most 
 complicated, but no one sentiment could have existed pure 
 and unvarying in such a mind as hers; her passion in itself 
 is true, fixed to one centre ■ but like the pennon streaming 
 from the mast, it flutters and veers with every breath of her 
 variable temper: yet in the midst of all her caprices, follies, 
 and even vices, womanly feeling is still predominant in Cleo- 
 
 * The well-known violence and coarseness of Queen Elizabeth's man- 
 ners, in which she was imitated by the women about her, may in Shak- 
 speare's time have rendered the image of a royal virago less offensive 
 and less extraordinary. 
 
INTR OD UC TION. I g 
 
 patra : and the change which takes place in her deportment 
 towards Antony, when their evil fortune darkens round 
 them, is as beautiful and interesting in itself as it is strikirg 
 and natural. Instead of the airy caprice and provoking 
 petulance she displays in the first scenes, we have a mixture 
 of tenderness, and artifice, and fear, and submissive blan- 
 dishment. Her behaviour, for instance, after the battle of 
 Actium, when she quails before the noble and tender rebuke 
 of her lover, is partly female subtlety and partly natural 
 feeling. . . . 
 
 History is followed closely in all the details of the catas- 
 trophe, and there is something wonderfully grand in the hur- 
 ried march of events towards the conclusion. As disasters 
 hem her round, Cleopatra gathers up her faculties to meet 
 them, not with the calm fortitude of a great soul, but the 
 haughty, tameless spirit of a wilful woman, unused to reverse 
 or contradiction. 
 
 Her speech, after Antony has expired in her arms, I have 
 always regarded as one of the most wonderful in Shakspeare. 
 Cleopatra is not a woman to grieve silently. The contrast 
 between the violence of her passions and the weakness of 
 her sex, between her regal grandeur and her excess of mis- 
 ery, her impetuous, unavailing struggles with the fearful 
 destiny which has compassed her, and the mixture of wild 
 impatience and pathos in her agony, are really magnificent. 
 She faints on the body of An tony, and is recalled to life by 
 the cries of her women : 
 
 " Iras. Royal Egypt — empress ! 
 
 Cleopatra. No more, but e'en a woman !* and commanded 
 By such poor passion as the maid that milks, 
 And does the meanest chares. — It were for me 
 To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods : 
 To tell them that our world did equal theirs 
 Till they had stolen our jewel. All 's but naught ; 
 
 * Cleopatra replies to the first word she hears on recovering her 
 senses, " No more an empress, but a mere woman !" 
 
20 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Patience is sottish, and impatience does 
 
 Become a dog that 's mad. Then is it sin 
 
 To rush into the secret house of death 
 
 Ere death dare come to us ? How do you, women ? 
 
 What, what ! good cheer ! why, how now, Charmian ? 
 
 My noble girls ! — ah, women, women ! look, 
 
 Our lamp is spent, is out. 
 
 We '11 bury him, and then what 's brave, what 's noble, 
 
 Let 's do it after the high Roman fashion, 
 
 And make death proud to take us." 
 
 But although Cleopatra talks of dying ''after the high Ro- 
 man fashion," she fears what she most desires, and cannot 
 perform with simplicity .what costs her such an effort. That 
 extreme physical cowardice, which was so strong a trait in 
 her historical character, which led to the defeat of Actium, 
 which made her delay the execution of a fatal resolve till 
 she had "tried conclusions infinite of easy ways to die," 
 Shakspeare has rendered with the finest possible effect, and 
 in a manner which heightens instead of diminishing our re- 
 spect and interest. Timid by nature, she is courageous by 
 the mere force of will, and she lashes herself up with high- 
 sounding words into a kind of false daring. Her lively im- 
 agination suggests every incentive which can spur her on to 
 the deed she has resolved, yet trembles to contemplate. She 
 pictures to herself all the degradations which must attend 
 her captivity; and let it be observed, that those which she 
 anticipates are precisely such as a vain, luxurious, and 
 haughty woman would especially dread, and which only true 
 virtue and magnanimity could despise. Cleopatra could 
 have endured the loss of freedom ; but to be led in triumph 
 through the streets of Rome is insufferable. She could 
 stoop to Caesar with dissembling courtesy, and meet duplicity 
 with superior art; but "to be chastised " by the scornful or 
 upbraiding glance of the injured Octavia — "rather a ditch 
 in Egypt !" . . . 
 
 The death of Lucretia, of Portia, of Arria, and others 
 
INTR ODUC TION. 2 1 
 
 who died " after the high Roman fashion/' is sublime ac- 
 cording to the Pagan ideas of virtue, and yet none of them 
 so powerfully affect the imagination as the catastrophe of 
 Cleopatra. The idea of this frail, timid, wayward woman, 
 dying with heroism from the mere force of passion and will, 
 takes us by surprise. The Attic elegance of her mind, her 
 poetical imagination, the pride of beauty and royalty pre- 
 dominating to the last, and the sumptuous and picturesque 
 accompaniments with which she surrounds herself in death, 
 carry to its extreme height that effect of contrast which pre- 
 vails through her life and character. No arts, no invention, 
 could add to the real circumstances of Cleopatra's closing 
 scene. Shakspeare has shown profound judgment and feel- 
 ing in adhering closely to the classical authorities ; arfd to 
 say that the language and sentiments worthily fill up the 
 outline is the most magnificent praise that can be given. 
 The magical play of fancy and the overpowering fascina- 
 tion of the character are kept up to the last : and when Cleo- 
 patra, on applying the asp, silences the lamentations of her 
 women — « p ea ce ! peace ! 
 
 Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, 
 
 That sucks the nurse to sleep ?" — 
 
 these few words— the contrast between the tender beauty 
 of the image and the horror of the situation — produce an 
 effect more intensely mournful than all the ranting in the 
 world. The generous devotion of her women adds the moral 
 charm which alone was wanting: and when Octavius hurries 
 in too late to save his victim, and exclaims, when gazing on 
 
 her, " She looks like sleep- 
 
 As she would catch another Antony 
 In her strong toil of grace," 
 
 the image of her beauty and her irresistible arts, triumphant 
 even in death, is at once brought before us, and one master- 
 ly and comprehensive stroke consummates this most won- 
 derful, most dazzling delineation. 
 
22 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 I am not here the apologist of Cleopatra's historical char- 
 acter, nor of such women as resemble her: I am consider- 
 ing her merely as a dramatic portrait of astonishing beauty, 
 spirit, and originality. She has furnished the subject of two 
 Latin, sixteen French, six English, and at least four Italian 
 tragedies ;* yet Shakspeare alone has availed himself of all 
 the interest of the story, without falsifying the character. 
 He alone has dared to exhibit the Egyptian queen with all 
 her greatness and all her littleness — all her frailties of tem- 
 per — all her paltry arts and dissolute passions — yet pre- 
 served the dramatic propriety and poetical colouring of the 
 character, and awakened our pity for fallen grandeur, with- 
 out once beguiling us into sympathy with guilt and error. 
 
 [From Verplanck's "Shakespeare"]] 
 
 . Without laying much stress upon any particular theory 
 of the precise date of this splendid historical drama, it is 
 clear that all the testimonies and indications, internal and 
 external, designate it as the production of a poet no longer 
 young, and in the full maturity of mind, sympathizing with 
 the feelings and character of advancing age, and rich in 
 that knowledge of life which nature and genius alone can- 
 not give. 
 
 Thus Juliet, Ophelia, Desdemona, Viola, and Portia are 
 all within the natural range of a young poet's power of rep- 
 
 * The Cleopatra of Jodelle was the first regular French tragedy; the 
 last French tragedy on the same subject was the Cleopatre of Marmontel. 
 For the representation of this tragedy, Vaucanson, the celebrated French 
 mechanist, invented an automaton asp, which crawled and hissed to the 
 life — to the great delight of the Parisians. But it appears that neither 
 Vaucanson's asp nor Clairon could save Cleopatre from a deserved fate. 
 Of the English tragedies, one was written by the Countess of Pembroke, 
 the sister of Sir Philip Sidney ; and is, I believe, the first instance in 
 our language of original dramatic writing by a female. 
 
 t The Illustrated Shakespeare, edited by G. C. Verplanck (New York, 
 .1847), vol. iii. p. 6 of A. and C. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 23 
 
 reservation. They are ideas of admirable general nature, 
 varied, refined, adorned by fancy and feeling. But Cleopatra, 
 as she appears in this tragedy, is a character that could not 
 have been thus depicted but from the actual observation of 
 life, or from that reflected knowledge which can be drawn 
 from history and biography. To a modern author, such as 
 Scott, biographical memoirs and literature could supply to a 
 certain degree the want of a living model, even for such a 
 personage as this " wrangling queen — whom every thing be- 
 comes "— 
 
 " Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
 Her infinite variety," 
 
 while " vilest things become themselves in her." But there 
 was no such literary assistance accessible to Shakespeare. 
 Plutarch had given the dry outline of the character, with 
 some incidents which, to an ordinary poet, would have sug- 
 gested nothing more, which in this drama have expanded 
 themselves into scenes of living and speaking truth. But 
 all this, and all the minute finishing of the character, Shake- 
 speare must have collected from his own observation of life, 
 drawing the fragments from various quarters, perhaps from 
 very humble ones, and blending them all in this brilliant his- 
 torical impersonation of such individual truth, that there are 
 few readers who do not feel, with Mrs. Jameson, that "Shake- 
 speare's Cleopatra produces the same effect on them that is 
 recorded of the real Cleopatra. She dazzles our faculties, 
 perplexes our judgment, and bewitches our fancy ; we are 
 conscious of a kind of fascination, against which our moral 
 sense rebels, but from which there is no escape." 
 
 Again, the manner in which the poet has exhibited the 
 weakness of a great mind— of a hero past the middle stage 
 of life, when " grey hath mingled with his brown," who is 
 seen bowing his " grizzled head " to the caprices of a wanton 
 who, like himself, begins to be " wrinkled deep in time,"— 
 
2 4 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 all this belongs to a poet himself of maturer life. To a 
 younger poet, the weakness of passion at an age when " the 
 heyday of the blood" should be calm would in itself have 
 something of an air of ridicule. So sensible of this danger 
 were all the other poets who have essayed this theme, that 
 all, not excepting Dryden, have avoided any allusion which 
 should turn the attention to the circumstance. 
 
 Shakespeare, on the contrary, brings this into bold relief, 
 and luxuriates in showing, under every light, the irregular 
 greatness of his hero, with all his weakness ; and thus, by a 
 close adherence to historic truth, individualized and made 
 present and real by his own knowledge of, and sympathy 
 with, human infirmity, has given to his scenes of passionate 
 frailty an originality of interest not to be attained by those 
 who would not venture to hazard the interest of their plot 
 upon the loves of any but the young and beautiful. 
 
 But independently of any other indications, it is certain 
 that the ripe maturity of poetic mind pervades the whole 
 tone of the tragedy, its diction, imagery, characters, thoughts. 
 It exhibits itself everywhere, in a copious and varied mag- 
 nificence, as from a mind and memory stored with the treas- 
 ures acquired in its own past intellectual efforts, as well as 
 with the knowledge of life and books, from all which the 
 dramatic muse (to borrow the Oriental imagery which Milton 
 has himself drawn from this very tragedy), like 
 
 " the gorgeous East, with liberal hand, 
 Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold." 
 
 Its poetry has an autumnal richness, such as can succeed 
 only to the vernal luxuriance of genius, or its fiercer mid- 
 summer glow. We need no other proof than that which its 
 own abundance affords, that this tragedy is the rich product 
 of a mind where, as in Mark Antony's own Egypt, his " Nilus 
 had swelled high," and 
 
IN TROD UCTION. 2 5 
 
 " when it ebb'd, the seedsman 
 Upon its slime and ooze scatter'd his grain, 
 Which shortly came to harvest." 
 
 [From Mr. F. y FurnivaWs Introduction to the Play*] 
 
 We change from Troy to Egypt and Rome, from the false 
 Cressid to the false Cleopatra, from the deceived Troilus to 
 the deceived and deceiving Antony, from the bitter, clear- 
 seeing Thersites, stripping heroes and legends of antiquity 
 of their glory, to the equally clear-sighted but happier-tem- 
 pered Enobarbus, calmly explaining the character of his mis- 
 tress, and Philo, with equal penetration, analyzing Antony, 
 and lamenting his master's infatuation. But while Troilus 
 and Cressida is lit by no light of sympathy from author or 
 reader, save in the one scene of old Nestor's welcome to 
 Hector in the Greek camp, on Antony and Cleopati-a Shak- 
 spere has poured out the glory of his genius in profusion, 
 and makes us stand by, saddened and distressed, as the noble 
 Antony sinks to his ruin, under the gorgeous colouring of 
 the Eastern sky, the vicious splendour of the Egyptian queen ; 
 makes us look with admiring hate on the wonderful picture 
 he has drawn, certainly far the most wonderful study of 
 woman he has left us, of that Cleopatra of whom Enobarbus, 
 who knew her every turn, said, 
 
 " Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
 Her infinite variety ; other women 
 Cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry 
 Where most she satisfies." 
 
 That in her, the dark woman of Shakspere's Sonnets, his 
 own fickle, serpent-like, attractive mistress, is to some extent 
 embodied, I do not doubt. t What a superbly sumptuous 
 picture, as if painted by Veronese or Titian, is that where 
 
 * The Leopold Shakspere (London, 1877), p. Ixxxii. • 
 t Cf. Ward, Eng. Dram. Lit. vol. i. p. 427 : " There may be truth in 
 Mr. Massey's supposition that Cleopatra is modelled on Lady (Penelope) 
 
26 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Cleopatra first met Antony upon the river of Cydnus ! How 
 admirably transferred from Plutarch's prose ! And how that 
 fatal inability to say " No " to woman shows us Antony's 
 weakness and the cause of his final fall. 
 
 The play is like Troilns and Cressida, not only in lust and 
 false women (Cressida and Cleopatra) playing such a promi- 
 nent part in it, but in Antony's renown and power, and selfish 
 preference of his own whims to honour's call, to his country's 
 good, being the counterpart of Achilles'. All the characters 
 are selfish except Octavia and Eros. Caesar's description 
 of Antony as " a man who is the abstract of all faults that 
 men follow " is not far wrong. We were prepared by Julius 
 Casar for the wildness in his blood and the want of noble 
 purpose in his ordinary putsuits; for his selfishness and un- 
 scrupulousness too, by his proposal to sacrifice Lepidus. And 
 though the redeeming qualities of his nature were shown in 
 his love for Caesar, his appeal to the people for revenge, and 
 his skill in managing them, yet in his development lust and 
 self-indulgence prevail, and under their influence he loses 
 judgment, soldiership, even the qualities of a man. His 
 seeming impulse towards good in the marriage of Octavia 
 lasts but for a time; air her nobleness and virtue cannot 
 save him. He turns from the gem of women to his Egyp- 
 tian dish again, and abides by his infatuation even when he 
 knows he 's deceived. 
 
 Rich (d. 1606), Sidney's Stella, the lady of the dark eyes, whom Mr. 
 Massey and Mr. Henry Brown have sought to identify with the ' black ' 
 lady of the Sonnets" — Ed. 
 
ANTONY 
 
 MB 
 
 CLEOPA 
 
Mark Antony, 
 
 Octavius Cjesah, } triumvirs. 
 
 M. iEiviiLius Lepidus, J 
 
 Sextus Pompeius. 
 
 Domitius Enobarbus, " 
 
 Ventidius, 
 
 > friends to Antony. 
 
 - friends to Cassar. 
 
 friends to Pompey. 
 
 Eros, 
 
 Scar us, 
 
 Dercetas, 
 
 Demetrius, 
 
 Philo, 
 
 maecenas, 
 
 Agrippa, 
 
 Dolabeli.a, 
 
 Proculeius, 
 
 Thyreus, 
 
 Gallus, 
 
 Menas, 
 
 Menecrates, 
 
 Varrius, 
 
 Taurus, lieutenant-general to Caesar. 
 
 Canidius, lieutenant-general to Antony. 
 
 Sii.ius, an officer in Ventidius's army. 
 
 Euphronius, an ambassador from Antony to Caesar. 
 
 A LEX AS, ] 
 
 Ma rdi an, a Eunuch, .. , . ^, 
 
 Sei.eucus, f atteild ants on Cleopatra. 
 
 DlOMEDES, J 
 
 A Soothsayer. 
 
 A Clown. 
 
 Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. 
 
 Octavia, sister to Caesar and wife to Antony. 
 
 Charmian, ) .. j . r,-, 
 
 j RAS > attendants on Cleopatra, 
 
 Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. 
 Scene : In several parts of the Roman empire. 
 
CLEOPATRA S PALACE. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 Scene I. Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace. 
 Enter Demetrius and Philo. 
 
 Philo. Nay, but this dotage of our general's 
 O'erflows the measure : those his goodly eyes, 
 That o'er the files and musters of the war 
 Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn 
 The office and devotion of their view 
 Upon a tawny front ; his captain's heart, 
 
3° 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst 
 The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper, 
 And is become the bellows and the fan 
 To cool a gypsy's lust. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Antony, Cleopatra, her Ladies, the Train, 
 with Eunuchs fanning her. 
 
 Look, where they come ! ™ 
 
 Take but good note, and you shall see in him 
 The triple pillar of the world transform'd 
 Into a strumpet's fool ; behold and see. 
 
 Cleopatra. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. 
 Antonyk There 's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.' 
 Cleopatra. I '11 set a bourn how far to be belov'd. 
 Antony. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new 
 earth. 
 
 Enter an Attendant. 
 
 Attendant. News, my good lord, from Rome. 
 
 Antony. Grates me ; the sum. 
 
 Cleopatra. Nay, hear them, Antony. 
 Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knows 20 
 
 If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent 
 His powerful mandate to you, ' Do this, or this; 
 Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that; 
 Perform 't, or else we damn thee.' 
 
 Antony. How, my love ! 
 
 Cleopatra. Perchance, — nay, and most like, — 
 You must not stay here longer, your dismission 
 Is come from Caesar; therefore hear it, Antony. 
 Where 's Fulvia's process? Caesar's, I would say? both? — 
 Call in the messengers. — As I am Egypt's queen, 
 Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine 30 
 
 Is Caesar's homager; else so thy cheek pays shame 
 When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. — The messengers ! 
 
 Atitony. Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch 
 
ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 31 
 
 Of the rang'd empire fall ! Here is my space. 
 
 Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike 
 
 Feeds beast as man : the nobleness of life 
 
 Is to do thus ; when such a mutual pair [Embracing. 
 
 And such a twain can do 't, in which I bind, 
 
 On pain of punishment, the world to weet 
 
 We stand up peerless. 
 
 Cleopatra. Excellent falsehood ! 40 
 
 Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her? — 
 I'll seem the fool I am not ; Antony 
 Will be himself. 
 
 Antony. But stirr'd by Cleopatra. — 
 
 Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours, 
 Let 's not confound the time with conference harsh ; 
 There 's not a minute of our lives should stretch 
 Without some pleasure now! What sport to-night ? 
 
 Cleopatra. Hear the ambassadors. 
 
 Antony. Fie, wrangling queen ! 
 
 Whom every thing becomes — to chicle, to laugh, 
 To weep ; whose every passion fully strives 50 
 
 To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd '! 
 No messenger but thine ; and all alone 
 To-night we '11 wander through the streets and note 
 The qualities of people. Come, my queen; 
 Last night you did desire it. — Speak not to us. 
 
 [Exeunt Antony and Cleopatra with their train- 
 Demetrius. Is Csesar with Antonius priz'd so slight ? 
 
 Philo. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, 
 He comes too short of that great property 
 Which still should go with Antony. 
 
 Demetrius. I am full sorry 
 
 That he approves the common liar, who 60 
 
 Thus speaks of him at Rome ; but I will hope 
 Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy ! [Exeunt. 
 
32 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Scene II. The Same. Another Room. 
 Enter Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer. 
 
 Charmian. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing 
 Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where 's the sooth- 
 sayer that you praised so to the queen ? O, that I knew 
 this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with 
 garlands ! 
 
 Alexas. Soothsayer ! 
 
 Soothsayer. Your will ? 
 
 Charmian. Is this the man? — Is 't you, sir, that know 
 things? 
 
 Soothsayer. In nature's infinite book of secrecy 
 A little I can read. 
 
 Alexas. Show him your hand. 10 
 
 Enter Enobarbus. 
 
 Enobarbus. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough 
 Cleopatra's health to drink. 
 
 Charmian. Good sir, give me good fortune. 
 
 Soothsayer. I make not, but foresee. 
 
 Charmian. Pray, then, foresee me one. 
 
 Soothsayer. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. 
 
 Charmian. He means in flesh. 
 
 Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. 
 
 Charmian. Wrinkles forbid ! 
 
 Alexas. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. 20 
 
 Charmian. Hush! 
 
 Soothsayer. You shall be more beloving than belov'd. 
 
 Charmian. I had rather heat my liver with drinking. 
 
 Alexas. Nay, hear him. 
 
 Charmian. Good now, some excellent fortune ! Let me 
 be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them 
 all ; let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry 
 
ACT I. SCENE IL 
 
 33 
 
 may do homage; find me to marry me with Octavius Cassar, 
 and companion me with my mistress. 
 
 Soothsayer. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. 30 
 
 Charmian. O excellent! I love long life better than figs. 
 
 Soothsayer. You have seen and prov'd a fairer former fort- 
 une 
 Than that which is to approach. 
 
 Charmian. Then belike my children shall have no names. 
 Prithee, how many boys and wenches must I have? 
 
 Soothsayer. If fertile every wish, a million. 
 
 Charmian. Out, fool ! I forgive thee for a witch. 
 
 Alexas. You think none but your sheets are privy to your 
 wishes. 
 
 Charmian. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. 40 
 
 Alexas. We '11 know all our fortunes. 
 
 Enobarbus. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall 
 be — drunk to bed. 
 
 Iras. There 's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. 
 
 Charmian. E'en as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. 
 
 Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay. 
 
 Charmian. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognos- 
 tication, I cannot scratch mine ear. Prithee, tell her but a 
 worky-day fortune. 
 
 Soothsayer. Your fortunes are alike. 5° 
 
 Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. 
 
 Soothsayer. I have said. 
 
 Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? 
 
 Charmian. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better 
 than I, where would you choose it ? 
 
 Iras. Not in my husband's nose. 
 
 Charmian. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas, 
 — come, his fortune, his fortune!- — O, let him marry a wom- 
 an that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! and let her" 
 die too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, 
 till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty 
 
 C 
 
34 ANTONY AND , CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though 
 thou deny me a matter of more weight ; good Isis, I beseech 
 thee ! 6 4 
 
 Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the peo- 
 ple! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man 
 loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave 
 uncuckolded ; therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune 
 him accordingly! 
 
 Charmian. Amen. 7 o 
 
 Alexas. Lo, now, if it lay in their hands to make me a 
 cuckold, they 'd do 't! 
 
 Enobarbus. Hush! here comes Antony. 
 
 Charmian. Not he ; the queen. 
 
 Enter Cleopatra. 
 
 Cleopatra. Saw you my lord? 
 
 Enobarbus. No, lady. 
 
 Cleopatra. Was he not here ? 
 
 Charmian. No, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. He was dispos'd to mirth ; but on the sudden 
 A Roman thought hath struck him. — Enobarbus! 
 
 Enobarbus. Madam ? 
 
 Cleopatra. Seek him, and bring him hither. — Where 's 
 Alexas ? 
 
 Alexas. Here, at your service.— My lord approaches. 80 
 
 Cleopatra. We will not look upon him ; go with us. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Enter Antony with # Messenger and Attendants. 
 
 Messenger. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. 
 
 Antony. Against my brother Lucius? 
 
 Messenger.- Ay; 
 But soon that war had end, and the time's state 
 Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst Caesar, 
 Whose better issue in the war, from Italy 
 Upon the first encounter drave them. 
 
'ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 35 
 
 Antony. Well, what worst? 
 
 Messenger. The nature of bad news infects the teller. 
 
 Antony. When it concerns the fool or coward. — On ! 90 
 Things that are past are done with me. — 'T is thus; 
 Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, 
 I hear him as he flatter'd. 
 
 Messenger. Labienus — 
 
 This is stiff news — hath, with his Parthian force, 
 Extended Asia from Euphrates, 
 His conquering banner shook from Syria 
 To Lydia and to Ionia ; 
 Whilst— 
 
 Antony. Antony, thou wouldst say, — 
 
 Messenger. O, my lord ! 
 
 Antony. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue : 
 Name Cleopatra as she is call'd in Rome ; 100 
 
 Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase, and taunt my faults 
 With such full license as both truth and malice 
 Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds 
 When our quick minds lie still ; and our ills told us 
 Is as our earing. Fare thee well awhile. 
 
 Messenger. At your noble pleasure. [Exit. 
 
 Antony. From Sicyon, ho, the news! Speak there! 
 
 1 Attendant. The man from Sicyon, — is there such an 
 
 one ? 
 
 2 Attendant. He stays upon your will. 
 
 Antony. Let him appear.— 
 
 These strong Egyptian fetters I must break, no 
 
 Or lose myself in dotage. 
 
 Enter another Messenger. 
 
 What are you? 
 2 Messenger. Fulvia thy wife is dead. 
 Antony. Where died she? 
 
 2 Messenger. In Sicyon; 
 
36 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Her length of sickness, with what else more serious 
 Importeth thee to know, this bears. \ Gives a letter. 
 
 Antony. Forbear me. — 
 
 [Exit 2 Messenger. 
 There 's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it. 
 What our contempt doth often hurl from us, 
 We wish it ours again; the present pleasure, 
 By revolution lowering, does become 
 
 The opposite of itself. She 's good, being gone; 120 
 
 The hand could pluck her back that shov'd her on. 
 I must from this enchanting queen break off; 
 Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, 
 My idleness doth hatch. — Ho ! Enobarbus ! 
 
 Re-enter Enobarbus. 
 
 Enobarbus. What 's your pleasure, sir? 
 
 Antony. I must with haste from hence. 
 
 Enobarbus. Why, then, we kill all our women. We see 
 how mortal an unkindness is to them; if they suffer our de- 
 parture, death 's the word. 
 
 Antony. I must be gone. 130 
 
 Enobarbus. Under a compelling occasion, let women die: 
 it were pity to cast them away for nothing ; though, between 
 them and a great cause, they should be esteemed nothing. 
 Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instant- 
 ly; I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer mo- 
 ment. I do think there is mettle in death, which commits 
 some loving act upon her, she hath such a celerity in dying. 
 
 Antony. She is cunning past man's thought. 138 
 
 Enobarbus. Alack, sir, no ; her passions are made of noth- 
 ing but the finest part of pure love. We cannot call her 
 winds and waters sighs and tears; they are greater storms 
 and tempests than almanacs can report. This cannot be 
 cunning in her ; if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well 
 as Jove. 
 
i5o 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 37 
 
 Antony. Would I had never seen her! 
 
 Enobarbus. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful 
 piece of work, which not to have been blest withal would 
 have discredited your travel. 
 
 Antony. Fulvia is dead. 
 
 Enobarbus. Sir? 
 
 Antony. Fulvia is dead. 
 
 Enobarbus. Fulvia! 
 
 Anto?iy. Dead. 
 
 Enobarbus. Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. 
 When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from 
 him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth ; comforting 
 therein, that when old robes are worn out, there are mem- 
 bers to make new. If there were no more women but Ful- 
 via, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented 
 This grief is crowned with consolation; your old smock 
 brings forth a new petticoat;— and indeed the tears live in 
 an onion that should water this sorrow. 162 
 
 Antony. The business she hath broached in the state 
 Cannot endure my absence. 
 
 Enobarbus. And the business you have broached here 
 cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which 
 wholly depends on your abode. 
 
 Antony. No more light answers. Let our officers 
 Have notice what we purpose. I shall break 
 The cause of our expedience to the queen, I70 
 
 And get her leave to part; for not alone 
 The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, 
 Do strongly speak to us, but the letters too 
 Of many our contriving friends in Rome 
 Petition us at home. Sextus Pompeius 
 Hath given the dare to Caesar, and commands 
 The empire of the sea: our slippery people, 
 Whose love is never link'd to the deserver 
 Till his deserts are past, begin to throw 
 
38 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Pompey the Great and all his dignities 180 
 
 Upon his son; who, high in name and power, 
 
 Higher than both in blood and life, stands up 
 
 For the main soldier; whose quality, going on, 
 
 The sides o' the world may danger. Much is breeding, . 
 
 Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, 
 
 And not a serpent's poison. Say, our pleasure, 
 
 To such whose place is under us, requires 
 
 Our quick remove from hence. 
 
 Enobarbus. I shall do 't. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. The Same. Another Roo7n. 
 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas. 
 
 Cleopatra. Where is he ? 
 
 Charmian. I did not see him since. 
 
 Cleopatra. See where he is, who 's with him, what he does ; 
 I did not send you. — If you find him sad, 
 Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report 
 That I am sudden sick : quick, and return. [Exit Alexas. 
 
 Charmian. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly, 
 You. do not hold the method to enforce 
 The like from him. 
 
 Cleopatra. What should I do, I do not? 
 
 Charmian. In each thing give him way, cross him in 
 nothing. 9 
 
 Cleopatra. Thou teachest like a fool,— the way to lose him. 
 
 Charmian. Tempt him not so too far; I wish, forbear: 
 In time we hate that which we often fear. 
 But here comes Antony. 
 
 Enter Antony. 
 
 Cleopatra. I am sick and sullen. 
 
 Antony. I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose, — 
 Cleopatra. Help me away, clear Charmian, I shall fall ; 
 
ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 39 
 
 It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature 
 Will not sustain it. 
 
 Antony. Now, my dearest queen, — 
 
 Cleopatra. Pray you, stand farther from me. 
 
 Antony. What's the matter? 
 
 Cleopatra. I know, by that same eye, there 's some good 
 news. 
 What says the married woman ? — You may go; 20 
 
 Would she had never given you leave to come ! 
 Let her not say 't is I that keep you here ; 
 I have no power upon you, hers you are. 
 
 Antony. The gods best know, — 
 
 Cleopatra. O, never was there queen 
 
 So mightily betray'd ! yet at the first 
 I saw the treasons planted. 
 
 Antony. Cleopatra, — 
 
 Cleopatra. Why should I think you can be mine and true, 
 Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, 
 Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness, 
 To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, 30 
 
 Which break themselves in swearing ! 
 
 Antony. Most sweet queen, — 
 
 Cleopatra. Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your going, 
 But bid farewell, and go. When you sued staying, 
 Then was the time for words : no going then ; 
 Eternity was in our lips and eyes, 
 Bliss in our brows' bent, none our parts so poor 
 But was a race of heaven : they are so still, 
 Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world, 
 Art turn'd the greatest liar. 
 
 Antony. How now, lady ! 
 
 Cleopatra. I would I had thy inches; thou shouldst know 
 There were a heart in Egypt. - 
 
 A?itony. Hear me, queen. 4* 
 
 The strong necessity of time commands 
 
43 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Our services awhile, but my full heart 
 
 Remains in use with you. Our Italy 
 
 Shines o'er with civil swords; Sextus Pompeius 
 
 Makes his approaches to the port of Rome: 
 
 Equality of two domestic powers 
 
 Breed scrupulous faction. The hated, grown to strength, 
 
 Are newly grown to love : the condemn'd Pompey, 
 
 Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace so 
 
 Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd 
 
 Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten ; 
 
 And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge 
 
 By any desperate change. My more particular, 
 
 And that which most with you should safe my going, 
 
 Is Fulvia's death. 
 
 Cleopatra. Though age from folly could not give me free- 
 dom, 
 It does from childishness. — Can Fulvia die ? 
 
 Atitony. She 's dead, my queen. 
 Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read 60 
 
 The garboils she awak'd ; at the last, best, 
 See when and where she died. 
 
 Cleopatra. O most false love ! 
 
 Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill 
 With sorrowful water ? Now I see, I see, 
 In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be. 
 
 Antony. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know 
 The purposes I bear, which are, or cease, 
 As you shall give the advice. By the fire 
 That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence 
 Thy soldier, servant, making peace or war 70 
 
 As thou arTect'st. 
 
 Cleopatra. Cut my lace, Charmian, come. — 
 
 But let it be. — I am quickly ill, — and well, 
 So Antony loves. 
 
 Antony. My precious queen, forbear ; 
 
ACT I. SCENE III. 41 
 
 And give true evidence to his love, which stands 
 An honourable trial. 
 
 Cleopatra. So Fulvia told me. 
 
 I prithee, turn aside and weep for her ; 
 Then bid adieu to me, and say the tears 
 Belong to Egypt : good now, play one scene 
 Of excellent dissembling, and let it look 
 Like perfect honour. 
 
 Antony. You '11 heat my blood; no more. 80 
 
 Cleopatra. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. 
 
 Antony. Now, by my sword, — ■ 
 
 Cleopatra. And target. — Still he mends. 
 
 But this is not the best. Look, prithee, Charmian, 
 How this Herculean Roman does become 
 The carriage of his chafe. 
 
 Atitony. I '11 leave you, lady. 
 
 ■Cleopatra. Courteous lord, one word. 
 
 Sir, you and I must part, — but that's not it; 
 Sir, you and I have lov'd, — but there 's not it; 
 That you know well : something it is I would, — 
 O, my oblivion is a very Antony, 90 
 
 And I am all forgotten. 
 
 Antony. But that your royalty 
 
 Holds idleness your subject, I should take you 
 For idleness itself. 
 
 Cleopatra. 'T is sweating labour 
 
 To bear such idleness so near the heart 
 As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me, 
 Since my becomings kill me when they do not 
 Eye well to you. Your honour calls you hence; 
 Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly, 
 And all the gods go with you ! Upon your sword 
 Sit laurel victory ! and smooth success io«. 
 
 Be strew'd before your feet ! 
 
 Antony. Let us go. Come ; 
 
42 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Our separation so abides and flies, . . 
 
 That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, 
 
 And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. 
 
 Away ! . [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. Rome. Ccesar's House. 
 
 Enter Octavius Caesar, reading a letter, Lepidus, and their 
 
 train. 
 
 Ccesar. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, . 
 It is not Caesar's natural vice to hate 
 Our great competitor. From Alexandria 
 This is the news : he fishes, drinks, and wastes 
 The lamps of night in revel; is not more manlike 
 Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy 
 More womanly than he ; hardly gave audience, or 
 Vouchsaf d to think he had partners : you shall find there 
 A man who is the abstract of all faults 
 That all men follow. 
 
 Lepidus. I must not think there are 10 
 
 Evils enow to darken all his goodness. 
 His faults in him seem as the spots -of heaven, 
 More fiery by night's blackness, hereditary 
 Rather than purchas'd, what he cannot change 
 Than what he chooses. 
 
 Ccesar. You are too indulgent. Let us grant it is not 
 Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy, 
 To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit 
 And keep the turn of tippling with a slave, 
 To reel the streets at noon and stand the buffet 20 
 
 With knaves that smell of sweat ; say this becomes him, — 
 As his composure must be rare indeed 
 Whom these things cannot -blemish,: — yet must Antony 
 No way excuse his soils, when we do bear 
 So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd 
 
ACT I. SCENE IV. 
 
 43 
 
 His vacancy with his voluptuousness, 
 
 Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones 
 
 Call on him for 't; but to confound such time 
 
 That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud 
 
 As his own state and ours, — 't is to be chid 3 o 
 
 As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge, 
 
 Pawn Iheir experience to their present pleasure, 
 
 And so rebel to judgment. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Lepidus. Here 's more news. 
 
 Messenger. Thy biddings have been done ; and every hour, 
 Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report 
 How 't is abroad. Pompey is strong at sea, 
 And it appears he is belov'd of those 
 That only have fear'd Caesar; to the ports 
 The discontents repair, and men's reports 
 Give him much wrong'd. 
 
 Ccesar.. I should have known no less, 40 
 
 It hath been taught us from the primal state, 
 That he which is was wish'd until he were; 
 And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love, 
 Comes dear'd by being lack'd. This common body, 
 Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, 
 Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide, 
 To rot itself with motion. 
 
 Messenger. Caesar, I bring thee word, 
 
 Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates, 
 Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound 
 With keels of every kind : many hot inroads 50 
 
 They make in Italy; the borders maritime 
 Lack blood to think on 't, and flush vouth revolt. 
 No vessel can peep forth, but 't is as soon 
 Taken as seen ; for Pompey's name strikes more 
 Than could his war resisted. 
 
44 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Ccesar. Antony, 
 
 Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once 
 Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st 
 Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel 
 Did famine follow, whom thou fought'st against, 
 Though daintily brought up, with patience more 60 
 
 Than savages could suffer : thou didst drink 
 The stale of horses and the gilded puddle 
 Which beasts would cough at; thy palate then did deign 
 The roughest berry on the rudest hedge ; 
 Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, 
 The barks of trees thou browsedst ; on the Alps 
 It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh, 
 Which some did die to look on : and all this — 
 It wounds thine honour that I speak it now — 
 Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek 7° 
 
 So much as lank'd not. 
 
 Lepidus. 'T is pity of him. 
 
 Ccesar. Let his shames quickly 
 Drive him to Rome. 'T is time we twain 
 Did show ourselves i' the field ; and to that end 
 Assemble we immediate council : Pompey 
 Thrives in our idleness. 
 
 Lepidus. To-morrow, Caesar, 
 
 I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly 
 Both what by sea and land I can be able 
 To front this present time. 
 
 Ccesar. Till which encounter, 
 
 It is my business too. Farewell. 80 
 
 Lepidus. Farewell, my lord. What you shall know mean- 
 time 
 Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir, 
 To let me be partaker. 
 
 Ccesar. Doubt not, sir; 
 
 I knew it for my bond. [Exeunt. 
 
ACT I. SCENE V. 
 
 45 
 
 Scene V. Alexandria. Cleopatra's Palace. 
 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian. 
 
 Cleopatra. Charmian ! 
 
 Charmian. Madam ? 
 
 Cleopatra. Ha, ha ! — 
 Give me to drink mandragora. 
 
 Charmian. Why, madam ? 
 
 Cleopatra. That I might sleep out this great gap of time 
 My Antony is away. 
 
 Cha?-mian. You think of him too much. 
 
 Cleopatra. 0, 't is treason ! 
 
 Charmian. Madam, I trust, not so. 
 
 Cleopatra. Thou, eunuch Mardian ! 
 
 Mardian. What 's your highness' pleasure ? 
 
 Cleopatra. Not now to hear thee sing. — O Charmian, 
 Where think'st thou he is now ? Stands he, or sits he ? 10 
 Or does he walk ? or is he on his horse ? 
 O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony ! 
 Do bravely, horse ! for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st ? 
 The demi- Atlas of this earth, the arm 
 And burgonet of men. — He 's speaking now, 
 Or murmuring 'Where 's my serpent of old Nile?' 
 For so he calls me ; now I feed myself 
 With most delicious poison. — Think on me, 
 That am with Phcebus' amorous pinches black, 
 And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Caesar, 2Q 
 
 When thou wast here above the ground, I was 
 A morsel for a monarch; and great Pompey 
 Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow: 
 There would he anchor his aspect and die 
 With looking on his life. 
 
4 6 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Enter Alexas. 
 
 Alexas. Sovereign of Egypt, hail ! 
 
 Cleopatra. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony ! 
 Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath 
 With his tinct gilded thee. — 
 How goes it with my brave Mark Antony ? 
 
 Alexas. Last thing he did, dear queen, 3° 
 
 He kiss'd, — the last of many doubled kisses, — 
 This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart. 
 
 Cleopatra. Mine ear must pluck it thence. 
 
 Alexas, ' Good friend,' quoth he, 
 
 ' Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt sends 
 This treasure of an oyster ; at whose foot, 
 To mend the petty present, I will piece 
 Her opulent throne with kingdoms : all the east, 
 Say thou, shall call her mistress.' So he nodded, 
 And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed, 
 Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke 40 
 
 Was beastly dumb'd by him. 
 
 Cleopatra. .What, was he sad or merry ? 
 
 Alexas. Like to the time o' the year between the extremes 
 Of hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry. 
 
 Cleopatra. O well-divided disposition ! Note him, 
 Note him, good Charmian, 't is the man, but note him: 
 He was not sad, for he would shine on those 
 That make their looks by his; he was not merry, 
 Which seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay 
 In Egypt with his joy; but between both. 
 O heavenly mingle !— Be'st thou sad or merry, 50 
 
 The violence of either thee becomes, 
 So does it no man else. — Met'st thou my posts? 
 
 Alexas. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers. 
 Why do you send so thick? 
 
 Cleopatra. Who 's born that day 
 
47 
 
 6o 
 
 ACT I. SCENE V. 
 
 When I forget to send to Antony, 
 Shall die a beggar. — Ink and paper, Charmian. — 
 Welcome, my good Alexas. — Did I, Charmian, 
 Ever love Caesar so? 
 
 Charmian. O that brave Caesar! 
 
 Cleopatra. Be chok'd with such another emphasis! 
 Say, the brave Antony. 
 
 Charmian. The valiant Caesar ! 
 
 Cleopatra. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth, 
 If thou with Caesar paragon again 
 My man of men. 
 
 Charmian. By your most gracious pardon, 
 
 I sing but after you. 
 
 Cleopatra. My salad days, 
 
 When I was green in judgment, — cold in blood, 
 To say as I said then! — But, come, away; 
 Get me ink and paper. 
 He shall have every day a several greeting, 
 Or I '11 unpeople Egypt. [Exeunt. 
 
 OSTIA AT THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 the port of Rome (i. 3. 46). 
 
The barge she sat in, like a burnish' d throne, 
 Burn'd on the water (ii. 2. 192). 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 Scene I. Messina. Pompey* s House. 
 Enter Pompey, Menecrates, and Menas, in warlike manner, 
 
 Pompey. If the great gods be just, they shall assist 
 The deeds of justest men. 
 
 Menecrates. Know, worthy Pompey, 
 
 That what they do delay, they not deny. 
 
 Pompey. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays 
 The thing we sue for. 
 
 Menecrates. We, ignorant of ourselves, 
 
 Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
 
ACT II. SCENE I 
 
 49 
 
 Deny us for our good ; so find we profit 
 By losing of our prayers. 
 
 Fompey. I shall do well : 
 
 The people love me, and the sea is mine; 
 My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope 
 Says it will come to the full. Mark Antony 
 In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make 
 No wars without doors; Caesar gets money where 
 He loses hearts; Lepidus flatters both, 
 Of both is flatter'd, but he neither loves, 
 Nor either cares for him. 
 
 Menas. Caesar and Lepidus 
 
 Are in the field; a mighty strength they carry. 
 
 Pompey. Where have you this? 't is false. 
 
 Mmas - From Silvius, sir. 
 
 Pompey. He dreams; I know they are in Rome together, 
 Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love, L 
 
 Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip! 
 Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both ! 
 Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts. 
 Keep his brain fuming ! Epicurean cooks 
 Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite, 
 That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour 
 Even till a Lethe'd dulness ! — 
 
 Enter Varrius. 
 
 How now, Varrius J 
 Varrius. This is most certain that I shall deliver: 
 Mark Antony is every hour in Rome 
 
 Expected ; since he went from Egypt 't is 3Q 
 
 A space for further travel. 
 
 Pompey. I could have given less matter 
 
 A better ear.— Menas, I did not think 
 This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm 
 For such a petty war ; his soldiership 
 
 D 
 
5° 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TEA. 
 
 Is twice the other twain. But let us rear 
 The higher our opinion, that our stirring 
 Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck 
 The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony. 
 
 Menas. I cannot hope 
 
 Caesar and Antony shall well greet together. 
 His wife that 's dead did trespasses to Caesar; 40 
 
 His brother warr'd upon him ; although, I think, 
 Not mov'd by Antony. 
 
 Pompey. I know not, Menas, 
 
 How lesser enmities may give way to greater. 
 Were 't not that we stand up against them all, 
 'T were pregnant they should square between themselves, 
 For they have entertained cause enough 
 To draw their swords ; but how the fear of us 
 May cement their divisions and bind up 
 The petty difference, we yet not know. 
 
 Be 't as our gods will have 't ! It only stands 50 
 
 Our lives upon to use our strongest hands. 
 Come, Menas. {Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. Rome. The House of Lepidus. 
 Enter Enobarbus and Lepidus. 
 
 Lepidus. Good Enobarbus, 't is a worthy deed, 
 And shall become you well, to entreat your captain 
 To soft and gentle speech. 
 
 Enobarbus. I shall entreat him 
 
 To answer like himself; if Caesar move him, 
 Let Antony look over Caesar's head 
 And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter, 
 Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard, 
 I would not shave 't to-day. 
 
 Lepidus. 'T is not a time 
 
 For private stomaching. 
 
ACT II. SCENE II 51 
 
 Enobarbus. Every time 
 
 Serves for the matter that is then born in 't. I0 
 
 Zepidus. ^But small to greater matters must give way. 
 
 Enobarbus. Not if the small come first. 
 
 Lepidics. Your speech is passion ; 
 
 But, pray you, stir no embers up. Here comes 
 The noble iVntony. 
 
 Enter Antony and Ventidius. 
 Enobarbus. And yonder, Caesar. 
 
 Enter Cesar, Maecenas, and Agrippa. 
 
 Antony. If we compose well here, to Parthia; 
 Hark, Ventidius. 
 
 Casar. I do not know, 
 
 Maecenas; ask Agrippa. 
 
 Lepidus. Noble friends, 
 
 That which combin'd us was most great, and let not 
 A leaner action rend us. What 's amiss, 
 May it be gently heard; when we debate 2 d 
 
 Our trivial difference loud, we do commit 
 Murther in healing wounds. Then, noble partners, 
 The rather for I earnestly beseech, 
 Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms, 
 Nor curstness grow to the matter. 
 
 Antony. 'T is spoken well. 
 
 Were we before our armies, and to fight, 
 I should do thus. [Flourish. 
 
 Ccesar. Welcome to Rome. 
 
 Antony. Thank you. 
 
 Ccesar. g{t # 
 
 Antony. Sit, sir. 
 
 Casar. Nay? therii 
 
 Anto?iy. I learn, you take things ill which are not so, 
 Or being, concern you not. 
 
52 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Ccesar. I must be laugh'd at, 30 
 
 If, or for nothing or a little, I 
 Should say myself offended, and with you 
 Chiefly i' the world ; more laugh'd at, that I should 
 Once name you derogately, when to sound your name 
 It not concern'd me. 
 
 Antony. My being in Egypt, Caesar, 
 
 What was 't to you? 
 
 Ccesar. No more than my residing here at Rome 
 Might be to you in Egypt; yet, if you there 
 Did practise on my state, your being in Egypt 
 Might be my question. 
 
 Antony. How intend you, practis'd ? 4a 
 
 Ccesar. You may be pleas'd to catch at mine intent 
 By what did here befall me. Your wife and brother 
 Made wars upon me ; and their contestation 
 Was theme for you, you were the word of war. 
 
 Antony. You do mistake your business; my brother never 
 Did urge me in his act. I did inquire it, 
 And have my learning from some true reports, 
 That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather 
 Discredit my authority with yours, 
 
 And make the wars alike against my stomach, 50 
 
 Having alike your cause? Of this my letters 
 Before did satisfy you. If you '11 patch a quarrel, 
 As matter whole you have not to make it with, 
 It must not be with this. 
 
 Ccesar. You praise yourself 
 
 By laying defects of judgment to me, but 
 You patch'd up your excuses. 
 
 Antony. . Not so, not so ; 
 
 I know you could not lack, I am certain on 't, 
 Very necessity of this thought, that I, 
 Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought, 
 Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars 60 
 
ACT IT. SCENE IT. 
 
 53 
 
 Which fronted mine own peace. As for my wife, 
 I would you had her spirit in such another; 
 The third o' the world is yours, which with a snaffle 
 You may pace easy, but not such a wife. 
 
 Enobarbus. Would we had all such wives, that the men 
 might go to wars with the women ! 
 
 Antony. So much uncurbable, her garboils, Caesar, 
 Made out of her impatience, which not wanted 
 Shrewdness of policy too, I grieving grant 
 Did you too much disquiet; for that you must 71 
 
 But say, I could not help it. 
 
 Ccesar. I wrote to you 
 
 When rioting in Alexandria; you 
 Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts 
 Did gibe my missive out of audience. 
 
 Antony. Sir, 
 
 He fell upon me ere admitted: then 
 Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want 
 Of what I was i' the morning; but next day 
 I told him of myself, which was as much 
 As to have ask'd him pardon. Let this fellow 
 Be nothing of our strife ; if we contend, 80 
 
 Out of our question wipe him. 
 
 Ccesar. You have broken 
 
 The article of your oath, which you shall nevei 
 Have tongue to charge me with. 
 
 Lepidus. Soft, Caesar ! 
 
 Antony. No, 
 
 Lepidus, let him speak ; 
 
 The honour is sacred which he talks on now, 
 Supposing that I lack'd it. But, on, Caesar ; 
 The article of my oath. 
 
 Ccesar. To lend me arms and aid when I requir'd them ; 
 The which you both denied. 
 
 Antony. Neglected rather, 
 
54 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 And then when poison'd hours had bound me up 90 
 
 From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may, 
 
 I '11 play the penitent to you ; but mine honesty 
 
 Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power 
 
 Work without it. Truth is, that Fulvia, 
 
 To have me out of Egypt, made wars here ; 
 
 For which myself, the ignorant motive, do 
 
 So far ask pardon as befits mine honour 
 
 To stoop in such a case. 
 
 Lepidus. 'T is noble spoken. 
 
 Mcecenas. If it might please you, to enforce no further 
 The griefs between ye ; to forget them quite 100 
 
 Were to remember that the present need 
 Speaks to atone you. 
 
 Lepidus. Worthily spoken, Maecenas. 
 
 Enobarbus. Or, if you borrow one another's love for the 
 instant, you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey, 
 return it again ; you shall have time to wrangle in when you 
 have nothing else to do. 
 
 Antony. Thou art a soldier only ; speak no more. 
 
 Enobarbus. That truth should be silent I had almost forgot. 
 
 Antony. You wrong this presence; therefore speak no 
 more. 
 
 Enobarbus. Go to, then ; your considerate stone. no 
 
 Ccesar. I do not much dislike the matter, but 
 The manner of his speech; for 't cannot be 
 We shall remain in friendship, our conditions 
 So differing in their acts. Yet, if I knew 
 What hoop should hold us stanch, from edge to edge 
 O' the world I would pursue it. 
 
 Agrippa. Give me leave, Caesar, — 
 
 Ccesar. Speak, Agrippa. 
 
 Agrippa. Thou hast a sister by the mother's side, 
 Admir'd Octavia; great Mark Antony 
 Is now a widower. 
 
ACT IL SCENE II. -- 
 
 Ccesar. Say not so, Agrippa ; I20 
 
 If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof 
 Were well deserv'd of rashness. 
 
 Antony. I am not married, Caesar; let me hear Agrippa 
 further speak. 
 
 Agrippa. To hold you in perpetual amity, 
 To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts 
 With an unslipping knot, take Antony 
 Octavia to his wife ; whose beauty claims 
 No worse a husband than the best of men, 
 Whose virtue and whose general graces speak i 3 o 
 
 That which none else can utter. By this marriage, 
 All little jealousies which now seem great, 
 And all great fears which now import their dangers, 
 Would then be nothing; truths would be tales, ' 
 Where now half tales be truths; her love to both 
 Would each to other and all loves to both 
 Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke, 
 For 't is a studied, not a present thought, 
 By duty ruminated. 
 
 Antony. Will Caesar speak ? 
 
 Ccesar. Not till he hears how Antony is touch 'd i 40 
 
 With what is spoke already. 
 
 Antony. What power is in Agrippa, 
 
 If I would say, 'Agrippa, be it so,' 
 To make this good? 
 
 Ccesar. The power of Caesar, and 
 
 His power unto Octavia. 
 
 Antony. May I never 
 
 To this good purpose, that so fairly shows, 
 Dream of impediment ! — Let me have thy hand ; 
 Further this act of grace, and from this hour 
 The heart of brothers govern in our loves 
 And sway our great designs ! 
 
 Ccesar. There is my hand. 
 
56 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 A sister I bequeath you, whom no brother 150 
 
 Did ever love so dearly ; let her live 
 
 To join our kingdoms and our hearts, and never 
 
 Fly off our loves again ! 
 
 Lepidus. Happily, amen ! 
 
 Antony. I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst Pompey, 
 For he hath laid strange courtesies and great 
 Of late upon me. I must thank him only, 
 Lest my remembrance suffer ill report ; 
 At heel of that, defy him. 
 
 Lepidus. Time calls upon 's; 
 
 Of us must Pompey presently be sought, 
 Or else he seeks out us. 
 
 Antony. Where lies he ? 160 
 
 Ccesar. About the Mount Misenum. 
 
 Antony. What is his strength by land ? 
 
 Ccesar. Great and increasing ; but by sea 
 He is an absolute master. 
 
 Antony. So is the fame. 
 
 Would we had spoke together! Haste we for it; 
 Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we 
 The business we have talk'd of. 
 
 Ccesar. With most gladness; 
 
 And do invite you to my sister's view, 
 Whither straight I '11 lead you. 
 
 Antony. Let us, Lepidus, 
 
 Not lack your company. 
 
 Lepidus. Noble Antony, 170 
 
 Not sickness should detain me. 
 
 [Flourish. Exeunt Ccesar, Antony, and Lepidus. 
 
 Mcecenas. Welcome from Egypt, sir. 
 
 Enobarbus. Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Maecenas ! — 
 My honourable friend, Agrippa ! 
 
 Agrippa. Good Enobarbus ! 
 
 Mcecenas. We have cause to be glad that matters are so 
 well digested. You stay'd well by 't in Egypt. 
 
ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 57 
 
 Enobarbus. Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance, 
 and made the night light with drinking. 
 
 Mcecenas. Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, 
 and but twelve persons there; is this true? 181 
 
 Enobarbus. This was but as a fly by an eagle ; we had 
 much more monstrous matter of feast, which worthily de- 
 served noting. 
 
 Mcecerias. She 's a most triumphant lady, if report be 
 square to her. 
 
 Enobarbus. When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed 
 up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus. 
 
 Agrippa. There she appeared indeed, or my reporter de- 
 vised well for her. 190 
 
 Enobarbus. I will tell you. 
 The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, 
 Burn'd on the water; the poop was beaten gold; 
 Purple the sails, and so perfumed that 
 The winds were love-sick with them ; the oars were silver, 
 Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made 
 The water which they beat to follow faster, 
 As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, 
 It beggar'd all description: she did lie 
 In her pavilion — cloth-of-gold of tissue — 200 
 
 O'erpicturing that Venus where we see 
 The fancy outwork nature ; on each side her 
 Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, 
 With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem 
 To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, 
 And what they undid did. 
 
 Agrippa. O, rare for Antony ! 
 
 Enobarbus. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, 
 So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes, 
 And made their bends adornings ; at the helm 
 A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle 210 
 
 Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, 
 
53 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 That yarely frame the office. From the barge 
 A strange invisible perfume hits the sense 
 Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast 
 Her people out upon her, and Antony, 
 Enthron'd i' the market-place, did sit alone, 
 Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy, 
 Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too 
 And made a gap in nature. 
 
 Agrippa. Rare Egyptian ! 
 
 Enobarbus. Upon her landing, Antony sent to her, 220 
 
 Invited her to supper ; she replied, 
 It should be better he became her guest, 
 Which she entreated. Our courteous Antony, 
 Whom ne'er the word of No ' woman heard speak, 
 Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast, 
 And for his ordinary pays his heart 
 For what his eyes eat only. 
 
 Agrippa. Royal wench ! 
 
 She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed. 
 
 Enobarbus. I saw her once 
 Hop forty paces through the public street; 230 
 
 And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted, 
 That she did make defect perfection, 
 And, breathless, power breathe forth. 
 
 Mcecenas. Now Antony must leave her utterly. 
 
 Enobarbus. Never; he will not. 
 Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
 Her infinite variety : other women cloy 
 The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry 
 Where. most she satisfies; for vilest things 
 Become themselves in her, that the holy priests 240 
 
 Bless her when she is riggish. 
 
 Mcecenas. If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle 
 The heart of Antony, Octavia is 
 A blessed lottery to him. 
 
ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 59 
 
 Agrippa. Let us go. — 
 
 Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest 
 Whilst you abide here. 
 
 Enobarbus. Humbly, sir, I thank you. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. The Same. Ccesar 1 s House. 
 
 Enter Antony, Caesar, Octavia between them, and Attend- 
 ants. 
 
 Antony. The world and my great office will sometimes 
 Divide me from your bosom. 
 
 Octavia. All which time 
 
 Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers 
 To them for you. 
 
 Afitony. Good night, sir. — My Octavia, 
 
 Read not my blemishes in the world's report; 
 I have not kept my square, but that to come 
 Shall all be done by the rule. Good night, dear lady. — 
 Good night, sir. 
 
 Ccesar. Good night. [Exeunt Ccesar and Octavia. 
 
 Enter Soothsayer. 
 
 Antony. Now ! sirrah ; you do wish yourself in Egypt ? 10 
 
 Soothsayer. Would I had never come from thence, nor you 
 thither ! 
 
 Antony. If you can, your reason ? 
 
 Soothsayer. I see it in my motion, have it not in my 
 tongue; but yet hie you to Egypt again. 
 
 Antony. Say to me, whose fortunes shall rise higher, Cae- 
 sar's or mine ? 
 
 Soothsayer. Caesar's. 
 Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side. 
 Thy demon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is 2° 
 
 Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable, 
 Where Caesar's is not ; but near him thy angel 
 
6o ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Becomes a fear, as being o'erpower'd : therefore 
 Make space enough between you. 
 
 Antony. Speak this no more. 
 
 Soothsayer. To none but thee ; no more but when to thee. 
 If thou dost play with him at any game, 
 Thou art sure to lose; and, of that natural luck, 
 He beats thee 'gainst the odds : thy lustre thickens 
 When he shines by. I say again, thy spirit 
 Is all afraid to govern thee near him, 30 
 
 But, he away, 't is noble. 
 
 Antony. Get thee gone ; 
 Say to Ventidius I would speak with him. — 
 
 [Exit Soothsayer. 
 He shall to Parthia. — Be it art or hap, 
 He hath spoken true; the very dice obey him, 
 And in our sports my better cunning faints 
 Under his chance. If we draw lots, he speeds; 
 His cocks do win the battle still of mine, 
 When it is all to nought ; and his quails ever 
 Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds. I will to Egypt; 40 
 
 And though I make this marriage for my peace, 
 I' the east my pleasure lies. — 
 
 Enter Ventidius. 
 
 O, come, Ventidius, 
 You must to Parthia : your commission 's ready; 
 Follow me, and receive % [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. The Same. A Street. 
 Enter Lepidus, Maecenas, and Agrippa. 
 Lepidus. Trouble yourselves no further ; pray you, hasten 
 Your generals after. 
 
 Agrippa. Sir, Mark Antony 
 
 Will e'en but kiss Octavia, and we '11 follow. 
 
ACT II. SCENE V. 6 1 
 
 Lepidus. Till I shall see you in your soldier's dress, 
 Which will become you both, farewell. 
 
 Mcecenas. We shall, 
 
 As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount 
 Before you, Lepidus. 
 
 Lepidus. Your way is shorter ; 
 
 My purposes do draw me much about : 
 
 You '11 win two days upon me. 
 
 Mcecenas. ) „. , 
 
 A -.. r oir, good success ! 
 
 Agrippa. j ' ° 
 
 Lepidus. Farewell. \Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. Alexandria. Cleopatra? s Palace. 
 
 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas. 
 
 Cleopatra. Give me some music; music, moody food 
 Of us that trade in love. 
 
 Attendants. The music, ho ! 
 
 Enter Mardian the Eunuch. 
 
 Cleopatra, Let it alone ; let 's to billiards : come, Charmian. 
 
 Charmian. My arm is sore ; best play with Mardian. 
 
 Cleopatra. As well a woman with an eunuch play'd 
 As with a woman. — Come, you '11 play with me, sir ? 
 
 Mardian. As well as I can, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. And when good will is show'd, though 't come 
 too short, 
 The actor may plead pardon. I '11 none now. — 
 Give me mine angle; we '11 to the river : there, io 
 
 My music playing far off, I will betray 
 Tawny-finn'd fishes; my bended hook shall pierce 
 Their slimy jaws, and, as I draw them up, 
 I '11 think them every one an Antony, 
 And say ' Ah, ha ! you 're caught.' 
 
 Charmian. 'T was merry when 
 
6 2 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 You wager'd on your angling; when your diver 
 Did hang a salt-fish on his hook, which he 
 With fervency drew up. 
 
 Cleopatra. That time, — O times ! — 
 
 I laugh'd him out of patience ; and that night 
 I laugh'd him into patience: and next morn, 20 
 
 Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed; 
 Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst 
 I wore his sword Philippan. — 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 O, from Italy ! 
 Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears, 
 That lon°: time have been barren. 
 
 Messenger. Madam, madam,— 
 
 Cleopatra. Antony 's dead ! — If thou say so, villain, 
 Thou kilPst thy mistress ; but well and free, 
 If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here 
 My bluest veins to kiss, a hand that kings 
 Have lipp'd, and trembled kissing. 30 
 
 Messenger. First, madam, he is well. 
 
 Cleopatra. Why, there 's more gold. 
 
 But, sirrah, mark, we use 
 To say the dead are well ; bring it to that, 
 The gold I give thee will I melt and pour 
 Down thy ill-uttering throat. 
 
 Messenger. Good madam, hear me. 
 
 Cleopatra. Well, go to, I will ; 
 
 But there 's no goodness in thy face. If Antony 
 Be free and healthful, — so tart a favour 
 To trumpet such good tidings ! if not well, 
 Thou shouldst come like a fury crown'd with snakes, 40 
 
 Not like a formal man. 
 
 Messenger. Will 't please you hear me ? 
 
 Cleopatra. I have a mind to strike thee ere thou speak'st : 
 
ACT II. SCENE V. 6 3 
 
 Yet, if thou say Antony lives, is well, 
 Or friends with Caesar, or not captive to him, 
 I '11 set thee in a shower of gold, and hail 
 Rich pearls upon thee. 
 
 Messenger. Madam, he 's well. 
 
 Cleopatra. Well said. 
 
 Messenger. And friends with Caesar. 
 
 Cleopatra. Thou 'rt an honest man. 
 
 Messenger. Caesar and he are greater friends than ever. 
 
 Cleopatra. Make thee a fortune from me. 
 
 Messenger. But yet, madam, — 
 
 Cleopatra. I do not like 'but yet,' it does allay so 
 
 The good precedence; fie upon 'but yet!' 
 ' But yet ' is as a gaoler to bring forth 
 Some monstrous malefactor. Prithee, friend, 
 Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear, 
 The good and bad together: he 's friends with Caesar; 
 In state of health, thou say'st; and thou say'st, free. 
 
 Messenger. Free, madam! no; I made no such report: 
 He 's bound unto Octavia. 
 
 Cleopatra. For what good turn ? 
 
 Messenger. For the best turn i' the bed. 
 
 Cleopatra. I am pale, Charmian. 
 
 Messenger. Madam, he 's married to Octavia. 60 
 
 Cleopatra. The most infectious pestilence upon thee ! 
 
 [Strikes him down. 
 
 Messenger. Good madam, patience. 
 
 Cleopatra. What say you?— Hence, 
 
 [Strikes him again. 
 Horrible villain ! or I '11 spurn thine eyes 
 Like balls before me ; I '11 unhair thy head. 
 
 [She hales him up and down. 
 Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire, and stew'd in brine, 
 Smarting in lingering pickle. 
 
 Messenger. Gracious madam, 
 
 I that do bring the news made not the match. 
 
64 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Cleopatra. Say 't is not so, a province I will give thee, 
 And make thy fortunes proud; the blow thou hadst 
 Shall make thy peace for moving me to rage, 70 
 
 And I will boot thee with what gift beside 
 Thy modesty can beg. 
 
 Messenger. He 's married, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. Rogue, thou hast liv'd too long. 
 
 [Draws a knife. 
 
 Messenger. Nay, then I'll run. — 
 
 What mean you, madam? I have made no fault. [Exit. 
 
 Charmian. Good madam, keep yourself within yourself; 
 The man is innocent. 
 
 Cleopatra. Some innocents scape not the thunderbolt. — 
 Melt Egypt into Nile ! and kindly creatures 
 Turn all to serpents! — Call the slave again; 
 Though I am mad, I will not bite him : call. 80 
 
 Charmian. He is afeard to come. 
 
 Cleopatra. I will not hurt him. 
 
 [Exit Charmian. 
 These hands do lack nobility, that they strike 
 A meaner than myself, since I myself 
 Have given myself the cause. — 
 
 Re-enter Charmian and Messenger. 
 Come hither, sir. 
 Though it be honest, it is never good 
 To bring bad news; give to a gracious message 
 An host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell 
 Themselves when they be felt, b 
 
 Messenger. I have done my duty. 
 
 Cleopatra. Is he married? 
 I cannot hate thee worser than I do, 90 
 
 If thou again say yes. 
 
 Messenger. He 's married, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. The gods confound thee ! dost thou hold there 
 still? 
 
ACT II. SCENE V. 65 
 
 Messenger. Should I lie, madam? 
 
 Cleopatra. O, I would thou didst, 
 
 So half my Egypt were submerg'd and made 
 A cistern for scal'd snakes! Go, get thee hence; 
 Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me 
 Thou wouldst appear most ugly. He is married ? 
 
 Messenger. I crave your highness' pardon. 
 
 Cleopatra, He is married ? 
 
 Messenger, Take no offence that I would not offend you; 
 To punish me for what you make me do 100 
 
 Seems much unequal. He 's married to Octavia. 
 
 Cleopatra. O, that his fault should make a knave of thee, 
 That art not what thou 'rt sure of! — Get thee hence: 
 The merchandise which thou hast brought from Rome 
 Are all too dear for me ; lie they upon thy hand, 
 And be undone by 'em i [Exit Messenger. 
 
 Charmian. Good your highness, patience. 
 
 Cleopatra. In praising Antony, I have disprais'd Caesar. 
 
 Charmian. Many times, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. I am paid for 't now. 
 
 Lead me from hence ; 
 
 I faint. O Iras! Charmian! — 'T is no matter. — no 
 
 Go to the fellow, good Alexas ; bid him 
 Report the feature of Octavia, her years, 
 Her inclination, let him not leave out 
 The colour of her hair: bring me word quickly. — 
 
 [Exit Alexas. 
 Let him for ever go; — let him not — Charmian, 
 Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon, 
 The other way 's a Mars. — Bid you Alexas [To Mardian. 
 Bring me word how tall she is. — Pity me, Charmian, 
 But do not speak to me. — Lead me to my chamber. *" 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 E 
 
66 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Scene VI. Near Misennm. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Pompey and Menas at one side, with drum 
 and trumpet; at another, Cesar, Antony, Lepidus, Eno- 
 barbus, Maecenas, with Soldiers marching. 
 
 Pompey. Your hostages I have, so have you mine; 
 And we shall talk before we fight. 
 
 Ccesar. Most meet 
 
 That first we come to words ; and therefore have we 
 Our written purposes before us sent, 
 Which if thou hast consider'd, let us know 
 If 't will tie up thy discontented sword, 
 And carry back to Sicily much tall youth 
 That else must perish here. 
 
 Pompey. To you all three, 
 
 The senators alone of this great world, 
 
 Chief factors for the gods, I do not know 10 
 
 Wherefore my father should revengers want, 
 Having a son and friends ; since Julius Caesar, 
 Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted, 
 There saw you labouring for him. What was 't 
 That mov'd pale Cassius to conspire, and what 
 Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus, 
 With the arm'd rest, courtiers of beauteous freedom, 
 To drench the Capitol, but that they would 
 Have one man but a man? And that is it 
 Hath made me rig my navy, at whose burthen 2c 
 
 The anger'd ocean foams ; with which I meant 
 To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome 
 Cast on my noble father. 
 
 Ccesar. Take your time. 
 
 Antony. Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy sails ; 
 We '11 speak with thee at sea : at land, thou know'st 
 How much we do o'ercount thee. 
 
ACT II. SCENE VI. 
 
 67 
 
 Pompey. At land, indeed, 
 
 Thou dost o'ercount me of my father's house ; 
 But since the cuckoo builds not for himself, 
 Remain in 't as thou mayst. 
 
 Lepidus. Be pleas'd to tell us — 
 
 For this is from the present — how you take 30 
 
 The offers we have sent you. 
 
 Ccesar, There 's the point. 
 
 Antony. Which do not be entreated to, but weigh 
 What it is worth embrac'd. 
 
 Ccesar. And what may follow, 
 
 To try a larger fortune. 
 
 Pompey. You have made me offer 
 
 Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must 
 Rid all the sea of pirates ; then, to send 
 Measures of wheat to Rome: this greed upon, 
 To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back 
 Our targes undinted. 
 
 Ccesar. \ 
 
 Antony. > That 's our offer. 
 
 Lepidus. ) 
 
 Pompey. Know, then, 
 
 I came before you here a man prepar'd 4a 
 
 To take this offer; but Mark Antony 
 Put me to some impatience. Though I lose 
 The praise of it by telling, you must know, 
 When Csesar and your brother were at blows, 
 Your mother came to Sicily and did find 
 Her welcome friendly. 
 
 Antony. I have heard it, Pompey, 
 
 And am well studied for a liberal thanks 
 Which I do owe you. 
 
 Pompey. Let me have your hand ; 
 
 I did not think, sir, to have met you here. 
 
 Antony. The beds i' the east are soft ; and thanks to you. 
 
6% ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 That call'd me timelier than my purpose hither, 51 
 
 For I have gain'd by 't. 
 
 Ccesar. Since I saw you last, 
 
 There is a change upon you. 
 
 Pompey. Well, I know not 
 
 What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face, 
 But in my bosom shall she never come, 
 To make my heart her vassal. 
 
 Lepidus. Well met here. 
 
 Pompey. I hope so, Lepidus. — Thus we are agreed ; 
 I crave our composition may be written, 
 And seal'd between us. 
 
 Ccesar. That 's the next to do. 
 
 Pompey. We '11 feast each other ere we part, and let 's 60 
 Draw lots who shall begin. 
 
 Antony. That will I, Pompey. 
 
 Pompey. No, Antony, take the lot ; but, first 
 Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery 
 Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar 
 Grew fat with feasting there. 
 
 Antony. You have heard much. 
 
 Pompey. I have fair meanings, sir. 
 
 Anto?iy. And fair words to them. 
 
 Pompey. Then so much have I heard ; 
 And I have heard, Apollodorus carried — 
 
 Enobarbus. No more of that; he did so. 
 
 Pompey. What, I pray you? 
 
 Enobarbus. A certain queen to Caesar in .a mattress. 7° 
 
 Pompey. I know thee now; how far'st thou, soldier? 
 
 Enobarbus. Well ; 
 
 And well am like to do, for I perceive 
 Four feasts are toward. 
 
 Pompey. Let me shake thy hand; 
 
 I never hated thee. I have seen thee fight, 
 When I have envied thy behaviour. 
 
ACT II. SCENE VI. 6 
 
 Enobarbus. gi r 
 
 I never lov'd you much, but I ha' prais'd ye 
 When you have well deserv'd ten times as much 
 As I have said you did. 
 
 Pompey. Enjoy thy plainness, 
 
 It nothing ill becomes thee. — 
 
 Aboard my galley I invite you all. 8o 
 
 Will you lead, lords? 
 
 Ccesar. \ 
 
 Antony. V Show us the way, sir. 
 
 Lepidus. ) 
 
 ^mpey. Come _ 
 
 [Exeunt all but Menas and Enobarbus. 
 
 Menas. {Aside] Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have 
 made this treaty.— You and I have known, sir. 
 
 Enobarbus. At sea, I think. 
 
 Menas. We have, sir. 
 
 Enobarbus. You have done well by water. 
 
 Menas. And you by land. 
 
 Enobarbus. I will praise any man that will praise me; 
 though it cannot be denied what I have done by land. 
 
 Menas. Nor what I have done by water. go 
 
 Enobarbus. Yes, something you can deny for your own 
 safety; you have been a great thief by sea. 
 
 Menas. And you by land. 
 
 Enobarbus. There I deny my land service. But give me 
 your hand, Menas ; if our eyes had authority, here they might 
 take two thieves kissine. 
 
 Menas. All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their hands 
 are. 
 
 Enobarbus. But there is never a fair woman has a true face. 
 Menas. No slander; they steal hearts. IOO 
 
 Enobarbus. We came hither to fight with you. 
 Menas. For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking. 
 Pompey doth this clay laugh away his fortune. 
 
7o 
 
 ANTONY AND C LEO PA TRA. 
 
 Enobarbus. If he do, sure, he cannot weep 't back again. 
 
 Menas. You 've said, sir. We looked not for Mark An- 
 tony here; pray you, is he married to Cleopatra? 
 
 Enobarbus. Caesar's sister is called Octavia. 
 
 Menas. True, sir ; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus. 
 
 Enobarbus. But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius. 
 
 Menas. Pray ye, sir? no 
 
 Enobarbus. 'T is true. 
 
 Metias. Then is Caesar and he for ever knit together. 
 
 Enobarbus. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would 
 not prophesy so. 
 
 Menas. I think the policy of that purpose made more in 
 the marriage than the love of the parties. 
 
 Enobarbus. I think so too; but you shall find, the band 
 that seems to tie their friendship together will be the very 
 strangler of their amity. Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still 
 conversation. 120 
 
 Menas. Who would not have his wife so ? 
 
 Enobarbus. Not he that himself is not so; which is Mark 
 Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the 
 sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Caesar; and, as I said 
 before, that which is the strength of their amity shall prove 
 the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his 
 affection where it is; he married but his occasion here. 
 
 Menas. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard ? 
 I have a health for you. 129 
 
 Enobarbus. I shall take it, sir ; we have used our throats 
 in Egypt. 
 
 Menas. Come, let 's away. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VII. On board Pompefs Galley, off Mis enum. 
 Music plays. Enter two or three Servants with a banquet. 
 
 1 Servant. Here they '11 be, man. Some o' their plants 
 are ill-rooted already; the least wind i' the world will blow 
 them down. 
 
ACT IT. SCENE VII 7I 
 
 2 Servant. Lepidus is high-coloured. 
 
 i Servant. They have made him drink alms-drink. 
 
 2 Servant. As they pinch one another by the disposition, 
 he cries out 'No more;' reconciles them to his entreaty, and 
 himself to the drink. 
 
 i Servant. But it raises the greater war between him and 
 his discretion. I0 
 
 2 Servant. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's 
 fellowship; I had as lief have a reed that will do me no 
 service as a partisan I could not heave. 
 
 i Servant. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be 
 seen to move in 't, are the holes where eyes should be, which 
 pitifully disaster the cheeks. 
 
 A sennet sounded. Enter Cesar, Antony, Lepidus, Pom- 
 pey, Agrtppa, Maecenas, Enobarbus, Menas, with other 
 Captains. 
 
 Antony. [To Ccesar\ Thus do they, sir: they take the flow 
 o' the Nile 
 By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know, 
 By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth 
 Or foison follow. The higher Nilus swells, 2 o 
 
 The more it promises ; as it ebbs, the seedsman 
 Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain, 
 And shortly comes to harvest. 
 
 Lepidus. You 've strange serpents there. 
 
 Antony. Ay, Lepidus. 
 
 Lepidus. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud 
 by the operation of your sun ; so is your crocodile. 
 
 Antony. They are so. 
 
 Pompey. Sit, — and some wine ! — A health to Lepidus ! 
 
 Lepidus. I am not so well as I should be, but I '11 ne'er 
 out. 3I 
 
 Enobarbus. Not till you have slept; I fear me you'll be 
 in till then. 
 
7 2 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Lepidus. Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies' pyra- 
 mises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have 
 heard that. 
 
 Menas. [Aside to Pompey] Pompey, a word. 
 
 Pompey. [Aside to Menas] Say in mine ear : what is 't ? 
 
 Menas. [Aside to Pompey] Forsake thy seat, I do beseech 
 thee, captain, 
 And hear me speak a word. 
 
 Pompey. [Aside to Menas] Forbear me till anon. — This 
 wine for Lepidus ! ax 
 
 Lepidus. What manner o' thing is your crocodile ? 
 
 Antony. It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as 
 it hath breadth; it is just so high as it is, and moves with it 
 own organs; it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the 
 elements once out of it, it transmigrates. 
 
 Lepidus. What colour is it of? 
 
 Antony. Of it own colour too. 
 
 Lepidus. J T is a strange serpent. 
 
 Antony. 'T is so; and the tears of it are wet. 50 
 
 Ccesar. Will this description satisfy him ? 
 
 Antony. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is 
 a very epicure. 
 
 Pompey. [Aside to Menas] Go hang, sir, hang ! Tell me of 
 that ? away ! 
 Do as I bid you. — Where 's this cup I call'd for ? - 
 
 Menas. [Aside to Pompey] If for the sake of merit thou 
 wilt hear me, 
 Rise from thy stool. 
 
 Pompey. [Aside to Menas] I think thou 'rt mad. The mat- 
 ter ? [Rises, and walks aside. 
 
 Menas. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. 
 
 Pompey. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith. What 's 
 else to say ? — 
 Be jolly, lords. 
 
 Antony. These quicksands, Lepidus, 60 
 
 Keep off them, for you sink. 
 
ACT II. SCENE VII. ^ 
 
 Menas. Wilt thou be lord of all the world? 
 
 Pompey. What say'st thou ? 
 
 Menas. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world ? That 's 
 twice. 
 
 Pompey. How should that be ? 
 
 Menas. But entertain it, 
 
 And, though thou think me poor, I am the man 
 Will give thee all the world. 
 
 Pompey. Hast thou drunk well? 
 
 Menas. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. 
 Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove; 
 Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips, 
 Is thine, if thou wilt ha 't. 
 
 Pompey. Show me which way. 70 
 
 Menas. These three world-sharers, these competitors, 
 Are in thy .vessel; let me cut the cable, 
 And, when we are put off, fall to their throats : 
 All there is thine. 
 
 Pompey. Ah, this thou shouldst have done, 
 
 And not have spoke on 't S In me 't is villany ; 
 In thee 't had been good service. Thou must know, 
 'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour; 
 Mine honour, it. Repent that e'er thy tongue 
 Hath so betray'd thine act ; being done unknown, 
 I should have found it afterwards well done, 80 
 
 But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink. 
 
 Menas. [Aside] For this, 
 I '11 never follow thy pall'd fortunes more. 
 Who seeks, and will not take when once 't is offer'd, 
 Shall never find it more. 
 
 Pompey. This health to Lepidus ! 
 
 Antony. Bear him ashore. I '11 pledge it for him, Pom- 
 pey. 
 
 Enobarbns. Here 's to thee, Menas ! 
 
 Menas. Enobarbus, welcome ! 
 
74 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Pompey. Fill till the cup be hid. 
 
 Enobarbus. There 's a strong fellow, Men as. 
 
 [Pointing to the Attendant who carries off Lepidus. 
 
 Menas. Why? 90 
 
 E7iobarbus. A' bears the third part of the world, man ; 
 see'st not ? 
 
 Menas. The third part, then, is drunk; would it were all, 
 That it might go on wheels ! 
 
 Enobarbus. Drink thou; increase the reels. 
 
 Menas. Come. 
 
 Pompey. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast. 
 
 Antony. It ripens towards it. — Strike the vessels, ho ! 
 Here is to Caesar ! 
 
 Ccesar. I could well forbear 't. 
 
 It 's monstrous labour, when I wash my brain, 10c 
 
 And it grows fouler. 
 
 Anto?iy. Be a child o' the time. 
 
 Ccesar. Possess it, I '11 make answer ; 
 But I had rather fast from all four days 
 Than drink so much in one. 
 
 Enobarbus. Ha, my brave emperor ! [To Antony. 
 
 Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals, 
 And celebrate our drink ? 
 
 Pompey. Let 's ha 't, good soldier. 
 
 Antony. Come, let 's all take hands, 
 Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense 
 In soft and delicate Lethe. 
 
 Enobarbus. All take hands. — 
 
 Make battery to our ears with the loud music. no 
 
 The while I '11 place you : then the boy shall sing ; 
 The holding every man shall bear as loud 
 As his strong sides can volley. 
 
 [Music plays. Enobarbus places them hand in hand. 
 
ACT II. SCENE VII 75 
 
 Song. 
 
 Come, thou monarch of the vine, 
 Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne f 
 In thy fats our cares be drown'd, 
 With thy grapes our hairs be crowned 7 
 Cup us, till the world go round, 
 Cup us, till the world go round! 
 
 Ccesar. What would you more ? — Pompey, good night. — 
 Good brother, I2Q 
 
 Let me request you off; our graver business 
 Frowns at this levity. — Gentle lords, let 's part; 
 You see we have burnt our cheeks. Strong Enobarb 
 Is weaker than the wine, and mine own tongue 
 Splits what it speaks ; the wild disguise hath almost 
 Antick'd us all. What needs more words ? Good nipfht. — 
 Good Antony, your hand. 
 
 Pompey. I '11 try you on the shore. 
 
 Antony. And shall, sir; give 's your hand. 
 
 Pompey. O Antony, 
 
 You have my father's house, — but, what? we are friends. 
 Come, down into the boat. 
 
 Enobarbus. Take heed you fall not. — 130 
 
 [Exeunt all but Enobarbus and Menas. 
 Menas, I '11 not on shore. 
 
 Menas. No, to my cabin. — 
 
 These drums ! these trumpets, flutes ! what ! — 
 Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell 
 To these great fellows ; sound and be hang'd, sound out ! 
 
 [Sound a flourish, with drums. 
 
 Enobarbus. Hoo ! says a'. — There 's my cap. 
 
 Menas. Hoo! — Noble captain, come. [Exeunt. 
 

 PROW OF A ROMAN GALLEY. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 Scene I. A Plain in Syria. 
 
 Enter Ventidius as it were in triumph, with Silius, and 
 other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead body of 
 Pacorus borne before him. 
 
 Ventidius. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck; and now 
 Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death 
 Make me revenger. — Bear the king's son's body 
 Before our army. — Thy Pacorus, Orodes, 
 Pays this for Marcus Crassus. 
 
 Silius. Noble Ventidius, 
 
 Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm, 
 The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media, 
 Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither 
 The routed fly : so thy grand captain Antony 
 Shall set thee on triumphant chariots and 10 
 
 Put garlands on thy head. 
 
ACT III. SCENE I. 77 
 
 Ventidius. O Silius, Silius, 
 
 I have done enough: a lower place, note well, 
 May make too great an act; for learn this, Silius, 
 Better to leave undone than by our deed 
 Acquire too high a fame when him we serve 's away. 
 Caesar and Antony have ever won 
 More in their officer than person. Sossius, 
 One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant, 
 For quick accumulation of renown, 
 
 Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour. 20 
 
 Who does i' the wars more than his captain can 
 Becomes his captain's captain; and ambition, 
 The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss 
 Than gain which darkens him. 
 I could do more to do Antonius good, 
 But 't would offend him, and in his offence 
 Should my performance perish. 
 
 Silius. Thou hast, Ventidius, that 
 
 Without the which a soldier, and his sword, 
 Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony ? 
 
 Ventidius. I '11 humbly signify what in his name, 30 
 
 That magical word of war, we have effected; 
 How, with his banners and his well-paid ranks, 
 The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia 
 We have jaded out o' the field. 
 
 Silius. Where is he now ? 
 
 Ventidius. He purposeth to Athens; whither, with what 
 haste 
 The weight we must convey with 's will permit, 
 We shall appear before him. — On, there; pass along ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
78 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Scene II. Rome. An Antechamber in Ccesar's House. 
 Enter Agrippa at one door, Enobarbus at another. 
 
 Agrippa. What, are the brothers parted ? 
 
 Enobarbus. They have dispatch'd with Pompey, he is gone ; 
 The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps 
 To part from Rome; Caesar is sad; and Lepidus, 
 Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled 
 With the green sickness. 
 
 Agrippa. 'T is a noble Lepidus. 
 
 Enobarbus. A very fine one. O, how he loves Caesar I 
 
 Agrippa. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony ! 
 
 Eftobarbus. Caesar? Why, he 's the Jupiter of men. 
 
 Agrippa. What's Antony? The god of Jupiter. 10 
 
 Enobarbus. Spake you of Caesar ? Hoo ! the nonpareil ! 
 
 Agrippa. O Antony ! O thou Arabian bird ! 
 
 Enobarbus. Would you praise Caesar, say, — Caesar; go no 
 further. 
 
 Agrippa. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent 
 praises. 
 
 Enobarbus. But he loves Caesar best ; yet he loves Antony. 
 Hoo ! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot 
 Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, hoo ! 
 His love to Antony. But as for Caesar, 
 Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder. 
 
 Agrippa. Both he loves. 
 
 Enobarbus. Thev are his shards, and he their beetle. 
 [Trumpets within.] So; 20 
 
 This is to horse. — Adieu, noble Agrippa. 
 
 Agrippa. Good fortune, worthy soldier, and farewell. 
 
 Enter Cesar, Antony, Lepidus, and Octavia. 
 
 Antony. No further, sir. 
 
 Ccesar. You take from me a great part of myself; 
 
ACT III. SCENE II. 79 
 
 Use me well in 't. — Sister, prove such a wife 
 
 As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest band 
 
 Shall pass on thy approof. — Most noble Antony, 
 
 Let not the piece of virtue, which is set 
 
 Betwixt us as the cement of our love, 
 
 To keep it builded, be the ram to batter 3Q 
 
 The fortress of it; for better might we 
 
 Have lov'd without this mean, if on both parts 
 
 This be not cherish'd. 
 
 Antony. Make me not offended 
 
 In your distrust. 
 
 Ccesar. I have said. 
 
 Antony. You shall not find, 
 
 Though you be therein curious, the least cause 
 For what you seem to fear. So, the gods keep you, 
 And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends ! 
 We will here part. 
 
 Casar. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well ; 
 The elements be kind to thee, and make 4D 
 
 Thy spirits all of comfort ! fare thee well. 
 
 Odavia. My noble brother! 
 
 Antony. The April 's in her eyes ; it is love's spring, 
 And" these the showers to bring it on. — Be cheerful. 
 
 Octavia. Sir, look well to my husband's house, and — 
 
 Casar. What, 
 
 Octavia ? 
 
 Octavia. I '11 tell you in your ear. 
 
 Antony. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can 
 Her heart inform her tongue, — the swan's down-feather, 
 That stands upon the swell at full of tide, 
 And neither way inclines. 
 
 Enobarbus. [Aside to Agrippa] Will Csesar weep ? so 
 
 Agrippa. [Aside to Enobarbus] He has a cloud in 's face. 
 
 Enobarbus. [Aside to Agrippa] He were the worse for that, 
 were he a horse ; 
 So is he, being a man. 
 
80 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Agrippa. [Aside to Enobarbus] Why, Enobarbus, 
 When Antony found Julius Caesar dead, 
 He cried almost to roaring ; and he wept 
 When at Philippi he found Brutus slain. 
 
 Enobarbus. [Aside to Agrippa] That year, indeed, he was 
 troubled with a rheum ; 
 What willingly he did confound he wail'd, 
 Believe 't, till I wept too. 
 
 Ccesar. No, sweet Octavia, 
 
 You shall hear from me still; the time shall not 60 
 
 Out-go my thinking on you. 
 
 Antony. Come, sir, come; 
 
 I '11 wrestle with you in my strength of love. 
 Look, here I have you ; thus I let you go, 
 And give you to the gods. 
 
 Ccesar. Adieu ; be happy ! 
 
 Lepidus. Let all the number of the stars give light 
 To thy fair way ! 
 
 CcEsar. Farewell, farewell ! [Kisses Octavia. 
 
 Antony. Farewell ! 
 
 [Trumpets sound. Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. Alexandria. Cleopatra \f Palace. 
 
 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas. 
 
 Cleopatra. Where is the fellow? 
 
 Alexas. Half afeard to come. 
 
 Cleopatra. Go to, go to. — 
 
 Enter the Messenger as before. 
 
 Come hither, sir. 
 
 Alexas. Good majesty, 
 
 Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you 
 But when you are well pleas'd. 
 
 Cleopatra. That Herod's head 
 
ACT III. SCENE III. Si 
 
 I '11 have; but how, when Antony is gone 
 
 Through whom I might command it ? — Come thou near. 
 
 Messenger. Most gracious majesty, — 
 
 Cleopatra. Didst thou behold Octavia ? 
 
 Messenger. Ay, dread queen. 
 
 Cleopatra. Where? 10 
 
 Messenger. Madam, in Rome 
 I look'd her in the face, and saw her led 
 Between her brother and Mark Antony. 
 
 Cleopatra. Is she as tall as me? 
 
 Messenger. She is not, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. Didst hear her speak? is she shrill-tongued or 
 low? 
 
 Messenger. Madam, I heard her speak ; she is low-voic'd. 
 
 Cleopatra. That 's not so good; he cannot like her long. 
 
 Charmian. Like her! O Isis! 't is impossible. 
 
 Cleopatra. I think so, Charmian ; dull of tongue, and dwarf- 
 ish !— 
 What majesty is in her gait? Remember, 20 
 
 If e'er thou look'dst on majesty. 
 
 Messenger. She creeps; 
 
 Her motion and her station are as one : 
 She shows a body rather than a life, 
 A statue than a breather. 
 
 Cleopatra. Is this certain ? 
 
 Messenger. Or I have no observance. 
 
 Charmian. Three in Egypt 
 
 Cannot make better note. 
 
 Cleopatra. He 's very knowing, 
 
 I do perceive 't. There 's nothing in her yet. — 
 The fellow has good judgment. 
 
 Charmian. Excellent. 
 
 Cleopatra. Guess at her years, I prithee. 
 
 Messenger. Madam, 
 
 She was a widow, — 
 
 F 
 
8 2 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Cleopatra. Widow! — Charmian, hark. 30 
 
 Messenger. And I do think she 's thirty. 
 
 Cleopatra. Bear'st thou her face in mind ? is 't long or 
 round ? 
 
 Messenger. Round even to faultiness. 
 
 Cleopatra. For the most part, too, they are foolish that are 
 so. — 
 Her hair, what colour? 
 
 Messenger. Brown, madam ; and her forehead 
 As low as she would wish it. 
 
 Cleopatra. There 's gold for thee. 
 
 Thou must not take my former sharpness ill. 
 I will employ thee back again ; I find thee 
 Most fit for business. Go make thee ready; 40 
 
 Our letters are prepar'd. [Exit Messenger. 
 
 Charmian. A proper man. 
 
 Cleopatra. Indeed, he is so ; I repent me much 
 That I so harried him. Why, methinks, by him, 
 This creature 's no such thing. 
 
 Charmian. Nothing, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. The man hath seen some majesty, and should 
 know. 
 
 Charmian. Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend, 
 And serving you so long ! 
 
 Cleopatra. I have one thing more to ask him yet, good 
 Charmian : 
 But 't is no matter; thou shalt bring him to me 
 Where I will write. All may be well enough. 50 
 
 Charmian. I warrant you, madam. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. Athens. A Room in Antony's House, 
 
 Enter Antony and Octavia. 
 
 Antony. Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that, — 
 That were excusable, that, and thousands more 
 
ACT III. SCENE IV. 83 
 
 Of semblable import,— but he hath wag'd 
 
 New wars 'gainst Pompey, made his will and read it 
 
 To public ear, 
 
 Spoke scantly of me. When perforce he could not 
 
 But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly 
 
 He vented them, most narrow measure lent me. 
 
 When the best hint was given him, he not took 't, 
 
 Or did it from his teeth. 
 
 Octavia. O my good lord, 10 
 
 Believe not all ; or, if you must believe, 
 Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady, 
 If this division chance, ne'er stood between, 
 Praying for both parts. 
 The good gods will mock me presently, 
 When I shall pray, ' O, bless my lord and husband !' 
 Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud, 
 1 0, bless my brother !' Husband win, win brother, 
 Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway 
 'Twixt these extremes at all. 
 
 Antony. Gentle Octavia, 20 
 
 Let your best love draw to that point which seeks 
 Best to preserve it. If I lose mine honour, 
 I lose myself; better I were not yours 
 Than yours so branchless. But as you requested, 
 Yourself shall go between 's; the meantime, lady, 
 I '11 raise the preparation of a war 
 Shall stain your brother. Make your soonest haste ; 
 So your desires are yours. 
 
 Octavia. Thanks to my lord. 
 
 The Jove of power make me — most weak, most weak — 
 Your reconciler! Wars 'twixt you twain would be 30 
 
 As if the world would cleave, and that slain men 
 Should solder up the rift. 
 
 Antony. When it appears to you where this begins, 
 Turn your displeasure that way; for our faults 
 
8 4 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Can never be so equal, that your love 
 
 Can equally move with them. Provide your going ; 
 
 Choose your own company, and command what cost 
 
 Your heart has mind to. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. The Same. Another Room. 
 Enter Enobarbus and Eros, meeting. 
 
 Enobarbus. How now, friend Eros ! 
 
 Eros. There 's strange news come, sir. 
 
 Enobarbus. What, man? 
 
 Eros. Caesar and Lepidus have made wars upon Pompey. 
 
 Enobarbus. This is old ; what is the success ? 
 
 Eros. Caesar, having made use of him in the wars 'gainst 
 Pompey, presently denied him rivality, would not let him 
 partake in the glory of the action ; and not resting here, 
 accuses him of letters he had formerly wrote to Pompey; 
 upon his own appeal, seizes him: so the poor third is up, till 
 death enlarge his confine. a 
 
 Enobarbus. Then, world, thou hast a pair of chaps, no more ; 
 And throw between them all the food thou hast, 
 They '11 grind the one the other. Where 's Antony? 
 
 Eros. He 's walking in the garden — thus ; and spurns 
 The rush that lies before him; cries 'Fool Lepidus!' 
 And threats the throat of that his officer 
 That murther'd Pompey. 
 
 Enobarbus. Our great navy 's rigg'd. 
 
 Eros. For Italy and Caesar. More, Domitius; 
 My lord desires you presently; my news 20 
 
 I might have told hereafter. 
 
 Enobarbus. 'T will be nought ; 
 
 But let it be. — Bring me to Antony. 
 
 Eros. Come, sir. [Exeunt. 
 
ACT III. SCENE VI. 
 
 35 
 
 Scene VI. Rome. Ccesar's House. 
 Enter Caesar, Agrippa, a?id Maecenas. 
 
 Ccesar. Contemning Rome, he has done all this, and more, 
 In Alexandria. Here 's the manner oft : 
 V the market-place, on a tribunal silver'd, 
 Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold 
 Were publicly enthron'd ; at the feet sat 
 Caesarion, whom they call my father's son, 
 And all the unlawful issue that their lust 
 Since then hath made between them. Unto her 
 He gave the stablishment of Egypt; made her 
 Of lower Syria, Cypress, Lydia, JO 
 
 Absolute queen. 
 
 Mcecenas. This in the public eye ? 
 
 Ccesar. V the common show-place, where they exercise. 
 His sons he there proclaim'd the kings of kings: 
 Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia, 
 He gave to Alexander; to Ptolemy he assign'd 
 Syria, Cilicia, and Phoenicia. She 
 In the habiliments of the goddess Isis 
 That day appear'd, and oft before gave audience, 
 As 't is reported, so. 
 
 Mcecenas. Let Rome be thus 
 
 In form 'd. 
 
 Agrippa. Who, queTasy with his insolence 2Q 
 
 Already, will their good thoughts call from him. 
 
 Ccesar. The people know it, and have now receiv'd 
 His accusations. 
 
 Agrippa. Who does he accuse ? 
 
 Ccesar. Caesar; and that, having in Sicily 
 Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him 
 His part o' the isle; then does he say, he lent me 
 Some shipping unrestor'd ; lastly, he frets 
 
 */ 
 
86 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 That Lepidus of the triumvirate 
 
 Should be depos'd ; and, being, that we detain 
 
 All his revenue. 
 
 Agrippa. Sir, this should be answer'd. 30 
 
 Ccesar. J T is clone already, and the messenger gone. 
 I have told him, Lepidus was grown too cruel ; 
 That he his high authority abus'd, 
 
 And did deserve his change : for what I have conquer'd, 
 J grant him part; but then, in his Armenia 
 And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I 
 Demand the like. 
 
 Mcecenas. He '11 never yield to that. 
 
 Ccesar. Nor must not then be yielded to in this. 
 
 Enter Octavia with her train. 
 
 Octavia. Hail, Caesar, and my lord ! hail, most dear Caesar ! 
 
 Ccesar. That ever I should call thee castaway ! 40 
 
 Octavia. You have not call'd me so, nor have you cause. 
 
 Cczsar. Why have you stol'n upon us thus? You come not 
 Like Caesar's sister : the wife of Antony 
 Should have an army for an usher, and 
 The neighs of horse to tell of her approach 
 Long ere she did appear ; the trees by the way 
 Should have borne men, and expectation fainted, 
 Longing for what it had not; nay, the dust 
 Should have ascended to the roof of heaven, 
 Rais'd by your populous troops : but you are come 50 
 
 A market-maid to Rome, and have prevented 
 The ostentation of our love, which, left unshown, 
 Is often left unlov'd : we should have met you 
 By sea and land, supplying every stage 
 With an augmented greeting. 
 
 Octavia. Good my lord, 
 
 To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did 
 On my free will. My lord, Mark Antony, 
 
ACT III. SCENE VI. g 7 
 
 Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted 
 My grieved ear withal; whereon, I begg'd 
 His pardon for return. 
 
 Casar. Which soon he granted, 60 
 
 Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him. 
 Octavia. Do not say so, my lord. 
 
 C^ar. I have eyes upon him, 
 
 And his affairs come to me on the wind. 
 Where is he now ? 
 
 Octavia. My lord, in Athens. 
 
 Ccesar. No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra 
 Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire 
 Up to a whore ; who now are levying 
 The kings o' the earth for war. He hath assembled 
 Bocchus, the king of Libya; Archelaus 
 
 Of Cappadocia ; Philadelphos, king 70 
 
 Of Paphlagonia; the Thracian king, Adallas; 
 King Malchus of Arabia; King of Pont; 
 Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king 
 Of Comagene; Polemon and Amyntas, 
 The kings of Mede and Lycaonia, 
 With a more larger list of sceptres. 
 ^ Octavia. Ay me, most wretched, 
 
 That have my heart parted betwixt two friends 
 That do afflict each other! 
 
 Ccesar. Welcome hither: 
 
 Your letters did withhold our breaking forth, 
 Till we perceiv'd both how you were wrong led 80 
 
 And we in negligent danger. Cheer your heart; 
 Be you not troubled with the time, which drives 
 O'er your content these strong necessities, 
 But let determin'd things to destiny 
 Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome; 
 Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd 
 Beyond the mark of thought; and the high gods, 
 
88 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 To do you justice, make them ministers 
 
 Of us and those that love you. Best of comfort, 
 
 And ever welcome to us. 
 
 Agrippa. Welcome, lady. 9 o 
 
 Mcecenas. Welcome, dear madam. 
 Each heart in Rome does love and pity you; 
 Only the adulterous Antony, most large 
 In his abominations, turns you off, 
 Ny/ And gives his potent regiment to a trull, 
 That noises it against us. 
 
 Octavia. Is it so, sir? 
 
 Ccesar. Most certain. Sister, welcome ; pray you, 
 Be ever known to patience. My dear'st sister ! [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VII. Near Actium. Antony's Camp. 
 Efiter Cleopatra and Enobarbus. 
 
 Cleopatra. I will be even with thee, doubt it not. 
 
 Enobarbus. But why, why, why? 
 
 Cleopatra. Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars, 
 And say'st it is not fit. 
 
 Enobarbus. Well, is it, is it? 
 
 Cleopatra. Is \ not denounc'd against us? why should not we 
 Be there in person ? 
 
 E?tobarbus. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony; 
 Take from his heart, take from his brain, from 's time, 
 What should not then be spar'd. He is already 
 Traduc'd for levity, and 't is said in Rome 10 
 
 That Photinus, an eunuch, and your maids 
 Manage this war. 
 
 Cleopatra. Sink Rome, and their tongues rot 
 
 That speak against us ! A charge we bear i' the war, 
 And, as the president of my kingdom, will 
 Appear there for a man. Speak not against it; 
 I will not stay behind. 
 
ACT III. SCENE VII 
 
 89 
 
 Enobarbus. Nay, I have done. 
 
 Here comes the emperor. 
 
 Enter Antony and Canidius. 
 
 Antony. Is it not strange, Canidius, 
 
 That from Tarentum and Brundusium 
 He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea, 
 And take in Toryne? — You have heard on ? t, sweet? 2a 
 
 Cleopatra. Celerity is never more admir'd 
 Than by the negligent. 
 
 Antony. A good rebuke, 
 
 Which might have well becom'd the best of men, 
 To taunt at slackness. — Canidius, we 
 Will fight with him by sea. 
 
 Cleopatra. By sea! what else? 
 
 Canidius. Why will my lord do so? 
 
 Antony. For that he dares us to 't. 
 
 Enobarbus. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight. 
 
 Canidius. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia, 
 Where Caesar fought with Pompey ; but these offers, 
 Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off, 30 
 
 And so should you. 
 
 Enoba?-bus. Your ships are not well mann'd ; 
 
 Your mariners are muleters, reapers, people 
 Ingross'd by swift impress ; in Caesar's fleet 
 Are those that often have 'gainst Pompey fought. 
 Their ships are yare, yours heavy; no disgrace 
 Shall fall you for refusing him at sea, 
 Being prepar'd for land. 
 
 Antony. By sea, by sea. 
 
 Enobarbus. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away 
 The absolute soldiership you have by land; 
 Distract your army, which doth most consist 4° 
 
 Of war-mark'd footmen, leave unexecuted 
 Your own renowned knowledge, quite forego 
 
9 o ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 The way which promises assurance, and 
 Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard 
 From firm security. 
 
 Antony. I '11 fight at sea. 
 
 Cleopatra. I have sixty sails, Caesar none better. 
 
 Antony. Our overplus of shipping will we burn ; 
 And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium 
 Beat the approaching Caesar. But if we fail, 
 We then can do 't at land. — 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Thy business? so 
 
 Messenger. The news is true, my lord ; he is descried ; 
 Caesar has taken Toryne. 
 
 Antony. Can he be there in person? 't is impossible; 
 Strange that his power should be. — Canidius, 
 Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land, 
 And our twelve thousand horse. We'll to our ship; 
 Away, my Thetis ! — 
 
 Enter a Soldier. 
 How, now, worthy soldier? 
 
 Soldier. O noble emperor, do not fight by sea ; 
 Trust not to rotten planks. Do you misdoubt 
 This sword and these my wounds? Let the Egyptians 60 
 And the Phoenicians go a-ducking; we 
 Have us'd to conquer, standing on the earth 
 And fighting foot to foot. 
 
 Antony. Well, well. — Away ! 
 
 [Exeunt Antony, Cleopatra, and Enobarbus. 
 
 Soldier. By Hercules, I think I am i' the right. 
 
 Canidius. Soldier, thou art; but his whole action grows 
 Not in the power on 't : so our leader 's led, 
 And we are women's men. 
 
 Soldier. You keep by land 
 
 The legions and the horse whole, do you not ? 
 
ACT III. SCENES VIII. AND IX. 
 
 Canidius. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius, 
 'Publicola, and Caelius, are for sea, 
 But we keep whole by land. This speed of Oesar's 
 Carries beyond belief. 
 
 Soldier. While he was yet in Rome, 
 
 His power went out in such distractions as 
 Beguil'd all spies. 
 
 Canidius. Who 's his lieutenant, hear you ? 
 
 Soldier. They say, one Taurus. 
 
 Canidius - Well I know the man. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 Messenger. The emperor calls Canidius. 
 Canidius. With news the time 's with labour, and throes 
 forth 
 
 Each minute some. r r 
 
 Y&xeunt. 
 
 Scene VIII. A Plain near Actium. 
 Enter Cesar, and Taurus, with his army, marching. 
 Cczsar. Taurus! 
 Taurus. My lord ! 
 
 Casar. Strike not by land; keep whole: provoke not bat- 
 tle, 
 Till we have done at sea. Do not exceed 
 The prescript of this scroll; our fortune lies 
 Upon this jump. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IX. Another Part of the Plain. 
 Enter Antony and Enobarbus. 
 Antony. Set we our squadrons on yond side o' the hill, 
 In eye of Cassar's battle; from which place 
 We may the number of the ships behold, 
 And so proceed accordingly. [Exeunt. 
 
92 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 Scene X. Another Part of the Plain. 
 
 Canidius marcheth with his land army one way over the stage; 
 and Taurus, the lieutenant of Caesar, the other way. After 
 their going in, is heard the noise of a sea-fight. 
 
 Alarum. Enter Enobarbus. 
 Enobarbus. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no 
 longer : 
 The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral, 
 With all their sixty, fly and turn the rudder; 
 To see 't mine eyes are blasted. 
 
 E7iter Scarus. 
 
 Scarus. Gods and goddesses, 
 
 All the whole synod of them ! 
 
 Enobarbus. What 's thy passion? 
 
 Scarus. The greater cantle of the world is lost 
 With very ignorance; we have kiss'd away 
 Kingdoms and provinces. 
 
 Enobarbus. How appears the fight? 
 
 Scarus. On our side like the token'd pestilence, 
 Where death is sure. Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt, — 10 
 Whom leprosy o'ertake ! — i' the midst o' the fight, 
 When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd, 
 Both as the same, or rather ours the elder, 
 The brize upon her, like a cow in June, 
 Hoists sails and flies. 
 
 Enobarbus. That I beheld ; 
 
 Mine eyes did sicken at the sight, and could not 
 Endure a further view. 
 
 Scarus. She once being loofd, 
 
 The noble ruin of her magic, Antony, 
 Claps on his sea-wing, and, like a doting mallard, 
 Leaving the fight in height, flies after her. 20 
 
ACT III. SCENE XL 93 
 
 I never saw an action of such shame; 
 Experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before 
 Did violate so itself. 
 
 Enobarbus. Alack, alack ! 
 
 Enter Canidius. 
 
 Canidius. Our fortune on the sea is out of breath, 
 And sinks most lamentably. Had our general 
 Been what he knew himself, it had gone well. 
 O, he has given example for our flight 
 Most grossly by his own ! 
 
 Enobarbus. Ay, are you thereabouts? 
 
 Why, then, good night indeed. 
 
 Canidius. Toward Peloponnesus are they fled. 3 o 
 
 Scarus. 'T is easy to 't ; and there I will attend 
 What further comes. 
 
 Canidius. To Caesar will I render 
 
 My legions and my horse ; six kings already 
 Show me the way of yielding. 
 
 Enobarbus. I '11 yet follow 
 
 The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason 
 Sits in the wind against me. {Exeunt. 
 
 Scene XI. Alexandria. Cleopatra's Palace. 
 Enter Antony with Attendants. 
 
 Antony. Hark ! the land bids me tread no more upon 't; 
 It is asham'd to bear me! — Friends, come hither; 
 I am so lated in the world, that I 
 Have lost my way for ever. — I have a ship 
 Laden with gold ; take that, divide it ; fly, 
 And make your peace with Caesar. 
 
 -4#- Fly! not we. 
 
 Antony. I have fled myself, and have instructed cowards 
 To run and show their shoulders.— Friends, be gone; 
 
94 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 I have myself resolv'd upon a course 
 
 Which has no need of you; be gone. 10 
 
 My treasure 's in the harbour, take it. — O, 
 
 I follow'd that I blush to look upon ; 
 
 My very hairs do mutiny, for the white 
 
 Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them 
 
 For fear and doting. — Friends, be gone; you shall 
 
 Have letters from me to some friends that will 
 
 Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad, 
 
 Nor make replies of loathness : take the hint 
 
 Which my despair proclaims ; let that be left 
 
 Which leaves itself: to the sea-side straightway. 20 
 
 I will possess you of that ship and treasure. 
 
 Leave me, I pray, a little ; pray you now. — 
 
 Nay, do so; for indeed I have lost command, 
 
 Therefore I pray you. I '11 see you by and by. [Sits down. 
 
 Enter Cleopatra led by Charmian and Iras ; Eros follow- 
 ing. 
 
 Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him, comfort him. 
 
 Iras. Do, most dear queen. 
 
 Charmian. Do! why, what else? 
 
 Cleopatra. Let me sit down. O Juno! 
 
 Antony. No, no, no, no, no. 
 
 Eros. See you here, sir ? 30 
 
 Antony. O fie, fie, fie ! 
 
 Charmian. Madam! 
 
 Iras. Madam, O good empress! 
 
 Eros. Sir, sir, — 
 
 Antony. Yes, my lord, yes; he at Philippi kept 
 His sword e'en like a dancer, while I struck 
 The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and 't was I 
 That the mad Brutus ended: he alone 
 Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had 
 In the brave squares of war; yet now — No matter, 40 
 
ACT III. SCENE XI. 95 
 
 Cleopatra. Ah, stand by ! 
 
 Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen. 
 
 Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him ; 
 He is unqualified with very shame. 
 
 Cleopatra. Well then, sustain me; — 0! 
 
 Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches. 
 Her head 's declin'd, and death will seize her, but 
 Your comfort makes the rescue. 
 
 Antony. I have offended reputation, 
 A most unnoble swerving. 
 
 Eros. Sir, the queen. 50 
 
 Antony. O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See, 
 How I convey my shame out of thine eyes 
 By looking back what I have left behind 
 Stroy'd in dishonour. 
 
 Cleopatra. O my lord, my lord, 
 
 Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought 
 You would have follow'd. 
 
 Antony. Egypt, thou knew'st too weli 
 
 My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings, 
 And thou shouldst tow me after ; o'er my spirit 
 Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that 
 Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods <* 
 
 Command me. 
 
 Cleopatra. O, my pardon ! 
 
 Antojiy. Now I must 
 
 To the young man send humble treaties, dodge 
 And palter in the shifts of lowness, who 
 With half the bulk o* the world play'd as I pleas'd, 
 Making and marring fortunes. You did know 
 How much you were my conqueror, and that 
 My sword, made weak by my affection, would 
 Obey it on all cause. 
 
 Cleopatra. Pardon, pardon ! 
 
 Antony. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates 
 
9 6 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 All that is won and lost. Give me a kiss ; 70 
 
 Even this repays me. — We sent our schoolmaster < 
 
 Is he come back ? — Love, I am full of lead. — 
 
 Some wine, within there, and our viands ! — Fortune knows 
 
 We scorn her most when most she offers blows. [Exeunt 
 
 Scene XII. Egypt. Ccesar's Camp. 
 Enter Cesar, Dolabella, Thyreus, with others. 
 
 Ccesar. Let him appear that 's come from Antony. — 
 Know you him? 
 
 Dolabella. Caesar, 't is his schoolmaster; 
 
 An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither 
 He sends so poor a pinion of his wing, 
 Which had superfluous kings for messengers 
 Not many moons gone by. 
 
 Enter Euphronius, Ambassador from Antony. 
 
 Ccesar. Approach, and speak. 
 
 Euphronius. Such as I am, I come from Antony; 
 I was of late as petty to his ends 
 As is the morn-dew on the myrtle-leaf 
 To his grand sea. 
 
 Ccesar. Be 't so ; declare thine office. 
 
 Euphronius. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and 
 Requires to live in Egypt; which not granted, 
 He lessens his requests, and to thee sues 
 To let him breathe between the heavens and earth, 
 A private man in Athens : this for him. 
 Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness, 
 Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves 
 The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs, 
 Now hazarded to thy grace. 
 
 Ccesar. For Antony, 
 
 I have no ears to his request. The queen 
 
ACT III. SCENE XIII. gy 
 
 Of audience nor desire shall fail, so she 
 From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend, 
 Or take his life there ; this if she perform, 
 She shall not sue unheard. So to them both. 
 
 Euphronius. Fortune pursue thee ! 
 
 Ccesar. Bring him through the bands. — 
 
 [Exit Euphronius. 
 [To Tkyreus] To try thy eloquence, now 't is time; dispatch. 
 From Antony win Cleopatra : promise, 
 And in our name, what she requires; add more, 
 From thine invention, offers. Women are not 
 In their best fortunes strong; but want will perjure 3 o 
 
 The ne'er-touch'd vestal. Try thy cunning, Thyreus; 
 Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we 
 Will answer as a law. 
 
 Tkyreus. Cagsar, I go. 
 
 Ccesar. Observe how Antony becomes his flaw, 
 And what thou think'st his very action speaks 
 In every power that moves. 
 
 Tkyreus. Cassar, I shall. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene XIII. Alexandria. Cleopatra's Palace. 
 Enter Cleopatra, Enobarbus, C harm i an, and Iras. 
 
 Cleopatra. What shall we do, Enobarbus ? 
 
 Enobarbus. Think, and die. 
 
 Cleopat?'a. Is Antony or we in fault for this? 
 
 Enobarbus. Antony only, that would make his will 
 Lord of his reason. What though you fled 
 From that great face of war, whose several ranges 
 Frighted each other? why should he follow? 
 The itch of his affection should not then 
 Have nick'd his captainship ; at such a point, 
 When half to half the world oppos'd, he being 
 The mered question. 'T was a shame no less 10 
 
 G 
 
9 8 AiVTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Than was his loss, to course your flying flags, 
 And leave his navy gazing. 
 
 Cleopatra. Prithee, peace. 
 
 Enter Antony with Euphronius, the Ambassador. 
 
 Antony. Is that his answer? 
 Euphronius. Ay, my lord. 
 
 Antony. The queen shall then have courtesy, so she 
 Will yield us up. 
 
 Euphronius. He says so. 
 Antony. Let her know 't. 
 
 To the boy Caesar send this grizzled head, 
 And he will fill thy wishes to the brim 
 With principalities. 
 
 Cleopatra. That head, my lord ? 
 
 Antony. To him again. Tell him he wears the rose 20 
 Of youth upon him, from which the world should note 
 Something particular : his coin, ships, legions, 
 May be a coward's, whose ministers would prevail 
 Under the service of a child as soon 
 As i' the command of Caesar. I dare him therefore 
 To lay his gay comparisons apart, 
 And answer me declin'd, sword against sword, 
 Ourselves alone. I '11 write it ; follow me. 
 
 [Exeunt Antony and Euphronius. 
 Enobarbus. [Aside] Yes, like enough, high-battled Caesar 
 will 
 Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show, 30 
 
 Against a sworder ! I see men's judgments are 
 A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward 
 Do draw the inward quality after them, 
 To suffer all alike. That he should dream, 
 Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will 
 Answer his emptiness ! — Caesar, thou hast subdued 
 His judgment too. 
 
ACT III SCENE XIII. gg 
 
 Enter an Attendant. 
 
 Attendant. A messenger from Caesar. 
 
 Cleopatra. What, no more ceremony ? — See, my women ! 
 
 Against the blown rose may they stop their nose 
 That kneel'd unto the buds.— Admit him, sir. 40 
 
 [Exit Attendant. 
 
 Enobarbus. [Aside] Mine honesty and I begin to square. 
 The loyalty well held to fools does make 
 Our faith mere folly; yet he that can endure 
 To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord 
 Does conquer him that did his master conquer, 
 And earns a place i' the story. 
 
 Enter Thyreus. 
 
 Cleopatra. Caesar's will ? 
 
 Thyreus. Hear it apart. 
 
 Cleopatra. None but friends; say boldly. 
 
 Thyreus. So, haply, are they friends to Antony. 
 
 Enobarbus. He needs as many, sir, as Caesar has, 
 Or needs not us. If Caesar please, our master 5 o 
 
 Will leap to be his friend ; for us, you know 
 Whose he is we are, and that is Caesar's. 
 
 Thyreus. So.— 
 
 Thus then, thou most renown'd : Caesar entreats, 
 Not to consider in what case thou stand'st, 
 Further than he is Caesar. 
 
 Cleopatra. Go on ; right royal. • 
 
 Thyreus. He knows that you embrace not Antony 
 As you did love, but as you fear'd him. 
 
 Cleopatra. O ! 
 
 Thyreus. The scars upon your honour, therefore, he 
 Does pity, as constrained blemishes, 
 Not as deserv'd. 
 
 Cleopatra. He is a god, and knows 60 
 
 * . * 
 
IOO ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 What is most right; mine honour was not yielded, 
 But conquer'd merely. 
 
 Enobarbus. [Aside] To be sure of that, 
 I will ask Antony. — Sir, sir, thou art so leaky, 
 That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for 
 Thy dearest quit thee. [Exit. 
 
 Thyreus. Shall I say to Caesar 
 
 What you require of him ? for he partly begs 
 To be desir'd to give. It much would please him, 
 That of his fortunes you should make a staff 
 To lean upon ; but it would warm his spirits, 
 To hear from me you had left Antony, 7° 
 
 And put yourself under his shroud, 
 The universal landlord. 
 
 Cleopatra. What 's your name ? 
 
 Thyreus. My name is Thyreus. 
 
 Cleopatra. Most kind messenger, 
 
 Say to great Caesar this : in deputation 
 I kiss his conquering hand ; tell him, I am prompt 
 To lay my crown at 's feet, and there to kneel ; 
 Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear 
 The doom of Egypt. 
 
 Thyreus. 'T is your noblest course. 
 
 Wisdom and fortune combating together, 
 If that the former dare but what it can, So 
 
 No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay 
 My duty on your hand. 
 
 Cleopatra. Your Caesar's father oft, 
 
 When he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in, 
 Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place, 
 As it rain'd kisses. 
 
 Re-enter Antony and Enobarbus. 
 Antony. Favours, by Jove that thunders ! — 
 
 What art thou, fellow ? 
 
ACT III. SCENE XIII. IO i 
 
 Thyreus. One that but performs 
 
 The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest 
 To have command obey'd. 
 
 E?iobarbus. [Aside] You will be whipp'd. 
 
 Ajito?iy. Approach, there ! — Ah, you kite ! — Now, gods and 
 devils ! 
 Authority melts from me ; of late, when I cried ' Ho !' 90 
 
 Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth, 
 And cry 'Your will ?' Have you no ears ? I am 
 Antony yet. 
 
 Enter Attendants. 
 
 Take hence this Jack, and whip him. 
 
 Enobarlms. [Aside] 'T is better playing with a lion's whelp 
 Than with an old one dying. 
 
 Antony. Moon and stars ! 
 
 Whip him. — Were 't twenty of the greatest tributaries 
 That do acknowledge Caesar, should I find them 
 So saucy with the hand of she here, — what's her name, 
 Since she was Cleopatra? — Whip him, fellows, 
 Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face, 100 
 
 And whine aloud for mercy. Take him hence. 
 
 Thyreus. Mark Antony ! 
 
 Antony. Tug him away; being whipp'd, 
 
 Bring him again : the Jack of Caesar's shall 
 Bear us an errand to him. — 
 
 [Exeunt Attendants with Thyreus. 
 You were half blasted ere I knew you; ha ! 
 Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome, 
 Forborne the getting of a lawful race, 
 And by a gem of women, to be abus'd 
 By one that looks on feeders ? 
 
 Cleopatra. Good my lord, — 
 
 Antony. You have been a boggier ever; no 
 
 But when we in our viciousness grow hard — 
 O misery on 't !— the wise gods seel our eyes, 
 
102 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TRA. 
 
 In our own filth drop our clear judgments ; make us 
 Adore our errors, laugh at 's while we strut 
 To our confusion. 
 
 Cleopatra. O, is 't come to this ? 
 
 A?itony. I found you as a morsel cold upon 
 Dead Caesar's trencher; nay, you were a fragment 
 Of Cneius Pompey's • besides what hotter hours, 
 Unregistered in vulgar fame, you have 
 
 Luxuriously pick'd out : for, I am sure, 120 
 
 Though you can guess what temperance should be, 
 You know not what it is. 
 
 Cleopatra. Wherefore is this ? 
 
 A?itony. To let a fellow that will take rewards 
 And say ' God quit you !' be familiar with 
 My playfellow, your hand, this kingly seal 
 And plighter of high hearts !— O, that I were 
 Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar 
 The horned herd 1 for I have savage cause ; 
 And to proclaim it civilly, were like 
 
 A halter'd neck which does the hangman thank 130 
 
 For being yare about him. — 
 
 Re-enter Attendants with Thyreus. 
 Is he whipp'd ? 
 
 1 Attendant. Soundly, my lord. 
 
 Antony. Cried he ? and begg'd a' pardon ? 
 
 1 Attendant. He did ask favour. 
 
 Antony. If that thy father live, let him repent 
 Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry 
 To follow Caesar in his triumph, since 
 Thou hast been whipp'd for following him : henceforth 
 The white hand of a lady fever thee, 
 Shake thou to look on 't. — Get thee back to Caesar, 
 Tell him thy entertainment : look, thou say 140 
 
 He makes me angry with him; for he seems 
 
ACT III. SCENE XIII. 1Q7i 
 
 Proud and disdainful, harping on what I am, 
 
 Not what he knew I was. He makes me angry; 
 
 And at this time most easy 't is to do 't, 
 
 When my good stars that were my former guides 
 
 Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires 
 
 Into the abysm of hell. If he mislike 
 
 My speech and what is done, tell him he has 
 
 Hipparchus, my enfranchis'd bondman, whom 
 
 He may at pleasure whip, or hang, or torture, 150 
 
 As he shall like, to quit me. Urge it thou ; 
 
 Hence with thy stripes, begone ! [Exit Thyreus. 
 
 Cleopatra. Have you done yet? 
 
 Antony. Alack, our terrene moon 
 
 Is now eclips'd ; and it portends alone 
 The fall of Antony ! 
 
 Cleopatra. I must stay his time. 
 
 Antony. To flatter Caesar, would you mingle eyes 
 With one that ties his points? 
 
 Cleopatra. Not know me yet? 
 
 Antony. Cold-hearted toward me ? 
 
 Cleopatra. Ah, dear, if I be so, 
 
 From my cold heart let heaven engender hail, 
 And poison it in the source, and the first stone 160 
 
 Drop in my neck ; as it determines, so 
 Dissolve my life ! The next Caesarion smite ! 
 Till by degrees the memory of my womb, 
 Together with my brave Egyptians all, 
 By the discandying of this pelleted storm, 
 Lie graveless, till the flies and gnats of Nile 
 Have buried them for prey ! 
 
 Antony. I am satisfied. 
 
 Caesar sits down in Alexandria, where 
 I will oppose his fate. Our force by land 
 Hath nobly held; our sever'd navy too 170 
 
 Have knit again, and fleet, threatening most sea-like. 
 
104 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Where hast thou been, my heart ? — Dost thou hear, lady ? 
 If from the field I shall return once more 
 To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood; 
 I and my sword will earn our chronicle : 
 There 's hope in 't yet. 
 
 Cleopatra. That 's my brave lord ! 
 
 Antony. I will be treble-sinew'd, hearted, breath'd, 
 And fight maliciously: for when mine hours 
 Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives 180 
 
 Of me for jests; but now I '11 set my teeth, 
 And send to darkness all that stop me. — Come, 
 Let 's have one other gaudy night. — Call to me 
 All my sad captains; fill our bowls once more; 
 Let 's mock the midnight bell. 
 
 Cleopatra. It is my birthday: 
 
 I had thought to have held it poor; but, since my lord 
 Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra. 
 
 Antony. We will yet do well. 
 
 Cleopatra. Call all his noble captains to my lord. 
 
 Antony. Do so, we '11 speak to them ; and to-night I '11 
 force 190 
 
 The wine peep through their scars. — Come on, my queen; 
 There 's sap in 't yet. The next time I do fight 
 I '11 make death love me, for I will contend 
 Even with his pestilent scythe. [Exeunt all but Enobarbns. 
 
 Enobarbus. Now he '11 outstare the lightning. To be furi- 
 ous 
 Is to be frighted out of fear, and in that mood 
 The dove will peck the estridge ; and I see still, 
 A diminution in our captain's brain 
 Restores his heart; when valour preys on reason, 
 It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek 20c 
 
 Some way to leave him. [Exit. 
 
RUINS OF AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PALACE. 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 Scene I. Before Alexandria. Ccesar's Camp. 
 
 Enter Cesar, Agrippa, and Maecenas, with his Army; 
 
 Caesar reading a letter. 
 
 CcBsar. He calls me boy, and chides as he had power 
 To beat me out of Egypt; my messenger 
 He hath whipp'd with rods, dares me to personal combat, 
 Caesar to Antony. Let the old ruffian know 
 I have many other ways to die, meantime 
 Laugh at his challenge. 
 
 Maecenas. Caesar must think, 
 
 When one so great begins to rage, he 's hunted 
 Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now 
 Make boot of his distraction ; never anser 
 Made good guard for itself. 
 
io 6 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Ccesar. Let our best heads 10 
 
 Know that to-morrow the last of many battles 
 We mean to fight. Within our files there are, 
 Of those that serv'd Mark Antony but late, 
 Enough to fetch him in. See it done : 
 And feast the army; we have store to do 't, 
 And they have earn'd the waste. Poor Antony! [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. Alexandi'ia. Cleopatra's Palace. 
 
 Enter Antony, Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, Iras, 
 Alex as, with others. 
 
 Antony. He will not fight with me, Domitius. 
 
 Enobarbus. No. 
 
 Antony. Why should he not? 
 
 Enobarbus. He thinks, being twenty times of better fortune, 
 He is twenty men to one. 
 
 Anto?iy. To-morrow, soldier, 
 
 By sea and land I '11 fight; or I will live, 
 Or bathe my dying honour in the blood 
 Shall make it live again. Woo't thou fight well? 
 
 Enobarbus. I '11 strike, and cry ' Take all.' 
 
 Antony. Well said ; come on. — 
 
 Call forth my household servants; let 's to-night 
 Be bounteous at our meal. — 
 
 Enter three or four Servitors. 
 
 Give me thy hand, ig 
 
 Thou hast been rightly honest ; — so hast thou ; — 
 Thou, — and thou, — and thou : — you have serv'd me well, 
 And kings have been your fellows. 
 
 Cleopatra. [Aside to Enobarbus] What means this? 
 Enobarbus. [Aside to Cleopatra] 'T is one of those odd 
 tricks which sorrow shoots 
 Out of the mind. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE II. 
 
 107 
 
 Antony. And thou art honest too. 
 
 I wish I could be made so many men, 
 And all of you clapp'd up together in 
 An Antony, that I might do you service 
 So good as you have done. 
 
 All. The gods forbid ! 
 
 Antony. Well, my good fellows, wait on me to-night ; 20 
 Scant not my cups, and make as much of me 
 As when my empire was your fellow too, 
 And suffer'd m\ r command. 
 
 Cleopatra. [Aside to Enobarbus'] What does he mean ? 
 
 Enobarbus. [Aside to Cleopatra] To make his followers 
 weep. 
 
 Antony. Tend me to night ; 
 
 May be it is the period of your duty. 
 Haply you shall not see me more; or if, 
 A mangled shadow: perchance to-morrow 
 You '11 serve another master. I look on you 
 As one that takes his leave. Mine honest friends, 
 I turn you not away; but, like a master 30 
 
 Married to your good service, stay till death. 
 Tend me to-night two hours, I ask no more, 
 And the gods yield you for 't ! 
 
 Enobarbus. What mean you, sir, 
 
 To give them this discomfort? Look, they weep; 
 And I, an ass, am onion-eyed. For shame, 
 Transform us not to women. 
 
 Antony. Ho, ho, ho ! 
 
 Now the witch take me if I meant it thus! 
 Grace grow where those drops foil ! My hearty friends, 
 You take me in too dolorous a sense ; 
 
 For I spake to you for your comfort, did desire you 40 
 
 To burn this night with torches. Know, my hearts, 
 I hope well of to-morrow, and will lead you 
 Where rather I '11 expect victorious life 
 
io 8 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Than death and honour. Let 's to supper, come, 
 
 And drown consideration. [Exeunt 
 
 Scene III. The Same. Before the Palace. 
 
 Enter two Soldiers to their guard. 
 
 i Soldier. Brother, good night; to-morrow is the day. 
 2 Soldier. It will determine one way; fare you well. 
 Heard you of nothing strange about the streets? 
 i Soldier. Nothing. What news? 
 
 2 Soldier. Belike 't is but a rumour. Good night to you. 
 i Soldier. Well, sir, good night. 
 
 Enter two other Soldiers. 
 
 2 Soldier. Soldiers, have careful watch. 
 
 3 Soldier. And you. Good night, good night. 
 
 [They place themselves in every corner of the stage. 
 
 4 Soldier. Here we ; and if to-morrow 
 
 Our navy thrive, I have an absolute hope ic 
 
 Our landmen will stand up. 
 
 3 Soldier. 'T is a brave army, 
 And full of purpose. 
 
 [ Mu sic of the hautboys as under the stage. 
 
 4 Soldier. Peace ! what noise ? 
 
 i Soldier. List, list ! 
 
 2 Soldier. Hark ! 
 
 i Soldier. Music i' the air. 
 
 3 Soldier. Under the earth. 
 
 4 Soldier. It signs well, does it not ? 
 
 3 Soldier. No. 
 
 i Soldier. Peace, I say ! 
 
 What should this mean ? 
 
 2 Soldier. 'T is the god Hercules, whom Antony lov'd, 
 Now leaves him. 
 
 i Soldier. Walk; let 's see if other watchmen 
 
 Do hear what we do. [They advance to another post. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE IV. I09 
 
 2 Soldier. How now, masters ! 
 
 All. [Speaking together] How now? 
 
 How now! do you hear this? 
 
 i Soldier. Ay; is 't not strange? 
 
 3 Soldier. Do you hear, masters? do you hear? 20 
 i Soldier. Follow the noise so far as we have quarter; 
 
 Let 's see how it will give off. 
 
 All. Content. 'T is strange. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. The Same. A Room in the Palace. 
 
 Enter Antony and Cleopatra, Charmian, and others at- 
 tending. 
 
 Antony. Eros ! mine armour, Eros ! 
 
 Cleopatra. Sleep a little. 
 
 Antony. No, my chuck. — Eros, come; mine armour, Eros! 
 
 Enter Eros with armour. 
 
 Come, good fellow, put mine iron on. — 
 If fortune be not ours to-day, it is 
 Because we brave her. — Come. 
 
 Cleopatra. Nay, I'll help too. 
 
 What's this for? 
 
 Antony. Ah, let be, let be ! thou art 
 
 The armourer of my heart. False, false ; this, this. 
 
 Cleopatra. Sooth, la, I '11 help; thus it must be. 
 
 Antony. Well, well ; 
 
 We shall thrive now. — Seest thou, my good fellow? 
 Go put on thy defences. 
 
 Eros. Briefly, sir. io 
 
 Cleopatra. Is not this buckled well ? 
 
 Antony. Rarely, rarely ; 
 
 He that unbuckles this, till we do' please 
 To daff't for our repose, shall hear a storm. — 
 Thou fumblest, Eros ; and my queen 's a squire 
 
IIO ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 More tight at this than thou : dispatch. — O love, 
 That thou couldst see my wars to-day, and knew'st 
 The royal occupation ! thou shouldst see 
 A workman in 't. — 
 
 Enter a?i armed Soldier. 
 Good morrow to thee; welcome! 
 Thou look'st like him that knows a warlike charge. 
 To business that we love we rise betime, 2c 
 
 And go to 't with delight. 
 
 Soldier. A thousand, sir, 
 
 Early though 't be, have on their riveted trim, 
 And at the port expect you. \_Shoiit. Trumpets flourish. 
 
 Enter Captains and Soldiers. 
 
 Captain. The morn is fair. — Good morrow, general. 
 
 All. Good morrow, general. 
 
 A?ito?iy. 'T is well blown, lads. 
 
 This morning, like the spirit of a youth 
 That means to be of note, begins betimes. — 
 So, so; come, give me that: this way; well said. 
 Fare thee well, dame, whate'er becomes of me; 
 This is a soldier's kiss. Rebukable [Kisses her. 
 
 And worthy shameful check it were, to stand 31 
 
 On more mechanic compliment; I '11 leave thee 
 Now, like a man of steel. — You that will fight, 
 Follow me close ; I '11 bring you to 't. — Adieu. 
 
 [Exeunt Antony, Eros, Captains, and Soldiers. 
 
 Charmian. Please you, retire to your chamber. 
 
 Cleopatra. Lead me. 
 
 He goes forth gallantly. That he and Caesar might 
 Determine this great war in single fight! 
 Then, Antony, — but now — Well, on. [Exeunt. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE V. IX1 
 
 Scene V. Alexandria. Antony's Camp. 
 
 Trumpets sound. Enter Antony and Eros ; a Soldier meet- 
 ing them. 
 
 Soldier. The gods make this a happy day to Antony! 
 
 Afitony. Would thou and those thy scars had once pre- 
 vails 
 To make me right at land ! 
 
 Soldier. Hadst thou done so, 
 
 The kings that have revolted, and the soldier 
 That has this morning left thee, would have still 
 Follow'd thy heels. 
 
 Antony. Who 's gone this morning? 
 
 Soldier. Who ! 
 
 One ever near thee ; call for Enobarbus, 
 He shall not hear thee, or from Caesar's camp 
 Say 'I am none of thine.' 
 
 Antony. What say'st thou ? 
 
 Soldier. k Sir, 
 
 He is with Csesar. 
 
 Eros. Sir, his chests and treasure 10 
 
 He has not with him. 
 
 Antony. Is he gone ? 
 
 Soldier. Most certain. 
 
 Antony. Go, Eros, send his treasure after; do it : 
 Detain no jot, I charge thee. Write to him — 
 I will subscribe — gentle adieus and greetings ; 
 Say that I wish he never find more cause 
 To change a master. — O, my fortunes have 
 Corrupted honest men ! — Dispatch. — Enobarbus ! [Exeunt. 
 
H2 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Scene VI. Alexandria. Ccesar's Camp. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Caesar, Agrippa, with Enobarbus, and 
 
 others. 
 
 Ccesar. Go forth, Agrippa, and begin the fight. 
 Our will is Antony be took alive; 
 Make it so known. 
 
 Agrippa. Caesar, I shall. [Exit. 
 
 Ccesar. The time of universal peace is near; 
 Prove this a prosperous day, the three-nook'd world 
 Shall bear the olive freely. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Messenger. Antony 
 
 Is come into the field. 
 
 Ccesar. Go charge Agrippa 
 
 Plant those that have revolted in the van, 
 That Antony may seem to spend his fury 10 
 
 Upon himself. [Exeunt all but Enobarbus. 
 
 Enobarbus. Alexas did revolt, and went to Jewry 
 On affairs of Antony; there did persuade 
 Great Herod to incline himself to Caesar, 
 And leave his master Antony: for this pains 
 Caesar hath hang'd him. Canidius and the rest 
 That fell away have entertainment, but 
 No honourable trust. I have done ill, 
 Of which I do accuse myself so sorely 
 That I will joy no more. 
 
 Enter a Soldier of Ccesar's. 
 
 Soldier. Enobarbus, Antony so 
 
 Hath after thee sent all thy treasure, with 
 His bounty overplus ; the messenger 
 Came on my guard, and at thy tent is now 
 Unloading of his mules. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE VII. II3 
 
 Enobarbus. I give it you. 
 
 Soldier. Mock not, Enobarbus; 
 I tell you true. Best you saf d the bringer 
 Out of the host; I must attend mine office, 
 Or would have done 't myself. Your emperor 
 Continues still a Jove. I Exit. 
 
 Enobarbus. I am alone the villain of the earth, 30 
 
 And feel I am so most. — O Antony, 
 Thou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid 
 My better service, when my turpitude 
 Thou dost so crown with gold ! This blows my heart: 
 If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean 
 Shall outstrike thought; but thought will do 't, I feel. 
 I fight against thee ! — No ! I will go seek 
 Some ditch wherein to die; the foul'st best fits 
 My latter part of life. [Exit. 
 
 Scene VII. Field of Battle between the Camps. 
 Alarum. Drums and trumpets. Enter Agrippa and others. 
 
 Agrippa. Retire, we have engag'd ourselves too far. 
 Caesar himself has work, and our oppression 
 Exceeds what we expected. [Exeunt. 
 
 Alarum. +Enter Antony, and Scarus wounded. 
 
 Scarus. O my brave emperor, this is fought indeed ! 
 Had we done so at first, we had droven them home 
 With clouts about their heads. 
 
 Antony. Thou bleed'st apace. 
 
 Scarus. I had a wound here that was like a T, 
 But now 't is made an H. 
 
 Antony. They do retire. 
 
 Scarus. We '11 beat 'em into bench-holes; I have yet 
 Room for six scotches more. IO 
 
 H 
 
ii 4 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Enter Eros. 
 
 Eros. They are beaten, sir. and our advantage serves 
 For a fair victory. 
 
 Scarus. Let us score their backs, 
 
 And snatch 'em up, as we take hares, behind ; 
 'T is sport to maul a runner. 
 
 Antony. I will reward thee 
 
 Once for thy spritely comfort, and tenfold 
 For thy good valour. Come thee on. 
 
 Scarus. I '11 halt after. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VIII. Under the Walls of Alexandria. 
 
 Alarum. Enter Antony, in a march; Scarus, with others. 
 
 Antony. We have beat him to his camp; run one before, 
 And let the queen know of our gests. — To-morrow, 
 Before the sun shall see's, we 'H spill the blood 
 That has to-day escap'd. I thank you all, 
 For doughty-handed are you, and have fought 
 Not as you serv'd the cause, but as 't had been 
 Each man's like mine; you have shown all Hectors. 
 Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends, 
 Tell them your feats; whilst they with joyful tears 
 Wash the congealment from your wounds, and kiss ic 
 
 The honour'd gashes whole. — [To Scarus] Give me thy 
 hand. 
 
 Enter Cleopatra, attended. 
 
 To this great fairy I '11 commend thy acts, 
 
 Make her thanks bless thee. — [To Cleopatra] O thou day o' 
 
 the world, 
 Chain mine arm'd neck ; leap thou, attire and all, 
 Through proof of harness to my heart, and there 
 Ride on the pants triumphing ! 
 
 Cleopatra. ■ Lord of lords ! 
 
ACT IV. SCENE IX. 
 
 "5 
 
 O infinite virtue, com'st thou smiling from 
 The world's great snare uncaught? 
 
 Antony. My nightingale, 
 
 We have beat them to their beds. What, girl ! though grey 
 Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet ha' we 
 A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can 21 
 
 Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man; 
 Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand. — 
 Kiss it, my warrior. — He hath fought to-day 
 As if a god in hate of mankind had 
 Destroy'd in such a shape. 
 
 Cleopatra. I '11 give thee, friend, 
 
 An armour all of gold ; it was a king's. 
 
 Antony. He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled 
 Like holy Phcebus' car. — Give me thy hand. 
 Through Alexandria make a jolly march; 30 
 
 Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them. 
 Had our great palace the capacity 
 To camp this host, we all would sup together, 
 And drink carouses to the next day's fate, 
 Which promises royal peril. — Trumpeters, 
 With brazen din blast you the city's ear; 
 Make mingle with our rattling tabourines, 
 That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together, 
 Applauding our approach. \Exeunt 
 
 Scene IX. Ccesar's Camp. 
 Sentinels at their post. 
 
 1 Soldier. If we be not reliev'd within this hour, 
 We must return to the court of guard. The night 
 Is shiny, and they say we shall embattle 
 
 By the second hour i' the morn. 
 
 2 Soldier. This last day was 
 A shrewd one to 's. 
 
 %^ 
 V 
 
n6 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Enter Enobarbus. 
 
 E?iobarbus. O, bear me witness, night, — 
 
 3 Soldier. What man is this? 
 
 2 Soldier. Stand close, and list him. 
 Enobarbus. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, 
 
 When men revolted shall upon record 
 Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did 
 Before thy face repent ! 
 
 i Soldier. Enobarbus ! 
 
 3 Soldier. Peace ! io 
 Hark further. 
 
 Enobarbus. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, 
 The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me, 
 That life, a very rebel to my will, 
 May hang no longer on me ; throw my heart 
 Against the flint and hardness of my fault, 
 Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder, 
 And finish all foul thoughts. — O Antony, 
 Nobler than my revolt is infamous, 
 
 Forgive me in thine own particular; 20 
 
 But let the world rank me in register 
 A master-leaver and a fugitive. 
 O Antony ! O Antony ! [Dies. 
 
 2 Soldier. Let 's speak 
 To him. 
 
 1 Soldier, Let 's hear him, for the things he speaks 
 May concern Caesar. 
 
 3 Soldier. Let 's do so. But he sleeps. 
 
 1 Soldier. Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his 
 Was never yet for sleep. 
 
 2 Soldier. Go we to him. 
 
 3 Soldier. Awake, sir, awake 1 speak to us. 
 
 2 Soldier. Hear you, sir ? 
 
 1 Soldier. The hand of death hath raught him. [Drums 
 afar of.] Hark ! the drums . , 
 
ACT IV. SCENES X., XI, AND XII. nj 
 
 Demurely wake the sleepers. Let us bear him 30 
 
 To the court of guard ; he is of note : our hour 
 Is fully out. 
 
 3 Soldier. Come on, then j 
 He may recover yet. [Exeunt with the body. 
 
 Scene X. Between the two Camps. 
 Enter Antony and Scarus, with their Army. 
 
 Antony. Their preparation is to-day by sea ; 
 We please them not by land. 
 
 Scarus. For both, my lord. 
 
 Antony. I would they 'd fight i' the fire or i' the air; 
 We 'd fight there too. But this it is ; our foot 
 Upon the hills adjoining to the city 
 Shall stay with us. — Order for sea is given ; 
 They have put forth the haven. — Forward, now, 
 Where their appointment we may best discover, 
 And look on their endeavour. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene XT. Another Part of the Same. 
 Enter Caesar, and his Army. 
 
 C(Esar. But being charg'd, we will be still by land, 
 Which, as I take 't, we shall; for his best force 
 Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales, 
 And hold our best advantage ! [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene XII. Another Part of the Same. 
 
 Enter Antony and Scarus. 
 
 Antony. Yet they are not join'd. Where yond pine does 
 stand, 
 I shall discover all ; I '11 bring thee word 
 Straight, how 't is like to go. [Exit. 
 
Ti8 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Scarus. Swallows have built 
 
 In Cleopatra's sails their nests; the augurers 
 Say they know not, they cannot tell, — look grimly, 
 And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony 
 Is valiant, and dejected; and, by starts, 
 His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear 
 Of what he has and has not. 
 
 \Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fght. 
 
 Re-enter Antony. 
 
 Antony. All is lost; 
 
 This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me. 10 
 
 My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder 
 They cast their caps up and carouse together 
 Like friends long lost. — Triple-turn 'd whore ! 't is thou 
 Hast sold me to this novice, and my heart 
 Makes only wars on thee. — Bid them all fly; 
 For when I am reveng'd upon my charm, 
 I have done all. — Bid them all fly; begone. — [Exit Scarus. 
 O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more ! 
 Fortune and *\ntony part here ; even here 
 Do we shake hands. — All come to this ? — The hearts 20 
 
 That spaniell'd me at heels, to whom I gave 
 Their wishes, do' discandy, melt their sweets 
 On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd, 
 That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am. 
 O this false soul of Egypt ! this grave charm, — 
 Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home, 
 Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end, — 
 Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, 
 Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss. — 
 What, Eros, Eros ! 
 
 Enter Cleopatra. 
 
 Ah, thou spell ! Avaunt ! 3° 
 
ACT IV. SCENE XIII. II9 
 
 Cleopatra. Why is my lord enrag'd against his love ? 
 
 Antony. Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving, 
 And blemish Caesar's triumph. Let him take thee, 
 And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians. 
 Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot 
 Of all thy sex ; most monster-like, be shown 
 For poor'st diminutives, for dolts; and let 
 Patient Octavia plough thy visage up 
 With her prepared nails. [Exit Cleopatra.'] T is well thou'rt 
 
 gone, 
 If it be well to live ; but better 't were 4 o 
 
 Thou felTst into my fury, for one death 
 Might have prevented many. — Eros, ho !— 
 The shirt of Nessus is upon me ; teach me, 
 Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage ; 
 Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon, 
 And with those hands that grasp'd the heaviest club 
 Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die : 
 To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall 
 Under this plot ; she dies for 't. — Eros, ho ! [Exit 
 
 Scene XIII. Alexandria. Cleopatra's Palace. 
 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian. 
 
 Cleopatra. Help me, my women ! O, he is more mad 
 Than Telamon for his shield ; the boar of Thessaly 
 Was never so emboss'd. 
 
 Charmian. To the monument ! 
 
 There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead. 
 The soul and body rive not more in parting 
 Than greatness going off. 
 
 Cleopatra. To the monument ! — 
 
 Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself; 
 Say that the last I spoke was ' Antony,' 
 And word it, prithee, piteously. Hence, Mardian, 
 
I2 o ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 And bring me how he takes my death. — To the monu- 
 ment 1 {Exeunt. 
 
 Scene XIV. The Same. Another Room. 
 Enter Antony and Eros. 
 
 Antony. Eros, thou yet behold'st me ? 
 
 Eros. Ay, noble lord. 
 
 Antony. Sometime we see a cloud that 's dragonish, 
 A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, 
 A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock, 
 A forked mountain, or blue promontory 
 With trees upon 't, that nod unto the world 
 And mock our eyes with air: thou hast seen these signs; 
 They are black vesper's pageants. 
 
 Eros. Ay, my lord. 
 
 Antony. That which is now a horse, even with a thought 
 The rack dislimns and makes it indistinct i 
 
 As water is in water. 
 
 Eros. It does, my lord. 
 
 Antony. My good knave Eros, now thy captain is 
 Even such a body ; here I am Antony, 
 Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave. 
 I made these wars for Egypt, and the queen, — 
 Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine, 
 Which whilst it was mine had annex'd unto 't 
 A million moe, now lost, — she, Eros, has 
 Pack'd cards with Caesar, and false play'd my glory 
 Unto an enemy's triumph. — : 
 
 Nay, weep not, gentle Eros ; there is left us 
 Ourselves to end ourselves. — 
 
 Enter Mardian. 
 
 O, thy vile lady ! 
 She has robb'd me of my sword. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE XIV. 121 
 
 Mardian. No, Antony ; 
 
 My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled 
 With thine entirely. 
 
 Antony. Hence, saucy eunuch; peace! 
 
 She hath betray 'd me and shall die the death. 
 
 Mardian. Death of one person can be paid but once, 
 And that she has discharg'd. What thou wouldst do 
 Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake 
 Was 'Antony! most noble Antony!' 30 
 
 Then in the midst a tearing groan did break 
 The name of Antony; it was divided 
 Between her heart and lips : she render'd life, 
 Thy name so buried in her. 
 
 Antony. Dead, then ? 
 
 Mardian. Dead. 
 
 Antony. Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, 
 And we must sleep. — [To Mardian] That thou depart'st 
 
 hence safe, 
 Does pay thy labour richly; go. — [Exit Mardian.'] Off, 
 
 pluck off! — 
 The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep 
 The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides I 
 Heart, once be stronger than thy continent, 40 
 
 Crack thy frail case ! — Apace. Eros, apace.— 
 No more a soldier. — Bruised pieces, go; 
 You have been nobly borne. — From me awhile. — 
 
 [Exit Eros. 
 I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and 
 Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now 
 All length is torture ; since the torch is out, 
 Lie clown, and stray no farther. — Now all labour 
 Mars what it does ; yea, very force entangles 
 Itself with strength : seal then, and all is done. — 
 Eros ! — I come, my queen ! — Eros ! — Stay for me ! 50 
 
 Where souls do couch on flowers, we '11 hand in hand, 
 
I22 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze; 
 
 Dido and her vEneas shall want troops, 
 
 And all the haunt be ours. — Come, Eros, Eros! 
 
 Re-enter Eros. 
 
 Eros. What would my lord ? 
 
 Antony. Since Cleopatra died, 
 
 I have liv'd in such dishonour, that the gods 
 Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword 
 Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back 
 With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack 
 The courage, of a woman; less noble mind 60 
 
 Than she which by her death our Caesar tells 
 ' I am conqueror of myself.' Thou art sworn, Eros, 
 That, when the exigent should come — which now 
 Is come indeed — when I should see behind me 
 The inevitable prosecution of 
 Disgrace and horror, that, on my command, 
 Thou then wouldst kill me. Do 't; the time is come. 
 Thou strik'st not me, 't is Caesar thou defeat'st. 
 Put colour in thy cheek. 
 
 Eros. The gods withhold me! 
 
 Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts, 70 
 
 Though enemy, lost aim and could not? 
 
 Antony. Eros, 
 
 Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome and see 
 Thy master thus witfTpleach'd arms, bending down 
 His corrigible neck, his face subdued 
 To penetrative shame, whilst the wheel'd seat 
 Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded 
 His baseness that ensued? 
 
 Eros. I would not see 't. 
 
 Antony. Come, then; for with a wound I must be cur'd. 
 Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn 
 Most useful for thy country. 
 
ACT IV SCENE XIV. l2 ^ 
 
 Eros. O, sir, pardon me ! 80 
 
 Antony. When I did make thee free, swor'st thou not then 
 To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once, 
 Or thy precedent services are all 
 But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come. 
 
 Eros. Turn from me, then, that noble countenance, 
 Wherein the worship of the whole world lies. 
 
 Antony. Lo thee! [Turning from him. 
 
 Eros. My sword is drawn. 
 
 Antony. Then let it do at once 
 
 The thing why thou hast drawn it. 
 
 Eros. My dear master, 
 
 My captain, and my emperor, let me say, 9 o 
 
 Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell. 
 
 Antony. 'T is said, man; and farewell. 
 
 Eros. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? 
 
 Antony. Now, Eros. 
 
 Eros. Why, there then!— Thus I do escape the sorrow 
 Of Antony's death. {Kills himself. 
 
 Afitony. Thrice-nobler than myself! 
 
 Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what 
 I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros 
 Have by their brave instruction got upon me 
 A nobleness in record ; but I will be 
 
 A bridegroom in my death, and run into 't 100 
 
 As to a lover's bed. Come, then ; and, Eros, 
 Thy master dies thy scholar: to do thus 
 
 \Falling on his sword. 
 I learn'd of thee. How ! not dead ? not dead ? — 
 The guard, ho! — O, dispatch me! 
 
 Enter Dercetas and Guard. 
 1 Guard. What's the noise? 
 
 Antony. I have done my work ill, friends; O, make an end 
 Of what I have begun ! 
 
I24 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 2 Guard. The star is falPn. 
 
 i Guard. And time is at his period. 
 
 All. Alas, and woe ! 
 
 Antony. Let him that loves me strike me dead. 
 
 i Guard. Not I. 
 
 2 Guard. Nor I. iog 
 
 3 Guard. Nor any one. [Exeunt Guard. 
 Dercetas. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly. 
 
 This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings, 
 Shall enter me with him. 
 
 Enter Diomedes. 
 
 Diomedes. Where 's Antony ? 
 
 Dercetas. There, Diomed, there. 
 
 Diomedes. Lives he? 
 
 Wilt thou not answer, man? [Exit Dercetas. 
 
 Antony. Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword, and 
 give me 
 Sufficing strokes for death. 
 
 Diomedes. Most absolute lord, 
 
 My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee. 
 
 Antony. When did she send thee? 
 
 Diomedes. Now. my lord. 
 
 Antony. Where is she? 
 
 Diomedes. Lock'd in her monument. She had a prophe- 
 sying fear 120 
 Of what hath come to pass : for when she saw — 
 Which never shall be found — you did suspect 
 She had dispos'd with Caesar, and that your rage 
 Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was dead; 
 But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent 
 Me to proclaim the truth, — and I am come, 
 I dread, too late. 
 
 Antony. Too late, good Diomed. Call my guard, I 
 prithee. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE XV. 125 
 
 Diomedes. What, ho, the emperor's guard! The guard, 
 what, ho ! 
 Come, your lord calls ' 130 
 
 Enter four or five of the Guard of Antony. 
 
 Antony. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides ; 
 'T is the last service that I shall command you. 
 
 1 Guard. Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not live to wear 
 All your true followers out. 
 
 All. Most heavy day ! 
 
 Antony. Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate 
 To grace it with your sorrows ; bid that welcome 
 Which comes to punish us, and we punish it 
 Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up. 
 I have led you oft ; carry me now, good friends, 139 
 
 And have my thanks for all. [Exeunt, bearing Antony. 
 
 Scene XV. The Same. A Monument. 
 Enter Cleopatra, and her maids aloft, with Charmian and 
 
 Iras. 
 
 Cleopatra. O Charmian, I will never go from hence. 
 
 Charmian. Be comforted, dear madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. No, I will not. 
 
 All strange and terrible events are welcome, 
 But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, 
 Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great 
 As that which makes it. — 
 
 Enter, below, Diomedes. 
 
 How, now! is he dead? 
 Diomedes. His death 's upon him, but not dead. 
 Look out o' the other side your monument; 
 His guard have brought him thither. 
 
I2 6 " ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Enter, below, Antony, borne by the Guard. 
 
 Cleopatra. , O sun, 
 
 Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in! darkling stand 10 
 
 The varying shore o' the world ! — O Antony, 
 Antony, Antony! — Help, Charmian, help, Iras, help; 
 Help, friends below; let's draw him hither. 
 
 Antony. Peace ! 
 
 Not Caesar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, 
 But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself. 
 
 Cleopatra. So it should be, that none but Antony 
 Should conquer Antony; but woe 't is so! 
 
 Antony. I am dying, Egypt, dying; only 
 I here importune death awhile, until 
 
 Of many thousand kisses the poor last 20 
 
 I lay upon thy lips. 
 
 Cleopatra. I dare not, dear, — ■ 
 
 Dear my lord, pardon, — I dare not, 
 Lest I be taken : not the imperious show 
 Of the full-fortun'd Caesar ever shall 
 Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have 
 Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe. 
 Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes 
 And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour 
 Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony, — ■ 
 Help me, my women, — we must draw thee up. — 30 
 
 Assist, good friends. 
 
 Antony. O, quick, or I am gone. 
 
 Cleopatra. Here 's sportmdeed ! — How heavy weighs my 
 lord! 
 Our strength is all gone into heaviness, 
 That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power, 
 The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up, 
 And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little, — 
 Wishers were ever fools, — O, come, come, come ; 
 
 <LW/ 
 
 \They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra. 
 
 
ACT IV SCENE XV. 
 
 127 
 
 ^1 
 
 And welcome, welcome ! die where thou hast liv'dj 
 Quicken with kissing : had my lips that power, 
 Thus would I wear them out. 
 
 All. A heavy sight! 4 o 
 
 Antony. I am dying, Egypt, dying. — 
 Give me some wine, and let me speak a little. 
 
 Cleopatra. No, let me speak; and let me rail so high, 
 That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel, 
 Provok'd by my offence. 
 
 Antony. One word, sweet queen ; 
 
 Of Caesar seek your honour with your safety. — O! 
 
 Cleopatra. They do not go together. 
 
 Antony. Gentle, hear me ; 
 
 None about Caesar trust but Proculeius. 
 
 Cleopatra. My resolution and my hands I '11 trust, 
 None about Caesar. 5 o 
 
 Antony. The miserable change now at my end 
 Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts 
 In feeding them with those my former fortunes 
 Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o' the world, 
 The noblest, and do now not basely die, 
 Not cowardly put off my helmet to 
 My countryman, — a Roman by a Roman 
 Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going; 
 I can no more. 
 
 Cleopatra. Noblest of men, woo't die ? 
 
 Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide 60 
 
 In this dull world, which in thy absence is 
 No better than a sty?— O, see, my women, [Antony dies. 
 
 The crown o' the earth doth melt. — My lord! — 
 O, wither'd is the garland of the war, 
 The soldier's pole is fall'n : young boys and girls 
 Are level now with men ; the odds is gone, 
 And there is nothing left remarkable 
 Beneath the visiting: moon. 
 
128 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Charmian. O, quietness, lady ! 
 
 Iras. She is dead too, our sovereign. 
 
 Charmian. Lady ! 
 
 Iras. Madam ! 
 
 Charmian. O madam, madam, madam ! 
 
 Iras. Royal Egypt, 70 
 
 Empress ! 
 
 Charmian. Peace, peace, Iras ! 
 
 Cleopatra. No more, but e'en a woman, and commanded 
 By such poor passion as the maid that milks 
 And does the meanest chares. — It were for me 
 To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods; 
 To tell them that this world did equal theirs 
 Till they had stol'n our jewel. All 's but naught; 
 Patience is sottish, and impatience does 
 
 Become a dog that 's mad : then is it sin 
 
 80 
 
 To rush into the secret house of death, 
 
 Ere death dare come to us? — How do you, women? 
 
 What, what! good cheer! — Why, how now, Charmian! — 
 
 My noble girls! Ah, women, women, look, 
 
 Our lamp is spent, it 's out ! — Good sirs, take heart. 
 
 We '11 bury him ; and then, what 's brave, what 's noble, 
 
 Let 's do it after the high Roman fashion, 
 
 And make death proucl to take us. — Come, away : 
 
 This case of that huge spirit now is cold. — 
 
 Ah, women, women 1 come j we have no friend 90 
 
 But resolution and the briefest end. 
 
 [Exeunt; those above bearing off Antony's body. 
 
 COIN OF ANTONY, EXECUTED AT ANTIOCH. 
 
INTERIOR OF AN EGYPTIAN TOMB. 
 
 ACT V. 
 
 Scene I. Alexa7idria. Ccesar's Camp. 
 
 Enter Cesar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Maecenas, Gallus, 
 Proculeius, and others, his council of war. 
 
 Ccesar. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; 
 Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks 
 The pauses that he makes. 
 
 Dolabella. Caesar, I shall. [Exit. 
 
 Enter Dercetas, with the sword of Antony. 
 
 Ccesar. Wherefore is that? and what art thou that dar'st 
 Appear thus to us? 
 
 Dercetas. I am call'd Dercetas; 
 
 Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy 
 Best to be serv'd : whilst he stood up and spoke, 
 He was my master, and I wore my life 
 
 I 
 
I3 o ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 To spend upon his haters. If thou please 
 
 To take me to thee, as I was to him *o 
 
 I '11 be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not, 
 
 I yield thee up my life. 
 
 Cczsar. What is 't thou say'st? 
 
 Dercetas. I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead. 
 Ccesar. The breaking of so great a thing should make 
 A greater crack ; the round world 
 Should have shook lions into civil streets, 
 And citizens to their dens. The death of Antony 
 Is not a single doom ; in the name lay 
 A moiety of the world. 
 
 Dercetas. He is dead, Caesar : 
 
 Not by a public minister of justice, so 
 
 Nor by a hired knife ; but that self hand, 
 Which writ his honour in the acts it did, 
 Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, 
 Splitted the heart. This is his sword ; 
 I robb'd his wound of it : behold it stain'd 
 With his most noble blood. „ 
 
 Ccesar. Look you sad, friends? 
 
 The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings 
 To wash the eyes of kings. 
 
 Agrippa. And strange it is, 
 
 That nature must compel us to lament 
 Our most persisted deeds. 
 
 Mcecenas. ' His taints and honours 3° 
 
 Wag'd equal with him. 
 
 Agrippa. ' A rarer spirit never 
 
 Did steer humanity; but you, gods, will give us 
 Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touch'd. 
 
 Mczcenas. When such a spacious mirror 's set before him, 
 He needs must see himself. 
 
 Ccesar. O Antony! 
 
 I have follow'd thee to this ; but we do lance 
 
ACT V, SCENE I. 
 
 131 
 
 Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce 
 
 Have shown to thee such a declining day, 
 
 Or look on thine; we could not stall together 
 
 In the whole world. But yet let me lament, 40 
 
 With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts, 
 
 That thou, my brother, my competitor 
 
 In top of all design, my mate in empire, 
 
 Friend and companion in the front of war, 
 
 The arm of mine own body, and the heart 
 
 Where mine his thoughts did kindle, — that our stars, 
 
 Unreconciliable, should divide 
 
 0{?r equalness to this. — Hear me, good friends,— 
 
 But I will tell you at some meeter season : 
 
 Enter an Egyptian. 
 
 The business of this man looks out of him ; 50 
 
 We '11 hear him what he says.— Whence are you ? 
 
 Egyptian. A poor Egyptian yet. — The queen my mistress, 
 Confin'd in all she has, her monument, 
 Of thy intents desires instruction, 
 That she preparedly may frame herself 
 To the way she 's forc'd to. 
 
 Ccesar. Bid her have good heart. 
 
 She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, 
 How honourable and how kindly we 
 Determine for her; for Caesar cannot live 
 To be ungentle. 
 
 Egyptian, So the gods preserve thee ! - [Exit 
 
 Cczsar, Come hither, Proculeius. Go and say, 6l 
 
 We purpose her no shame. Give her what comforts 
 The quality of her passion shall require, 
 Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke 
 She do defeat us ; for her life in Rome 
 Would be eternal in our triumph. Go, 
 And with your speediest bring us what she says. 
 And how you find of her. 
 
I3 2 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Proculeius. Caesar, I shall. [Exit 
 
 Ccesar. Gallus, go you along. — [Exit Gallus.] Where T s 
 Dolabella, 
 
 To second Proculeius ? 
 
 All. Dolabella ! tc 
 
 Ccesar. Let him alone, for I remember now 
 
 How he 's employ'd ; he shall in time be ready. 
 
 Go with me to my tent, where you shall see 
 
 How hardly I was drawn into this war, 
 
 How calm and gentle I proceeded still 
 
 In all my writings. Go with me, and see 
 
 What I can show in this. [Exeunt 
 
 Scene II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument 
 
 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, and Iras. 
 
 Cleopatra. My desolation does begin to make 
 A better life. 'T is paltry to be Caesar; 
 Not being Fortune, he 's but Fortune's knave, 
 A minister of her will : and it is great 
 To do that thing that ends all other deeds, 
 Which shackles accidents and bolts up change, 
 Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung, 
 The beggar's nurse and Caesar's. 
 
 Enter, to the gates of the monument, Proculeius, Gallus, and 
 
 Soldiers. 
 
 Proculeius. Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt, 
 And bids thee study on what fair demands 10 
 
 Thou mean'st to have him grant thee. 
 
 Cleopatra. What 's thy name? 
 
 Proculeius. My name is Proculeius. 
 
 Cleopatra. Antony 
 
 Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but 
 I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd, 
 
ACT V % SCENE II. ^^Z 
 
 That have no use for trusting. If your master 
 
 Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him, 
 
 That majesty, to keep decorum, must 
 
 No less beg than a kingdom ; if he please 
 
 To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son, 
 
 He gives me so much of mine own as I 20 
 
 Will kneel to him with thanks. 
 
 Proculeius. Be of good cheer ; 
 
 You 're fall'n into a princely hand, fear nothing. 
 Make your full reference freely to my lord, 
 Who is so full of grace that it flows over 
 On all that need. Let me report to him 
 Your sweet dependency, and you shall find 
 A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness, 
 Where he for grace is kneel'd to. 
 
 Cleopatra. Pray you, tell him 
 
 I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him 
 The greatness he has got. I hourly learn 30 
 
 A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly 
 Look him i' the face. 
 
 Proculeius. This I '11 report, dear lady. 
 
 Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied 
 Of him that caus'd it. 
 
 Gallus. You see how easily she may be surpris'd. — 
 
 [Here Proculeius and two of the Guard ascend 
 the monument by a ladder placed against a 
 window, and, having descended, come behind 
 Cleopatra. Some of the Guard unbar and 
 open the gates. 
 [To Proculeius] Guard her till Caesar come. [Exit. 
 
 Iras. Royal queen ! 
 
 Charmian. O Cleopatra ! thou art taken, queen. 
 
 Cleopatra. Quick, quick, good hands. [Drawing a dagger. 
 
 Proculeius. Hold, worthy lady, hold ! 
 
 [Seizes and disarms her. 
 
I<?4 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this 4° 
 
 Reliev'd, but not betray'd. 
 
 Cleopatra. What, of death too, 
 
 That rids our dogs of languish ? 
 
 Proculeius. Cleopatra, 
 
 Do not abuse my master's bounty by 
 The undoing of yourself; let the world see 
 His nobleness well acted, which your death 
 Will never let come forth. 
 
 Cleopatra. Where art thou, death ? 
 
 Come hither, come ! come, come, and take a queen 
 Worth many babes and beggars \ 
 
 Proculeius. O, temperance, lady ; ; 
 
 Cleopatra. Sir, I will eat no meat, I '11 not drink, sir, 
 If idle talk will once be necessary, ->a 
 
 I 'II not sleep neither. This mortal house I '11 ruin, 
 Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I 
 Will not wait pinion 'd at your master's court; 
 Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye 
 Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up 
 And show me to the shouting varletry 
 Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt 
 Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud 
 Lay me stark nak'd, and let the water-flies 
 Blow me into abhorring ! rather make 60 
 
 My country's high py ram-ides my gibbet, 
 And hang me up in chains ! 
 
 Proculeius, You do extend 
 
 These thoughts of horror further than you shall 
 Find cause in Caesar. 
 
 Enter Dolabella. 
 
 Dolahella. Proculeius, 
 
 What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows, 
 And he hath sent for thee; for the queen, 
 I '11 take her to mv guard. 
 
ACT V. SCENE IE 
 
 *35 
 
 Proculeius. So, Dolabella, 
 
 It shall content me best; be gentle to her. — 
 
 [To Cleopatra.'] To Caesar I will speak what you shall 
 please, 
 If you '11 employ me to him. 
 
 Cleopatra. Say, I would die. 7 c 
 
 [Exeunt Proculeius and Soldiers. 
 
 Dolabella. Most noble empress, you have heard of me? 
 
 Cleopatra. I cannot tell. 
 
 Dolabella. ... Assuredly you know me. 
 
 Cleopatra. No matter, sir, what I have heard or known. 
 You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams ; 
 Is 't not your trick? 
 
 Dolabella. I understand not, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony. — 
 O, such another sleep, that I might see 
 But such another man ! 
 
 Dolabella. If it might please ye, — 
 
 Cleopatra. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck 
 A sun and moon, which kept their course, and lighted 8q 
 
 The little O, the earth. . 
 
 Dolabella. Most sovereign creature, — 
 
 Cleopatra. His legs bestrid the ocean : his rear'd arm 
 Crested the world : his voice was propertied 
 As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; 
 But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, 
 He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty, 
 There was no winter in 't; an autumn 't was 
 That grew the more by reaping : his delights 
 Were dolphin-like ; they show'd his back above 
 The element they liv'd in : in his livery 9a 
 
 Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were 
 As plates dropp'd from his pocket. 
 
 Dolabella. Cleopatra ! 
 
 Cleopatra. Think you there was, or might be, such a man 
 As this I dream'd of? 
 
136 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPA TEA. 
 
 Dolabella. Gentle madam, do. 
 
 Cleopatra. You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. 
 But, if there be, or ever were, one such, 
 It 's past the size of dreaming: nature wants stuff 
 To vie strange forms with fancy; yet, to imagine 
 An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy, 
 Condemning shadows quite. 
 
 Dolabella. Hear me, good madam. 100 
 
 Your loss is as yourself, great ; and you bear it 
 As answering to the weight : would I might never 
 O'ertake pursued success, but I do feel, 
 By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites 
 My very heart at root. 
 
 Cleopatra. I thank you, sir. 
 
 Know you what Caesar means to do with me? 
 
 Dolabella. I am loath to tell you what I would you knew. 
 
 Cleopatra. Nay, pray you, sir, — 
 
 Dolabella. Though he be honourable, — 
 
 Cleopatra. He '11 lead me, then, in triumph? 
 
 Dolabella. Madam, he will ; I know 't. no 
 
 [Flourish, and shout within, ' Make way there : Caesar !' 
 
 Enter Cesar, Gallus, Proculeius, Maecenas, Seleucus, 
 and others of his Train. 
 
 Ccesar. Which is the Queen of Egypt? 
 
 Dolabella. It is the Emperor, madam. \Cleopatra kneels. 
 
 Ccesar. Arise, you shall not kneel. 
 I pray you rise ; rise, Egypt. 
 
 Cleopatra. Sir, the gods 
 
 Will have it thus; my master and my lord 
 I must obey. 
 
 Ccesar. Take to you no hard thoughts ; 
 
 The record of what injuries you did us, 
 Though written in our flesh, we shall remember 
 As things but done by chance. 
 
ACT V. SCENE II 
 
 J 37 
 
 Cleopatra. Sole sir o' the world, 120 
 
 I cannot project mine own cause so well 
 To make it clear, but do confess I have 
 Been laden with like frailties which before 
 Have often sham'd our sex. 
 
 Ccesar. Cleopatra, know, 
 
 We will extenuate rather than enforce. 
 If you apply yourself to our intents, 
 Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find 
 A benefit in this change; but if you seek 
 To lay on me a cruelty, by taking 
 
 Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself 130 
 
 Of my good purposes, and put your children 
 To that destruction which I '11 guard them from, 
 If thereon you rely. I '11 take my leave. 
 
 Cleopatra. And may, through all the world: 't is yours; 
 and we, 
 Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall 
 Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. 
 
 Ccesar. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. 
 
 Cleopatra. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels, 
 I am possess'd of ; 't is exactly valued, 
 Not petty things admitted. — Where 's Seleucus? 140 
 
 Seleucus. Here, madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. This is my treasurer; let him speak, my lord. 
 Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd 
 To myself nothing. — Speak the truth, Seleucus. 
 
 Seleucus. Madam, 
 I had rather seal my lips, than, to my peril, 
 Speak that which is not. 
 
 Cleopatra. What have I kept back? 
 
 Seleucus. Enough to purchase what you have made known. 
 
 Ccesar. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve 
 Your wisdom in the deed. 
 
 Cleopatra. See, Caesar ! O, behold, 150 
 
I3 8 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 How pomp is follow'd ! mine will now be yours, 
 
 And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine. 
 
 The ingratitude of this Seleucus does 
 
 Even make me wild. — O slave, of no more trust 
 
 Than love that 's hir'd ! — What, goest thou back? thou shalt 
 
 Go back, I warrant thee; but I '11 catch thine eyes, 
 
 Though they had wings. — Slave, soulless villain, dog ! 
 
 O rarely base ! 
 
 Ccesar. Good queen, let us entreat you. 
 
 Cleopatra. O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this, 
 That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me, 160 
 
 Doing the honour of thy lordliness 
 To one so meek, that mine own servant should 
 Parcel the sum of my disgraces by 
 Addition of his envy ! Say, good Caesar, 
 That I some lady trifles have reserv'd, 
 Immoment toys, things of such dignity 
 As we greet modern friends withal ; and say, 
 Some nobler token I have kept apart 
 For Livia and Octavia, to induce 
 
 Their mediation ; must I be unfolded 170 
 
 With one that I have bred? The gods ! it smites me 
 Beneath the fall I have. — [To Seleucus] Prithee, go hence; 
 Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits 
 Through the ashes of my chance; wert thou a man, 
 Thou wouldst have mercy on me. 
 
 Ccesar. Forbear, Seleucus. 
 
 [Exit Seleucus. 
 
 Cleopatra. Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought 
 For things that others do; and, when we fall, 
 We answer others' merits in our name, 
 Are therefore to be pitied. 
 
 Ccesar. Cleopatra, 
 
 Not what you have reserv'd, nor what acknowledg'd, 180 
 
 Put we i' the roll of conquest : still be 't yours, 
 
ACT V. SCENE IE 
 
 139 
 
 Bestow it at your pleasure ; and believe, 
 
 Caesar 's no merchant, to make prize with you 
 
 Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheer'd; 
 
 Make not your thoughts your prisons: no, dear queen; 
 
 For we intend so to dispose you as 
 
 Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed, and sleep : 
 
 Our care and pity is so much upon you, 
 
 That we remain your friend; and so, adieu. 
 
 Cleopatra. My master, and my lord ! 
 
 Ccesar. Not so. Adieu. 
 
 [Flourish. Exeunt Ccesar and his train. 
 
 Cleopatra. He words me, girls, he words me, that I should 
 not 191 
 
 Be noble to myself; — but, hark thee, Charmian. 
 
 [ Whispers Charmian. 
 
 Iras. Finish, good lady ; the bright day is done, 
 And we are for the dark. 
 
 Cleopatra. Hie thee again : 
 
 I have spoke already, and it is provided ; 
 Go put it to the haste. 
 
 Charmian. Madam, I will. 
 
 Re-enter Dolabella. 
 
 Dolabella. Where is the queen ? 
 
 Charmian. Behold, sir. [Exit. 
 
 Cleopatra. Dolabella! 
 
 Dolabella. Madam, as thereto sworn by your command, 
 Which my love makes religion to obey, 
 ] tell you this : Caesar through Syria 20c 
 
 Intends his journey, and within three days 
 You with your children will he send before. 
 Make your best use of this; I have perform'd 
 Your pleasure and my promise. 
 
 Cleopatra. Dolabella, 
 
 I shall remain your debtor. 
 
I4 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Dolabella. I your servant. 
 
 Adieu, good queen ; I must attend on Caesar. 
 
 Cleopatra. Farewell, and thanks. — \_Exit Dolabella.'] Now, 
 Iras, what think'st thou ? 
 Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shown 
 In Rome, as well as I : mechanic slaves 
 With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall 210 
 
 Uplift us to the view ; in their thick breaths, 
 Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded, 
 And forc'd to drink their vapour. 
 
 Iras. The gods forbid ! 
 
 Cleopatra. Nay, -t is most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors 
 Will catch at us, like strumpets, and scald rhymers 
 Ballad us out o' tune ; the quick comedians, 
 Extemporally will stage us, and present 
 Our Alexandrian revels; Antony 
 Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see 
 Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness 220 
 
 I' the posture of a whore. 
 
 Iras. O the good gods ! 
 
 Cleopatra. Nay, that 's certain. 
 
 Iras. I '11 never see 't; for, I am sure, my nails 
 Are stronger than mine eyes. 
 
 Cleopatra. Why, that 's the way 
 
 To fool their preparation, and to conquer 
 Their most absurd intents. — 
 
 Re enter Charm r an. 
 
 Now, Charmian !-: — 
 Show me, my women, like a queen ; go fetch 
 My best attires. — I am again for Cydnus, 
 To meet Mark Antony. — Sirrah Iras, go. — 
 Now, noble Charmian, we '11 dispatch indeed ; 230 
 
 And, when thou hast done this chare, I '11 give thee leave 
 To play till doomsday. — Bring our crown and all. — 
 Wherefore 's this noise? [JSxit Iras. A noise within. 
 
ACT V. SCENE II 141 
 
 Enter a Guardsman. 
 
 Guardsman. Here is a rural fellow 
 
 That will not be denied your highness' presence; 
 He brings you figs. 
 
 Cleopatra. Let him come in. — [Exit Guardsman^ What V' 
 poor an instrument 
 May do a noble deed J he brings me liberty. 
 My resolution 's plac'd, and I have nothing 
 Of woman in me : now from head to foot 
 I am marble-constant; now the fleeting moon 240 
 
 No planet is of mine. 
 
 Re-enter Guardsman, with Clown bringing in a basket. 
 
 Guardsman. This is the man. 
 
 Cleopatra. Avoid, and leave him. — [Exit Guardsman. 
 Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, 
 That kills and pains not? 
 
 Clown. Truly, I have him ; but I would not be the party 
 that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is im- 
 mortal : those that do die of it do seldom or never re- 
 cover. 248 
 
 Cleopa'ra. Rememberest thou any that have died on 't? 
 
 Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one 
 of them no longer than yesterday; a very honest woman, 
 but something given to lie, — as a woman should not do, but 
 in the way of honesty, — how she died of the biting of it, 
 what pain she felt. Truly, she makes a very good report o' 
 the worm, but he that will believe all that they say shall 
 never be saved by half that they do; but this is most falli- 
 ble, the worm 's an odd worm. 
 
 Cleopatra. Get thee hence ; farewell. 
 
 Clown. I wish you all joy of the worm. 
 
 [Setting down his basket. 
 
 Cleopatra. Farewell. 260 
 
142 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Clown. You must think this, look you, that the worm will 
 do his kind. 
 
 Cleopatra.' Ay, ay ; farewell. 
 
 Clown. Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in 
 the keeping of wise people; for, indeed, there is no good- 
 ness in the worm. 
 
 Cleopatra. Take thou no care ; it shall be heeded. 
 
 Clown. Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for it is 
 not worth the feeding. 
 
 Cleopatra. Will it eat me? 270 
 
 Clown. You must not think I am so simple but I know 
 the devil himself will not eat a woman. I know that a 
 woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her not. 
 But, truly, these same whoreson devils do the gods great 
 barm in their women ; for in every ten that they make, the 
 devils mar five. 
 
 Cleopatra. Well, get thee gone ; farewell. 
 
 Clown. Yes, forsooth; I wish you joy o' the worm. [Exit. 
 
 Re-enter Iras with a robe, crown, etc. 
 
 Cleopatra. Give me my robe, put on my crown ; I have 
 Immortal longings in me. Now no more 280 
 
 The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip. — ■ 
 Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. — Methinks I hear 
 Antony call; I see him rouse himself 
 To praise my noble act ; I hear him mock 
 The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men 
 To excuse their after wrath, — Husband, I cornel 
 Now to that name my courage prove my title \ 
 I am fire and air; my other elements 
 I give to baser life. — So; have you done? 
 Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips. — 290 
 
 Farewell, kind Charmian. — Iras, long farewell. 
 
 [Kisses them. Iras falls and dies. 
 Have I the aspic in my lips ? Dost fall ? 
 
ACT V. SCENE IT, I43 
 
 If thou and nature can so gently part, 
 The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch, 
 Which hurts, and is desir'd. Dost thou lie still? 
 If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world 
 It is not worth leave-taking 1 . 
 
 Charmidn. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain ; that I may say, 
 The gods themselves do weep ! 
 
 Cleopatra. This proves me base ; 
 
 If she first meet the curled Antony, 300 
 
 He '11 make demand of her, and spend that kiss 
 Which is my heaven to have.— Come, thou mortal wretch, 
 
 [To an asp, which she applies to her breast. 
 With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate 
 Of life at once untie ; poor venomous fool, 
 Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak, 
 That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass 
 Unpolicied ! 
 
 Charmian. O eastern star ! 
 
 Cleopatra. Peace, peace! 
 
 Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, 
 That sucks the nurse asleep ? 
 
 Charmian. Q 5 break ! O, break ! 3 o 9 
 
 Cleopatra. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle, — 
 
 Antony !— Nay, I will take thee too. — 
 
 \_Applyi?ig another asp to her arm. 
 What should I stay— {Dies. 
 
 Charmian. In this wild world ? — So, fare thee well. — 
 Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies 
 A lass unparallel'd.— Downy windows, close; 
 And golden Phoebus never be beheld 
 Of eyes again so royal ! — Your crown 's awry; 
 
 1 '11 mend it, and then p.lay — 
 
 Enter the Guard, rushing in. 
 i Guard. Where is the queen ? 
 
144 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Charmian. Speak softly, wake her not. 
 
 i Guard. Caesar hath sent — 
 
 Charmian. Too slow a messenger. — 
 
 [Applies an asp. 
 O, come apace, dispatch ! I partly feel thee. 321 
 
 1 Guard. Approach, ho! All 's not well; Caesar 's be- 
 
 guil'd. 
 
 2 Guard. There 's Dolabella sent from Caesar; call him. 
 
 1 Guard. What work is here ! — Charmian, is this well 
 
 done ? 
 Charmian. It is well done, and fitting for a princess 
 Descended of so many royal kings. 
 Ah, soldier ! [Dies. 
 
 Re-enter Dolabella. 
 
 Dolabella. How goes it here ? 
 
 2 Guard. All dead. 
 
 Dolabella. Caesar, thy thoughts 
 
 Touch their effects in this ; thyself art coming 
 To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou 330 
 
 So sought'st to hinder. 
 
 [ Within. c A way there, a way for Caesar 1' 
 
 Re-enter Cesar, and all his train, marching. 
 
 Dolabella. O sir, you are too sure an augurer; 
 That you did fear is done. 
 
 Ccesar. Bravest at the last, 
 
 She levell'd at our purposes, and, being royal, 
 Took her own way. — The manner of their deaths ? 
 I do not see them bleed. 
 
 Dolabella. Who was last with them ? 
 
 1 Guard. A simple countryman, that brought her figs j 
 This was his basket. 
 
 Ccesar. Poison'd, then. 
 
 1 Guard. O Caesar, 
 
ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 *45 
 
 This Charmian liv'd but now; she stood and spake. 
 
 I found her trimming up the diadem 3iC 
 
 On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood 
 
 And on the sudden dropp'd. 
 
 Ccesar. O noble weakness ! — 
 
 If they had swallow'd poison, 't would appear 
 By external swelling; but she looks like sleep, 
 As she would catch another Antony 
 In her strong toil of grace. 
 
 Dolabella. Here, on her breast, 
 
 There is a vent of blood and something blown ; 
 The like is on her arm. 
 
 1 Guard. This is an aspic's trail; and these fig-leaves 
 Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves 3SO 
 
 Upon the caves of Nile. 
 
 Ccesar. Most probable 
 
 That so she died ; for her physician tells me 
 She hath pursued conclusions infinite 
 Of easy ways to die. — Take up her bed ; 
 And bear her women from the monument 
 She shall be buried by her Antony; 
 No grave upon the earth shall clip in it 
 A pair so famous. High events as these 
 Strike those that make them ; and their story is 
 No less in pity than his glory which 36o 
 
 Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall 
 In solemn show attend this funeral, 
 And then to Rome.— Come, Dolabella, see 
 High order in this great solemnity. [Exeunt. 
 
 K 
 

 POMPEY S PILLAR. 
 
NOTES 
 
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES. 
 
 Abbott (or Gr.), Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar (third edition). 
 A. S., Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 A. V., Authorized Version of the Bible (1611). 
 
 B. and F., Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 B. J., Ben Jonson. 
 
 Camb. ed., "Cambridge edition" of Shakespeare, edited by Clark and Wright. 
 
 Cf. (confer), compare. 
 
 Clarke, "Casseli's Illustrated Shakespeare," edited by Char'es and Mary Cowdec- 
 Clarke (London, n. d.). 
 
 Coll., Collier (second edition'. 
 
 Coll. MS., Manuscript Corrections of Second Folio, edited by Collier. 
 
 D., Dyce (second edition 1 ). 
 
 H., Hudson (" Harvard" edition). 
 
 Halliwell, J. O. Halliwell (folio ed. of Shakespeare). 
 
 Id. (idem), the same. 
 
 K., Knight (second edition). 
 
 Nares, Glossary, edited by Halliwell and Wright (London, 1S59). 
 
 Pro!., Prologue. 
 
 S., Shakespeare. 
 
 Schmidt, A. Schmidt's Shakespeare-Lexicon (Berlin, 1874). 
 
 Sr., Singer. 
 
 St., Staunton. 
 
 Theo. , Theobald. 
 
 V., Verplanck. 
 
 W., R. Grant White. 
 
 Walker, Wm. Sidney Walker's Critical Examination of the Text of Shakespeare 
 (London, i860). 
 
 Warb., Warburton. 
 
 Wb., Webster's Dictionary (revised quarto edition of 1879). 
 
 Wore, Worcester's Dictionary (quarto edition). 
 
 The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's Plays will be readily understood ; as 
 T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriolanus, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third Part of King 
 Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to The Passionate Pilgrim ; V. and A . to Venus 
 and Adonis; L. C. to Lover's Complaint ; and Sonn. to the Sonnets. 
 
 When the abbreviation of the name of a play is followed by a reference to page, 
 Rolfe's edition of the play is meant. 
 
 The numbers of the lines (except for the present play) are those of the " Globe " ed. 
 or of the American reprint of that ed. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following are the chief passages in North's Plutarch (see p. n 
 above) which illustrate the play :* 
 
 " Cicero on the other side, being at that time the chiefest man of au- 
 thority and estimation in the city, he stirred up all men against 
 1- jh5 6 Antonius : so that in the end he made the senate pronounce him 
 an enemy to his country, and appointed young Caesar sergeants 
 to carry axes before him, and such other signs as were incident to the 
 dignity of a Consul or Praetor: and moreover, sent Hircius and Pansa, 
 then Consuls, to drive Antonius out of Italy. These two Consuls, togeth- 
 er with Caesar, who also had an army, went against Antonius that be- 
 sieged the city of Modena, and there overthrew him in battle : but both 
 the Consuls were slain there. 
 
 * We take these from Shakespeare s Plutarch, edited by Rev. W. W. Skeat, M.A. 
 (London, 1375), p. 167 fol. 
 
l5 o NOTES. 
 
 li Antonius, flying upon this overthrow, fell into great misery all at 
 once : but the chiefest want of all other, and that pinched him most, was 
 famine. Howbeit he was of such a strong nature, that by patience he 
 would overcome any adversity : and the heavier fortune lay upon him, 
 the more constant shewed he himself. Every man that feeleth want or 
 adversity, knoweth by virtue and discretion what he should do : but when 
 indeed they are overlaid with extremity, and be sore oppressed, few have 
 the hearts to follow that which they praise and commend, and much less 
 to avoid that they reprove and mislike : but rather to the contrary, 
 they yield to their accustomed easy life, and through faint heart, and lack 
 of courage, do change their first mind and purpose. And therefore it 
 was a wonderful example to the soldiers, to see- Antonius, that was brought 
 up in all fineness and superfluity, so easily to drink puddle water, and to 
 eat wild fruits and roots : and moreover it is reported, that even as they 
 passed the Alps, they did eat the barks of trees, and such beasts as never 
 man tasted of their flesh before. . . . 
 
 " Antonius being thus inclined, the last and extremest mischief of all 
 other (to wit, the love of Cleopatra) lighted on him, who did waken and 
 stir up many vices yet hidden in him, and were never seen to any : and 
 if any spark of goodness or hope of rising were left him, Cleopatra 
 quenched it straight, and made it worse than before. The manner how 
 he fell in love with her was this. Antonius, going to make war with the 
 Parthians, sent to command Cleopatra to appear personally before him 
 when he came into Cilicia, to answer unto such accusations as were laid 
 against her, being this: that she had aided Cassius and Brutus in their 
 war against him. The messenger sent unto Cleopatra, to make this sum- 
 mons unto her, was called Dellius ; who when he had throughly con- 
 sidered her beauty, the excellent grace and sweetness of her tongue, he 
 nothing mistrusted that Antonius would do any hurt to so noble a lady, 
 but rather assured himself, that within few days she should be in great 
 favour with him. Thereupon he did her great honour, and persuaded 
 her to come into Cilicia, as honourably furnished as she could possible ; 
 and bad her not to be afraid at all of Antonius, for he was a more cour- 
 teous lord than any that she had ever seen. Cleopatra on the other side, 
 believing Dellius' words, and guessing by the former access and credit 
 she had with Julius Caesar and C. Pompey (the son of Pompey the Great) 
 only for her beauty, she began to have good hope that she might more 
 easily win Antonius. For Caesar and Pompey knew her when she was 
 but a young thing, and knew not then what the world meant: but now 
 she went to Antonius at the age when a woman's beauty is at the prime, 
 and she also of best judgment. So she furnished herself with a world of 
 gifts, store of gold and silver, and of riches and other sumptuous orna- 
 ments, as is credible enough she might bring from so great a house, and 
 from so wealthy and rich a realm as Egypt was. But vet she carried 
 nothing with her wherein she trusted more than in herself, and in the 
 charms and enchantment of her passing beauty and grace. 
 U fol! 90 Therefore, when she was sent unto by divers letters, both from 
 Antonius himself and also from his friends, she made so light 
 of it, and mocked Antonius so much, that she disdained to set for- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 151 
 
 ward otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus ; the poop 
 whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, and the oars of silver, which kept 
 stroke in rowing after the sound of the music of flutes, howboys, 1 cith- 
 ernes, 2 viols, and such other instruments as they played upon in the 
 barge. And now for the person of her self, she was laid under a pavilion 
 of cloth of gold of tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddess Venus, 
 commonly drawn in picture : and hard by her, on either hand of her, 
 pretty fair boys apparelled as painters do set forth god Cupid, with little 
 fans in their hands, with the which they fanned wind upon her. Her la- 
 dies and gentlewomen also, the fairest of them, were apparelled like the 
 nymphs Nereids (which are the mermaids of the waters) and like the 
 Graces ; some steering the helm, others tending the tackle and ropes of 
 the barge, out of the which there came a wonderful passing sweet savour 
 of perfumes, that perfumed the wharf's side, pestered 3 with innumerable 
 multitudes of people. Some of them followed the barge all along the 
 river-side: others also ran out of the city to see her coming in. So that 
 in the end, there ran such multitudes of people one after another to see 
 her, that Antonius was left post 4 alone in the market-place, in his impe- 
 rial seat, to give audience : and there went a rumour in the people's 
 mouths, that the goddess Venus was come to play with the god Bacchus, 
 for the general good of all Asia. When Cleopatra landed, Antonius sent 
 to invite her to supper to him. But she sent him word again, he should 
 do better rather to come and sup with her. Antonius therefore, to shew 
 himself courteous unto her at her arrival, was contented to obey her, and 
 went to supper to her: where he found such passing sumptuous fare, 
 that no tongue can express it. . . . 
 
 "Now Antonius was so ravished with the love of Cleopatra, that 
 though his wife Fulvia had great wars, and much ado with Caesar for his 
 affairs, and that the army of the Parthians (the which the. king's lieuten- 
 ants had given to the only 5 leading of Labienus) was now assembled in 
 Mesopotamia, ready to invade Syria ; yet (as though all this had nothing 
 touched him) he yielded himself to go with Cleopatra unto Alexandria, 
 where he spent and lost in childish sports (as a man might say) and idle 
 pastimes, the most precious thing a man can spend (as Antiphon saith), 
 and that is, time. For they made an order between them, which they 
 called Amimetobion (as much to say, no life comparable and matchable 
 with it), one feasting each other by turns, and in cost exceeding all meas- 
 ure and reason. And for proof hereof, I have heard my grandfather 
 Lampryas report, that one Philotas, a physician, born in the city of Am- 
 phissa,'told him that he was at that present time' in Alexandria, and 
 studied physic ; and that having acquaintance with one of Antonius' 
 cooks, he took him with him to Antonius' house (being a young man 
 desirous to see things), to shew him the wonderful sumptuous charge 
 and preparation of one only supper. When he was in the kitchen, and 
 saw a world of diversities of meats, and amongst others eight 
 ii. 2. 183. w j 1c j Doars roas ted whole, he began to wonder at it, and said : 
 
 1 hautboys. In 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 351 (the only instance of the word in S.) the folio has 
 " Hoeboy." 2 guitars. 3 crowded. Cf. Cor. p. 258. 
 
 * posted. Cf. Gr. 341. 5 sole. 
 
I52 NOTES. 
 
 * Sure you have a great number of guests to supper.' The cook fell 
 a- laughing, and answered him: 'No,' quoth he, 'not many guests, nor 
 above twelve in all : but yet all that is boiled or roasted must be served 
 in whole, or else it would be marred straight : for Antonius peradventure 
 will sup presently, or it may be a pretty while hence, or likely enough he 
 will defer it longer, for that he hath drunk well t^day, or else hath had 
 some other great matters in hand : and therefore we do not dress one 
 supper only, but many suppers, because we are uncertain of the hour he 
 will sup in.' . . . 
 
 " But now again to Cleopatra. Plato writeth that there are four kinds 
 of flattery : but Cleopatra divided it into many kinds. For she (were it 
 in sport, or in matters of earnest) still devised sundry new delights to 
 have Antonius at commandment, never leaving him night nor day, nor 
 once letting him go out of her sight. For she would play at dice with 
 him, drink with him, and hunt commonly with him, and also be with him 
 when he went to any exercise or activity of body. And sometime also, 
 when he would go up and down the city disguised like a slave in 
 
 • L *' 53- the night, and would peer into poor men's windows and their 
 shops, and scold and brawl with them within the house, Cleopatra would 
 be also in a chamber-maid's array, and amble up and down the streets 
 with him, so that oftentimes Antonius bare away both mocks and blows.. 
 Now though most men misliked this manner, yet the Alexandrians were 
 commonly glad of this jollity, and liked it well, saying very gallantly and 
 wisely : ' that Antonius shewed them a comical face, to wit, a merry coun- 
 tenance : and the Romans a tragical face, to say, a grim look.' But to 
 reckon up all the foolish sports they made, revelling in this sort, it were 
 too fond 1 a part of me, and therefore I will only tell you one among the 
 rest. .On a time he went to angle for fish, and when he could take none, 
 he was as angry as could be, because Cleopatra stood by. Wherefore he 
 secretly commanded the fishermen, that when he cast in his line, they 
 should straight dive under the water, and put a fish on his hook which 
 they had taken before : and so snatched up his angling-rod, and brought 
 up a fish twice or thrice. . Cleopatra found 2 it straight, yet she seemed 
 not to see it, but wondered at his excellent fishing: but when she was- 
 alone by herself among her own people, she told them how it was, and, 
 bad them the next morning to be on the water to see the fishing. A 
 number of people came to the haven, and got into the fisher-boats to 
 see this fishing. Antonius then threw in his line, and Cleopatra straight 
 
 commanded one of her men to dive under water before Anto- 
 "" 5 '. ISv nius' men, and to put some old salt-fish upon his bait, like unto 
 those that are brought out of the country of Pont. When he had hung 
 the fish on his hook, Antonius, thinking he had taken a fish indeed, 
 snatched up his line presently. 3 Then they all fell a-laughing. Cleo- 
 patra laughing also, said unto him: 'Leave us, my lord, Egyptians 
 (which dwell in the country of Pharus and Canobus) your angling-rod : 
 this is not thy profession, thou must hunt after conquering of realms and 
 countries.' 
 
 1 foolish. 2 discovered. 3 at once. Cf. ii. 2. 163, iii 4. 15, etc be'.uw. 
 
INTRODUCTION. I53 
 
 "Now Antonius 'delighting in these fond and childish pastimes, very 
 ill news were brought him from two places. The first from 
 1- fol. 4 K° me > tnat his brother Lucius and Fulvia his wife fell out first 
 between themselves, and afterwards fell to open war with Caesar, 
 and had brought all to nought, that they were both driven to fly out of 
 Italy. • The second news, as bad as the first : that Labienus conquered 
 all Asia with the army of the Parthians, from the river of Euphrates and 
 from Syria unto the country of Lydia and Ionia. Then began Antonius 
 with much ado a little to rouse himself, as if he had been wakened out 
 ot a deep sleep, and, as a man may say, coming out of a great drunken- 
 ness. So, first of all he bent himself against the Parthians, and went as 
 far as the country of Phoenicia : but there he received lamentable letters 
 from his wife Fulvia. Whereupon he straight returned towards Italy, 
 with two hundred sail : and as he went, took up his friends by the way 
 that fled out of Italy to come to him. By them he was informed, that 
 his wife Fulvia was the only cause of this war : who being of a peevish, 
 crooked, and troublesome nature, had purposely raised this uproar in 
 Italy, in hope thereby to withdraw him from Cleopatra. But by good 
 fortune his wife Fulvia, going to meet with Antonius, sickened by the 
 way, and died in the city of Sicyon : and therefore Octavius Caesar and 
 he were the easilier made friends again. For when Antonius landed 
 in Italy, and that men saw Caesar asked nothing of him, and that Anto- 
 nius on the other side laid all the fault and burden on his wife Fulvia; 
 the friends of both parties would not suffer them to unrip any old mat- 
 ters, and to prove or defend who had the wrong or right, and who was 
 the first procurer of this war, fearing to make matters worse 
 "Vol. 15 D . etween tnem : but they made them friends together, and di- 
 vided the empire of Rome between them, making the sea Ionium 
 the bounds of their division. For they gave all the provinces eastward 
 unto Antonius, and the countries westward unto Caesar, and left Africa 
 unto Lepidus : and made a law, that they three, one after another, 
 should make: their friends Consuls, when they would not be them- 
 selves. This seemed to be a sound counsel, but yet it was to be confirmed 
 with a straighter 1 bond, which fortune offered thus. There was Octavia, 
 the eldest sister of Caesar, not by one mother, for she came of Ancharia, 
 and Caesar himself afterwards of Accia. It is reported, that he clearly 
 loved his sister Octavia, for indeed she was a noble lady, and left the 
 widow of her first husband Caius Marcellus, who died not long before: 
 and it seemed also that Antonius had been widower ever since the death 
 of his wife Fulvia. For he denied not that he kept Cleopatra, neither 
 did he confess that he had her as his wife : and so with reason he did 
 defend the love he bare unto this Egyptian Cleopatra. Thereupon 
 every man did set forward this marriage, hoping thereby that this lady 
 Octavia, having an excellent grace, wisdom, and honesty, joined unto so 
 rare a beauty, when she were with Antonius (he loving her as so worthy 
 a lady deserveth) she should be a good mean 2 to keep good love and 
 amity betwixt her brother and him. So when Caesar and he had made 
 
 means See R. and J. p. il 
 
I54 N07ES. 
 
 the match between them, they both went to Rome about this marriage, 
 although it was against the law that a widow should be married within 
 ten months after her husband's death. Howbeit the senate dispensed 
 with the law, and so the marriage proceeded accordingly. 
 
 " Sextus Pompeius at that time kept in Sicilia, and so made many an 
 
 inroad into Italy with a great number of pinnaces and other pirates' ships, 
 
 of the which were captains two notable pirates, Menas and Menecrates, 
 
 who so scoured all the sea thereabouts, that none durst peep out 
 
 u ' 6 ' with a sail. Furthermore, Sextus Pompeius had dealt very 
 friendly with Antonius, for he had courteously received his mother when 
 she fled out of Italy with Fulvia, and therefore they thought good to 
 make peace with him. So they met all three together by the mount of 
 Misena, upon a hill that runneth far into the sea : Pompey having his 
 ships riding hard by at anchor, and Antonius and Caesar their armies 
 upon the shore-side, directly over against him. Now, after they had 
 agreed that Sextus Pompeius should have Sicily and Sardinia, with this 
 condition, that he should rid the sea of all thieves and pirates, and make 
 it safe for passengers, and withal, that he should send a certain 1 of wheat 
 to Rome, one of them did feast another, and drew cuts 2 who should begin. 
 It was Pompeius chance to invite them first. Whereupon Antonius 
 asked him: 'And where shall we sup?' 'There,' said Pompey; and 
 shewed him his admiral galley which had six banks of oars : 'that,' 
 said he, ' is my father's house they have left me.' He spake it to taunt 
 Antonius, because he had his father's house, that was Pompey the Great. 
 So he cast anchors enow 3 into the sea, to make his galley fast, and then 
 built a bridge of wood to convey them to his galley, from the head of 
 mount Misena : and there he welcomed them, and made them great cheer. 
 Now in the midst of the feast, when they fell to be merry with Antonius' 
 love unto Cleopatra, Menas the pirate came to Pompey, and whispering 
 in his ear, said unto him: 'Shall I cut the cables of the anchors, and 
 make thee lord not only of Sicily and Sardinia, but of the whole empire 
 of Rome besides?' Pompev, having paused a while upon it, at length 
 answered him : ' Thou shouldest have done it, and never have told it me ; 
 but now we must content us with that we have : as for myself, I was 
 never taught to break my faith, nor to be counted a traitor.' The othev 
 two also did likewise feast him in their camp, and then he returned 
 into Sicily. 
 
 " Antonius, after this agreement made, sent Ventidius before into Asia to 
 stay the Parthians, and to keep them they should come no further : and 
 he himself in the mean time, to gratify Caesar, was contented to be chosen 
 Julius Caesar's priest and sacrificer, and so they jointly together dis- 
 patched all great matters concerning the state of the empire. But in all 
 other manner of sports and exercises, wherein they passed the time away 
 the one with the other, Antonius was ever inferior unto Caesar, and 
 alway lost, which grieved him much. With Antonius there was a sooth- 
 sayer or astronomer of Egypt, that coul d cast a figure, and judge of 
 
 1 a certain quantitv. 
 
 2 lots. Cf. C. of E. v. i. 422 : " We '11 draw cuts for the senior." 
 
 3 enough. Cf. i. 4. 11 below. 
 
INTROD UCTIOiV. 
 
 155 
 
 men's nativities, to tell them what should happen to them. He, either 
 
 to please Cleopatra, or else for that he found it so by his art, told Anto- 
 
 nius plainly, that his fortune (which of itself was excellent good, 
 
 "' 3 * and very great) was altogether blemished and obscured by 
 Caesar's fortune: and therefore he counselled him utterly to leave his 
 company, and to get him as far from him as he could. ' For thy de- 
 mon,' said he, (that is to say, the good angel and spirit that keepeth 
 thee) ' is afraid of his : and being courageous and high when he is 
 alone, becometh fearful and timorous when he cometh near unto the 
 other.' Howsoever it was, the events ensuing proved the Egyptian's 
 words true : for it is said, that as often as they two drew cuts for pas- 
 time, who should have anything, or whether they played at dice, Anto- 
 nius alway lost. Oftentimes when they were disposed to see cock-fight, 
 or quails that were taught to fight one with another, Caesar's cocks or 
 quails did ever overcome. . . . 
 
 " In the meantime, Yentidius once again overcame Pacorus (Orodes' 
 son, king of Parthia) in a battle fought in the country of Cyrrestica, he 
 being come again with a great army to invade Syria : at which battle 
 was slain a great number of the Parthians, and among them Pacorus, the 
 king's own son. This noble exploit, as famous as ever any was, was a full 
 revenge to the Romans of the shame and loss they had received before 
 by the death of Marcus Crassus: and he made the Parthians 
 
 U1 " r * fly, and glad to keep themselves within the confines and territo- 
 ries of Mesopotamia and Media, after they had thrice together been over- 
 come in several battles. Howbeit Ventidius durst not undertake to fol- 
 low them any farther, fearing lest he should have gotten Antonius' dis- 
 pleasure by it. Notwithstanding, he led his army against them that had 
 rebelled, and conquered them again : amongst whom he besieged Anti- 
 ochus king of Commagena, who offered him to give a thousand talents to 
 be pardoned his rebellion, and promised ever after to be at Antonius' 
 commandment. But Ventidius made him answer, that he should send 
 unto Antonius ; who was not far off, and would not suffer Ventidius to 
 make any peace with Antiochus, to the end that yet this little exploit 
 should pass in his name, and that they should not think he did anything 
 but by his lieutenant Ventidius. The siege grew very long, because they 
 that were in the town, seeing thev could not be received upon no reason- 
 able composition, determined valiantly to defend themselves to the last 
 man. Thus Antonius did nothing, and yet received great shame, repent- 
 ing him much that he took not their first offer. And yet at the last he 
 was glad to make truce with Antiochus, and to take three hundred tal- 
 ents for composition. Thus after he had set order for the state and affairs 
 of Syria, he returned again to Athens : and having given Ventidius such 
 honours as he deserved, he sent him to Rome, to triumph for the Parthians. 
 Ventidius was the only man that ever triumphed of the Parthians until 
 this present day, a mean man born, and of no noble house or family : 
 who only came to that he attained unto, through Antonius' friendship, 
 the which delivered him happy occasion to achieve great matters. And 
 yet to say truly, he did so we'll quit himself in all his enterprises, that 
 he confirmed that which was spoken of Antonius and Caesar, to wit, that 
 
156 NOTES. 
 
 they were alvvay more fortunate when they made war by their lieuten- 
 ants than by themselves. For Sossius, one of Antonius' lieutenants in 
 Syria, did notable good service : and Canidius, whom he had also left his 
 lieutenant in the borders of Armenia, did conquer it all. So did he also 
 overcome the kings of the Iberians and Albanians, and went on with 
 his conquests unto mount Caucasus. By these conquests the fame of 
 Antonius' power increased more and more, and grew dreadful unto all 
 the barbarous nations. 
 
 " But Antonius, notwithstanding, grew to be marvellously offended with 
 Caesar, upon certain reports that had been brought unto him, and so took 
 sea to go towards Italy with three hundred sail. And because those of 
 Brundusium would not receive his army into their haven, he 
 ' 4 ' went farther unto Tarentum. There his wife Octavia, that came 
 out of Greece with him, besought him to send her unto her brother, the 
 which he did. Octavia at that time was great with child, and moreover 
 had a second daughter by him, and yet she put herself in journey, and 
 met with her brother Octavius Caesar by the way, who brought his two 
 chief friends, Maecenas and Agrippa, with him. She took them aside, 
 and with all the instance 1 she could possible, intreated them they would 
 not suffer her, that was the happiest woman of the world, to become now 
 the most wretched and unfortunatest creature of all other. ' For now,' 
 said she, ' every man's eyes do gaze on me, that am the sister of one of 
 the emperors, and wife of the other. And if the worst counsel take 
 place (which the gods forbid) and that they grow to wars : for yourselves, 
 it is uncertain to which of them two the gods have assigned the victory 
 or overthrow. But for me, on which side soever the victory fall, my 
 state can be but most miserable still.' . . . 
 
 " When Octavia was returned to Rome from Athens, Caesar com- 
 manded her to go out of Antonius' house, and to dwell by herself, be- 
 cause he had abused 2 her. Octavia answered him again, that she would 
 not forsake her husband's house, and that if he had no other occasion to 
 make war with him, she prayed him then to take no thought for her: 
 'For,' said she, 'it were too shameful a thing, that two so famous 
 captains should bring in civil wars among the Romans, the one for the 
 love of a woman, and the other for the jealousy betwixt one another.' 
 Now as she spake the word, so did she also perform the deed : for she 
 kept still in Antonius' house, as if he had been there, and very honestly 
 and honourably kept his children, not only those she had by him, but 
 the other which her husband had by Fulvia. Furthermore, when Anto- 
 nius sent any of his men to Rome, to sue for any office in the common- 
 wealth, she received them very courteously, and so used herself unto her 
 brother, that she obtained the things she requested. Howbeit thereby, 
 thinking no hurt, she did Antonius great hurt. For her honest love and 
 regard to her husband made every man hate him, when they saw he did 
 so unkindly use so noble a lady: but the greatest cause of their malice 
 
 ... unto him was for the division of lands he made among his 
 
 children in the city of Alexandria. And, to confess a troth, 3 it 
 
 1 urgency. 2 deceived. See Ham. p. 215, or Oth. p. 158. 
 
 3 truth. ' See M. N. D. p. i SI . 
 
IN TROD UC TION. 
 
 *57 
 
 was too arrogant and insolent a part, and done (as a mail would say) in 
 derision and contempt of the Romans. For he assembled all the people 
 in the : showplace, where young men do exercise themselves, and there, 
 upon a high tribunal silvered, he set two chairs of gold, the one for 
 himself, and the other for Cleopatra, and lower chairs for his children ; 
 then he openly published before the assembly, that first of all he did 
 establish Cleopatra queen of Egypt, of Cyprus, of Lydia, and of the lower 
 Syria; and at that time also Caesarion king of the same realms. This. 
 Caesarion was supposed to be the son of Julius. Caesar,, who had left 
 Cleopatra great with child. Secondly, he called the sons he had by her 
 the kings of kings, and gave Alexander for his portion Armenia, Media, 
 and Parthia, when he had conquered the country; and unto Ptolemy for, 
 his portion Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. And therewithal he brought 
 out Alexander in a long gown after the fashion of the Medes with a 
 high. cop-tank 1 hat on his head, narrow in the top, as the kings of the 
 Medes and Armenians do use to wear them: and Ptolemy apparelled in 
 a cloak after the Macedonian manner, with slippers on his feet and a 
 broad hat, with a royal band or diadem. Such was the apparel and old at- 
 tire of the ancient kings and successors of Alexander the Great. So after 
 his sons had done their humble duties, and kissed their father and mother, 
 presently a company of Armenian soldiers, set there of purpose, com- 
 passed the one about, and a like company of Macedonians the other. 
 Now for Cleopatra, she did not only wear at that time (but at all other 
 times else when she came abroad) the apparel of the goddess Isis, and 
 so gave audience unto all her subjects, as a new Isis. 
 
 " Octavius Caesar reporting all these things unto the Senate, and often- 
 times accusing him to the whole people and assembly in Rome, he there- 
 by stirred up all the Romans against him. Antonius on the other side 
 sent to Rome likewise to accuse him, and the chiefest points of his 
 accusations he charged him with were these. First, that having spoiled 
 Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, he did not give him his part of the ile. 
 Secondly, that he did detain in his hands the ships he lent him to make 
 that war. Thirdly, that having put Lepidus their companion and trium- 
 virate 2 out of his part of the' empire, and having deprived him of all 
 honours, he retained for himself the lands and revenues thereof, which 
 had been assigned unto him for his part. And last of all, that he had in 
 manner divided all Italy amongst his own soldiers, and had left no part 
 of it for his soldiers. Octavius Caesar answered him again : that for 3 
 Lepidus, he had indeed deposed him, and taken his part of the empire 
 from him, because he did over cruelly use his authority. And secondly, 
 for 3 the conquests he had made by force of arms, he was contented 
 Antonius should have his part of them, so that he would likewise let him 
 have his part of Armenia. And thirdly, that for 3 his soldiers, they should 
 seek for nothing in Italy, because they possessed Media and Parthia, the 
 which provinces they had added to the empire of Rome, valiantly fight- 
 ing with their emperor and Captain. . . . 
 
 1 conical. Cf. T. of S. p. 167, note on A copatain hat. 
 
 2 sic ; for triumvir. 3 as for. Cf. iii. 13. 51 below. 
 
158 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 " Now after that Caesar had made sufficient preparation, he proclaimed 
 open war against Cleopatra, and made the people to abolish the power and 
 
 empire of Antonius, because he had before given it up unto a 
 ' 7 ' woman. And Caesar said furthermore, that Antonius was not 
 master of himself, but that Cleopatra had brought him beside himself by 
 her charms and amorous poisons : and that they, that should make war 
 with them, should be Mardian the eunuch, Photinus, and Iras (a woman 
 of Cleopatra's bed-chamber, that frizzled her hair, and dressed her head) 
 and Charmion, the which were those that ruled all the affairs of An- 
 tonius' empire. 
 
 " Before this war, as it is reported, many signs and wonders fell out. 
 . . . The admiral -galley of Cleopatra was called Autoniad, in the which 
 
 there chanced a marvellous ill sign : swallows had bred under 
 2 ' 4 " the poop of her ship, and there came others after them that 
 drave away the first, and plucked down their nests. 
 
 " Now when all things were ready, and that they drew near to fight, it 
 was found, that Antonius had no less than 500 good ships of war, 
 among which there were many galleys that had eight and ten banks of 
 oars, the which were sumptuously furnished, not so meet for fight as for 
 triumph : an hundred thousand footmen, and 12,000 horsemen; and had 
 with him to aid him these kings and subjects following: Bocchus king 
 ... of Lybia, Tarcondemus king of high Cilicia, Archelaus king 
 
 of Cappadocia, Philadelphus king of Paphlagonia, Mithridates 
 king of Comagena, and Adallas king of Thracia. All which were there, 
 every man in person. The residue that were absent, sent their armies : 
 as Polemon king of Pont, Manchus king of Arabia, Herodes king of 
 Jewry ; and furthermore Amyntas king of Lycaonia and of the Galatians : 
 and besides all these, he had all the aid the king of Medes sent unto him. 
 Now for Caesar, he had 250 ships of war, 80,000 footmen, and well near 
 as many horsemen as his enemy Antonius. Antonius for his part had 
 all under his dominion from Armenia and the river of Euphrates, unto 
 the sea Ionium and Illyricum. Octavius Caesar had also, for his part, 
 all that which was in our hemisphere or half-part of the world, from 
 Illyria unto the ocean sea upon the west : then all from the ocean unto 
 mare Siculum : and from Africa, all that which is against Italy, as 
 Gaul and Spain. Furthermore, all, from the province of Cyrenia to Ethi- 
 opia, was subject unto Antonius. Now Antonius was made so subject to a 
 woman's will, that though he was a great deal the stronger by land, yet 
 for Cleopatra's sake he would needs have this battle tried by sea : though 
 he saw before his eyes, that for lack of water-men his captains did prest 1 
 by force all sorts of men out of Greece that they could take up in the 
 
 field, as travellers, muleteers, reapers, harvest-men, and young 
 11L 7 ' 32, boys ; and yet could they not sufficiently furnish his galleys : so 
 that the most part of them were empty, and could scant row, because 
 they lacked water-men enough. But on the contrary side, Caesar's ships 
 were not built for pomp, high and great, only for a sight and bravery, 2 
 but they were light of yarage, 3 armed and furnished with water-men as 
 
 1 impress. 2 show. Cf- Ham. p. 270. 
 
 . 3 management. Cf. yare in iii. 7. 35, etc., below. 
 
INTR OD UC TIOiV. 
 
 159 
 
 many as they needed, and had them all in readiness in the havens of 
 Tarentum and Brundusium. So Octavius Caesar sent unto Antonius, to 
 will him to delay no more time, but to come on with his army into Italy : 
 and that for his own part he would give him safe harbour to land with- 
 out any trouble ; and that he would withdraw his army from the sea, as 
 far as one horse could run, until he had put his army ashore, and had 
 lodged his men. Antonius on the other side bravely sent him word 
 again and challenged the combat of him, man for man, though he were 
 the elder ; and that if he refused him so, he would then fight a battle with 
 him in the fields of Pharsalia, as Julius Caesar and Pompey had done 
 before. Now whilst Antonius rode at anchor, lying idly in harbour at 
 the head of Actium, in the place where the city of Nicopolis standeth 
 at this present, Caesar had quickly passed the sea Ionium, and taken 
 a place called Toryne, before Antonius understood that he had taken 
 ship. . . . 
 
 "So when Antonius had determined to fight by sea, he set all the other 
 ships on fire but three score ships of Egypt, and reserved only the best 
 and greatest galleys, from three banks unto ten banks of oars, 
 in- 7- 47- i n i Q them he put two and twenty thousand fighting men, with 
 two thousand darters and slingers. Now as he was setting his men in 
 order of battle, there was a captain, a valiant man, that had served An- 
 tonius in many battles and conflicts, and had all his body hacked and 
 cut : who, as Antonius passed by him, cried out unto him, and said : ' O 
 noble emperor, how cometh it to pass that you trust to these vile brittle 
 ships ? What, do you mistrust these wounds of mine, and this sword ? 
 Let the Egyptians and Phoenicians fight by sea, and set us on the main 
 land, where we use to conquer or to be slain on our feet.' Antonius 
 passed by him and said never a word, but only beckoned to him with his 
 hand and head, as though he willed him to be of good courage, although 
 indeed he had no great courage himself. . . . 
 
 " Howbeit the battle was yet of even hand, and the victory doubtful, 
 being indifferent to both : when suddenly they saw the threescore ships 
 of Cleopatra busily about their yard-masts, and hoising 1 sail to fly. So they 
 fled through the middest 2 of them that were in fight, for they had 
 been placed behind the great ships, and did marvellously dis- 
 order the other ships. For the enemies themselves wondered much to 
 see them sail in that sort, with full sail towards Peloponnesus. There 
 Antonius shewed plainly, that he had not only lost the courage and heart 
 of an emperor, but also of a valiant man ; and that he was not his own 
 man (proving that true which an old man spake in mirth, that the soul 
 of a lover lived in another body, and not in his own); he was so carried 
 away with the vain love of this woman, as if he had been glued unto her, 
 and that she could not have removed without moving of him also. For 
 when he saw Cleopatra's ship under sail, he forgot, forsook, and be- 
 trayed them that fought for him, imbarked upon a galley with five banks 
 of oars, to follow her that had already begun to overthrow him, and 
 would in the end be his utter destruction. . . . 
 
 1 hoisting. See Rich. III. p. 236. 
 
 2 midst. The early eds. have middest in 2 Hen. VI. iv. 8. 64. 
 
160 NOTES. 
 
 "Then Antonius sent unto Canidius, to return with his army into Asia 
 by Macedon. Now for himself, he determined to cross over into Africa, 
 and took one of his carects 1 or hulks laden 2 with gold and silver, and 
 other rich carriage, 3 and gave it unto his friends, commanding 
 them to depart, and seek to save themselves. They answered 
 him weeping, that they would neither do it, nor yet forsake him. 
 Then Antonius very courteously and lovingly did comfort them, and 
 prayed them to depart; and wrote unto Theophilus, governor of Cor- 
 inth, that he would see them safe, and help to hide them in some secret 
 place, until they had made their way and peace with Caesar. ... 
 
 "But now to return to Antonius again. Canidius himself came to 
 bring him news, that he had lost all his army by land at Actium : on the 
 other side he was advertised also, that Herodes king of Jurie, who had 
 also certain legions and bands with him, was revolted unto Caesar, and 
 all the other kings in like manner : so that, saving those that were about 
 him, he had none left him. All this notwithstanding did nothing trouble 
 him : and it seemed that he was contented to forgo all his hope, and so 
 to be rid of all his cares and troubles. Thereupon he left his solitary 
 house he had built by the sea, which he called Timoneon, and Cleopatra 
 received him into her royal palace. He was no sooner come thither, but 
 he straight set all the city on rioting and banqueting again, and himself 
 to liberality and gifts. He caused the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra 
 to be enrolled (according to the manner of the Romans) amongst the 
 number of young men : and gave Antyllus, his eldest son he had by 
 Fulvia, the man's gown, the which was a plain gown without gard 4 or 
 embroderie, of purple. For these things, there was kept great feasting, 
 banqueting and dancing in Alexandria many days together. . . . 
 
 " Cleopatra in the meantime was very careful 5 in gathering all sorts of 
 poisons together, to destroy men. Now to make proof of those poisons 
 which made men die with least pain, she tried it upon condemned 
 men in" prison. For when she saw the poisons that were sud- 
 den and vehement, and brought speedy death with grievous torments ; 
 and in contrary manner, that such as were more mild and gentle had not 
 that quick speed and force to make one die suddenly : she afterwards 
 went about to prove 6 the stinging of snakes and adders, and made some 
 to be applied unto men in her sight, some in one sort, some in another. 
 So when she had daily made divers and sundry proofs, she found none 
 of them all she had proved so fit as the biting of an aspick, the which 
 causeth only a heaviness of the head, without swooning or complaining, 
 and bringeth a great desire also to sleep, with a little sweat in the face ; 
 and so by little and little taketh away the senses and vital powers, no 
 living creature perceiving that the patients feel any pain. For they are 
 so sorry when any body awaketh them and taketh them up, as those that 
 be taken out of a sound sleep are very heavy and desirous to sleep. 
 
 "This notwithstanding, they sent ambassadors untoOctavius Caesar in 
 
 J ships of burden. Cf. C. of E. p. 130, note on Armadocs of caracks. 
 
 2 laden. S. uses loaden interchangeably with laden. See 1 Hen. IV. p. 140. 
 
 3 stores. Cf. Temp. v. 1. 3 and M. IV. ii. 2. 179. 4 edging. 
 
 5 industrious. 6 test. Cf. Cymb. i. 5. 38, etc 
 
introduction: 1 ^ l 
 
 Asia, Cleopatra requesting the realm of Egypt for their children, and 
 Antonius praying that he might be suffered to live at Athens 
 like a private man, if Caesar would not let him remain in Egypt. 
 And because they had no other men of estimation about them, for that 
 some were fled, and those that remained they did not greatly trust, 
 they were enforced to send Euphronius, the schoolmaster of their chil- 
 dren. For Alexas Laodicean, who was brought into Antonius' house 
 and favour by means of Timagenes, and afterwards was in greater credit 
 with him than any other Grecian (for that he had ever been one of Cleo- 
 patra's ministers to win Antonius, and to overthrow all his good deter- 
 minations to use his wife Octavia well) : him Antonius had sent unto 
 Herodes king of Jurie, hoping still to keep him his friend, that he should 
 not revolt from him. But he remained there, and betrayed Antonius. 
 For where he should have kept Herodes from revolting from him, he 
 persuaded him to turn to Caesar : and trusting king Herodes, he pre- 
 sumed to come in Caesar's presence. Howbeit Herodes did him no 
 pleasure, for he was presently taken prisoner, and sent in chains to his 
 own country, and there by Caesar's commandment put to death. Thus 
 was Alexas, in Antonius' life-time, put to death for betraying of him. 
 Furthermore, Caesar would not grant unto Antonius' requests : but for 
 Cleopatra, he made her answer, that he would deny her nothing reason- 
 able, so that she would either put Antonius to death, or drive him out 
 of her country. Therewithal he sent Thyreus one of his men unto her, a 
 very wise and discreet man : who bringing letters of credit from a young 
 lord unto a noble lady, and that besides greatly liked her beauty, 
 ... might easily by his eloquence have persuaded her. He was 
 
 longer in talk with her than any man else was, and the queen 
 herself also did him great honour: insomuch as he made Antonius jeal- 
 ous of him. Whereupon Antonius caused him to be taken and well- 
 favouredly 1 whipped, and so sent him unto Caesar : and bad him tell him, 
 that he made him angry with him, because he shewed himself proud and 
 disdainful towards him ; and now specially, when he was easy to be an- 
 gered, by reason of his present misery. ' To be short, if this mislike 
 thee,' said he, 'thou hast Hipparchus, one of my enfranchised bondmen, 
 with thee : hang him if thou wilt, or whip him at thy pleasure, that we 
 may cry quittance.' From henceforth Cleopatra, to clear herself of the 
 suspicion he had of her, made more of him then ever she did. For 
 first of all, where 2 she did solemnize the day of her birth very meanly and 
 sparingly, fit for her present misfortune, she now in contrary manner did 
 keep it with such solemnity, that she exceeded all measure of sumptuous- 
 ness and magnificence : so that the guests that were bidden to the feasts, 
 and came poor, went away rich. Now things passing thus, Agrippa by 
 divers letters sent one after another unto Caesar, prayed him to return to 
 Rome, because the affairs there did of necessity require his person and 
 presence. Thereupon he did defer the war till the next year following: 
 but when winter was done, he returned again through Syria bv the coast 
 of Africa, to make wars against Antonius and his other captains. When 
 
 1 soundly. 2 whereas. See Lear, p. 179. 
 
fgi NOTES. 
 
 the city of Pelusium was taken, there ran a rumour in the city, that 
 Seleucus (by Cleopatra's consent) had surrendered the same. But to 
 clear herself that she did not, Cleopatra brought Seleucus' wife and chil- 
 dren unto Antonius, to be revenged of them at his pleasure. Further- 
 more, Cleopatra had long before made many sumptuous tombs and 
 monuments, as well for excellency of workmanship, as for height and 
 greatness of building, joining hard to the temple of Isis. Thither she 
 caused to be brought all the treasure and precious things she had of the 
 ancient kings her predecessors: as gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, 
 ivory, and cinnamon, and besides all that, a marvellous number of torches, 
 faggots, and flax. So Octavius Caesar, being afraid to lose such a treas- 
 ure and mass of riches, and that this woman for spite would set it on fire 
 and burn it every whit, he always sent some one or other unto her from 
 him, to put her in good comfort, whilst he in the meantime drew near the 
 city with his army. So Caesar came and pitched his camp hard by the 
 city, in the place where they run and manage their horses. Antonius 
 made a sally upon him, and fought very valiantly, so that he drave 
 Caesar's horsemen back, fighting with his men even into their 
 camp. Then he came again to the palace, greatly boasting of 
 this victory, and sweetly kissed Cleopatra, armed as he was when he 
 came from the fight, recommending one of his men of arms unto her, 
 that had valiantly fought in this skirmish. Cleopatra, to reward his 
 manliness, gave him an armour and headpiece of clean 1 gold : howbeit 
 the man-at-arms, when he had received this rich gift, stole away by night 
 and went to Caesar. Antonius sent again to challenge Caesar to fight 
 with him hand to hand. Caesar answered him, 'That he had many 
 other ways to die than so.' Then Antonius, seeing there was no way 
 more honourable for him to die than fighting valiantly, he determined to 
 set up his rest, 2 both by sea and land. So being at supper (as it is re- 
 ported) he commanded his officers and household servants that waited 
 on him at his board, that they should fill his cups full, and make 
 as much of him as they could : ' For,' said he, ' you know not 
 whether you shall do so much for me to-morrow or not, or whether you 
 shall serve another master: and it may be you shall see me no more, 
 but a dead body.' This notwithstanding, perceiving that his friends and 
 men fell a-weeping to hear him say so, to salve that he had spoken, he 
 added this more unto it, 'that he would not lead them to battle, where 
 he thought not rather safely to return with victory, than valiantly to die 
 with honour.' Furthermore, the self-same night, within a little of mid- 
 night, when all the city was quiet, full of fear and sorrow, thinking what 
 would be the issue and end of this war, it is safd that suddenly they 
 heard a marvellous sweet harmony of sundry sorts of instru- 
 ments of music, with the cry of a multitude of people, as they 
 had been dancing, and had sung as they use in Bacchus' feasts, with 
 movings and turnings after the manner of the Satyrs : and it seemed, 
 that this dance went through the city unto the gate that opened to the 
 enemies, and that all the troupe, that made this noise they heard, went 
 
 1 pure. 2 make a stand. See M. of V. p. 139. or R. and J. p. 215. 
 
I NTH OD UC TJON. l6 ~ 
 
 out of the city at that gate. Now such as in reason sought the depth of 
 the interpretation of this wonder, thought that it was the god unto whom 
 Antonius bare singular devotion to counterfeit and resemble him, that 
 did forsake them. The next morning by break of day, he went to set 
 those few footmen he had in order upon the hills adjoining unto the city : 
 .y . and there he stood to behold his galleys which departed from 
 
 the haven, and rowed against the galleys of the enemies, and so 
 stood still, looking what exploits his soldiers in them would do. But 
 when by force of rowing they were come near unto them, they first saluted 
 Caesar's men ; and then Caesar's men resaluted them also, and of two 
 armies made but one : and then did all together row toward the city. 
 
 " When Antonius saw that his men did forsake him, and yielded unto 
 Caesar, and that his footmen were broken and overthrown, he then fled 
 into the city, crying out that Cleopatra had betrayed him unto them with 
 whom he had made war for her sake. Then she, being afraid of his fury, 
 fled into the tomb which he had caused to be made, and there she locked 
 
 the doors unto her, and shut all the springs of the locks with 
 
 IV. I3- 11 f • 1 • IO 
 
 great bolts, and in the meantime sent unto Antonius to tell 
 him that she was dead. Antonius believing it, said unto himself: 
 'What doest thou look for further, Antonius, sith 1 spiteful fortune hath 
 taken from thee the only joy thou hadst, for whom thou yet reservedst 
 thy life?' When he had said these words, he went into a chamber and 
 unarmed himself, and being naked, 2 said thus : « O Cleopatra, it grieveth 
 me not that I have lost thy company, for I will not be long from thee : 
 but I am sorry that, having been so great a captain and emperor, I am 
 indeed condemned to be judged of less courage and noble mind than a 
 woman.' Now he had a man of his called Eros, whom he loved and 
 trusted much, and whom he had long before caused to swear unto him, 
 
 that he should kill him when he did command him : and then he 
 1V - r 4- willed him to keep his promise. His man, drawing his sword, 
 lift 3 it up as though he had meant to have stricken his master ; but turn- 
 ing his head at one side, he thrust his sword into himself, and fell down 
 dead at his master's foot. Then said Antonius : 'O noble Eros, I thank 
 thee for this, and it is valiantly done of thee, to shew me what I should 
 do to myself, which thou couldest not do for me.' Therewithal he took 
 his sword, and thrust it into his belly, and so fell down upon a little bed. 
 The wound he had killed him not presently, 4 for the blood stinted 5 a little 
 when he was laid : and when he came somewhat to himself again, he 
 prayed them that were about him to despatch him. But they all fled out 
 of the chamber, and left him crying out, tormenting himself: until at last 
 there came a secretary unto him (called Diomedes) who was commanded 
 to bring him into the tomb or monument where Cleopatra was. When 
 he heard that she was alive, he very earnestly prayed his men to carry 
 his body thither, and so he was carried in his men's arms into the entry 
 of the monument. Notwithstanding, Cleopatra would not open the gates, 
 
 1 since. See Ham. p. 201, or Gr. 132. 2 without arms. Cf. Oth. v. 2. 258, etc. 
 
 3 lifted. Cf. Cor. p. 192, foot-note. 4 at once. 
 
 5 ceased. 
 
164 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 but came to the high windows, and cast out certain chains and ropes, in 
 the which Antonius was trussed 1 : and Cleopatra her own self, 
 ' with two women only, which she had suffered to come with her 
 
 into these monuments, trised 2 Antonius up. They that were present to 
 behold it said they never saw so pitiful a sight. For they plucked up poor 
 Antonius, all bloody as he was, and drawing on with pangs of death : who 
 holding up his hands to Cleopatra, raised up himself as well as he could. 
 It was a hard thing for these women to do, to lift him up : but Cleopatra, 
 stooping down with her head, putting to all her strength to her utter- 
 most power, did lift him up with much ado, and never let go her hold, 
 with the help of the women beneath that bad her be of good courage, and 
 were as sorry to see her labour so as she herself. So when she had got- 
 ten him in after that sort, and laid him on a bed, she rent her garments 
 upon him, clapping her breast, and scratching her face and stomach. 
 Then she dried up his blood that had bewrayed 3 his face, and called him 
 her lord, her husband, and emperor, forgetting her own misery and ca- 
 lamity for the pity and compassion she took of him. Antonius made her 
 cease her lamenting, and called for wine, either because he was athirst, 
 or else for that he thought thereby to hasten his death. When he had 
 drunk, he earnestly prayed her, and persuaded her, that she would seek 
 to save her life, if she could possible, without reproach and dishonour : 
 and that chiefly she should trust Proculeius above any man else about 
 Caesar. And as for himself, that she should not lament nor sorrow for 
 the miserable change of his fortune at the end of his days : but rather 
 that she should think him the more fortunate, for the former triumphs 
 and honours he had received ; considering that while he lived, he was the 
 noblest and greatest prince of the world ; and that now he was over- 
 come, not cowardly, but valiantly, a Roman by another Roman. 
 As Antonius gave the last gasp, Proculeius came that was sent 
 from Caesar. For after Antonius had thrust his sword in himself, as they 
 carried him into the tombs and monuments of Cleopatra, one of his 
 guard (called Dercetaeus) took his sword with which he had stricken 
 himself, and hid it : then he secretly stole away, and brought Octavius 
 Caesar the first news of his death, and shewed him his sword that was 
 bloodied. Caesar hearing this news, straight withdrew himself into a 
 secret place of his tent, and there burst out with tears, lamenting his hard 
 and miserable fortune, that had been his friend and brother-in-law, his 
 equal in the empire, and companion with him in sundry great exploits 
 and battles. Then he called for all his friends and shewed them the let- 
 ters Antonius had written to him, and his answers also sent him again, 
 during their quarrel and strife : and how fiercely and proudly the other 
 answered him, to all just and reasonable matters he wrote unto him. 
 
 " After this, he sent Proculeius, and commanded him to do what he 
 could possible to get Cleopatra alive, fearing lest otherwise all the 
 treasure would be lost: and furthermore, he thought that if he could 
 
 1 wound. 2 drew. 
 
 3 berayed, disfigured. Cf. rayed in T. of S. iii. 2. 54 and iv. 1. 3 ; and see our ed. 
 P- 150- 
 
IN TROD UCTION. 165 
 
 take Cleopatra, and bring her alive to Rome, she would marvellously 
 beautify and set out his triumph. But Cleopatra would never 
 put herself into Proculeius' hands, although they spake together. 
 For Proculeius came to the gates that were thick and strong, and surely 
 barred, but yet there were some cranewes 1 through the which her voice 
 might be heard ; and so they without understood, that Cleopatra de- 
 manded the kingdom of Egypt for her sons : and that Proculeius an- 
 swered her that she should be of good cheer, and not be afraid to refer 
 all unto Caesar. After he had viewed the place very well, he came and 
 reported her answer unto Caesar: who immediately sent Gallus to speak 
 once again with her, and bad him purposely hold her in talk, whilst Pro- 
 culeius did set up a ladder against that high window by the which An- 
 tonius was trised 2 up, and came down into the monument with two of his 
 men, hard by the gate where Cleopatra stood to hear what Gallus said 
 unto her. One of her women which was shut up in her monuments with 
 her, saw Proculeius by chance as he came down, and skreeked 3 out : ' O 
 poor Cleopatra, thou art taken.' Then when she saw Proculeius behind 
 her as she came from the gate, she thought to have stabbed herself in 
 with a short dagger she wore of purpose by her side. But Proculeius 
 came suddenly upon her, and taking her by both the hands, said unto her : 
 ' Cleopatra, first thou shalt do thyself great wrong, and secondly unto 
 Caesar, to deprive him of the occasion and opportunity openly to shew 
 his bounty and mercy, and to give his enemies cause to accuse the most 
 courteous and noble prince that ever was, and to appeach 4 him, as 
 though he were a cruel and merciless man, that were not to be trusted.' 
 So even as he spake the word, he took her dagger from her, and shook 
 her clothes for fear of any poison hidden about her. . . . 
 
 " Shortly after, Caesar came himself in person to see her, and to comfort 
 her. Cleopatra, being laid upon a little low bed in poor estate (when she 
 saw Caesar come into her chamber), suddenly rose up, naked in 
 v. 2. in. k er gjjjQ^ an( j f e ]} down a t his feet marvellously disfigured : 
 both for that she had plucked her hair from her head, as also for that she 
 had martyred all her face with her nails ; and besides, her voice was small 
 and trembling, her eyes sunk into her head with continual blubbering 5 ; 
 and moreover, they might see the most part of her stomach torn in sun- 
 der. To be short, her body was not much better than her mind : yet her 
 good grace and comeliness and the force of her beauty was not altogether 
 defaced. But notwithstanding this ugly and pitiful state of hers, yet she 
 shewed herself within, by her outward looks and countenance. When 
 Caesar had made her lie down again, and sat by her bedside, Cleopatra 
 began to clear and excuse herself for that she had done, laying all to the 
 fear she had of Antonius: Caesar, in contrary manner, reproved her in 
 every point. Then she suddenly altered her speech, and prayed him to 
 pardon her, as though she were afraid to die, and desirous to 
 v. 2.140 ]j ve _ A t i en gth, she gave him a brief and memorial of all the 
 ready money and treasure she had. But by chance there stood 
 
 1 crannies. 2 drawn. See p. 164 above. 3 shrieked. 
 
 4 impeach, accuse. See Rich. II. p. 212. 5 crying. Cf. R. and y. iii. 3. 87. 
 
i66 NOTES. 
 
 one Seleucus by, one of her treasurers, who, to seem a good servant) 
 came straight to Caesar to disprove Cleopatra, that she had not set in 
 all, but kept many things back of purpose. Cleopatra was in such a 
 rage with him, that she flew upon him, and took him by the hair of the 
 head, and boxed him well-favouredly 1 . . Caesar fell a-laughing and parted 
 the fray. ' Alas,' said she, ' O Caesar : is not this a great shame and 
 reproach, that thou having vouchsafed to take the pains to come unto 
 me, and done me this honour, poor wretch and caitiff 2 creature, brought 
 into this pitiful and miserable state : and that mine own servants should 
 come now to accuse me ? though it may be I have reserved some jewels 
 and trifles meet for women, but not for me (poor soul) to set out myself 
 withal, but meaning to give some pretty presents and gifts unto Octavia 
 and Livia, that they, making means and intercession for me to thee, thou 
 mightest yet extend thy favour and mercy upon me.' Caesar was glad to 
 hear her say so, persuading himself thereby that she had yet a desire to 
 save her life. So he made her answer, that he did not only give her that 
 to dispose of at her pleasure which she had kept back, but further prom- 
 ised to use her more honourably and bountifully than she would think for: 
 and so he took his leave of her, supposing he had deceived her, but indeed 
 he was deceived himself. There was a young gentleman, Cornelius Dola- 
 bella, that was one of Caesar's very great familiars, and besides did bear 
 
 no ill will unto Cleopatra. He sent her word secretly (as she 
 V "fol! 97 ^ a< ^ ^quested him) that Caesar determined to take his journey 
 
 through Syria, and that within three days he would send her 
 away before with her children. When this was told Cleopatra, she re- 
 quested Caesar that it would please him to suffer her to offer the last ob- 
 lations of the dead unto the soul of Antonius. This being granted her, 
 she was carried to the place where his tomb was, and there falling down 
 on her knees, embracing the tomb with her women, the tears running 
 down her cheeks, she began to speak in this sort : ' O my dear lord 
 Antonius, it is not long sithence 3 I buried thee here, being a free woman : 
 and now I offer unto thee the funeral sprinklings and oblations, being a 
 captive and prisoner ; and yet I am forbidden and kept from tearing and 
 murdering this captive body of mine with blows, which they carefully, 
 guard and keep only to triumph of thee : look therefore henceforth for no 
 other honours, offerings, nor sacrifices from me : for these are the last 
 which Cleopatra can give thee, sith now they carry her away. Whilst 
 we lived together, nothing could sever our companies : but now, at our 
 death, I fear me they will make us change our countries. For as thou, 
 being a Roman, hast been buried in Egypt : even so, wretched creature, 
 I, an Egyptian, shall be buried in Italy, which shall be all the good that I 
 have received by thy country. If therefore the gods where thou art now 
 have any power and authority, sith our gods here have forsaken us, suffer 
 not thy true friend and lover to be carried away alive, that in me they 
 triumph of thee : but receive me with thee, and let me be buried in one 
 self 4 tomb with thee. For though my griefs and miseries be infinite, yet 
 
 1 beat him soundly. Cf. p. 161 above. 2 wretched. See Oth. p. 197. 
 
 3 since. See Cor. p. 236. For sith just below, see p. 163 above. 
 * same- See C. of E. p. 143, or Gr. 20. 
 
INTROD UC TION. 1 6 7 
 
 none hath grieved me more, nor that I could less bear withal, than this 
 small time which I have been driven to live alone without thee.' 
 
 "Then having ended these doleful plaints, and crowned the tomb with 
 
 garlands and sundry nosegays, and marvellous lovingly embraced the 
 
 same, she commanded they should prepare her bath ; and when she had 
 
 bathed and washed herself, she fell to her meat, and was sumptuously 
 
 served. Now whilst she was at dinner, there came a country- 
 
 v. 2. 241. man anc j b roU g nt h er a basket. The soldiers that warded 1 at 
 the gates, asked him straight what he had in his basket. He opened his 
 basket, and took out the leaves that covered the figs, and shewed them 
 that they were figs he brought. They all of them marvelled to see so 
 goodly figs. The countryman laughed to hear them, and bade them take 
 some if they would. They believed he told them truly, and so bade him 
 carry them in. After Cleopatra had dined, she sent a certain table 2 writ- 
 ten and sealed unto Caesar, and commanded them all to go out of the 
 tombs where she was, but the two women ; then she shut the doors to 
 her. Caesar, when he had received this table, and began to read her 
 lamentation and petition, requesting him that he would let her be buried 
 with Antonius, found straight what she meant, and thought to have gone 
 thither himself: howbeit, he sent one before in all haste that might be, to 
 see what it was. Her death was very sudden: for those whom Caesar 
 sent unto her ran thither in all haste possible, and found the soldiers 
 standing at the gate, mistrusting nothing, nor understanding of her death. 
 But when they had opened the doors, they found Cleopatra stark-dead, 
 laid upon a bed of gold, attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one 
 of her two women, which was called Iras, dead at her feet : and her other 
 woman (called Charmion) half dead, and trembling, trimming the diadem 
 which Cleopatra wore upon her head. One of the soldiers see- 
 
 v. 2. 324. j n g j ier ^ an g r jjy gajd un to her : ' Is that well done, Charmion?' 
 ' Very well,' said she again, ' and meet for a princess descended from 
 the race of so many noble kings :' she said no more, but fell down dead 
 hard by the bed. Some report that this aspick was brought unto her in 
 the basket with figs, and that she had commanded them to hide it under 
 the fig-leaves, that when she should think to take out the figs, the aspick 
 should bite her before she should see her : howbeit, that when she would 
 have taken away the leaves for the figs, she perceived it, and said, ' Art 
 thou here, then ?' And so, her arm being naked, she put it to the aspick 
 to be bitten. Others say again, she kept it in a box, and that she did 
 prick and thrust it with a spindle of gold, so that the aspick, being angered 
 withal, leapt out with great fury, and bit her in the arm. Howbeit few 
 can tell the troth 3 . For they report also, that she had hidden poison in 
 a hollow razor which she carried in the hair of her head ; and yet was 
 there no mark seen on her body, or any sign discerned that she was 
 poisoned, neither also did they find this serpent in her tomb : but it was 
 reported only, that there was seen certain fresh steps or tracks where it 
 had gone, on the tomb-side toward the sea, and specially by the door-side. 
 Some say also that they found two little pretty 4 bitings in her arm, scant 
 
 1 watched. 2 tablet, letter. See Cymb. p. 189. 
 
 3 truth. See p. 156 above. 4 minute. Cf. v. 2. 243 below. 
 
1 68 NOTES. 
 
 to be discerned : the which it seemeth Csesar himself gave credit unto, 
 because in his triumph he carried Cleopatra's image, with an aspick bit- 
 ing of her arm. And thus goeth the report of her death. Now Caesar, 
 though he was marvellous sorry for the death of Cleopatra, yet he won- 
 dered at her noble mind and courage, and therefore commanded she 
 should be nobly buried, and laid by Antonius: and willed also that her 
 two women should have honourable burial." 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 Scene I. — i. GeneraPs. The ist folio has "generals," the later folios 
 "generall" or "general." Cf. K. John, ii. I. 65: "a bastard of the 
 king's deceas'd," etc. See also i. 2. 166 below. 
 
 4. Plated. Cf. Rich. II. i. 3. 28 : "Thus plated in habiliments of war." 
 
 5. Office. "Dedicated service" (Clarke). 
 
 8. Reneges. Denies, disclaims ; as in Lear, ii. 2. 84 : " Renege, affirm," 
 etc. See our ed. p. 203. Coleridge would spell the word "reneagues," 
 as it was pronounced. The quartos of Lear have " Reneag," and W. 
 reads " reneags " here. 
 
 10. To cool. Johnson, not seeing that the bellows and the fan were 
 both meant to cool, would read "To kindle and to cool a gypsy's lust." 
 Malone quotes Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 3c : 
 
 "An huge great payre of bellowes, which did styre 
 Continually, and cooling breath inspyre." 
 
 For the contemptuous use of gypsy, cf. R. and y. ii. 4. 44 : " Dido a dow- 
 dy ; Cleopatra a gypsy." See also iv. 12. 28 below. 
 
 12. Triple. Third ; as one of the triumvirate. Cf. A. W. ii. 1. Ill: 
 
 " Which, as the dearest issue of his practice, 
 And of his old experience the only darling, 
 He bade me store up, as a triple eye, - 
 Safer than mine own two, more dear." 
 
 15. There 7 s beggary, etc. Cf. R. and y. ii. 6. 32 : "They aFe but beg- 
 gars who can count their worth." Steevens quotes Martial, vi. 36: 
 "Basia pauca cupit, qui numerare potest ;" and Ovid, Met. xiii. : " Pau- 
 peris est numerare pecus," which Golding translates : " Tush ! beggars 
 of their cattel use the numbers for to know." 
 
 17. Then must thoit needs, etc. "Thou must set the boundary of my 
 love at a greater distance than the present visible universe affords " 
 (Johnson). 
 
 18. Grates me ; the sum. It grates upon my ear, it vexes me; so be 
 brief. The 2d folio has " Rate me, the summe ;" and Rowe reads " Rate 
 me the sum." Pope has " It grates me. Tell the sum." 
 
 19. Them. Changed by Pope to "it;" but S. makes news both singu- 
 lar and plural. Cf. iii. 7. 51 below: " The news is true." See Much Ado, 
 p. 125, or Rich. II. p. 198 (note on Odds). 
 
ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 169 
 
 23. Take in. Take, subdue ; as in Cor. i. 2. 24 : " To take in many 
 towns," etc. See our ed. p. 203. 
 
 28. Process. Summons ; the legal sense of the word. Malone quotes 
 Minsheu, Diet. 1617 : "The writings of our common lawyers sometimes 
 call that the processe, by which a man is called into the court and no 
 more." 
 
 31. Homager. Vassal; the only instance of the word in S. Pope 
 omits else. 
 
 34. Ranged. Well ordered. Cf. Cor. iii. I. 206: 
 
 "To bring the roof to the foundation, 
 And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, 
 In heaps and piles of ruin." 
 
 Rowe changes rang -1 a 7 to " rais'd." 
 
 35. Our dungy earth. Cf. W. T. ii. I. 157 : "the whole dungy earth." 
 39 To %veet. To wit, to know. Elsewhere in the early eds. the spelling 
 
 is " wit ;" as in M. of V. ii. 9. 90, A. Y. L. v. 1. 57, etc. 
 
 43. But stirred by Cleopatra. But influenced or inspired by Cleopatra. 
 Johnson made but = l( except," and Mason — "if but." 
 
 44. Love. The goddess of love, or Venus. Cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 52: 
 " Let Love, being light, be drowned if she sink ;" and see our ed. p. 128. 
 
 45. Confound. Consume, spend ; as in i. 4. 28 below. Cf. Cor. i. 6. 
 17: " How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour?" See also 1 Hen. 
 IV. p. 152. 
 
 50. Whose. The 1st folio has " who ;" corrected in the 2d. For fully 
 the Coll. MS. gives "fitly." 
 
 53. We 'tl wander through the streets. Cf. extract from North, p. 152 
 above. 
 
 60. That he approves, etc. " That he proves the common liar, fame, in 
 his case to be a true reporter" (Malone). Cf. M. of V. iii. 2. 79: "ap- 
 prove it with a text," etc. 
 
 61. Hope of. Cf. M.forM. iii. i.'i : " So then you hope of pardon from 
 Lord Angelo ?" etc. 
 
 Scene IT. — The stage-direction in the folio is "Enter Enobarbus, 
 Lamprius, a Southsayer, Rannius, Lucillms, Charmian, Iras, Mardiau 
 the Eunuch, and Alexas /" but Lamprius, Rannius, and Lucilius take no 
 part in the dialogue. Perhaps, as Steevens suggests, they may have been 
 in it as it was first written by S. and their names were accidentally left 
 here after their speeches had been struck out. Cf. Much Ado, p. 117, 
 note on stage-direction. 
 
 Lamprias, or Lampryas, is mentioned by Plutarch. See p. 151 above. 
 
 4. Charge. The folios have "change ;" corrected by Theo. (the con- 
 jecture of Warb. and found also in the Southern MS.). Clarke thinks 
 it "just possible " that the old reading may be right, and that the mean- 
 ing may be : "this husband who, you say, is to bring his future horns in 
 exchange for our present garlands." For change — exchange, see I Hen. 
 IV. p. 152, note on Changing hardiment. Some make change — li vary, 
 give a different appearance to." 
 
 8. Is V you, sir, that know things? "Admirably contrasted is the 
 
 
170 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 waiting-woman's obtuseness in this form of question with the simple 
 loftiness of the soothsayer's reply ; the blundering generalization of 
 commonplace with the large all-embracing amplitude of research into 
 Nature's wonders ; the prosaic vagueness and the poetic vagueness " 
 (Clarke). 
 
 23. Heat my liver. Cf. M. of V. i. 1. 81 : " And let my liver rather heat 
 with wine," etc. For the liver as the seat of love, cf. A. Y. L. p. 179. 
 
 27. Herod. Cf. iii. 3. 3, iii. 6. 73, and iv. 6. 14 below. As Steevens 
 notes, Herod was a familiar character in the mysteries of the early stage, 
 on which he was represented as "a fierce, haughty, blustering tyrant." 
 Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 16: "it out-herods Herod;" and see our ed. p. 221. 
 Charmian's wish is therefore " for a son who may arrive at such power 
 and dominion that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may 
 be brought under his yoke." 
 
 31. / love long life better than figs. A proverbial expression (Stee- 
 vens). 
 
 34. Belike. It is likely, I suppose. Johnson explains the speech thus: 
 " If I have already had the best of my fortune, then I suppose 1 shall 
 never name children, that is, I am never to be married. However, tell 
 me the truth, tell me, ' how many boys and wenches ?' " Cf. T. G. of V. 
 iii. 1. 321. 
 
 36. Fertile. The folios have " foretell " or " foretel ;" corrected by 
 Theo. (the conjecture of Warb.). The Coll. MS. has " fruitful." 
 
 37. I forgive thee for a witch. Alluding, as Steevens notes, to the 
 proverb, " You '11 never be burnt for a witch." 
 
 47. An oily palm, etc. Malone compares Oth. iii. 4. 36 : 
 
 "This hand is moist, my lady. 
 
 ####### 
 
 This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart." 
 
 49. Worky-day. Ordinary, common. Cf. A. Y.L. i. 3. 12 : "this work- 
 ing-day world." 
 
 57. Alexas, — come, etc. In the folio this is printed as if it were the 
 speech of Alexas : 
 
 "Alexas. Come, his Fortune," etc. 
 
 Theo. was the first to suggest the correction, which is required by the 
 sense, and is, moreover, confirmed (though we are not aware that this 
 has been noted) by the fact that elsewhere the prefix to the speeches of 
 Alexas is the abbreviation "Alex." In the folio the proper names in the 
 text are generally in italics, and this one was somehow mistaken for the 
 prefix to a speech. 
 
 62. Hear me this prayer. Cf. v. 1. 51 below : " We '11 hear him what 
 he says," etc. 
 
 74. Saw. The 1st folio has " Saue" (Save) ; corrected in the 2d. 
 
 86. Jointing. Joining ; used by S. only here and in Cymb. v. 4. 142 
 and v. 5. 440. 
 
 88. Drave. For the form, cf. T. and C. iii. 3. 190, R. and J. i. 1. 127, etc. 
 Drove is the more common form of the past tense in S. For the parti- 
 ciple he has driven, except in iv. 7. 5 below (droven) and 2 Hen. VI. iii. 
 
ACT I. SCENE II. I7I 
 
 2. 84 {drove, which Schmidt thinks may be the past tense). Gr. 343, 344. 
 For drave, cf. Josh. xvi. 10, xxiv. 12, etc. 
 
 93. As. As if. Cf. iv. 1. 1 below. Gr. 107. 
 
 95. Extended. Seized upon ; a legal use of the word. Cf. extent^ 
 seizure, in A. Y. L. hi. 1. 17, and see our ed. p. 169. Steevens quotes 
 Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts : " This manor is extended to mv 
 use." y 
 
 Euphrates (the only instance of the word in S.) is accented on the first 
 syllable, as by other writers of the time. Steevens quotes Drayton, 
 Polyolbion, 21 : " That gliding go in state, like swelling Euphrates." Cf. 
 Cymb. p. 166, note on Posthumus. 
 
 99. Home. Without reserve or "mincing." Cf. Oth. ii. 1. 166: "He 
 speaks home," etc. See our ed. p. 174. 
 
 104. Minds. The folios have "windes" or "winds;" corrected by 
 Hanmer, at the suggestion of Warb. Clarke (like K. and St.) retains 
 " winds," as " a figurative image for the brisk, wholesomely searching winds 
 that make the earth duly fruitful instead of letting it lie stagnant and 
 overgrown with idle weeds ; as well as for the wholesomely rough breath 
 of public censure and private candour which prevent the growth of 
 moral weeds, and allow good fruits to spring up." Coll. also reads 
 "winds," but takes it to be used in the provincial sense of "two fur- 
 rows ploughed by the horses going to one end of the field and back 
 again." 
 
 105. Earing. Tilling, ploughing. Cf. A. W. i. 3. 47 : " He that ears 
 my land spares my team," etc. See also i. 2. 105 beiow; and cf. Dent. 
 xxi. 4, Isa. xxx. 24, etc. 
 
 Warb. paraphrases the passage thus : " While the active principle 
 within us lies immerged in sloth and luxury, we bring forth vices instead 
 of virtues, weeds instead of flowers and fruits ; but the laying before us 
 our ill condition plainly and honestly, is, as it were, the first culture of the 
 mind, which gives hope of a future harvest." 
 
 107. Sicyofi. Spelt " Scicion " in the folio, as elsewhere. 
 
 109. Stays upon your will. Cf. Macb. i. 3. 148 : " we stay upon your 
 leisure ;" Ham. iii. 2. 112 : "they stay upon your patience," etc. 
 
 117. Co?ztempt doth. The 1st folio has " contempts doth," the 2d " con- 
 tempts do ;" but it is more likely that contempt was misprinted contempts 
 than that do was made doth. Possibly S. wrote "contempts doth." Cf. 
 R. and J. p. 140, or Gr. 334. 
 
 119. By revolution lowering. Johnson sees an allusion to "the sun's 
 diurnal course ;" but it seems to be rather to the turning of a wheel, 
 probably suggested by the familiar "wheel of Fortune." Cf. iv. 15. 44 
 below. Steevens paraphrases it thus : " The pleasure of to-day, bv rev- 
 olution of events and change of circumstances, often loses all its value to 
 us, and becomes to-morrow a pain." The Coll. MS. has "by repetition 
 souring." 
 
 121. Could. Could willingly, would fain. 
 
 122. Enchanting. Omitted in the 2d and later folios. Rowe reads 
 " Egyptian." 
 
 124. Ho! Enobarbus! CapelPs emendation of the "How now Eno- 
 
 
172 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 barbus," of the folio. Ho is often printed "how" in the early eds., and 
 the "now" was probably inserted by accident. 
 
 131. A compelling occasion. The folios have "a compelling an occa- 
 sion ;" corrected by Rowe. 
 
 135. Upon far poorer moment. "For less reason; upon meaner mo- 
 tives " (Johnson). 
 
 141. Call her winds and waters sighs and tears. Malone was at first 
 inclined to read " call her sighs and tears winds and waters," but finally 
 decided that the text is as S. wrote it. He compares Hen. VIII. v. 1. 107 : 
 " To make your house our Tower ;" but the present passage does not 
 seem to us a transposition like that. Enobarbus means just whr.t he 
 says, and there is a humour in it which Malone appears to have 
 missed. 
 
 155. When it pleaseth, etc. "When the deities are pleased to take a 
 man's wife from him, this act of theirs makes them appear to man like 
 the tailors of the earth : affording this comfortable reflection, that the 
 deities have made other women to supply the place of his former wife ; as 
 the tailor, when one robe is worn out, supplies him with another" (Ma- 
 lone). Johnson wished to read "shows to men." Hanmer has "they 
 show to man." 
 
 161. The tears live in an onion, etc. Cf. onion-eyed in iv. 2. 35 below ; 
 and see T. of S. p. 128. 
 
 166. Cleopatra's. Changed by Hanmer to "Cleopatra." Cf. i. 1. 1 
 above. 
 
 167. Your abode. Your abiding or remaining here. Cf. Cymb. i. 6. 53 : 
 
 " Beseech you, sir, desire 
 My man's abode where I did leave him ;" 
 
 that is, ask him to stay there. 
 
 170. Expedience. Expedition ; as in I Hen. IV. i. 1. 33 : "In forward- 
 ing this dear expedience." Elsewhere it is=haste ; as in Rich. II. ii. 1. 
 287 and Hen. V. iv. 3. 70. 
 
 171. Part. Depart ; as often. See M. of V. p. 145. The folios have 
 " love " for leave, which is Pope's correction. K. and Clarke retain 
 "love," making the expression^" win her love to let us depart, prevail 
 upon her love to endure parting." 
 
 172. More urgent touches. "Things that touch me more sensibly, more 
 pressing motives" (Johnson). Cf. Cymb. i. 1. 135 : 
 
 "a touch more rare 
 Subdues all pangs, all fears." 
 
 174. Many our contriving friends. " Many friends who are busy in our 
 interests" (Schmidt). For the order, cf. T. of A. iii. 6. II : "many my 
 near occasions." 
 
 175. Petition us at home. Are calling for our presence at home. 
 
 176. Dare. Defiance; again used as a noun ( = daring, boldness) in 
 1 Hen. IV. iv. 1. 78 : "A larger dare to our great enterprise." 
 
 179. To throw, etc. That is, to transfer his name and honours to his 
 son. 
 
ACT I. SCENE III. 173 
 
 1S3. Qualitv. Disposition, character. Cf. i. 1. 54 above. 
 
 184. The sides o 1 the world. The expression occurs again in Cymb. iii. 
 1. 51. Danger is not elsewhere used by S. as a verb. 
 
 185. The courser's hair. Alluding to the old notion, still current in 
 some places among children and the illiterate, that a horse-hair put into 
 water will turn into a worm or snake. 
 
 187. Such whose. For the relative after such, cf. i. 4. 28 below. Gr. 279. 
 For place is the 1st folio has " places ;" corrected in the 2d. 
 
 Scene IIT. — 1. I did not see him since. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 7. 58 : "I was 
 not angry since I came to France," etc. Gr. 347 (cf. 132). 
 
 3. I did not send you. " You must go as if you came without my order 
 or knowledge " (Johnson). Cf. T. and C. iv. 2. 72 : 
 
 "I will go meet them ; and, my lord ./Eneas, 
 We met by chance, you did not find me here." 
 
 8. I do not. For the ellipsis of the relative, see Gr. 244. 
 
 10. The way to lose him. That is, it is the way. The Coll. MS. points 
 the line thus : " Thou teachest, like a fool, the way to lose him." 
 
 11. I wish. Apparently used like " I pray," etc. Nicholson conject- 
 ures " the wish " or "your wish." 
 
 16. The sides of nature, etc. Steevens quotes T. N. ii. 4. 96 : 
 
 "There is no woman's sides 
 Can bide the beating of so strong a passion.'' 
 
 28. Though you in swearing, etc. Cf. T. of A. iv. 3. 137 : 
 
 " Although, I know, you '11 swear, terribly swear, 
 Into strong shudders and to heavenly agues 
 The immortal gods that hear you." 
 
 32. Colour. Pretext; as in Hen. VIII. i. 1. 178: 
 
 " Under pretence to see the queen his aunt — 
 For 't was indeed his colour," etc. 
 
 35. Eternity was in our lips, etc. " Cleopatra tauntingly says this as 
 if it were a repetition of what Antony had formerly said of her "(Clarke). 
 
 36. In our brows' 1 bent. Steevens quotes K. John, iv. 2. 90 : " Why do 
 you bend such solemn brows on me ?" 
 
 37. Was a race of heaven. Was of heavenly origin. Warb. makes it = 
 " had a smack or flavour of heaven," and Johnson accepts that explana- 
 tion. Hanrner changes race to " ray." 
 
 44. In use. In trust ; a legal term. Cf. M. of V. iv. 1. 383 : 
 
 " I am content, so he will let me have 
 The other half in use, to render it, 
 Upon his death, unto the gentleman 
 That lately stole his daughter." 
 
 46. Port. Some make this = gate, as in iv. 4. 23 below ; but, as Pom- 
 pey was approaching by sea, the reference is more probably to Ostia, the 
 harbour of Rome. If it had the other meaning we should expect the 
 plural, as in Cor. v. 6. 6. 
 
174 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 48. Breed. Changed by Pope to " Breeds ;" but it is probably an in- 
 stance of " confusion of proximity " (Gr. 412). *"}(. 
 
 49. Condemn" 1 J. Accented on the first syllable, probably because 
 coming before the noun. See Cor. p. 255 (on Divine) and p. 268 (on 
 Supreme). 
 
 51. Thrived. The only instance of the participle in S. We find the 
 past tense thrived in Per. v. 2. 9. 
 
 53. Would purge. Would be cured. Cf. the transitive use in W. T. iv. 
 4. 790, Rich. II. i. 1. 153, Macb. v. 3. 52, etc. 
 
 54. Particular. Private concern. For the use of more, cf. K. John, ii. 
 
 I. 34 : "a more requital," etc. Gr. 17. 
 
 55. Safe. Render safe ; used as a verb by S. only here and in iv. 6. 26 
 below. Theo. changed it here to "salve." 
 
 58. It does from childishness. That is, as Ritson explains, from being 
 so childish as to believe you. She does not believe at first that Fulvia 
 is really dead. Malone explains it : "I am not so childish as to have 
 apprehensions from a rival that is no more ;" which seems to us a very 
 childish interpretation. The reply of Antony clearly favours the other. 
 
 61. Garboils. Disturbances, turmoils, "tantrums" (W.). The only 
 other instance of the word in S. is ii. 2. 67 below. Steevens quotes 
 Stanyhurst, sEneid, 1582: "Now manhood and garboils I chaunt and 
 martial horror." 
 
 At the last, best. This has been variously interpreted, but probably 
 refers to the last part of the letter, or that giving the good news of 
 Fulvia's death. This explanation is confirmed by Cleopatra's reply. 
 Steevens calls it a "conjugal tribute to the memory of Fulvia," and 
 compares Malcolm's eulogium on the thane of Cawdor, Macb. i. 4. 7 : 
 
 " nothing in his life 
 Became him like the leaving of it." 
 
 Boswell says : " Surely it means her death was the best thing I have 
 known of her, as it checked her garboils.'"' St. takes best to be vocative — 
 "my best one." 
 
 63* Vials. " Alluding to the lachrymatory vials, or bottles of tears, 
 which the Romans sometimes put into the urn of a friend" (Johnson). 
 
 68. The fire, etc. That is, the sun. Steevens, to fill out the measure, 
 reads " Now by the fire." Cf. Gr. 508. 
 
 71. Affecfst. Pleasest, likest. The 1st folio has " affects ;" a not un- 
 common contraction of such forms. See Gr. 340. 
 
 73. So Antony loves. Steevens, Clarke, and some other editors make 
 \\-\\s—th7ts (that is, in this uncertain, fickle way) Antony loves; but we 
 think that so is =if : I am quickly ill, — and as quickly well again if 
 Antony only loves me. For so, cf. ii. 5. 94 below. Gr. 133. The reply 
 of Antony is consistent with either interpretation. 
 
 74. Evidence. The Coll. MS. has "credence," which W. adopts. Give 
 true evidence =bear true testimony. 
 
 78. Good now. Not uncommon in this vocative construction. See C. 
 of E. p. 140. For Egypt= queen of Egypt, cf. 41 above, and i. 5. 34, hi. 
 
 II. 51, 56, etc., below. 
 
ACT I. SCENE IV. 1 - - 
 
 81. Meetly. Well ; the only instance of the word in S. 
 
 84. Herculean. "Antony traced his descent from Anton, a son of Her- 
 cules " (Steevens). Cf. iv. 12. 44 below. 
 
 85. The carriage of his chafe. His chafed or angry bearing. The noun 
 chafe is used by S. only here ; but cf. the verb in Cor. iii. 3. 27, Hen. VIII. 
 i. 1. 123, iii. 2. 206, etc. See also J. C. p. 131. St. changes chafe to 
 "chief" (that is, Hercules). For carriage, see Much Ado, p. 127. 
 
 90. O, my oblivion is a very Antony, etc., " O, this oblivious memory of 
 mine is as false and treacherous as Antony is, and I forget every thing " 
 (Steevens). For ^//mw=forgetfulness in this subjective sense, cf. Ham. 
 iv. 4. 40 : " Bestial oblivion," etc. 
 
 F or forgotten, see Gr. 374, and cf. our use of mistaken. Here there is 
 probably a play upon the double sense of the word. 
 
 91. But that your royalty, etc. But that your sovereignty can make 
 frivolousness subservient to your purpose, I should take you for frivolous- 
 ness itself. Warb. explained it : " But that your charms hold me, who 
 am the greatest fool on earth, in chains, I should have adjudged you to be 
 the greatest;" and Steevens thus: "But that your queenship chooses 
 idleness for the subject of your conversation, I should take you for idle- 
 ness itself;" but he suggested that it might mean, "But that I know you 
 to be a queen, and that your royalty holds idleness in subjection to you, 
 exalting you far above its influence, I should suppose you to be the very 
 genius of idleness itself." Warb. considered that Cleopatra's reply 
 favoured his interpretation (taking idleness to refer to Antony, as he had 
 used it); but it may be better explained by ours, which is essentially 
 the same as that of Clarke, who paraphrases the reply thus : " Ah ! it is 
 hard work to sustain such trifling so near the heart (or with so much of 
 earnest feeling beneath it) as Cleopatra has carried on this trifling of 
 hers." 
 
 96. My becomings kill me, etc. The meaning seems to be that she 
 reckons her very graces as her deadly enemies if they do not gain his 
 favour. Steevens thinks there may be an allusion to what Antony has 
 said of her in i. 1. 49 above. 
 
 100. Laurel. The 2d folio has " Lawrell'd," which many editors prefer. 
 
 103. That thou, residing here, etc. Steevens remarks that the conceit 
 may have been suggested by Sidney's Arcadia : 
 
 "She went, they staid; or, rightly for to say, 
 She staid with them, they went in thought with her." 
 
 He quotes also the Mercator of Plautus : " Si domi sum, foris est animus ; 
 sin foris sum, animus domi est." 
 
 Scene IV. — 3. Our. The folios have " One ;" corrected by Sr. (the 
 conjecture of Heath and Johnson). Hanmer reads " A." 
 
 Competitor— associate ; as in ii. 7. 71 and v. 1. 42 below. See also T. 
 TV. p. 158. 
 
 6. Ptolemy. Used, as in 17 below, because the queen belonged to the 
 line of the Ptolemies. Cf. iii. 12. 18 below. 
 
 9. The abstract of all faults. " A microcosm of sinfulness " (Schmidt). 
 
i;6 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 11. Enow. The old plural of enough. Cf. M. of V. iii. 5. 24, iv. 1. 29, 
 Zfe«. V. iv. 1. 240, iv. 2. 28, etc. See also p. 154 above. 
 
 12, 13. His faults, etc. The comparison is elliptically expressed, but 
 intelligible enough. Cf. Cymb. v. 5. 120 : 
 
 " One sand another 
 Not more resembles that sweet rosy lad 
 Who died, and was Fidele." 
 
 14. Purchased. Acquired. Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 2. 360: "Your accent is 
 something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling ;" and 
 see our ed. p. 177. 
 
 20. Reel the streets. For the transitive use, cf. Ham. i. 4. 9 : " Keeps 
 wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels." Cf. Gr. 198. 
 
 22. As. See on ii. 2. 52 below. Johnson conjectured " And." Com- 
 posure = composition ; as in T. and C. ii. 3. 251 : " thou art of sweet com- 
 posure." In the only other instance of the word in S. (T. and C. ii. 3. 
 109, where the folios have " counsel ") it is = combination. 
 
 24. Soils. Stains, blemishes. The folios have "foyles" or "foyls;" 
 corrected by Malone. Coll. conjectures " foibles." S. does not use the 
 plural anywhere else. Schmidt would retain " foils," explaining it as 
 " blemishes." 
 
 When we do bear, etc. " When his trifling levity throws so much 
 burden on us " (Johnson). S. is fond of playing on the various senses of 
 light. 
 
 25. If he filFd, etc. " If Antony followed his debaucheries at a time of 
 leisure, I should leave him to be punished by their natural consequences, 
 by surfeits and dry bones " (Johnson). Call on him =call him to account ; 
 or, perhaps, "visit him" (Schmidt). The Coll. MS. has "Fall on him." 
 
 28. Confound. See on i. 1. 45 above ; and for such . . . that, on i. 2. 
 187. 
 
 31. Being mature in knowledge. That is, "being old enough to know 
 their duty" (Johnson), or old enough to know better. Hanmer reads 
 " who, immature," etc.; but the experience and judgment that follow im- 
 ply that the boys are mature enough to know what is right, though they 
 may not have the manly strength to resist temptation. 
 
 33. Here^smore news. See on i. 1. 19 above. We often, however, find 
 the singular verb before a plural subject. Gr. 335. 
 
 38. Ports. The Coll. MS. has "fleets," but Coll. does not adopt it. 
 
 39. Discontents. Malcontents ; as in I Hen. IV. v. 1. 76 : " fickle 
 changelings and poor discontents." 
 
 40. Give. Represent ; as in Cor. i. 9. 55 : " To us that give you truly." 
 43. Ebb' d. That has ebbed, or declined. Cf. Temp. ii. 1. 226 : "Ebb- 
 ing men ;" and Lear, v. 3. 19 : 
 
 "great ones 
 That ebb and flow by the moon." 
 
 For the form, cf. forgotten in i. 3. 90 above. 
 
 Rami changes the second ne'er to "not" (Malone's conjecture) ; but 
 never is often =an emphatic not, and the repetition is quite in the manner 
 of S. 
 
ACT I. SCENE V. 
 
 177 
 
 44. Comes dear'd. Becomes endeared. The folios have " fear'd ;" 
 corrected by Theo. (the conjecture of Warb.). The Coll. MS. reads 
 " lov'd." Dr. Jngleby suggests that the old reading is=" 'feer'd," a con- 
 traction of " affeer'd," for which see Macb. p. 239. 
 
 46. Lackeying. The folios have "lacking;" corrected by Theo. Pope 
 reads "lashing." 
 
 49. Ear. Plough. See on i. 2. 105 above. 
 
 52. Lack blood to think on V. " Turn pale at the thought of it " (Johnson). 
 
 Flush youtk= u youth ripened to manhood, youth whose blood is at the 
 flow" (Steevens). 
 
 56. Wassails. The folios have " vassailes," " vassails," or ** vassals ;" 
 corrected by Pope. For wassail = carousal, see Macb. p. 180, or Ham. p. 
 192. Henley believed " vassals " to be the true reading. 
 
 57. Modena. Accented here (the only instance of the word in S.) on 
 the second syllable. Cf. the extract from North, p. 149 above. 
 
 61. Suffer. That is, suffer with. For the ellipsis of the preposition in 
 relative sentences, see Gr. 394. 
 
 62. Stale. Urine. Gilded=covered with yellow scum. 
 
 71. Lank'd. Became lank or thin ; the only instance of the verb in S. 
 
 'T is pity of him. The same expression occurs in Oth. ii. 3. 130. Cf. 
 T. N. ii. 5. 14, M. N. D. iii. 1. 44, etc 
 
 75. We. The 1st folio has "me," which Clarke retains. 
 
 79. Front. Face, encounter. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. \\. 1. 25 : " What well- 
 appointed leader fronts us here?" Capell prints "'front." See also ii. 
 2. 61 below. 
 
 84. For my bond. " That is, to be my bounden duty " (Mason). 
 
 Scene V. — 4. Mandragora. Mandrake ; a soporific. Cf. Oth. iii. 3. 330 : 
 
 "Not poppy, nor mandragora, 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 
 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 
 Which thou ow'dsi yesterday." 
 
 Steevens quotes Webster, Duchess of Malfy : 
 
 "Coine, violent death, 
 Serve for mandragora, and make me sleep. 1 "' 
 
 13. Wofst. Knowest ; used by S, only in the present tense and the 
 participle wotting. For the latter, see W. T. iii. 2. yy. 
 
 14. Demi- Atlas. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. v. I- 36 : " Thou art no Atlas for so 
 great a weight." 
 
 15. Burgonet. A kind of helmet Cf. 2 Hen. VI. v. I. 204: "This 
 day I '11 wear aloft my burgonet." 
 
 20. Broad-fronted. " Bald-fronted " was the " bald " conjecture of 
 Seward. 
 
 23. In. Into ; as often. Gr. 159. 
 
 24. Anchor his aspect. Cf. Sonn. 137. 6: 
 
 " If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks 
 Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride,' ' etc. 
 
 Steevens quotes M.for M. ii. 4. 4. 
 
 M 
 
1.7.8 NOTES. 
 
 Aspect is accented on the last syllable, as regularly in S. Gr. 490. 
 27. That great medicine. Alluding to the "grand elixir" of the alche- 
 mists. Cf. A. W. v. 3. 102 : 
 
 "Plutus himself, 
 That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine, 
 Hath not in nature's mystery more science 
 Than I have in this ring;" 
 
 and see our ed. p. 178. Walker suggests that medicine may be=physi- 
 cian, as in A. W. ii. 1. 75. Cf. Macb. p. 248. 
 
 34. Egypt. See on i. 3. 78 above. 
 
 39. Arm-gaunt. A puzzle to the critics, who have suggested many 
 emendations: as "arm-girt" (Hanmer), "termagant" (Mason), "war- 
 gaunt " (Jackson), " arrogant " (Boaden and Sr.), " rampaunt " or " ramp- 
 ing " (Lettsom), etc. Various attempts have been made to explain arm- 
 gaunt, but we have no doubt that it is a misprint. The poet's word was 
 not improbably " rampaunt," though, as Sr. says, the article an favours 
 " arrogant." 
 
 41. DurnVd. The folios have "dumbe" or "dumb;" corrected by 
 Theo. We find " dumbs " in Per. v. prol. 5 : " Deep clerks she dumbs." 
 Warb. reads " done." For the adverbial beastly, cf. T. of S. iv. 2. 34, 
 Cymb. v. 3. 27, etc. The Coll. MS. has " boastfully." 
 
 50. Mingle. S. uses the noun only here and in iv. 8. 37 below. 
 
 53. Several. Separate ; as often. Cf. 68 and iii. 13.5 below. See also 
 Temp. p. 131. 
 
 54. So thick. " In such quick succession " (Steevens). Cf. Macb. 1.3. 97 : 
 
 "As thick as tale 
 Came post with post." 
 
 62. Paragon. The verb is used in different though related senses in 
 Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 230 and Oth. ii. 1. 62. 
 
 65. Cold in blood, etc. The pointing is that of Warb. and is generally 
 adopted ; the folio joins the words to what precedes. 
 
 69. Unpeople Egypt. "By sending out messengers" (Johnson). 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 Scene I.— 1. Shall. Will. Cf. Gr.315. 
 
 3. They not deny. For the transposition of not, cf. ii. 2. 35 below. Gr. 
 
 3°5- 
 
 4. Whiles. Used by S. interchangeably with while. Gr. 137. 
 
 " The meaning is, while we are praying, the thing for which we pray 
 is losing its value " (Johnson). 
 
 10. My powers are crescent. Changed by Theo. to " My power 's a 
 crescent," on account of the following it; but cf. T. of A. iii. 6. 101 : 
 
 "Who, stuck and spangled with your flatteries, 
 Washes it off," etc. 
 
 21. Salt. Wanton, lustful. Cf. Oth. p. 175. 
 WatCd. Faded, declined. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. iv. 7. 4 : 
 

 ACT II. SCENE II. I79 
 
 " I shall interchange 
 My waned state for Henry's regal crown." 
 
 The folios have " wand ;" Pope reads " wan," and Johnson conjectures 
 " fond." " Wann'd " is an anonymous conjecture noted in the Camb. ed. 
 
 24. Epicurean. Accented on the antepenult, as in other writers of the 
 time. S. uses the word only here and (in prose) in M. IV. ii. 2. 300. Gr. 
 492. 
 
 25. Cloyless. Uncloying. Cf. helpless=x\\\\i€\\>\x\<g ( V. and A. 604, Rich. 
 III. i. 2. 13, etc.), sightless — unseen (Macb. i. 7. 23), etc. See Gr. 3. 
 
 26. Prorogue. " Linger out, keep in a languishing state " (Schmidt). 
 
 27. Lethe'd. The folios have "Lethied." For the noun, cf. ii. 7. 109 
 below. 
 
 31. A space for. Time long enough for. Space is often used of time ; 
 as in Temp. i. 2. 279 : " within which space she died ;" A. W. ii. 3. 188 : 
 " the coming space," etc. 
 
 37. Egypt's zvidow. Julius Caesar had married her to young rtolemy, 
 who was afterwards drowned (Steevens). 
 
 38. Hope. Expect, suppose ; as in Hen. V. iii. 7. 77 : " Some of them 
 will fall to-morrow, I hope." Boswell remarks that it was considered a 
 blundering use of the word in the time of Elizabeth, as appears from 
 Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie : "Such manner of uncouth speech 
 did the Tanner of Tamvvorth use to king Edward the fourth, which Tan- 
 ner having a great while mistaken him, and used very broad talke with 
 him, at length perceiving by his traine that it was the king, said thus with 
 a certaine rude repentance : I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow ! For 
 [[ feare me] I shall be hanged, whereat the king laughed agood, not only 
 to see the Tanners vaine feare, but also to heare his ill-shapen terme." 
 
 41. Warred. The 1st folio has " wan'd ;" corrected in the 2d. 
 
 45. Pregnant. Very probable. Cf. Cymb. iv. 2. 325 : " O, 'tis preg- 
 nant, pregnant 1" See also Lear, p. 198. 
 
 Squire. Quarrel. Cf. M. N. D. ii. 1. 30 : " And now they never meet 
 . . . But they do square ;" and see our ed. p. 138. 
 
 49. Yet not know. Do not yet know. For the transposition, see Gr. 
 76. Cf. iv. 12. 1 below. 
 
 50. Stands our lives upon. Behooves us as we value our lives. Cf. Rich. 
 II. ii. 3. 138 : " It stands your grace upon to do him right ;" and see our 
 ed. p. 186, or Ham. p. 269. Gr. 204. 
 
 Scene II.— 8. / would not shave V. That is, I would not show him 
 even that degree of respect. 
 
 9. Stomaching. Giving way to anger or resentment. S. uses the verb 
 only here and in iii. 4. 12 below. For the noun ( = wrath), see Lear, p. 254. 
 
 15. Compose. Agree, make terms. Cf. composition in ii. 6. 58 below. 
 
 16. I do not know, etc. This is part of the conversation between Caesar 
 and Maecenas as they come in. 
 
 21. Loud. In high words. Cf. Oth. ii. 1. 150: "Had tongue at will, 
 and yet was never loud," etc. 
 
 25. Nor curstness grow to the matter. " Let not ill-humour be added 
 to the real subject of our difference " (Johnson). S. uses curstness only 
 
180 NOTES. 
 
 here, but cf. curst in Lear, ii. i. 67: "with curst speech" (see our ed. 
 p. 198), etc. 
 
 35. Not concerted. See on ii. 1. 3 above. 
 
 40. How intend you practis 'd ? What do you mean by practised? The 
 word was often =plot ; as in Lear, iii. 2. 57 : " practis'd on man's life," etc. 
 
 44. Was theme for you. Had you for its theme, was on your account. 
 Coll. has " For theme was you," and St. conjectures " Had you for 
 theme." 
 
 46. Did urge me in his act. " Made use of my name as a pretence for 
 the war " (Warb.). 
 
 47. Reports. " Reporters " (Pope's reading). S. uses reporter only in 
 189 below. 
 
 50. Stomach. Disposition, inclination. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 3. 35 : " he 
 which hath no stomach to this fight," etc. 
 
 51. Having alike your cause. I being engaged in the same cause with 
 you (Maione). 
 
 52. Patch a quarrel. Make a quarrel, as it were, out of mere shreds 
 and pieces. In the next line the not is not in the folios, but was inserted 
 by Rowe. Clarke follows the old text, and believes that the language is 
 purposely equivocal ; " Antony allowing Caesar to understand either ' If 
 you desire to pick a quarrel with me, you could find stronger ground for 
 basing it upon than these frivolous causes of complaint,' or ' If you wish 
 to make up the quarrel between us, you have better means of doing so 
 than by ripping up these trivial grievances.' " Dr. Ingleby (S. the Man 
 and the Book, Part I. p. 145) also follows the folio, making have " the verb 
 of obligation." He says: "Antony refers to former letters, and Caesar 
 to former excuses : so that when Antony speaks of patching the quarrel, 
 he means that the quarrel has been already worn out by discussion. 
 Caesar ought (he says) to be able to adduce a new and entire ground of 
 complaint ; but that if he will patch up the old quarrel he must do it with 
 something else than the pretence that Antony's wife and brother have 
 made wars upon him. . . . As is the conjunction of reminder, being em- 
 ployed by S. and his contemporaries to introduce a subsidiary statement, 
 qualifying, or even contradicting, what goes before, which the person ad- 
 dressed is required to take for granted." Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 5. 38, M.for M. 
 ii. 4. 89, and i. 4. 22 above. We can accept this explanation (which so far 
 fits the other reading equally well) except in making have "the verb of 
 obligation." If it were that have, it ought to mean, we think, you ai'e 
 obliged to adduce, or you must adduce, not "you ought to be able to 
 adduce." It will hardly bear the " twist " that Dr. I. has to give it in 
 order to make it serve his purpose here. 
 
 60. With graceful eyes attend. Look graciously or approvingly upon. 
 Pope reads "grateful." 
 
 61. Fronted. Opposed. Cf. i. 4. 79 above. 
 
 62. I would you had, etc. "I wish you were married to such another 
 spirited woman ; and then you would find that, though you can govern 
 the third part of the world, the management of such a woman is not an 
 easy matter" (Maione). Spirit is a monosyllable (=sprite), as often. 
 Gr. 463. 
 
ACT IT. SCENE IT I g I 
 
 64. Pace. Teach paces to, break in. Cf. Hen. VIII v. 3. 22 : 
 
 "those that tame wild horses 
 Pace 'em not in their hands to make 'em gentle, 
 But stop their mouths with stubborn bits, and spur 'em, 
 Till they obey the manage." 
 
 67. Garboils. See on i. 3. 61 above. 
 
 70. Did you too much disquiet. S. has do with many nouns with which 
 we should not. now use it; as "do danger" {J. C. ii. 1. 17), "do our 
 country loss" (Hen. V. iv. 3. 21), "do him disparagement" (R. and J. i. 
 5. 72), "do him shame" [R. of I. 597, Sonn. 36. 10), "do him ease" (T. 
 of S. v. 2. 179, Ham. i. 1. 131), etc. 
 
 For that—hwt for all that, nevertheless. 
 
 74. Missive. Messenger. Cf. Macb. i. 5. 7 : " Whiles I stood rapt in 
 the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me ' Thane 
 of Cawdor.' " S. uses the word only twice. 
 
 78. Told him of myself. "Told him the condition I was in, when he 
 had his last audience " (Warb.). 
 
 85. The honour is sacred, etc. " The theme of honour which he now 
 speaks of, namely, the religion of an oath, for which he supposes me not 
 to have a due regard, is sacred ; let him therefore urge his charge, that I 
 may vindicate myself" (Malone). Mason takes now to refer to is, not to 
 talks: "the honour which Caesar talked of was now sacred and inviolate, 
 supposing that he had been somewhat deficient before " (as he has now 
 brought Caesar the aid which he neglected to send "when rioting in 
 Alexandria"). 
 
 94. Without it. That is, without my honesty. 
 
 98. Noble. The 2d folio has " nobly." Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 141 : " she 
 's noble born ;." and Cor. iii. 2. 6 : " You do the nobler." Gr. 1. 
 
 99. Enforce. Urge, lay stress upon; as in Cor. ii. 3. 227: "enforce 
 his pride," etc. 
 
 100. Griefs. Grievances. Cf. J. C. i. 3. 118: "redress of all these 
 griefs;" Id. iv. 2.42: "Speak your griefs^ softly," etc. See also 1 Hen. 
 IV. p. 192. 
 
 102. Atone. Reconcile. Cf. Rich. II. i. 1. 202 : " Since we cannot 
 atone you ;" and see our ed. p. 156. 
 
 no. Your considerate stone. That is, I am as silent as a stone. The 
 meaning seems obvious enough, but Johnson wanted to read "Go to, you 
 considerate ones," and Heath conjectured " your confederates love." 
 Steevens cites many passages to show that " still as a stone " was a com- 
 mon simile. Cf. T. A. iii. 1.46: "A stone is silent and pffendeth not." 
 Toilet explains the passage thus : " I will henceforth seem senseless as a 
 stone, however I may observe and consider your words and actions ;" but 
 we take it that considerate is simply = discreet, circumspect. 
 
 115. What hoop, etc. Steevens compares 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4. 43 : "A hoop 
 of gold to bind thy brothers in." 
 
 120. Say not so. The folios have " Say not, say ;" corrected by Rowe. 
 In the next line they have " proofe " or " proof" for reproof which was 
 the conjecture of Warb. 
 
^2 NOTES. 
 
 122. Were well deserved of rashness. Would be well deserved for your 
 rashness. 
 
 128. To his wife. Cf. J. C. ii. I. 293, Ham. i. 2. 14, etc. See also Matt. 
 iii. 9, Luke, iii. 8, etc. Gr. 189. 
 
 133. Import. Carry with them. 
 
 134. Be tales. For the measure, Pope reads " be but tales," and Capell 
 "then be tales." Steevens conjectures "be as tales," St. "be half tales," 
 Keightley " be tales only," and Nicholson " be mere tales." 
 
 144. Power ttnto. Elsewhere we have of {Ham. ii. 2. 27, etc.), upon (as 
 in i. 3. 23 above), in (Much Ado, iv. 1. 75, etc.), and over (Rich. III. i. 2. 
 47, etc.). 
 
 156. / must thank him only, etc. I must just thank him, lest I be 
 thought forgetful of his courtesies ; and then I will defy him. 
 
 158. At heel of that. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 341 : " But is there no sequel at 
 the heels of this mother's admiration ?" See also T. of A. i. I. 27, etc. 
 
 159. Of its. For of with the agent, see Gr. 170. 
 164. So is the fame. Such is the report. 
 
 167. Most. Utmost, greatest; as in Ham. i. 5. 180: "at your most 
 need," etc. Gr. 17. 
 
 168. To my sister's view. To see my sister ; the " objective genitive." 
 177. Digested. The 1st folio has "disgested." So in Cor. i. 1.-154 and 
 
 y. C. i. 3. 205 we find " disgest." See Nares, s. v. Disgest ; and cf. Wb. 
 
 180. Eight wild boars roasted, etc. See extract from North, p. 151 
 above. 
 
 186. Square to her. Just to her. Cf. T.of A. v. 4. 36 : 
 
 " All have not offended ; 
 For those that were, it is not square to take 
 Of those that are, revenges." 
 
 188. Upon the river of Cydnus. Mason criticised this as "an instance 
 of negligence and inattention in S.," since, according to 216 below, An- 
 tony, being then in the market-place, did not see her on the river ; which 
 reminds one of Yellowplush's surprise at finding that Boulogne-sur-Mer 
 was on the shore and not " on the sea." Upon the river, as Clarke notes, 
 means "on the shores of the river," including the "city." 
 
 192. The barge she sat in, etc. Cf. North, p. 151 above. 
 
 200. Cloth-ofgold of tissue. Explained by some as=cloth-of-gold in 
 tissue or texture (for of=\n, see Gr. 173) ; but St. is probably right in 
 making it — "cloth-of-gold on a ground of tissue." He says that the ex- 
 pression "repeatedly occurs in early English books." He might have 
 added that S. takes it from North. See p. 151 above. 
 
 201. That Venus. Warb. says that this means "the Venus of Protog- 
 enes, mentioned by Pliny." 
 
 206. What they undid did. That is, seemed to produce the glow they 
 were intended to allay. Johnson thought it would be better to read 
 " what they did, undid." 
 
 208. Tended her i' the eyes. Apparently = waited upon her looks. 
 Clarke compares M. IV. D. iii. I. 168: "gambol in his eyes." Steevens 
 cites Ham. iv. 4. 6 : " We shall express our duty in his eye ;" that is, in 
 our personal attendance upon him. 
 
ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 •83 
 
 209. And made their bends adornings. This is the great crux of the 
 play. The notes upon it in the Var. of 1821 fill six pages, and include 
 some very amusing matter. More recent commentators have added a 
 good deal more of the same sort. If the old text be right, the simplest 
 explanation is that they made their obeisance, or bowed, with such grace 
 that it added to their beauty ; or, as Steevens puts it, " each inclined her 
 person so gracefully that the very act of humiliation was an improvement 
 of her own beauty." This idea of grace in doing service follows naturally 
 enough the mention of their waiting upon her in the preceding line. 
 Hanmer changed adornings to "adorings," and W. reads "their bends, 
 adoring." The only other emendation or explanation that seems worth 
 mentioning is Dr. Ingleby's (Shakes. Hermeneutics, p. 119) : "We read, 
 after Zachary Jackson, 'the bends' adornings.' Both eyes and bends were 
 parts of Cleopatra's barge. The eyes of a ship are the hawseholes ; the 
 bends are the wales, or thickest planks in the ship's sides. North has it : 
 'others tending the tackle and ropes of the barge;' which settles the 
 question as to the meaning of eyes: and that once fixed, the other part of 
 the interpretation is inevitable. What could the hardy soldier, Enobar- 
 bus, care for the curves of the mermaids' bodies ? To us it is obvious 
 that if the girls tended Cleopatra at the eyes, they would, there, be the 
 natural ornaments of the bends." This is ingenious, but we cannot ac- 
 cept it. The reference in North to "tending the tackle" follows (see p. 
 151 above) the mention of "steering the helm ;" and the counterpart to 
 it in the play is the silken tackle, etc., which occupies the same position in 
 the description. The part of North's account which corresponds to made 
 their bends adornings seems to be the statement that the gentlewomen 
 were apparelled "like the Graces," and this might suggest a reference to 
 grace in their movements. We believe that in all that has been written 
 on the passage, no one has called attention to the very close paraphrase 
 of North which S. gives : " Her ladies and gentlewomen . . . were ap- 
 parelled like the nymphs Nereids (which are the mermaids of the waters) 
 and " — after getting so far we have only to seek a parallel for " like the 
 Graces ;" and may we not find it in made their bends adornings? — made 
 their very obeisance, as they tended her, like that of the Graces waiting 
 on Venus. As to the appropriateness of the description in the mouth 
 of " the hardy soldier Enobarbus," is it any more poetical or senti- 
 mental than what precedes and follows? If he had an eye for the 
 " delicate cheeks " and the " flower-soft hands " and all that, why 
 not for the " curves of the mermaids' bodies ?" Note how fond he is 
 of dwelling on Cleopatra's witchery. Cf. 229-241 below, i. 2. 146 fol. 
 above, etc. 
 
 210. Tackle. As a kind of "collective " noun, it here takes a plural 
 verb. The later folios have " tackles." 
 
 211. Swell. Perhaps suggested by the swelling of the sails, and possi- 
 bly with the added figurative idea of palpitating, as it were, with pleasure 
 at the touch. Coll. adopts the bad " Smell " of his MS. 
 
 212. Yarely. Readily, deftly. Cf.yare (= quick) in v. 2. 282 below. 
 214. Wharfs. Banks ; used by S. only here and in Ham. i. 5. 33 : " on 
 
 Lethe wharf." 
 
1 84 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 217. Btit for vacancy. "Alluding to an axiom in the Peripatetic phi- 
 losophy then in vogue, that Nature abhors a vacuum " (Warb.). 
 222. // should. It would. Gr. 326. 
 
 225. Barber 1 d ten times o'er. Cf. 8 above. 
 
 226. His ordinary. His supper, his meah Cf. A.W. ii. 3. 211 : "for 
 two ordinaries."" S. uses the noun nowhere else except in A. Y. L. iii. 5. 
 42 : "the ordinary Of Nature's sale-work." 
 
 227. Wench. In the time of S. " not always used in a bad sense, but as 
 a general familiar expression, in any variation of tone between tenderness 
 and contempt " (Schmidt). 
 
 232. Did make defect perfection. An expression not unlike made their 
 bends adornings above. 
 
 236. Stale. Render stale; changed in the 2d folio to "steale." Cf. 
 y. C. i. 2. 73: "To stale with ordinary oaths my love;" Id. iv. 1. 38: 
 "out of use and stal'd by other men," etc. 
 
 238. But she makes hungry, etc. Cf. V. and A. 19 : 
 
 "And yet not doy thy lips with loathed satiety, 
 But rather famish them amid their plenty." 
 
 Malone quotes Per. v. 1. 113: "Who starves the ears she feeds, and 
 makes them hungry." 
 
 240. Become themselves. Are becoming. Malone compares Son??. 150. 
 5 : " Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill ?" 
 
 241. Piggish. Wanton ; the only instance of the word in S. Steevens 
 and Malone cite examples of the noun rig ( = harlot), but none of the 
 adjective. 
 
 244. Lottery. Prize. The©, has "allotery " (the suggestion of Warb.) 
 = allotment. 
 
 Scene III. — 3. Bozv my prayers. Rowe reads "in prayers," and the 
 Coll. MS. "with prayers." 
 
 6. Kept my square. Explained by the context. Cf. the use of the verb 
 in W. T.v. 1.52: 
 
 "O that ever I 
 Had squaard me to thy counsel E" 
 
 8. Good night, sir. The 2d folio gives this to Octavia ; but the reply 
 of Caesar shows that it is addressed to him. 
 
 14. In my motion. In my mind, " intuitively " (Schmidt). Cf. A. W. 
 
 iii. 1. 13 : 
 
 "like a common and an outward man, 
 That the great figure of a council frames 
 By self-unable motion ; therefore dare not 
 Say what I think of it ;" 
 
 and see our ed. p. 157. Theo. reads "notion" here, as Warb. does in 
 A. W. 
 
 20. Thy demoftf that thy sfh'tt, etc. The reading of the 1st folio ; the 
 2d has "that 's thy." Cf. the passage in North, p. 155 above. The 
 wording of this seems to have suggested the change in the 2d folio, and 
 has led some of the modern editors to adopt that reading ; but K., D., 
 
ACT II. SCENES IV. AND V. ^5 
 
 V., W., Clarke, and the Camb. ed. follow the 1st folio. Abbott (Gr. 239) 
 finds only one instance of the demonstrative before a possessive pronoun 
 in S. {J. C. ii. 1. 112: "this our lofty scene "j; but the combination is 
 not uncommon in the plays. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 8. 96, T. and C. i. I. 55, J. C. 
 v. 5. 27, Macb. i. 7. 53, ii. 2. 61, iii. 6. 48, etc. See also iii. 5. 17 and iv. 14. 
 79 in the present play. 
 
 For demon— genius, or attendant spirit, cf. Macb. iii. 1. 56 : 
 
 "There is none but be 
 Whose being I do fear; and under him 
 My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said 
 Mark Antony's was by Caesar;" 
 
 and C. of E. v. 1. 332 : 
 
 " One of these men is Genius to the other ; 
 And so of these. Which is the natural man, 
 And which the spirit?" 
 
 23. A fear. Apparently a simple personification, though Steevens 
 thinks it necessary to compare the introduction of Fear as a personage in 
 the old moralities. Thirlby's conjecture of "afeard " is, however, plausi- 
 ble enough. 
 
 28. Thickens. Grows dim. Cf. Macb. iii. 2. 50 : 
 
 "Light thickens, and the crow 
 Makes wing to the rooky wood." 
 
 31. Away. The folios have "alway;" corrected by Pope. 
 
 35. The very dice, etc. Cf. North, p. 155 above. 
 
 36. Cunning. Skill ; as in iii. 12. 31 below. Cf. Ps. cxxxvii. 5, and the 
 adjective in Gen. xxv. 27, etc. 
 
 37. Speeds. Has good luck, prospers. See W. T. p. 161, note on Sped. 
 39. All to nought. That is, when the odds are as everything to nothing. 
 
 Cf. Rich. III. i. 2. 238 : " And yet to win her,— all the world to nothing ;" 
 and Cor. v. 2. 10 : "it is lots to blanks." 
 
 Quails. " The ancients used to match quails as we match cocks " 
 (Johnson). The birds were inhoofi'd, or confined within a circle, to keep 
 them "up to the scratch ;" or, as others say, the one that was driven out 
 of the hoop was considered beaten. Hanmer reads "in-coop'd at odds," 
 and Capell " in whoop'd-at odds." 
 
 Scene IV.— 6. At the Mount. That is, at Misenum. The 1st folio 
 omits at. 
 
 8. About. That is, by a roundabout way. Cf. Macb. iii. 3. 1 1 : " His 
 horses go about." 
 
 Scene V. — 1. Moody. Pensive, sad ; as in C. of E. v. 1. 79, etc. Cf. 
 T. N. i. 1. 1 : " If music be the food of love, play on." 
 
 3. Billiards. An anachronism, as Malone and others have pointed 
 out ; but cf. C. of E. p. 103. 
 
 8. Should. S. uses both shcnved and shown as the participle ; so 
 bended (12 below) and bent. 
 
1 86 NOTES. 
 
 io. Angle. Angling-line. See Ham. p. 269. 
 
 12. Tawny-finned. The folios have " Tawny fine " or " Tawny-fine ;" 
 corrected by Theo. 
 
 15. ' T 'was merry when, etc. See North, p. 152 above. 
 
 18. Fervency. Eagerness ; the only instance of the word in S. Fer- 
 vent does not occur in his works. 
 
 22. Tires. Head-dresses. Cf. M. W. iii. 3. 60 : " thou hast the right 
 arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship-tire, the tire- valiant, or 
 any tire of Venetian admittance." 
 
 23. Philippan. S. names Antony's sword after the battle of Philippi ; 
 though, as Theo. tells us, there was no such custom in Roman times. 
 
 24. Ram. Hanmer changes the word to " Rain ;" and Delius conject- 
 ures " Cram," as in Temp. ii. 1. 106. Malone compares J. C. v. 3. 74. 
 
 26. Antony's dead! The reading of the 2d folio; the 1st has " An- 
 thonyo V dead." The Camb. editors adopt Delius's conjecture of " Anto- 
 nius dead !" 
 
 27. Mistress. A trisyllable. Cf. frustrate in v. 1. 2 below. Gr. 477. 
 30. Lipped. The verb occurs again in Oth. iv. 1. 72 : " To lip a wanton 
 
 in a secure couch." 
 
 32. We use. We are accustomed. We do not now use the present in 
 this sense. See A. Y. L. p. 156. 
 
 33. The dead are well. For this euphemism, cf. W. T.v. 1. 30, 2 Hen. 
 IV. v. 2. 3, R. and J. iv. 5. 76, v. 1. 17, etc. As Henley remarks, this use 
 of well seems to have been suggested by 2 Kings, iv. 26. 
 
 38. So tart a favour. So sour a face. For favour, see Ham. p. 263, or 
 M. N D. p. 130. Hanmer reads " why so tart," and Malone " needs so 
 tart." 
 
 41. Formal. Ordinary, common. Cf. C. of E. p. 144. Johnson ex- 
 plains it as "decent, regular." 
 
 44. Captive. The 2d folio misprints " captaine," and " Marke " for 
 Make in 49 below ; and in both cases the later folios follow it. 
 
 51. Precedence. What has gone before ; as in the only other instance 
 in which S. uses the word — L. L. L. iii. 1. 8^. The accent is on the 
 penult there as here. 
 
 64. Unhair. The only instance of the verb in S. Unhair'd ( = beard- 
 less) is a conjectural reading in K John, v. 2. 133 (see our ed. p. 174). 
 
 71. Boot thee with. Give thee to boot. 
 
 74. Have made no fault. Cf. W. T. iii. 2. 218: "you have made fault;" 
 Sonn. 35. 5 : " All men make faults," etc. 
 
 75. Keep yourself within yourself. That is, do not get beside yourself 
 with passion. Steevens compares T. of S.'m<\. 1. 100: "we can contain 
 ourselves." 
 
 78. Melt Egypt into Nile! Cf. i. 1. 33 above : " Let Rome in Tiber 
 melt." 
 
 81. Afeard. Used by S. interchangeably with afraid, which Pope sub- 
 stitutes here. Cf. iii. 3. 1 below. 
 
 90. Worser. Used by S. some twenty times. Cf. i. 2. 57 above. 
 
 97. Thou wouldst appear most ugly. That is, " this news hath made 
 thee a most ugly man " (K. John, iii. 1. 37). 
 
ACT II. SCENE VI 
 
 101. Much unequal. Very unjust. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. 1. 102 
 
 " To lay a heavy and unequal hand 
 Upon our honours." 
 
 187 
 
 103. That art not what thou 'rt sure of. The reading of the folios, 
 much tinkered by the editors. K. explains it thus: "Thou art not an 
 honest man, of which thou art thyself assured, because thy master's fault 
 has made a knave of thee." Clarke says : " Who art not thyself that 
 fault which thou art so sure has been committed. The messenger has 
 before said, ' I that do bring the news made not the match,' and 'I have 
 made no fault ;' and he has so often repeated his assertion that Antony 
 is married, that Cleopatra alludes to it as 'what thou 'it sure of.'" V. 
 thinks it may be = "Thou (the bearer) art not thyself the evil thing of 
 which thou art so certain, and dost not merit to bear its odium ;" and 
 this seems to us the simplest way of putting it. Of the emendations, the 
 following are worth noting : " that sayst but what thou 'rt sure of" (Han- 
 mer) ; and "That art not— What ? thou 'rt sure oft?" (Mason's conject- 
 ure). W. changes not to "but," and explains the line thus: "being 
 merely a messenger, you are to be regarded only according to the tenour 
 of your message." He also takes that in the preceding line to be a 
 demonstrative, and adds : " Cleopatra, in reply to the messenger's plea 
 that he only performs his office, says, ' O that (namely, Antony's mar- 
 riage), which is his fault, should make a knave of thee, that art but what 
 thy tidings are.' " H. reads " art in what," etc. 
 
 105. Are. The subject merchandise (=goods) is treated as a plural. 
 Cf. tackle in ii. 2. 210 above. 
 
 112. Feature. Personal appearance. Cf. K.John, ii. 1. 126: " Liker 
 in feature to his father Geffrey." See also Id. iv. 2. 264, Rich. III. i. 1. 19, 
 Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 50, Ham. iii. 1. 167, iii. 2. 25, Tear, iv. 2. 63, etc. S. uses 
 the plural only in Temp. iii. 1. 52. 
 
 116. Though he be painted, etc. Alluding, as St. notes, to the "double " 
 pictures formerly in vogue, of which Burton says : " Like those double or 
 turning pictures; stand before which you see a fair maid, on the one side 
 an ape, on the other an owl." Cf. Chapman, All Fools, i. 1 : 
 
 " But like a couzening picture, which one way 
 Shows like a crow, another like a swan." 
 
 117. Way's. As in the 4th folio, and = " way he 's" (Hanmer's read- 
 ing) ; " wayes " in the earlier folios. 
 
 Scene VI.— 7. Tall. Stout, sturdy. Cf. T. N. p. 123. 
 
 13. Ghosted. Steevens quotes an instance of the verb from Burton, 
 Anat. of Melon, preface : " What madnesse ghosts this old man ? but 
 what madnesse ghosts us all ?" 
 
 16. The all-honour'd. The 1st folio omits the, and in 19 misprints " his" 
 for is. 
 
 24. Fear. Frighten. Cf. M. of V. ii. 1. 9 : 
 
 "this aspect of mine 
 Hath fear'd the valiant.'' 
 
 See also K. John, p. 147. 
 
^8 NOTES. 
 
 27. Overcount me of my father 's house. As Malone notes, "overcount 
 seems to be used equivocally, and Pompey perhaps meant to insinuate 
 that Antony not only outnumbered but had overreached him." According 
 to Plutarch, "when Pompey's house was put to open sale, Antonius 
 bought it ; but when they asked him money for it, he made it very 
 strange, and was offended with them." See also p. 154 above. 
 
 28. But since the cuckoo builds not for himself, etc. "Since, like the 
 cuckoo, that seizes the nests of other birds, you have invaded a house 
 which you could not build, keep it while you can " (Johnson). For other 
 allusions to this habit of the cuckoo, cf. 1 Hen. IV. v. 1. 60 (see the long 
 note in our ed. p. 195), Lear, i. 4. 235, and R. of L. 849. 
 
 30. From the present. Away from, or foreign to, the present business. 
 Gr. 158. 
 
 34. To try a larger fortune. That is, in trying, or if you try, for more 
 at the hands of Fortune. He hints that in risking the chances of war he 
 may lose rather than gain. For the " indefinite " use of the infinitive, see 
 Gr. 356. 
 
 37. Greed. The reading of the 1st and 2d folios ; the 3d and 4th (fol- 
 lowed by the modern eds.) have " 'greed." Cf. C. of E. p. 145, or Wb. 
 
 39. Targes. Targets, shields ; as in Cymb. v. 5. 5, where, as here, the 
 word is a monosyllable. See Gr. 471. 
 
 42. Though I lose, etc. Clarke remarks : " The historical fact of Sextus 
 Pompey's having courteously received Antony's mother in Sicily when 
 she fled from Italy is recorded by Plutarch ; but the touch of delicacy in 
 sentiment — declaring that to remind or reproach another with a benefit 
 conferred is to forfeit the merit of it — is the dramatist's own exquisite 
 addition. S. has more than once taken occasion to enforce this refine- 
 ment in social morality ; he has made that noble-minded, warm-natured, 
 delicate-souled being, Antonio, the sea-captain in T. N. (whom we can 
 never help associating, in strange closeness of analogy, with S. himself in 
 character and disposition), say [iii. 4. 383] : 
 
 ' Do not tempt ,my misery. 
 I, est that it make me so unsound a man 
 As to upbraid you with those kindnesses 
 That I have done for you.' " 
 
 47. Am well studied. Am studious or earnestly desirous. Cf. 2 Hen. 
 IV. ii. 2. 10 : " so loosely studied ;" and M. of V. ii. 2. 205 : " well studied 
 in a sad ostent," etc. Cf. Gr. 294, 374. 
 
 51. Timelier. Earlier, sooner. Cf. Macb. p. 199. 
 
 54. What counts harsh fortmie casts. The metaphor, as Warb. notes, 
 is from making marks or lines in casting accounts. 
 
 66. Meanings. The folios have " meaning ;" but Heath's emendation 
 is required by the following them. 
 
 70. A certai/i queen, etc. Ritson says : " This is from the margin of 
 North's Plutarch, 1579: 'Cleopatra trussed up in a mattress, and so 
 brought to Csesar upon Apollodorus' back ;' " but this marginal reference 
 is to the following in the text: "She, only taking Apollodorus Sicilian 
 of all her friends, took a little boat, and went away with him in it in the 
 night, and came and landed hard by the foot of the castle. Then having 
 
ACT II. SCENE VII ^9 
 
 no other mean to come into the court without being known, she laid her- 
 self down upon a mattress or flockbed, which Apollodorus her friend tied 
 and bound up together like a bundle with a great leather thong, and so 
 took her upon his back and brought her thus hampered in this fardle unto 
 Caesar in at the castle gate. This was the first occasion (as it is report- 
 ed) that made Caesar to love her: but afterwards, when he saw her sweet 
 conversation and pleasant entertainment, he fell then in further liking 
 with her, and did reconcile her again unto her brother the king, with con- 
 dition that they two jointly should reign together." 
 
 73. Are toward. Are in preparation. Cf. T. of A. iii. 6. 68 : " Here 's 
 a noble feast toward;" T. of S. v. 1. 14: "some cheer is toward," etc. 
 
 83. Have known. That is, have known each other. Cf. Cymb. i. 4. 36 : 
 " Sir, we have known together in Orleans." 
 
 97. What-some^er. The reading of the 1st folio ( " whatsomere " ) ; 
 changed to " whatsoe're " in the 2d. See A. W. p. 161. TW^^honest ; 
 as often. For its use in antithesis to thief see Cymb. p. 182. 
 
 no. Pray ye, sir? Are you in earnest? 
 
 112. Is. For the singular verb with two singular subjects, see Gr. 336. 
 Coll. prints the speech as a question. 
 
 113. Divine of. Predict concerning. Cf. Rich. II. iii. 4. 79 : "divine 
 his downfall," etc. 
 
 120. Conversation. Behaviour, conduct. See 2 Hen. IV. p. 205. 
 127. Occasion. Need, necessity (Schmidt). Cf. T. of A. iii. 3. 15 : ." But 
 his occasions might have wooed me first," etc. 
 
 Scene VII. — 1. Enter . . . with a banquet. That is, with a dessert. 
 Cf. T. and S. v. 2. 9 : 
 
 " My banquet is to close our stomachs up 
 After our great good cheer." 
 
 Nares quotes Massinger, Unnatural Combat: 
 
 "We '11 dine in the great room, but let the music 
 And banquet be prepared here." 
 
 Coll. adds, from Lord Cromwell, 1602 : 
 
 " 'T is strange, how that we and the Spaniard differ ; 
 Their dinner is our banquet after dinner." 
 
 Plants. As Johnson notes, there seems to be a play on the word as 
 applied to the soles of the feet (Latin plantd). Steevens cites Lupton, 
 A T otable Things: "the plants or soles of the feet;" and Chapman, Iliad: 
 "Even to the low plants of his feete." 
 
 4. High-coloured. The 1st folio misprints " high Conlord." 
 
 5. Alms-drink. Warb. says that this means " that liquor of another's 
 share which his companion drinks to ease him." He sees also a satirical 
 allusion to " Caesar and Antony's admitting him into the triumvirate, in 
 order to take off from themselves the load of envy." Cf. J. C. iv. 1. 18 
 fol. 
 
 6. Pinck one another by the disposition. A phrase = " touching one in a 
 sore place" (Warb.) ; or "as they try each other by banter" (Clarke). 
 
190 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Coll. thinks that it refers to " the sign they give each other regarding the 
 disposition of Lepidus to drink." 
 
 13. Partisan. A kind of halberd. Cf. R. and J. i. 1. 80, 101, Ham. i. 
 1. 140, etc. 
 
 15. Are the holes, etc. The comparison is expressed elliptically : " is 
 as sorry a blank as are the empty spaces," etc. (Clarke). In sphere we 
 have an allusion to the old Ptolemaic astronomy. Se« Ham. p. 254. 
 Disaster =m)xxcz, disfigure ; the only instance of the verb in S. Schmidt 
 remarks that it is "rather blunderingly used ;" but it was an astrological 
 term and is probably suggested here by the figure that precedes. 
 
 17. They take the flow <?' the Nile, etc. S. probably got this information, 
 either from Holland's Pliny, as Reed suggests, or from John Pory's 
 translation of Leo's Hist, of Africa, 1600, as Malone thinks more prob- 
 able. 
 
 20. Poison. Full harvest, plenty; as in Temp. ii. I. 163, iv. 1. no, 
 Macb. iv. 3. 88, Sonn. 53. 9, etc. 
 
 26. Your serpent, etc. For the colloquial use of your, see Gr. 221. 
 
 33. In. That is, "in for it" {— drunk). 
 
 34. Pyramises. The singular fyramis was in use in the time of S. (cf, 
 I Hen. VI. i. 6. 21), but the plural is his own, and is probably intended as 
 a touch of drunken enunciation. In v. 2. 61 below we have pyramides. 
 The booziness of Lepidus is well hit off here. "His feeble attempt at 
 scientific inquiry, in the remark concerning your serpent of Egypt, his 
 flabbily persistent researches touching your crocodile, and his limp recur- 
 rence to his pet expression strange serpent, are all conceived in the high- 
 est zest of comic humour" (Clarke). 
 
 40. This wine for Lepidus ! This is "the health that Pompey gives 
 him" (52 below). 
 
 44. // own. For the old possessive it, especially in combination with 
 own, see W. T. p. 1 72. 
 
 58. Held my cap off. Been a servant, been faithful. 
 
 69. Inclips. Embraces, encloses. Cf. clip in iv. 8. 8 below. On pales, 
 cf. Cymb. iii. 1. 19 : " paled in With rocks," etc. 
 
 71. Competitors. Partners, associates. See on i. 4. 3 above. 
 
 74. There. Changed by Pope to "then." Steevens conjectures "theirs," 
 but adds that there may be = "in the vessel." It may be accompanied 
 with a gesture towards the company they have left. 
 
 83. PaWd. Impaired, waning ; the only instance of this sense in S. 
 See, however, Ham. p. 267, note on 9. 
 
 85. This health to Lepidus I But Lepidus is already " under the table," 
 so to speak. We have heard nothing from him since Antony admonished 
 him (61 above) that he was about to "sink." 
 
 93. Then, is drunk. The folios have " then he is ;" corrected by Rowe. 
 
 94 Go on wheels ! " The world goes on wheels " was a common phrase 
 of the time. Taylor the Water-Poet took it for the title of one of his 
 pamphlets. 
 
 95. Reels. Apparently suggested by drunk, and used for the sake of 
 the rhyme to wheels. Cf. 118 below. Steevens conjectured "grease the 
 wheels " for increase the reels I 
 
ACT II. SCENE VII. 
 
 191 
 
 98. Strike the vessels. Probably = " tap the casks," as most of the edi- 
 tors have explained it. Weber cites Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, v. 10 : 
 " Home, Launce, and strike a fresh piece of wine," etc. The word vessels 
 also favours this explanation, being elsewhere used of casks or large ves- 
 sels ; as in T. of A. ii. 2. 186: " If I would broach the vessels of my love," 
 etc. Some, however, make strike the vessels— strike your cups together. 
 Clarke, who adopts this explanation, objects to the other that Antony 
 would hardly give an order for tapping fresh casks when Pompey was the 
 entertainer ; but the carousal had now reached a point where none of the 
 company would stand overmuch upon etiquette. Ritson quotes Oth. ii. 3. 
 71 : " And let me the canakin clink, clink !" 
 
 102. Possess it. " Be master of it " (Schmidt) ; or " occupy it, fill it up " 
 (Clarke). The reading is perhaps doubtful. The Coll. MS. has " Pro- 
 fess," which occurred independently to W. ; and St. conjectures " Pro- 
 pose." 
 
 112. The holding. The "burden" of the song. For bear the folios 
 have " beate " or " beat ;" corrected by Theo. 
 
 115. Pink eyne. Winking or half-shut eyes (the effect of intoxication) ; 
 with perhaps a reference to the other sense of red. Johnson in his Diet. 
 defines a pink eye as "a small eye," and quotes this passage in illustra- 
 tion. Nares quotes Fleming, Nonienclator : "Ayant fort petits yeux. 
 That hath little eyes : pink-eyed ;" and Wilkins, Alph. Diet. : " pink- 
 eyed, narrow eyed." For the old plural eyne, cf. M. N. D. i. 1. 242, ii. 2. 
 99, iii. 2. 138, v. 1. 178, etc. We find it without the rhyme in R. of L. 1229 
 and Per. iii. prol. 5. 
 
 116. Fats. " Vats " (Pope's reading). Cf. Joel, ii. 24, iii. 13. See also 
 Baret, Alvearie : "A fat, or vat. Orca." 
 
 117. Hairs. For the plural, cf. M. of V. i. 2. 9, iii. 2. 120, C. of E. iii. 2. 
 48, etc. Here, however, it may be used because more than one person 
 is referred to. Cf. Rich. II. p. 206, note on Sights. 
 
 125. The wild disguise, etc. The wild intoxication hath almost made 
 antics or buffoons (cf. Rich. II. p. 192) of us all. Clarke remarks : " The 
 discriminative characterization developed in each of the revellers — Lepi- 
 dus's fatuity and solemn dulness floundering beneath the overpowering 
 effect of the repeated healths or toasts with which he is plied; Octavius's 
 reluctance at the subversion of his cold equanimity by the riot of the 
 carousal and the effect of the wine ; Enobarbus's mad spirits — yet he 
 even at length giving token of being 'weaker than the wine ;' Pompey's 
 capita] bit of maudlin ('O Antony, you have my father's house — But, 
 what! we are friends'), half lingering resentment, half drunken magna- 
 nimity of forgiveness ; the untouched strength of the seasoned Mark 
 Antony, able to bear any amount of drained cups ; together with the rich 
 gusto and classical grape-crowned animation of the whole scene, combine 
 to render this one of the most magnificently painted orgy-descriptions 
 ever set down on paper. It glows before our eyes like a Rubens canvas. 
 . . . The finishing the whole with a shout and a flinging-up of caps puts the 
 finishing stroke of climax to this finely conceived scene of wild vivacity." 
 
 130. Take heed, etc. The 1st folio (followed substantially by the oth- 
 ers) reads : 
 
I9 2 NOTES. 
 
 " Eno. Take heed you fall not Menas ; He not on shore 
 No to my Cabin:" etc. 
 
 The editors have divided the speech in various ways ; the arrangement 
 in the text is CapelPs. 
 
 135. Hoo! See on iii. 2. 11 below, and Cor. p. 220. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 Scene I. — 1. Struck. " Alludes to darting: thou whose darts have 
 so often struck others art struck now thyself" (Johnson). 
 
 4. Thy Pacorus, etc. Pacorus was the son of Orodes, king of Parthia. 
 
 10. Chariots. Walker and D. conjecture "chariot;" but, as Clarke 
 remarks, "a plural form, used in this way, is not unfrequent among poets 
 and poetic writers or speakers, to give the effect of amplitude and gen- 
 eralization." 
 
 13. May make too great an act. Make an act too great ; that is, as the 
 context shows, because it may excite the jealousy of one's superior in 
 office. 
 
 15. Him we serve's away. For the "confusion of construction" (or 
 "attraction," as some' prefer to call it), cf. A. V. L. i. 1. 46 : "Ay, better 
 than him I am before knows me," etc. See Gr. 208, and cf. 410. Pope 
 of course changed him to " he." 
 
 24. Darkens him. Obscures himself. Cf. Cor. iv. 7. 5 : 
 
 "And you are darken'd in this action, sir, 
 Even by your own." 
 
 28. The which. See Gr. 287. 
 
 29. Grants. Affords, allows. Warb. remarks : " The sense is this : 
 'Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there would be no 
 distinction between thee and thy sword. You would be both equally 
 cutting and senseless.' This was wisdom or knowledge of the world." 
 
 34. Jaded. Driven like jades, or worthless nags (cf. Rich. II. p. 219). 
 
 Scene II.— 6. 'T is. Used contemptuously ; as in M. of V. iii. 3. 18, 
 Hen. V. iii. 6. 70, R. and J. iv. 2. 14, etc. For the familiar use, cf. Macb. 
 p. 168. 
 
 11. Hoo ! The 1st folio has " How," the later folios " Oh !" or " Oh ?" 
 The folio often has how for ho or hoo, and we follow Clarke in reading 
 the latter here as a favourite exclamation of Enobarbus. He adds: " The 
 breathless fun of the present dialogue, its hurry of hyperbolical phrases 
 heaped one atop of the other, as the speakers tumble them out in emula- 
 tion of each other, for representation of what Lepidus says in exaggerated 
 praise of both his objects of admiration, make one feel that S. himself 
 enjoyed writing it." 
 
 12. Thou Arabian bird! The phoenix. Cf. Cymb. 16. 17: "She is 
 alone the Arabian bird ;" Temp. iii. 3. 22 : 
 
ACT III. SCENE II. I9 3 
 
 " Now I will believe 
 That there are unicorns, that in Arabia 
 There is one tree, the phoenix 1 throne, one phoenix 
 At this hour reigning there," etc. 
 
 16. Hoof The reading of the first three folios ; the 4th folio and moot 
 modern eds. have " Ho !" 
 
 17. Cast. Compute ; as in Sonn. 49. 3, 2 Hen. IV. v. I. 21, etc. Cf. ii. 
 6. 54 above. 
 
 Number— ex^x&ss in numbers, or verse ; the only instance of this sense 
 in S. 
 
 20. Shards. The horny wing-cases of the "sharded" (Cymb. iii. 3. 20) 
 or "shard-borne beetle" [Macb. iii. 2. 42). The meaning is: "they are 
 the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground" (Stee- 
 vens). 
 
 26. As my farthest band, etc. " As I will venture the greatest pledge 
 of security on the trial of thy conduct " (Johnson) ; or, as I will pledge 
 any thing that you will prove to be. For band— : bond, cf. Rich. II. i. I. 2, 
 I Hen. IV. iii. 2. 157, C. of E. iv. 2. 49, etc. For approof, cf. A. W. ii. 5. 
 3 : "of very valiant approof" (=of approved valour), and see also Id. i. 
 2. 50. 
 
 28. Piece of virtue. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 56: "Thy mother was a piece of 
 virtue ;" and Per. iv. 6. 118: " Thou art a piece of virtue." For similar 
 examples of piece— masterpiece, see W. T. iv. 4. 32, Lear, iv. 6. 137, and 
 v. 2. 99 below. 
 
 29. Cement. S. accents both the noun and the verb (which occurs only 
 in ii. 1. 48 above) on the first syllable. 
 
 32. Mean. Means ; as often. Cf. iv. 6. 35 below, and see R. and J. 
 p. 189. 
 
 35. Curious. Careful, punctilious, scrupulous. See A. W. p. 138 or 
 Cymb. p. 1 79. 
 
 40. The elements, etc. The wish probably refers to her voyage to 
 Egypt. Cf. Oth. ii. 1. 45 : 
 
 " O let the heavens 
 Give him defence against the elements, 
 For I have lost him on a dangerous sea'"' 
 
 Johnson explained it: "May the different elements of the body, or princi- 
 ples of life, maintain such proportion and harmony as may keep you 
 cheerful." Cf. J. C. v. 5. 73, and see our ed. p. 185. 
 
 43. The April 's in her eyes. Cf. T. and C. \. 2. 189 : " he will weep 
 you, an 't were a man born in April." 
 
 49. At full of tide, etc. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. ii. 3. 63 : 
 
 " As with the tide swell'd up unto his height, 
 That makes a still-stand, running neither way. 1 ' 
 
 52. Were he a horse. " A horse is said to have a cloud in his face when 
 he has a black or dark-coloured spot between his eyes. This gives him 
 a sour look, and, being supposed to indicate an ill temper, is of course 
 regarded as a blemish" (Steevens). 
 
 57. Rheum. Cf. T. and C. v. 3. 105: "and I have a rheum in mine 
 eyes too, and such an ache in my bones," etc. See Wb. 
 
 N 
 
194 N07ES. 
 
 58. Confound. Destroy ; as in ii. 5. 92 above. JVazTd=bewa.\\ed ; as 
 often. Cf. V. and A. 1017, C. of E. iv. 2. 24, Cor. iv. 1. 26, etc. 
 
 59. W^//. The folios have "weepe" or "weep," which Steevens de- 
 fended. The editors generally adopt wept, which is due to Theo. 
 
 62. Wrestle. The 1st and 2d folios have " wrastle," which is still the 
 vulgar pronunciation. 
 
 Scene III. — 2. Go to, go to. The 1st folio prints it " Go too, go too." 
 3. Herod of Jewry. See on i. 2. 27 above. 
 
 14. As me. See Gr. 210. 
 
 22. Station. Mode of standing. Cf. Ham. iii. 4. 58 : " A station like 
 the herald Mercury," etc. 
 
 24. Breather. Cf. Sonn. 81. n : " When all the breathers of this world 
 are dead." See also A. Y. L. iii. 2. 297. 
 
 25. Observance. Observation. Cf. A. W. iii. 2. 5 : " By what observ- 
 ance, I pray you?" Oth. iii. 3. 151 : " Out of his scattering and unsure 
 observance," etc. So make better note = be better observers. 
 
 37. As low as. Capell conjectured " Lower than ;" but the original 
 is a cant phrase with that meaning. 
 
 41. Proper. " Nice ;" often used in a complimentary way. See Temp. 
 ii. 2. 63, T. G. of V. iv. 1. 10, etc. 
 
 43. Harried. Worried, used roughly; the only instance of the word 
 in S. Minsheu, in his Diet., 1617, defines the word, "To turmoile or 
 vexe." 
 
 44. No such thing. That is, no such remarkable thing, nothing ex- 
 traordinary. 
 
 46. Defend. Forbid. Cf. Much Ado, ii. 1. 98 : "God defend the lute 
 should be like the case !" etc. 
 
 Scene IV. — 3. Semblable. Like, similar ; as in 1 Hen. IV. v. 1. 72, 
 Ham. v. 2. 124, etc. 
 
 9. Not took V. The 1st folio has " not look 't," and the 2d " had look 
 't ;" corrected by Theo. Rowe reads " o'er-look'd," and the Coll. MS. 
 has " but look'd." 
 
 10. From his teeth. That is, for form's sake, not from his heart. Cf. 
 Dryden, Wild Gallant: " I am confident she is only angry from the teeth 
 outward." 
 
 12- Stomach. Resent. See on ii. 2. 9 above. 
 
 15. Presently. At once ; as in ii. 2. 159 above. 
 
 16. O, bless my lord, etc. Cf. K. John, iii. I. 331 fol. 
 
 27. Stain. Eclipse, throw into the shade. Cf. Sonn. 35. 3 : "Clouds 
 and eclipses stain both moon and sun ;" and Pick. //.iii. 3. 66: 
 
 "To dim his glory, and to stain the track 
 Of his bright passage to the Occident." 
 
 Theo. reads "strain," Rann "'stain" (=sustain), and Coll. "stay" (Bos- 
 well's conjecture). 
 
 28. Your desires are yours. You have what you desire. 
 
 32. Solder. The 1st and 2d folios have " soader " and- the others 
 " sodder." 
 
ACT III. SCENE VI. , g g 
 
 Scene V. — 5. Success. Issue, that which succeeds or follows ; as in ii. 
 4. 9 above. Cf. T. and C. ii. 2. 117: " Nor fear of bad success," etc. 
 
 7. Rivality. Copartnership, equality ; the only instance of the word 
 in S. Cf. rivals- associates, companions; as in Ham. i. I. 13: "The 
 rivals of my watch," etc. 
 
 10. Appeal. Impeachment. See Rich. II. p. 150. Up=sh\xt up. 
 
 12. Then, world, thou hast. The folios have " Then would thou hast ;" 
 corrected by Hanmer. 
 
 A pair of chaps, no more. The comma was first inserted by Theo. 
 
 13. And throzv between them, etc. "Caesar and Antony will make war 
 on each other, though they have the world to prey upon between them " 
 (Johnson). 
 
 14. The one the other. The folios have simply " the other ;" corrected 
 by Capell (Johnson's conjecture). Hanmer reads "each other." 
 
 19. More, Domitius, etc. " I have something more to tell you, which 
 I might have told at first, and delayed my news : Antony requires your 
 presence " (Johnson). 
 
 Scene VI. — 3. /' the market-place, etc. See North, p. 157 above. 
 
 9. Stablishment. Settled inheritance ; the only instance of the word 
 in S. Establishment he does not use at all, though he has both establish 
 and stablish (1 Hen. IV. v. I. 10). 
 
 10. Lydia. Johnson adopts Upton's conjecture of " Lybia " (from 
 Plutarch), but North has " Lydia." 
 
 13. He there. The folios have " hither ;" corrected by Johnson. 
 
 20. Who. That is, the people of Rome. Queasy with — disgusted with. 
 23. Who. The reading of the 1st folio, changed in the 2d to " Whom." 
 
 Cf. M. of V. ii. 6. 30 : " For who love I so much ?" Cor. ii. 1. 8 : " Who 
 does the wolf love ?" etc. Gr. 274. 
 
 29. Being. That is, he being deposed. The folios have " And being 
 that, we " or " And being that we." Rowe corrected the pointing. 
 
 39. Etiter Octavia with her train. The stage-direction in the folios. 
 Some omit with her train, as inconsistent with what follows ; but Caesar 
 simply wonders that she comes with so small a retinue. Antony had told 
 her (iii. 4. 37 above) to take what "company" she pleased. 
 
 52. Ostentation. Changed by Theo. to "ostent," for the sake of the' 
 metre. Walker conjectures "ostention." 
 
 53. Left unload. The Coll. MS. has " held " for left, and Sr. conject- 
 ures "felt;" but it is not unlikely that S. wrote left unloved, which cer< 
 tainly suggests the meaning, though something of logical precision is 
 sacrificed to the antithesis. The editors of the last century were not 
 troubled by it, and it is retained by Coll. (in spite of his MS.), D., K., V., 
 Clarke, and the Camb. ed. St. conjectures " left unpriz'd," and W. adopts 
 " held " without comment. Schmidt says that left unlov'd is — " not felt ; 
 to love a love being a phrase like to think a thought, etc." 
 
 61. Obstruct. The folios have " abstract," which Schmidt explains as 
 "the shortest way for him and his desires, the readiest opportunity to 
 encompass his wishes." Obstruct was suggested by Warb., and is gen- 
 erally adopted by the editors. 
 
ic,6 NOTES. 
 
 67. Who. Referring to both of them. 
 
 69. Bocchus, the king of Libya, etc. See North, p. 158 above. 
 76. More larger. See Gr. n. 
 
 Ay me. Changed by Hanmer and others to " Ah, me !" but see C. of 
 E. p. 142. 
 
 80. Wrong led. Misled; changed by Capell to " wrong'd." 
 
 81. In negligent danger. In danger from being negligent. 
 
 88. Make them. The folios have " makes his " or " make his ;" cor- 
 rected by Capell. Theo. reads " make their." Coll. gave " make his " 
 (referring "his" to justice) in his 1st ed., but in his 2d he adopts Capell's 
 reading. 
 
 89. Best of comfort. " May the best of comfort be yours !" (Steevens). 
 Rowe reads "Be of comfort." 
 
 95. Regiment. Rule, sway. 7>7///= harlot ; as in 1 Hen. IV. ii. 2. 28, 
 etc. Johnson remarks that the word was not "a term of mere infamy, 
 but one of slight contempt, as wench is now ;" but there can be no doubt 
 of its meaning here. Cf. 66 above. 
 
 96. Noises it. Is noisy, or raises a disturbance. For the use of it, see 
 Gr. 226. 
 
 98. Dear'st. For contracted superlatives, see Gr. 473. 
 
 Scene VII. — 3. Forspoke. Spoken against, gainsaid. It often meant 
 " to bewitch, or destroy by speaking " (Nares) ; as in Drayton, Her. 
 Epist. : 
 
 "Their hellish power, to kill the ploughman's seed 
 Or to forspeake whole flocks as they did feed ;" 
 
 The Witch of Edmonton : 
 
 "That my bad tongue, by their bad usage made so, 
 Forespeakes their cattle, doth bewitch their corn ;" 
 
 and Burton, Anat. of Melan. : " They are in despair, surely forespoken, 
 or bewitched." 
 
 5. Is V not denounced against us ? Is not the war declared against us ? 
 See North, p. 158 above : " he proclaimed open war against Cleopatra," 
 etc. Cf. the use of denunciation ( = formal declaration) in M.for M. i. 2. 
 152. The folios read " If not, denounc'd," etc. Malone has " If not, de- 
 nounce 't ;" and Steevens, " Is 't not ? Denounce," etc. The reading in 
 the text is Rowe's. 
 
 20. Take in Toryne. Capture Toryne. See on i. 1. 23 above. 
 
 23. Becom'd. For the form, cf. Cymb. v. 5. 406 : " He would have well 
 becom'd this place." See also R. and y. p. 204. 
 
 26. For that. Because. Gr. 151, 287. 
 
 32. Mulcters. Muleteers. The 1st folio has " militers," the other folios 
 " muliters," which is the spelling in North. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 68: 
 "base muleters of France !" Similar forms are "enginer" (see Ham. 
 p. 241), " pioner " {Ham. p. 198, or Oth. p. 190), "mutiner " (Cor. p. 202), 
 etc. 
 
 33. Ingross'd by siuift impress. Got together by a hurried impressment 
 or levy. Cf. Ham. i. 1. 75 : " impress of shipwrights," etc. 
 
ACT III. SCENES VIII, IX., AND X. 197 
 
 35. Yare. Light and manageable. Cf. North : "light of yarage." See 
 also on ii. 2. 212 above. 
 
 36. Fall you. Befall you, come to you. Cf. K. John, p. 133, note on 
 Fair fall, etc. 
 
 44. Merely. Entirely, absolutely. See Temp. p. in, note on We are 
 merely cheated, etc. 
 
 54. Power. Force, army. Cf. J. C. p. 168, note on Are levying powers. 
 
 57. My Thetis ! My sea-nymph ! 
 
 65. But his whole action, etc. Johnson explains this : " His whole 
 conduct becomes ungoverned by the right, or by reason ;" but we think 
 it rather means that his action does not rest on that which makes its 
 strength. Malone puts it thus : " His whole conduct in the war is not 
 founded upon that which is his greatest strength (namely, his land force), 
 but on the caprice of a woman, who wishes that he should fight by sea." 
 
 69. Marcus Octavius, etc. In the folios this speech is assigned to 
 " Ven. ;" corrected by Pope. Coll. thinks that " Ven." may be an ab- 
 breviation of Vennard, the name of an actor. Cf. T. of S. p. 127, note on 
 86. 
 
 72. Carries. Has a range ; probably from archery, as Steevens sug- 
 gests. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 52 : " he would have carried you a forehand 
 shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half," etc. 
 
 73. Distractions. Divisions, detachments. Cf. L. C. 231 : "Their dis- 
 tract parcels." 
 
 77. Throes forth. Cf. Temp. ii. 1. 231 : 
 
 "a birth indeed 
 Which throes thee much to yield." 
 
 Scene VIII. — 5. Prescript. Direction, order ; like prescription in Hen. 
 
 Villi. 1. 151. . • ■ , : . 
 
 6. Jump. Hazard, stake ; the only instance of the noun in S. Cf. the 
 verb in Macb. i. 7. 7 (see our ed. p. 177), Cor. iii. 1. 154, and Cymb. v. 4. 
 
 188. 
 
 Scene IX.— i. Yond. Not a contraction of yonder, as often printed. 
 See Temp. p. 121. 
 
 2. Battle. Army ; as in K. John, iv. 2. 78, Hen. V. iv. chor. 9, etc. 
 
 Scene X. — 2. Antoniad. The name of Cleopatra's ship. See North, 
 p. 158 above. . 
 
 5. Synod. In five out of the six passages in which S. uses the word, it 
 refers to an assembly of the gods. See A. Y. L. p. 173. 
 
 6. Cantle. Piece; literally, corner. See I Hen. IV. p. 173. 
 
 7. With. By ; as often. Gr. 193. 
 
 9. Tokened. Spotted. " The death of those visited by the plague was 
 certain when particular eruptions appeared on the skin ; and these were 
 called God's tokens" (Steevens). Cf. the use of the noun in L. L. L. v. 
 2. 423 (where there is a play upon the word) : 
 
 "They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes; 
 These lords are visited; you are not frefe, 
 For the Lord's tokens on you do I see ;" 
 
198 
 
 and T. and C. ii. 3. 187 : 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 " He is so plaguey proud that the death-tokens of it 
 Cry ' no recovery.' " 
 
 10. Ribaudred. Lewd, profligate. Some have thought the word a cor- 
 ruption of ribaud or ribald ; but " ribaudrous " and " ribauldous " are 
 forms found in Baret and other writers of the time, and ribaudred may 
 have been another then in use. Hanmer reads " ribauld," and Malone 
 " ribald-rid." Coll. has " ribald hag," and Sr. " ribaudred hag." 
 
 13. The elder. The superior. Steevens compares (misquoting, as often) 
 
 J. C. ii. 2. 46 : 
 
 "We are two lions litter'd in one day, 
 And I the elder and more terrible." 
 
 14. Brize. Gadfly. Cf. T, and C. i. 3. 48 : 
 
 "The herd hath more annoyance by the brize 
 Than by the tiger." 
 
 17. Loofd. Luffed, brought close to the wind ; the only instance of 
 the word in S. Coll. suggests that it may be = " aloof 'd" (from aloof). 
 
 19. Mallard. Drake. Cf. the allusions to the timidity of the wild duck 
 in I Hen. IV. ii. 2. 108 and iv. 2. 21. 
 
 28. Are you thereabouts? Is that your opinion? Cf. W. T. i. 2. 378 : 
 "'t is thereabouts." 
 
 31. 'Tis easy to V. It is easy to go there. Attend = wait for. 
 
 35. Wounded chance. "Broken fortunes" (Malone). Johnson con- 
 jectured " chase " for chance. 
 
 36. Sits. Often used of the direction of the wind. Cf. Mitch Ado, ii. 
 3. 102, M. of V. i. 1. 8, Rich. II. ii. 1. 265, ii. 2. 123, etc. 
 
 Scene XI. — 3. Lated. Belated ; but not a contraction of that word. 
 Cf. Macb. iii. 3. 6 : " the lated traveller ;" and see our ed. p. 213. 
 
 17. Sweep your way. Cf. Ham. iii. 4. 204 : " they must sweep my way," 
 etc. 
 
 18. Loathness. Unwillingness, reluctance ; as in Temp. ii. 1. 13c and 
 Cymb. i. 1. 108. 
 
 21. Possess you. Put you in possession. 
 
 23. For indeed I have lost command. Let me entreat you to leave 
 me ; for indeed I have lost all power to command you to go (Steevens). 
 Johnson explains it : " For I am not master of my own emotions." 
 
 35. He at Philippi, etc. Caesar at Philippi kept his sword in the scab- 
 bard, like one wearing it in the dance. Cf. A. W. ii. 1. 33 : 
 
 "no sword worn 
 But one to dance with ;" 
 
 and see our ed. p. 146. 
 
 37. The lean and wrinkled Cassius. Cf. y. C. i. 2. 194 fol. 
 
 38. Ended. Cf. iv. 14. 22 below. 
 
 39. Dealt on lieuteuantry. Acted by his lieutenants, fought by proxy. 
 Cf. iii. 1. 16 above : 
 
 " Caesar and Antony have ever won 
 More in their officer than person." 
 
ACT III. SCENES XII. AND XIII. 
 
 199 
 
 40. Squares. Squadrons ; as in Hen. V. iv. 2. 28 : " our squares of 
 battle." 
 
 44. Unqualified. Unmanned, deprived of his natural qualities. 
 
 47, Seize. The 1st folio has " cease." But— unless. 
 
 50. Unnoble. Elsewhere S. uses ignoble. 
 
 52. How I convey my shame, etc. " How, by looking another way, I 
 withdraw my ignominy from your sight" (Johnson). 
 
 54. Strotfd. Destroyed ; but not a contraction of that word. See Wb. 
 
 57. The strings. That is, the heart-strings. 
 
 58. Tow. The folios have " stowe ;" corrected by Rowe. 
 
 59. Thy full. " The full " in the folios ; corrected by Theo. 
 
 62. Treaties. Proposals for a treaty. Cf. K. John, ii. 1. 481 : 
 
 "Why answer not the double majesties 
 This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?" 
 
 63. Palter. Shuffle, equivocate. See J, . C. p. 145, or Macb. p. 254. 
 69. Fall. For the transitive use, cf. R. of L. 1551 : "every tear he 
 
 falls," etc. See also J. C. p. 169, note on They fall their crests. 
 
 Rates=xzXts as much as, is worth. 
 
 71. Schoolmaster. Euphronius, the preceptor of his children by Cleo- 
 patra. 
 
 Scene XII. — 3. Argument. Proof; as in Much Ado, ii. 3. 243 : "no 
 great argument of her folly," etc. 
 
 5. Which. Who; as often. Gr. 265. 
 
 10. His. Its ; that is, " of the sea from which the dew-drop is ex- 
 haled" (Steevens). 
 
 12. Requires. Requests, asks. Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 144: " In humblest 
 manner I require your highness," etc. 
 
 18. Circle. Crown ; as in K. John, v. 1. 2 : " The circle of my glory." 
 Cf. round in Macb. i. 2. 59 and iv. 1. 88. 
 
 28. And in our name, tic. W. conjectures that we should read 
 
 " What she requires ; and in our name add more 
 Offers from thine invention;" 
 
 and Walker; 
 
 "and more 
 From thine invention offer." 
 
 31. Thyreus. The folios have (as in iii. 13. 73 below) "Thidias ;" cor- 
 rected by Theo. 
 
 34. Becomes his flaw. " Conforms himself to this breach of his fortune ,1 
 (Johnson). 
 
 36. Power. That is, bodily organ. Steevens compares T. and C. iv, 
 5-57- 
 
 Scene XIII. — 1. Think, and die. Despond and die. Hanmer reads 
 "Drink" and Tyrwhitt conjectures "Wink" for Think; but the word 
 has the same meaning as " take thought " in J. C. ii. 1. 187 : " take 
 thought, and die for Caesar." See our ed. p. 146. Cf. iv. 6. 35 below. 
 
 5. Ranges. Ranks; the only instance of the noun in S. 
 
2 oo NOTES. 
 
 8. Nick'ti. " Set the mark of folly on " (Steevens). Cf. C. of E. v. i. 
 
 175 : "nicks him like a fool ;" and see our ed. p. 146. 
 
 10. The mered question. "The only cause of the dispute, the only 
 subject of the quarrel" (Mason). Mered seems to be formed from mere, 
 which Rowe substituted. Some take it to be from meere, to divide, and 
 ^limited. Cf. Spenser, Rirines of Rome, 22. 2 : '" Which mear'd her rule 
 with Africa," etc. Johnson conjectured "mooted," and Mitford "ad- 
 mired." 
 
 1 r. Course. Follow, like a hunter coursing or chasing game. Cf. Macb. 
 |>. 175, note on Cours\i. 
 
 26. Comparisons. This may be = " comparative advantages," as sev- 
 eral of the editors explain it ; but we strongly suspect that it is a mis- 
 print for "caparisons," as Pope considered it. Cf. V. and A. 286 : " For 
 rich caparisons or trapping gay." 
 
 27. Declined. Fallen in fortune ; as in 71 and C. iii. 3. 76 and iv. 5. 
 189. W. thinks we should read "sword against sword declin'd" (cf. the 
 second passage in T. and C). 
 
 29. High-battled. Commanding proud armies (cf. battle in iii. 9. 2 
 above). 
 
 30. (Instate. Divest of state or dignity. Cf. Lear, i. 2. 108 : " I would 
 nnstate myself," etc. 
 
 Stag'd. Exhibited as on a stage. Cf. v. 2. 217 below. See also A/, for 
 M. i. 1. 69 : " to stage me to their eyes." 
 
 31. Sworder. Gladiator; as in 2 Hen. VI. iv. I. 135: "A Roman 
 sworder and banditto slave." 
 
 32. A parcel of. " Of a piece with " (Steevens). 
 34. Suffer. Suffer loss or injury. 
 
 41. Square. Quarrel. See on ii. 1. 45 above. 
 
 42. The loyalty, etc. That is, to be loyal to fools is to make our fidelity 
 mere folly. Theo. changed The to " Tho'." 
 
 46. Earns a place i' the story. That is, wins renown, is esteemed a 
 hero. 
 
 55. Ccesar. The 1st folio has " Caesars," and Malone reads " Caesar's." 
 
 71. Shroud. Shelter, protection. Cf. the verb, in 3 Hen. VI. iii. I. 1 : 
 " Under this thick-grown brake we '11 shroud ourselves," etc. See also 
 Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 6: " That everie wight to shrowd it did constrain " 
 (that is, the rain compelled them to seek shelter). The Coll. MS. adds 
 " who is " after shroud. 
 
 74. Deputation. The folios have " disputation ;" corrected by Theo. 
 (the conjecture of Warb.). In deputation =by deputy or proxy. 
 
 77. All-obeying. Which all obey. Johnson conjectured "all-obeyed." 
 See Gr. 372. 
 
 80. If that. For that as a "conjunctional affix," see Gr. 287. 
 
 81. Give me grace. Grant me the favour. 
 
 . 83. Taking kingdoms in. See on i. I. 23 above. 
 
 85. As. As if. Cf. i. 2. 93 above and iv. 1. 1 below. 
 
 87. Fullest. Most complete, "full-fraught" {Hen. V. ii. 2. 139). Cf. 
 Oth. ii. 1. 36 : "a full soldier " (that is, a perfect one). 
 
 91. A muss. " A scramble, when any small objects are thrown down, 
 
ACT III. SCENE XIII. 201 
 
 to be taken by those who can seize them " (Nares). Cf. B. J., Magnetic 
 
 Lady, iv. I : 
 
 "The moneys rattle not, nor are they thrown 
 To make a muss yet 'mong the gamesome suitors;" 
 
 Michlleton, Spanish Gipsy: "They '11 throw down gold in musses;" and 
 Dryden, pro!, to Widow Ranter: 
 
 "Bauble and cap no sooner are thrown down, 
 But there 's a muss of more than half the town." 
 
 93. Jack. For the contemptuous use, cf. Rich. III. i. 3. 72 : 
 
 " Since every Jack became a gentleman, 
 There 's many a gentle person made a Jack/' 
 
 See also Much Ado, p. 164. 
 
 98. Of she here. Cf. Oth. iv. 2. 3 : " you have seen Cassio and she to- 
 gether," etc. Gr. 211. 
 
 109. Feeders. " Parasites " (Schmidt) ; as in T. of A. ii. 2. 168 : " riot- 
 ous feeders." Some make it ^servants. 
 
 112. Seel. Blind; originally a term of falconry. See Macb. p. 212. 
 
 120. Luxuriously. Wantonly, lewdly. The only sense of hixury in S. 
 is lust (see Ham. p. 196, or Hen. V. p. 166) ; and so with its derivatives. 
 
 121. Temperance. Chastity; as in R. of L. 884: "Thou blow'st the 
 fire when temperance is thaw'd." 
 
 124. Quit. Requite; as in 151 below. 
 
 127. The hill of Basan. See Ps. lxviii. 15, and cf. Ps. xxii. 12. 
 
 131. Yare. Ready, prompt. See on iii. 7. 35 above. 
 
 146. Orbs. Spheres. See on ii. 7. 14 above, and cf. iv. 15. 10 below. 
 
 149. Enf-anchis 'd. The folios have " enfranched ;" corrected by Theo. 
 Cf. North, p. 161 above. 
 
 157. Ties his points? Does menial service ; literally, fastens the points, 
 or tagged lacings, of his trunk-hose. See T. of S. p. 150, or W. T. p. 196. 
 
 161. Determines. Comes to an end, dissolves. Cf. iv. 3. 2 below. 
 
 162. Ccesarion. Cf. iii. 6. 6 above. The folios have "smile" for smite ; 
 corrected by Hanmer. 
 
 165. Discandying. Melting. The folios have "discandering;" cor- 
 rected by Theo. (the conjecture of Thirlby). Rowe reads "discattering." 
 Cf. iv. 12. 22 below. K. retains "discandering," which he takes to be 
 = "dis-squandering " (cf. " squandered "^scattered, in M. of V. i. 3. 22). 
 
 171. Fleet. "Float" (Rowe's reading). Steevens cites Edtvard II.: 
 "This isle shall fleet upon the ocean;" Tamburlaine, 1590 : "fleeting 
 with the tide," etc. See also Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 14 : 
 
 " one of those same Islands which doe fleet 
 In the wide sea ;" 
 
 Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, 286: "That seemd amid the surges for 
 to fleet," etc. 
 
 1 75. Will earn our chronicle. "Will do such acts as shall deserve to 
 be recorded" (Malone). Cf. 46 above. 
 
 J 80. Nice. Daintv, delicate, effeminate. 
 
202 NOTES, 
 
 183. Gaudy. Joyous, festive ; "still an epithet bestowed on feast days 
 in the colleges of either university" (Steevens). "The etymology of the 
 word," says Blount in his Diet., " may be taken from Judge Gawdy, who 
 (as some affirm) was the first institutor of those days ; or rather from 
 gaudium, because (to say truth) they are days of Joy, as bringing good 
 cheer to the hungry students." 
 
 191. Peep. For the ellipsis of to, see Gr. 349. Cf. iv. 6. 9 below. 
 
 192. There \r sap in V yet. Cf. Lear, iv. 6. 206 : " there 's life in 't." 
 197. Estridge. Ostrich. See I Hen. IV. p. 188. 
 
 199. Preys on. The folios have " in " for on ; corrected by Rowe. 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 Scene I. — 1. As. As if. See on iii. 13. 85 above. 
 
 5. I have many other ways to die. Hanmer changed this to " He hath," 
 etc., on the ground that Caesar would not admit the probability of An- 
 tony's killing him ; but it is probably said ironically. It is possible, 
 however, that S. was misled by the ambiguous wording of the passage in 
 North. See p. 162 above. 
 
 9. Make boot of. Take advantage of. 
 
 14. Fetch him in. Capture him. Cf. Cymb. iv. 2. 141 : 
 
 "and swear 
 He 'd fetch us in." 
 
 Scene II. — 7. Wod't. Provincial for wouldst thon or wilt thou. See 
 Ham. p. 265. Cf. iv. 15. 59 below. 
 
 8. Take all. " Let the survivor take all. No composition ; victory or 
 death" (Johnson). Cf. Lear, iii. 1. 15: "And bids what will take all." 
 Coll. says it is "an expression from the gaming-table, meaning, let all 
 depend upon this hazard." 
 
 25. Period. End. 
 
 26. Or if , a mangled shadow. " Or if you see me more, you will see 
 me a mangled shadow, only the external form of what I was " (Johnson). 
 Cf. Gr. 64. 
 
 33. Yield. Reward. Cf. " God 'ield you I" in Ham. iv. 5. 41 ; and see 
 our ed. p. 247, or Macb. p. 175. 
 
 35. Onion-eyed. See on i. 2. 161 above. 
 
 36. Ho, ho, ho! Used as an expression of mockery or rebuke. Cf. 
 M. N. D. iii. 2. 421, T. of A. i. 2. 22, 117, etc. Some make it = "stop, de- 
 sist" (=whoa, as addressed to a horse). 
 
 44. Death and honour. An honourable death. 
 
 Scene III. — 5. Belike. It is likely, probably. Cf. i. 2. 34 above. 
 
 13. Music V the air. See North, p. 162 above. 
 
 14. Signs well. Is a good sign or omen. 
 
 23. Give off. Give out, cease. In K. John, v. 1. 27, the phrase is transi- 
 tive (= resign). 
 
ACT IV. SCENES IV, V., AND VI. 203 
 
 Scene IV. — 2. Chuck. Chick. Cf. Macb. p. 212. 
 
 3. Mine iron. The folios have " thine" for mine ; corrected by Han- 
 mer. Malone explains " thine iron " as " the iron which thou hast in thy 
 hand." 
 
 5-8. In the 1st folio (followed substantially by the other folios) this 
 passage reads thus : 
 
 " Cleo. Nay, He helpe too, Anthony. 
 What's this for? Ah let be, let be, thou art 
 The Armourer of my heart : False, false : This, this, 
 Sooth-law He helpe: Thus it must bee." 
 
 The arrangement in the text was suggested by Capell. Cell, gives Thus 
 it must be to Antony ; but it seems to be Cleopatra's remark about the 
 armour she is trying to adjust. 
 
 13. Daff'i. Doff it, take it off. The folios have "daft" or "doft." 
 See Much Ado, p. 138, note on Duffed. For hear the Coll. MS. has 
 "bear." 
 
 15. Tight. "Handy, adroit" (Steevens). Cf. tightly (= adroitly) in 
 M. W. i. 3. 88 and ii. 3. 67. 
 
 16. My wars. For the plural, cf. Cor. p. 205. 
 
 23. Port. Gate. See Cor. p. 211, or 2 Hen. IV. p. 192. See on i. 3. 
 46 above. 
 
 24. The morn is fair, etc. The folios give this speech to "Alex." but 
 he has already revolted; corrected by Rowe. 
 
 25. Blown. Referring to the trumpets. H. takes it to refer to the 
 morning, " the metaphor being implied of night blossoming into day." 
 
 28. Well said. Well done ; as often. See Oth. p. 174, or R. and J. 
 p. 161. 
 
 31. Check. Reproof. Cf. Oth. p. 158. 
 
 32. Mechanic. Vulgar; "such as becomes a journeyman" (Schmidt). 
 
 Scene V.— i. The gods, etc. The folios give this and the two next 
 speeches of the Soldier to Eros ; corrected by Theo. (the conjecture of 
 Thirlby). 
 
 14. Subscribe. Sign it. 
 
 17. Dispatch. — Enobarbus ! The 2d folio has "Dispatch Eros;" and 
 Theo. reads " dispatch my Eros !" Steevens adopts Ritson's conjecture 
 of " Eros, dispatch !" 
 
 Scene VI.— 2. Took. S. uses the forms took, taken, and td'en for the 
 participle. 
 
 6. The three-nook 'd world. Cf. K. John, v. 7. 116: "Come the three 
 corners of the world in arms," etc. 
 
 7. Shall bear the olive freely. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4. 8j : " But peace puts 
 forth her olive everywhere." 
 
 9. Plant. For the ellipsis of to, see on iii. 13. 191 above. 
 13. Persuade. The folios have "disswade;" corrected by Rowe. Cf. 
 North, p. 161 above. 
 
 17. Entertainment. Employment. Cf. A. W. p. 162, or Cor. p. 252. 
 
204 NOTES. 
 
 26. Safd. Gave safe conduct to. Cf. i. 3. 55 above. For the metre 
 Rowe (2d ed.) reads "see safe," and Steevens "that you safd." 
 
 34. This blows my heart. " This generosity swells my heart, so that it 
 will quickly break, 'if thought break it not, a swifter mean' " (Johnson). 
 Rowe reads " bows " for blows. 
 
 35. Thought. Sorrowful reflection, taking to heart. See on iii. 13. I 
 above. For mean, see on iii. 2. 32 above. 
 
 Scene VII. — 2. Our oppression. The oppression, or " opposition " 
 (Hanmer's reading), we experience. 
 
 5. Droven. Changed by Capell to " driven." For these irregular 
 participial forms, see Gr. 344. 
 
 6. With clouts about their heads. That is, with their broken heads tied 
 up. Cf. J. C. ii. 1. 314. Perhaps it may be = "with knocks about the 
 head," which the phrase sometimes meant. 
 
 8. An H. With a play upon the pronunciation of H, which was the 
 same as that of the noun ache. See Much Ado, p. 150, note on 49, and 
 cf. Temp. p. 119. H. is " unable to explain" why the wound is like a T. 
 Probably the shape of the gash is referred to. 
 
 10. Scotches. Cuts, wounds. Cf. the verb in Cor. iv. 5. 198: "scotched 
 him and notched him like a carbonado." 
 
 16. Come thee. Here thee is probably a corruption of thou. See Gr. 212. 
 
 Scene VIII. — 2. Gests. Exploits (Latin gesta). The folios have 
 "guests ;" corrected by Theo. (the conjecture of Warb.). 
 
 5. Doughty -handed. Stout of hands. 
 
 6. As. As if. See on i. 2. 93 above. 
 
 7. Shown. Shown yourselves, appeared ; as in ii. 2. 145 and iii. 3. 23 
 above. 
 
 8. Clip. Embrace. See on inclips, ii. 7. 69 above. 
 
 11. Whole. That is, making them whole or sound again. 
 
 12. Fairy. Enchantress. 
 
 15. Proof of harness. Armour of proof. Cf. Rich. II. i. 3. 73 : " Add 
 proof unto my armour with thy prayers ;" and see our ed. p. 162. 
 
 16. Triumphing. For the penultimate accent, cf. 1 Hen. IV. v. 4. 14, 
 v. 3. 15, Rich. III. iii. 4. 91, iv. 4. 59, etc. Gr. 490. 
 
 17. Virtue. Valour (Latin virtus). Cf. Cor. ii. 2. 88: "valour is the 
 chiefest virtue." See also Id. i. 1. 41, Lear, v. 3. 103, etc. 
 
 20. Something. Somewhat ; as often. 
 
 22. Get goal for goal, etc. Win goal for goal, get the better of youth 
 in the contest. 
 
 25. Mankind. "Accented mostly on the last syllable in T.of A., on 
 the first in the other plays" (Schmidt). 
 
 28. Carbuncled, etc. Cf. Cytnb. v. 5. 189: 
 
 "had it been a carbuncle 
 Of Phoebus' wheel." 
 
 31. Owe. Own ; as very often. Cf. Rich. II. iv. 1. 184 : "That owes 
 two buckets ;" and see our ed. p. 204. 
 
ACT IV. SCENES IX., X, AND XI. 
 
 205 
 
 Warb. explained hacked targets, etc., as = " hacked as much as the men 
 to whom they belong" (cf. Gr. 419a), which may be right. Johnson 
 gives it : " Bear our hacked targets with spirit and exultation, such as 
 becomes the brave warriors that own them." 
 
 34. Drink carouses. Cf. T. of S. i. 2. 277 : " And quaff carouses to our 
 mistress' health." See also the verb in Ham. v. 2. 300, Oth. ii. 3. 55, etc. 
 
 37. Tabourines. Drums. Cf. T. and C. iv. 5. 275: "Beat loud the 
 tabourines." 
 
 Scene IX. — 2. The court of guard. The guard-room, or the place 
 where the guard musters. Cf. Oth. ii. 1. 220 and I Hen. VI. ii. 1. 4. 
 
 3. E?nbattle. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 2. 14 : " The English are embattled," etc. 
 
 5. Shrewd. Bad, evil ; the original sense of the word. See J. C. p. 
 145, or Hen. VIII. p. 202. 
 
 8. Revolted. Who have revolted. Cf. I Hen. IV. iv. 2. 31 : "revolted 
 tapsters," etc. 
 
 Record. The noun is accented by S. on either syllable, as suits the 
 measure. Cf. Rich. III. p. 207. 
 
 13. Disponge. Drop, let fall; changed by Hanmer to "disperge." 
 Cf. Temp. iv. I. 65 : "spongy April ;" and Cymb. iv. 2. 349 : " the spongy 
 south." 
 
 15. Throw my heart, etc. A conceit in keeping with the taste of the 
 time. Johnson laments it thus : " The pathetic of Shakespeare too often 
 ends in the ridiculous. It is painful to find the gloomy dignity of this 
 noble scene destroyed by the intrusion of a conceit so far-fetched and 
 unaffecting." 
 
 20. Particidar. Personal relation. Cf. i. 3. 54 above. 
 
 22. Fugitive. Deserter ; as in 1 Hen. VI. iii. 3. 67 : " thrust out like a 
 fugitive." 
 
 29. Raught. Reached. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. ii. 3. 43 : " This staff of honour 
 raught, there let it stand." We find it as the past tense in L. L. L. iv. 2. 
 41, Hen. V. iv. 6. 21 (see our ed. p. 180), and 3 Hen. VI. i. 4. 68. Reached 
 occurs only in Oth. i. 2. 24, where it is the participle. 
 
 30. Demurely. The word has been suspected, but we agree with 
 Clarke that it not inaptly expresses "the solemnly measured beat, the 
 gravely regulated sound of drums that summon sleeping soldiers to wake 
 and prepare themselves for a second day's fighting after a first that has 
 just been described by the listeners as a shrewd one to us." The Coll. 
 MS. has "Do early." 
 
 Scene X. — 7. They have put forth the haven. This is all that the folios 
 give for the line. The obvious gap has been variously filled ; as by Rowe 
 with " Further on," by Capell with " Hie we on," by W. with " Ascend 
 we now," etc. The reading in the text is due to D., and is adopted by 
 the Camb. editors. 
 
 Scene XI. — 1. But being charged, etc. Unless we are charged, we will 
 remain quiet by land, as, 1 take it, we shall be allowed to be. 
 
206 NOTES. 
 
 Scene XII. — I. Yet they are not. They are not yet. For the trans- 
 position, cf. ii. i. 49 above. 
 
 3. Swal/ozas have built, etc. See North, p. 158 above. 
 
 4. Augurers. The folios have "auguries;" corrected by Capell. Pope 
 has "augurs." For augurers, cf. v. 2. 332 below; and see also Cor. p. 
 218. 
 
 13. Triple-turn 'd. Thrice faithless. Cf. iii. 13. 116 fol. above. 
 
 15. Only wars on thee. War only on thee. Cf. Gr. 420. 
 
 16. Charm. Charmer (as in 25 below), in the sense of witch or sorcer- 
 ess. Cf. spell in 30 below. 
 
 18. Uprise. Cf. T. A. iii. 1. 159: "the sun's uprise." 
 
 21. SpanieVd. The folios have " pannelled ;" happily corrected by 
 Hanmer. Theo. reads " pantler'd" (the conjecture of Warb.) ; and Jack- 
 son suggests " pan-kneel'd !" 
 
 22. Discandy. See on iii. 13. 165 above. 
 
 25. Soul. Changed by Capell to " soil," and by the Coll. MS. to 
 "spell." Walker conjectures "snake." For grave (which may be 
 =deadly, destructive, as Steevens explains it), Pope has "gay," the Coll. 
 MS. "great," and Sr. (2d ed.) "grand." 
 
 26. Bteckd. Beckoned, called by a look or nod. Cf. K.John, iii. 3. 13 : 
 " When gold and silver becks me to come on." 
 
 27. Crowuet. The crown of my wishes and endeavours. Cf. v. 2. 91 
 below. 
 
 28. Right. Truly deserving the name, very ; as in M. N.D. iii. 2. 302, 
 A. Y. L. iii. 2. 103, 127, 290, etc. 
 
 At fast and loose. An old cheating game. See K. John, p. 156. 
 
 34. Plebeians. Accented on the first syllable, as in Cor. i. 9. 7 and v. 
 4. 39. See our ed. p. 212. 
 
 36. Be shown, etc. Be made a show for the lowest and stupidest of 
 the people. With K. and V., we follow the reading of the folios. The 
 editors generally adopt Thirlby's conjecture of " doits " for dolts, and ex- 
 plain poorest diminutives as = the pettiest of small coin. But the refer- 
 ence is to Cleopatra's being led in triumph through the streets of Rome, 
 a "free show" for the rabble, not to her being exhibited for a fee. Be- 
 sides it seems more natural for Antony to emphasize the low character 
 of the spectators than the pettiness of the price charged, if there were 
 any. The only other instance of diminutives in S. is T. and C. v. 1.38, 
 where it means insignificant persons. Monster-like = as a monster or 
 monstrosity ; but of course it is not necessary to see any reference to the 
 fact that monsters were exhibited for money (cf. Temp. ii. 2. 30 fol.). 
 
 39. Prepared. "Which she suffered to grow for this purpose" 
 (Warb.). 
 
 43. Nessus. Alluded to again in A. W. iv. 3. 281. 
 
 44. Mine ancestor. See on i. 3. 84 above. 
 
 45. Lichas. The servant of Hercules who brought the poisoned shirt 
 from Dejanira, and was thrown by his master into the sea. Cf. M. of V. 
 ii. 1. 32. 
 
 47. Worthiest. That is, of being subdued, or destroyed. H. says: 
 " Though Antony here uses the word self, his thoughts are really upon 
 
ACT IV. SCENES XIII. AND XIV. 207 
 
 Hercules, with whom for the moment he identifies himself." This is 
 Heath's explanation and may possibly be right, though the other seems 
 to us simpler and more natural. 
 48. Young. Omitted by Hanmer. 
 
 Scene XIII. — 2. Telamonfor his shield. That is, Ajax Telamon for 
 the armour of Achilles, the celebrated shield being the most valuable part 
 of it. 
 
 The boar of Thessaly was the boar killed by Mel eager. 
 
 3. Emboss'd. Foaming at the mouth; a hunter's term. Cf. T. of S. 
 p. 126. 
 
 Scene XIV. — 8. Pageants. The metaphor is taken from the theatrical 
 exhibitions so called. Cf. Temp. iv. 1. 155, T. G. of V. iv. 4. 164, L. L. L. 
 v. 1. 118, A. Y. L. ii. 7- 138, iii. 4. 55, etc. 
 
 Hazlitt remarks: "This is, without doubt, one of the finest pieces of 
 poetry in Shakespeare. The splendour of the imagery, the semblance 
 of reality, the lofty range of picturesque objects hanging over the* world, 
 their evanescent nature, the total uncertainty of what is left behind,— are 
 just like the mouldering schemes of human greatness." 
 
 10. The rack dislimns. The floating vapour effaces or blots out. For 
 rack, cf. Ham. p. 21 1, or Temp. p. 137. 
 
 12. Knave. In its original sense of boy or servant. Cf. M. of V. p. 
 137. 
 
 18. Moe. More ; used only with a plural or collective noun. See 
 A. Y.I. p. 176. 
 
 19. Pack r d cards. A term for shuffling them unfairly. In triumph 
 Warb. sees a play upon its sense of " trump " (Fr. triomphe), but this is 
 doubtful. 
 
 22. End. See on iii. 11. 38 above. 
 
 26. Die the death. Cf. M.for M. ii. 4. 165, M. N. D. i. I. 65, Cymb. iv. 
 2. 96, etc. See also Matt. Xv". 4. 
 
 33. Render'' d. Rendered up, gave up. Cf. iii. 10. 32 above. 
 
 39. The battery from my heart. Boswell explains this : "the battery 
 proceeding from my heart, which is strong enough to break through the 
 sevenfold shield of Ajax ; I wish it were strong enough to cleave my 
 sides and destroy me." 
 
 40. Continent. Container. Cf. M. N. D. p. 142. 
 
 41. Crack. Cf. Lear, ii. 1. 92 : " my old heart is crack'd — it 's crack'd !" 
 See also Cor. p. 196. 
 
 46. Length. Steevens conjectured "life," but leiigth is more expres- 
 sive as=lengthening out of life. 
 
 49. Seal then, etc. The metaphor is taken from sealing a legal docu- 
 ment, which completes it. 
 
 53. AZneas. Hanmer reads " Sichaeus " (the conjecture of Warb.), as 
 Virgil represents Dido as shunning ^Eneas in the lower world and seek- 
 ing her former husband ; but S. forgot for the moment that the lovers 
 were not associated in death as in life* 
 
 60. less noble mind. Being of less noble mind ; an ellipsis not unlike 
 
2o8 NOTES. 
 
 many others in S. Rowe and Pope read " less noble-minded." Cf. North, 
 p. 163 above. 
 
 61. Which. Who; as in iii. 12. 5 above. 
 
 63. Exigent. Exigency ; as in J. : C. v. 1. 19 : " Why do you cross me 
 in this exigent?" On the passage, cf J. C. v. 3. 36 fol. 
 
 65. Prosecution. Pursuit; the only instance of the word in S. 
 
 68. Defeat' st. Destroyest. Cf. Oth. iv. 2. 160 : " defeat my life," 
 etc. 
 
 72. Window 1 d. At a window. The only other instance of the word in 
 S. is Lear, iii. 4. 31 : " loop'd and window'd raggedness." 
 
 73. Pleached. Folded. Cf. its use ^intertwined, interwoven, in Much 
 Ado, iii. 1. 7 : "the pleached bower." 
 
 74. Corrigible. Submissive to correction. In Oth. i. 3. 329 it is=cor- 
 rective. S. uses the word only twice. 
 
 75. Penetrative. Used by S. only here. 
 
 76. Branded, etc. " Branded with baseness him who followed " 
 (Clarke). 
 
 79. That thy. See on ii. 3. 20 above. 
 
 80. Useful. For the adverbial use, see Gr. 1. S. uses the word else- 
 where only in K. John, v. 2. 81. So he has useless only twice : Temp. v. 
 1. 60 and R. of L. 859 (where it is adverbial). 
 
 87. Lo thee ! W. conjectures " Lo there !" Cf. W. T. i. 2. 106 : " Why, 
 lo you now !" 
 
 98. Got upon me. Forestalled me in gaining. Cf. win upon in ii. 4. 9 
 above. 
 
 107. Period. End ; as in iv. 2. 25 above. 
 
 112. This tidings. Hanmer reads " these " for this ; but S. makes tid- 
 ings both singular and plural. Cf. ii. 5. 87 above with v. 1. 27 below. See 
 also Rich. II. p. 177. 
 
 113. Enter me with him. Secure me a place in his favour, recommend 
 me to him. 
 
 117. Sufficing strokes for death. Strokes sufficient for death. Cf. Gr. 
 4190. See also on iv. 8. 31 above. 
 123. Disposed. Made terms. 
 136. To grace it. By gracing it. Cf. Gr. 356. 
 
 Scene XV. — 7. But not dead. To fill out the line, Steevens conject- 
 ures " madam, but not dead ;" and Keightley reads " but he is not 
 dead." 
 
 10. Sphere. See on ii. 7. 15 above. If the crystalline sphere in which 
 the sun was set were destroyed, the sun must fall and the earth become 
 dark. For darkling, cf. M. N. D. ii. 2. 86 and Lear, i. 4. 237. For shore 
 H. reads " star," explaining " the varying star o' the world " as " the 
 changing moon." 
 
 19. Importune. Accented on the penult, as always in S. Cf. Ham. 
 p. 190. Gr. 490. 
 
 21. Dare not. That is, dare not descend from the monument. Theo. 
 inserted " Come down " after lips. 
 
 23. Imperious. Imperial. See Ham. p. 264. 
 
ACT IV. SCENE XV. 209 
 
 25. Brooch 1 d. Adorned, as with a brooch. Cf. the noun in Ham. iv. 
 
 7- 94 : 
 
 "he is the brooch indeed 
 And gem of all the nation." 
 
 See also Rich. II. v. 5. 66. 
 
 26. Edge, sting, or operation. The order does not follow that in the 
 preceding line, and Hanmer therefore read "operation, or sting;" but 
 cf. R. and L. 615, 616 : 
 
 " For princes are the glass, the school, the book, 
 Where subjects' eyes do learn, do read, do look." 
 
 28. Still conclusion. " Sedate determination; silent coolness of resolu- 
 tion" (Johnson). Schmidt is perhaps right in making it = " silently 
 drawing inferences in surveying and examining my appearance." Nares 
 explains it similarly, as = " deep but quiet censure, looking demure all 
 the while ;" and V. endorses this interpretation. The Coll. MS. has 
 "still condition." 
 
 29. Demuring. Looking demurely, or with affected modesty. 
 
 32. Here 'j sport indeed! Said, of course, with bitter but most pathetic 
 irony. Johnson supposed it to mean " here 's trifling, you do not work 
 in earnest ;" and Steevens that it was intended " to inspire Antony with 
 cheerfulness, and encourage those who were engaged in the melancholy 
 task." I 
 
 33. Heaviness. The play upon the word (in its senses of sorrow and 
 weight) is in keeping with what precedes. 
 
 38. Where. The folios have " when ;" corrected by Pope. 
 
 39. Quicken. Revive, become quick (see Ham. p. 262, or Hen. V. p. 
 156) or alive. Cf. Lear, iii. 7.39: "These hairs . . . Will quicken and 
 accuse thee." 
 
 44. The false huswife Fortune. Cf. Hen. V. v. 1.85: "Doth Fortune 
 play the huswife with me now ?" See also A. Y. L. p. 141, note on 27. 
 For the contemptuous use of huswife, cf. Oth. iv. 1. 95 ; and for the spell- 
 ing, see Cor. p. 205. 
 
 47. Gentle. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 46 : " Be merry, gentle," etc. 
 
 59. Wodt. See on iv. 2. 7 above. 
 
 64. The garland of the war. Cf. Cor. i. 1. 188: "Him vile that was 
 your garland." See also Id. i. 9. 60 and ii. 2. 105. 
 
 65. The soldier s pole. " He at whom the soldiers pointed as at a 
 pageant held high for observation " (Johnson) ; "their standard or rally- 
 ing point" (Clarke); "their loadstar" (Schmidt). Clarke is probably 
 right, y. 
 
 66. Odds. Generally singular in S., but sometimes plural ; as in M. for 
 M. iii. 1. 41 : "these odds," etc. 
 
 67. Remarkable. As St. remarks, the word, in the poet's time, " bore 
 a far more impressive and appropriate meaning than with us; it then ex- 
 pressed not merely observable or noteworthy, but something profoundly 
 striking and uncommon." 
 
 73. E'en a woman. The folios have "in a woman ;'' corrected by 
 Capell. This is said in reply to Iras. See p. 19 above. 
 
2IO - - . NPTES. 
 
 , 75. Chares. Drudgery; the Yankee " chores." Cf. the English " char- 
 woman." S. uses the word only here and in v. 2. 231 below. 
 
 76. Injurious. Malignant. 
 
 j8. Naught. Worthless, vile ; usually spelt naught in this sense in the 
 early eds., as nought when = nothing. See A. Y. L. p. 142, or Rich. III. 
 p. 182. 
 
 79. Sottish. Stupid; the only instance of the word in S. For sot= 
 dolt, fool, see Lear, p. 235, or Trmp. p. 132. 
 
 85. Sirs. For the feminine use, cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 21 1. See also the use 
 of sirrah in v. 2. 229 below. D. quotes B. and F., The Coxcomb, iv. 3, 
 where the mother says to Viola, Nan, and Madge, " Sirs, to your tasks ;" 
 and A King and No King, ii. 1 : 
 
 "Pan. Sirs, leave me all. \ Exeunt Waiting-women.' 1 '' 
 89. Case. Cf. iv. 14. 41 above. See also T.N. v. 1. 168. 
 
 ACT V. 
 
 . Scene I.— 2. Frustrate. Frustrated. A trisyllable, like mistress in ii. 
 5. 27 above. Gr. 477. 
 
 He mocks the pauses, etc. That is, they are mere mockery. Hanmer 
 reads "be. but mocks," and Malone "mocks us by." 
 
 5. Appear thus. That is, with a drawn and bloody sword (Steevens). . 
 
 15. The round world. The line is imperfect, and something may have 
 been lost; but it is not unintelligible as it stands. " S. seems to mean 
 that the death of so. great a man ought .to have produced effects similar 
 to those which might have been expected from the dissolution of the. 
 universe, when all distinctions shall be lost " (Johnson). 
 
 21. Self. Same. Cf. C. of E. v. 1. 10: "that self chain," etc. Gr. 20. 
 - 24. Splitted. For the form, cf. C of E. i. 1. 104, v. 1. 308, and 2 Hen. VI. 
 iii. 2. 411. For the expression, cf. Rich. III. i. 3. 300 : " When he shall 
 split thy very heart with sorrow," etc. The Coll. MS. reads "split that 
 self noble heart." 
 
 , 27. Tidings.. The 2d folio has "a tydings," which helps out the meas- 
 ure. But it is — \{ it be not. Cf. v. 2. 103 below. 
 
 , 28. And strange it is, etc. The folios give this, and the next speech 
 but one, to Dolabella (who has gone) ; corrected by Theo. 
 
 31. Wag'd. The reading of the 1st folio. The 2d has "way," and the 
 3d and 4th "may." Rowe reads " weigh'd," and Ritson conjectures 
 "weigh." Wagd seems to be = "were opposed to each other in just 
 proportions, like the counterparts of a wager." 
 . 32. Steer humanity. Control a human frame. 
 
 36. Lance. The folios have " launch," which is merely an old form 
 of the word. _ 
 
 37. Perforce. Of necessity ; as in iii. 4. 6 above. 
 
 39. Look. ■. Changed by Hanmer to " look'd ;" but the present is bet- 
 ter : or look, as I now do, on thine. Stall= dwell. . 
 
ACT V. SCENE II. 2 z r 
 
 • 43. In top of all design. In the height of all design, in all lofty en- 
 deavour. 
 
 46. His. Its ; referring to mine, that is, my heart. 
 
 47. Unreconciliable. The reading of the 1st and 2d folios, and favoured 
 by the metre. 
 
 Should divide, etc. " That is, should have made us, in our equality of 
 fortune, disagree to a pitch, like this, that one of us must die " (Johnson). 
 SO. The business of this man looks out of him. Cf. Macb. i. 2. 46:. 
 
 ." What a haste looks through his eyes ! So should he look 
 That seems to speak things strange." 
 
 52. A P oor Egyptian yet. " Yet a servant of the queen of Egypt, 
 though soon to become a subject of Rome" (Johnson). Clarke take's^*?/ 
 to be =till now : " I have been hitherto no more than a poor Egyptian ; 
 but at present — now that my queen is bereft of all — I am messenger from 
 Cleopatra to Octavius Caesar." 
 
 59. Live. The folios have " leave ;" corrected by Rowe. Capell reads 
 " Leave to be gentle," ending 59 at cannot. D. has " learn " (the con- 
 jecture of Tyrwhitt). 
 
 65. Her life in Rome, etc. Her living presence in Rome would add 
 eternal glory to our triumph. Hanmer reads " eternaling " for eternal in 
 (the conjecture of Thirlby). 
 
 Scene II. — A Room in the Monument. As Malone notes, the drama- 
 tist has here attempted to exhibit at once the outside and the inside of a 
 building. This was possible on the old stage, on account of the balcony 
 at the back, in which Cleopatra and her two attendants would be placed, 
 while the Romans would appear in front below. Cf. T. of S. p. 128, note 
 on Enter aloft, etc. 
 
 3. Knave. Servant. See on iv. 14. 12 above. 
 
 4. And it is great, etc. "The difficulty of the passage, if any difficulty 
 there be, arises only from this, that the act of suicide and the state which 
 is the effect of suicide are confounded. Voluntary death, says she, is an 
 act which bolts tip change ; it produces a state which has no longer need 
 of the gross and terrene sustenance, in the use of which Caesar and the 
 beggar are on a level " (Johnson). 
 
 Theo. and some modern editors adopt Warburton's conjecture of 
 "dug" for dung; but, as W. remarks, the latter word is "expressive of 
 the speaker's bitter disgust of life." Cf. i. 1. 35 above : 
 
 . . . ,--. . - - "our dungy earth alike . 
 
 Feeds beast as man;" 
 
 and T. of A. iv. 3. 444 : 
 
 " the earth 's a thief 
 That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen 
 From general excrement." 
 
 See also on 280 below. 
 
 21. With thanks. That is, with thanks for. The ellipsis of the prepo- 
 sition is not uncommon when it has been already expressed (Gr. 394) or 
 can be readily supplied. Cf. 64 below. 
 
212 NOTES. 
 
 27. Pray in aid. " A term used for a petition made in a court of justice 
 for the calling in of help from another that hath an interest in the cause 
 in question" (Hanmer). 
 
 29. I send him, etc. I deliver up to him the power he has won. 
 
 35. You see how easily, etc. The 1st folio gives this speech to 
 "Pro." the later folios transfer it to "Char." Malone was the first 
 to see that it belongs to Gallus. Cf. the extract from North, p. 165 
 above. 
 
 42. Languish. Lingering disease or suffering. Cf. R. and jf. 1. 2. 49 : 
 "One desperate grief cures with another's languish." 
 
 48. Worth many babes and beggars ! " Why, death, wilt thou not rather 
 seize a queen than employ thy force upon babes and beggars ?" (John- 
 son). 
 
 Temf>era?tce = moderation, self-control. 
 
 50. If idle talk will once be necessary. A puzzling line. Johnson ex- 
 plains it : " if it be necessary now for once to waste a moment in idle talk 
 of my purpose ;" and Steevens : "if it be necessary for once to talk of 
 performing impossibilities." Malone supposes a line to have been lost 
 after 50, like " I '11 not so much as syllable a word ;" and Ritson would 
 insert " I will not speak, if sleep be necessary." Capell changes sleep to 
 "speak." Hanmer and the Coll. MS. have "accessary" for necessary. 
 Mr. C. J. Monro thinks that the idle talk is to be made necessary, or use- 
 ful, in keeping her awake. Of these interpretations, Johnson's is as 
 nearly satisfactory as any. Clarke puts it thus : "if it be needful to prate 
 of my intentions." 
 
 54. Chastised. Accented by S. on the penult. Cf. -Rich. II. ii. 3. 104, 
 Macb. i. 5. 26, etc. Gr. 491. 
 
 55. Dull Octavia. Mrs. Jameson remarks: "I do not understand the 
 observation of a late critic [Hazlitt] that in this play 'Octavia is only a 
 dull foil to Cleopatra.' Cleopatra requires no foil, and Octavia is not 
 dull, though in a moment of jealous spleen her accomplished rival gives 
 her that epithet. It is possible that her beautiful character, if brought 
 more forward and coloured up to the historic portrait, would still be 
 eclipsed by the dazzling splendour of Cleopatra's; for so I have seen a 
 flight of fire-works blot out for a while the silver moon and ever-burning 
 stars. But here the subject of the drama being the love of Antony and 
 Cleopatra, Octavia is very properly kept in the background, and far from 
 any competition with her rival : the interest would otherwise have been 
 unpleasantly divided, or rather Cleopatra herself must have served but 
 as a foil to the tender, virtuous, dignified, and generous Octavia, the very 
 beau ideal of a noble Roman lady — 
 
 'whose beauty claims 
 Nr, worse a husband than the best of men, 
 VV iio^e virtue and whose general graces speak 
 Ihai which none else can utter' (ii. 2. 128). 
 
 "The character of Octavia is merely indicated in a few touches, but 
 every stroke tells. We see her with 'downcast eyes sedate and sweet, 
 and looks demure ' — with her modest tenderness and dignified submis- 
 sion — the very antipodes of her rival ! Nor should we forget that she 
 
ACT V. SCENE II. 2I3 
 
 has furnished one of the most graceful similes in the whole compass of 
 poetry, where her soft equanimity in the midst of grief is compared to 
 
 ' the swan's down-feather, 
 That stands upon the swell at full of tide, 
 And neither way inclines ' (iii. 2. 48). 
 
 " The fear which seems to haunt the mind of Cleopatra, lest she should 
 be 'chastised by the sober eye' of Octavia, is exceedingly characteristic 
 of the two women : it betrays the jealous pride of her who was conscious 
 that she had forfeited all real claim to respect ; and it places Octavia 
 before us in all the majesty of that virtue which could strike a kind of 
 envying and remorseful awe even into the bosom of Cleopatra. What 
 would she have thought and felt, had some soothsayer foretold to her the 
 fate of her own children, whom she so tenderly loved ? Captives, and 
 exposed to the rage of the Roman populace, they owed their existence to 
 the generous, admirable Octavia, in whose mind there entered no particle 
 of littleness. She received into her house the children of Antony and 
 Cleopatra, educated them with her own, treated them with truly maternal 
 tenderness, and married them nobly." 
 
 59. Nak'd. The folio printing, indicating that the word is mono- 
 syllabic. D. gives examples of the contraction from Chapman's Homer. 
 
 61. Pyramides. The Latin plural was sometimes used for the sake of 
 the measure. Steevens cites, among other instances, Doctor Faustus, 
 1604: "Besides the gates and high pyramides ;" and Tamburlaine, 1590: 
 "Like to the shadows of pyramided" llanmer reads "highest pyra- 
 mid." 
 
 64. Find cause. Capell adds "for it." See on 21 above. 
 
 66. For the queen. The 2d folio reads " as for the queen." 
 
 81. The little O, the earth. The folios have " o' th' earth" or "oth' 
 earth ;" changed by Theo. to " O o' th' earth," and by Hanmer to "orb 
 o' th' earth." The reading in the text is Steevens's. Cf. Hen. V. prol. 13 : 
 " this wooden O " (the Globe theatre) ; and see also M. N. D. p. 165. 
 
 82. Bestrid. The only form of the past tense and participle of bestride 
 in S. Cf. J. C. i. 2. 135 : 
 
 "Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 
 Like a Colossus." 
 
 83. Crested. An allusion to the familiar use of a raised arm as a crest 
 in heraldry. Was propertied ay=had the properties of, was as musical 
 as. For the allusion to the "music of the spheres," cf. A. Y. L. ii. 7. 6, 
 T. IV. iii. 1. 121, M. of V. v. 1. 60, etc. 
 
 87. Autumn. The folios have "Anthony ;" corrected by Theo. Cor- 
 son would retain the old reading, seeing in it an allusion to the Greek 
 dvOog or dvQovofiog, which he strangely thinks could mean " a flowering 
 pasturage." 
 
 91. Crowneis. Coronets. Cf. iv. 12. 27 above. 
 
 92. Plates. Silver coin (Spanish plata). 
 
 98. Vie. Rival, or produce in rivalry. 
 
 99. Were nature 's piece. " The word piece is a term appropriated to 
 works of art. Here Nature and Fancy produce each their piece, and the 
 
2I4 NOTES. 
 
 piece done by Nature had the preference. Antony was in reality past the 
 size of dreaming ; he was more by nature than fancy could present in 
 sleep " (Johnson). For this use oi piece, cf. W. T. v. 2. 104, v. 3. 38, T. of 
 A. i. 1. 28, 255, v. l 21, etc. We might explain the word here as=model, 
 masterpiece ; as in iii. 2. 28 above. 
 
 103. But I do feel. If I do not feel. Cf. v. I. 27 above. Gr. 126. •» 
 
 104. Smites. The folios have "suites" or "suits;" corrected by 
 Capell. Tope reads " shoots." 
 
 121. Project. Shape, form, set forth ; the only instance of the verb in 
 S. Hanmer reads " parget," and Warb. " procter." 
 
 122. To make. As to make. Gr. 281. 
 
 123. Like . . . which. Cf. such . . . which. Gr. 278. 
 125. Enforce. Lay stress upon. Cf. ii. 2. 99 above. 
 
 138. Brief Abstract, schedule. Cf. M. N. L>. v. 1. 42 : " There is a 
 brief how many sports are ripe," etc. 
 
 140. Not petty things admitted. Trifling things excepted. Theo. 
 changed admitted to " omitted ;" but it seems to us more probable that 
 Cleopatra is shrewd enough to leave the door open for the excuse she 
 afterwards makes in 165 below. The exposure made by Seleucus leads 
 her then to add that she has also reserved some nobler token for Livia and 
 Octavia. 
 
 146. Seal. The 1st and 2d folios have "seele," and Johnson reads 
 "seel ;" but that word is elsewhere used only of the eyes (cf. iii. 13. 1 12 
 above), while to seal the mouth or lips is a common figure. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. 
 i. 2. 89, R. and J. v. 3. 216, Lear, iv. 6. 174, etc. 
 
 150. Your wisdom. "And the lord commended the unjust steward, 
 because he had done wisely " {Luke, xvi. 8). 
 
 T 155. Goestthou back ? Cf. the modern vulgarism, of "going back upon" 
 a person. 
 
 163. Parcel the sum, etc. "Add one more parcel or item to the sum 
 of my disgraces " (Malone). 
 
 164. Envy. Malice ; as often. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 259, M. of V. iv. 1. 10, 
 126, etc. 
 
 166. Immoment. Of no moment, insignificant ; used by S. nowhere 
 else. 
 
 167. Modern. Ordinary. Cf. Macb. iv. 3. 170 : " A modern ecstasy ;" 
 R. and J. iii. 2. 20: " modern lamentation," etc. 
 
 169. Livia. The wife of Cassar. 
 
 170. Unfolded with. Exposed by, Gr. 193. • 
 174. My chance. My fortune. The figure seems to us a natural and 
 
 expressive one: "or the last smouldering sparks of my fiery nature will 
 flame forth through the ashes of my decayed fortune" (Clarke). Han- 
 mer needlessly changes my chance to "mischance ;" and Walker conject- 
 ures "my change." If any change were called for, we should accept Dr. 
 Ingleby's suggestion of "glance." He refers to what Cleopatra has said 
 in 156 above, and adds : " She would burn him up with her glance — what 
 Milton calls 'the charm of Beauty's powerful glance' (P. L. viii. 533) — 
 and though the fire had almost faded out, the very cinders would smite 
 him." 
 
ACT V. SCENE II. 2 i$ 
 
 176. Misthought. Misjudged. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. ii. 5. 108 : " Misthink the 
 king." 
 
 "178. Merits. Deserts. Cf. Lear, ui. 5. 8: "a provoking merit, set 
 a- work by a reprovable badness in himself;" and Id. v. 3. 44 : 
 
 "As we shall find their merits and our safety 
 May equally determine." 
 
 185. Make not your thoughts your prisons. "Do not destroy yourself 
 by musing on your misfortune ; be not a prisoner in imagination, when 
 really you are free " (Johnson). 
 
 186. Dispose. Dispose of, do with. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 225, C. of E. i. i. 
 
 73> et - c - 
 
 191. Words. Flatters with words. 
 
 193. Finish. That is, die ; as she had whispered her purpose of doing. 
 Cf. J. C. v. 5. 5 fol. 
 
 196. Put it to the haste. " Make your soonest haste " (iii. 4. 27). 
 
 199. Makes religion. Makes it a sacred obligation. 
 
 210. Aprons, rules. Cf. J. C. i. I. 7 : " Where is thy leather apron and 
 thy rule ?" 
 
 • 212. Rank of. Rank with. Gr. 168. Cf. Cor. iv. 6. 98 : "The breath 
 of garlic-eaters." 
 
 215. Scald. Scabby, scurvy. Cf. Hen. V. v. 1. 5 (see also 31,33): "the 
 rascally, scald, peggarly, lousy, pragging knave," etc. 
 
 Quick. Lively, sprightly ; with perhaps the additional idea of being 
 prompt to take advantage of a fresh and popular subject. 
 
 216. Ballad us. For the fashion in the poet's day of making ballads 
 on current events of note, see 2 Hen. IV. p. 186 (note on 43), or W. T. r>. 
 198 (on 263) and p. 210 (on 23). Cf. also Falstaff's threat in 2 Hen. IV. 
 ii. 2. 48. 
 
 217. Extemporally. The word occurs again in V. and A. 836: "sings 
 extemporally." Present — represent ; as in Temp. iv. 1. 167: "when I 
 presented Ceres," etc. See also M. IV. D. p. 156. 
 
 ' 220. Boy my greatness. In the time of S. female parts were performed 
 by boys or young men. See M. N.D. p. 134, note on Let me not play a 
 woman ; and cf. A. K L. p. 202, note on If I -ivere a woman. 
 
 226. Absurd. Changed by Theo. to " assur'd." H. remarks that " ther6 
 seems to be no reason why absurd should be used here, while assur'd just 
 fits the place ;" but surely if his intents are assur'd from his point of view, 
 they are absurd from hers, for she is going to fool them, in the same 
 vein, after she has done this, she calls Caesar an ass unpolicied (306 be- 
 low). 
 f - 229. Sirrah Iras.' See on iv. 15. 85 above. 
 
 231. Chare. Task. See on iv. 15. 75 above. 
 
 236. What poor an instrument. For the transposition of the article, 
 see Gr. 422. . 
 
 238. Plac'd. Fixed ; as in P. P. 256 : " plac'd without remove." 
 
 240. Marble-constant. Firm as marble. 
 
 242. Avoid. Withdraw, depart ; as in Temp. iv. 1. 142, C. of E. iv. 3. 
 48, 66, etc. 
 
2l6 NOTES. 
 
 243. Worm. Snake. Cf. Cymb. iii. 4. 37 : " Outvenoms all the worms 
 of Nile," etc. 
 
 256. Fallible. The 1st folio has "falliable," which should perhaps be 
 retained as a vulgarism. 
 
 262. Do his kind. "Act according to his nature" (Johnson). Cf. A. 
 W. i. 3. 67 : " Your cuckoo sings by kind," etc. See also Much Ado, p. 
 1 18 (on Kind) and p. 154 (on Kindly). Malone quotes Romeus and Juliet ', 
 1562 : " For tickle Fortune doth, in changing, but her kind." 
 
 275. The devils mar five. The Coll. MS. changesyfo? to "nine." Per- 
 haps the " old corrector " was thinking of A. W. i. 3. 81 : " Among nine 
 bad if one be good," etc. 
 
 278. I wish you joy d 1 the worm. "This short scene of the Clown's 
 rustic obtuseness and grinning familiarity serves wonderfully to heighten 
 the effect of Royal Egypt's coming death-scene ; and its introduction at 
 this juncture is completely consistent with our dramatist's scheme of con- 
 trasted situations " (Clarke). 
 
 280. Now no more, etc. Clarke remarks that this passage confirms the 
 old text in 7 above. " Cleopatra here, in her own gorgeously poetical 
 strain, takes leave of the material portion of existence, and prepares to 
 enter upon the spiritual portion : she has previously condensed the ag- 
 gregate products of earth — corn, wine, oil, fruits, and, indirectly, flesh- 
 meat — into one superbly disdainful word dung; and she now figuratively 
 sums them up in one draught of grape-juice, as the wine of life, the sus- 
 tainer of mortal being, to which she bids farewell." 
 
 282. Yare,yare. Quick, quick. See on ii. 2. 212 above. 
 
 288. / am fire and air, etc. Alluding to the old idea that man was 
 made up of the four elements. Cf. Hen. V. iii. 7. 23 : " He is pure air and 
 fire, and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him." See 
 our ed. p. 169. 
 
 292. Aspic. Asp. Cf. Oth. iii. 3. 450: "aspics' tongues." "Iras must 
 be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while her mistress was 
 settling her dress " (Steevens). 
 
 301. He 7/ make demand of her. " He will enquire of her concerning 
 me, and kiss her for giving him intelligence " (Johnson). 
 
 302. Mortal. Deadly ; as in i. 2. 128 above. Wretch is not used con- 
 temptuously, but as in Oth. iii. 3. 90, etc. See Oth. p. 183. 
 
 303. Intrinsicate. Apparently = intricate. Cf. Lear, p. 203, note on 
 Intrinse. 
 
 304. Fool. For the use of the word as a term of endearment or pity, 
 see A. Y. Z. p. 151. 
 
 307. Unpolicied. Devoid of policy, stupid. 
 
 313. Wild. The folios have " wilde " or "wild ;" but Capell (followed 
 by many editors) took it to be a misprint for vile, which is always " vild " 
 or "vilie" in the early eds. As Coll. remarks, "Charmian might well 
 call the world wild, desert, and savage, after the deaths of Antony, Cleo- 
 patra, and others whom she loved." 
 
 315. Windows. Eyelids ; as in R. and J. iv. 1. 100 (see our ed. p. 172, 
 note on Grey eye), Cymb. ii. 2. 22, etc. 
 
 317. Awry. The folios have "away;" corrected by Pope. 
 
ADDENDUM. 
 
 217 
 
 318. And then play. She is perhaps thinking of Cleopatra's words in 
 232 above. 
 
 322. BeguiFd. Deceived, cheated ; as in iii. 7. 74 above. 
 
 329. Touch their effects. Are realized. Cf. R. of L. 353 : "Thoughts 
 are but dreams till their effects be tried." 
 
 332. Augurer. See on iv. 12. 4 above. 
 
 334. LeveWd at. Guessed at ; as in M. of V. i. 2. 41 : " level at my af- 
 fection." The metaphor is taken from levelling, or aiming, a musket. 
 For its literal use, see Rich. III. p. 232. 
 
 345. As. As if. Cf. i. 2. 93 and iv. 1. 1 above. 
 
 347. Something blown. Somewhat swollen. Cf. iv. 6. 34 above. 
 
 351. Caves. "Canes" and "eaves" have been conjectured. 
 
 352. Her physician tells me, etc. See North, p. 160 above. Conclusions 
 — experiments ; as in Cymb. i. 5. 18, Ham. iii. 4. 195, etc. See also p. 20 
 above. 
 
 357. Clip. Enclose. See on iv. 8. 8 and ii. 7. 69 above. 
 
 358. High events as these. For the ellipsis of so, cf. Gr. 281. 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 The " Time- Analysis" of the Play. — We give below the sum- 
 ming-up of Mr. P. A. Daniel's " time-analysis" in his valuable paper " On 
 the Times or Durations of the Action of Shakspere's Plays" {Trans, of 
 New Shahs. Soc. 1877-79, p. 237), with some explanatory extracts from 
 the preceding pages appended as foot-notes : 
 
 " Time of the Play, twelve days represented on the stage ; with in- 
 tervals. 
 
 "Day I. Act I. sc. i.-iv. 
 
 Interval of 20 days ?* 
 " 2. Act I. sc. v., Act II. sc. i.-iii.t 
 " 3. Act II. sc. iv. 
 
 Interval [time for the news of Antony's marriage to reach 
 Alexandria ; and for the Triumvirs to meet with Pom- 
 pey near Misenum]. 
 " 4. Act II. sc. v.-vii. [Act III. sc. iii.]. 
 
 Interval ? [time for the Triumvirs to return to Rome]. 
 
 * " In Act I. sc. v. Alexas brings a message and a present of a pearl to Cleopatra 
 from Antony. On his journey he has met ' twenty several messengers ' sent by the 
 Queen to Antony, and she says, 'He shall have every day a several greeting.' We 
 may suppose then an interval of some twenty days between Days 1 and 2." 
 
 t "The first lines of Act II. sc. iii. must represent the termination of the meeting 
 proposed in the preceding scene. At the end of it Antony bids Octavia and Caesar good- 
 night, and she and Caesar evidently go out together ; though the only stage direction is 
 1 Exit.' We are, then, clearly in Antony's first day in Rome ; yet his conversation with 
 the Soothsayer, who now enters, would suppose the lapse of some time since his arrival. 
 . . . The fact is, distant times are brought together in this scene, as in many other places 
 of the drama. ' ' 
 
2l8 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Day 5. Act III. sc. i. and ii.* 
 
 [Act III. sc. iii.t See Day 4.] 
 
 Interval [much wanted historically]. 
 " 6. Act III. sc. iv. and v. 
 
 Interval [Octavia's journey from Athens to Rome]. 
 " 7. Act III. sc. vi. 
 
 Interval. 
 
 8. Act III. sc. 
 
 9. Act III. sc 
 
 Interval. 
 
 10. Act III. sc 
 
 11. Act IV. sc. 
 
 12. Act IV. sc. 
 
 VII. 
 
 viii.-x. 
 
 xi.-xiii., Act IV. sc. i.-iii. 
 
 iv.-ix. 
 
 x.-xv., Act V. sc. i. and ii.J 
 
 Historic time, about ten years : B.C. 40 to B.C. 30." 
 
 * " Enobarbus commences this scene with 
 
 'They have dispatch'd with Pompey, he is gone; 
 The other three [the Triumvirs] are sealing. Octavia weeps 
 To part from Rome; Cssar is sad; and Lepidus, ■ 
 Since Pompey' s feast, as Menas says, is troubled 
 With the green sickness.' 
 
 ''These lines annihilate time and space. Dramatically Misenum and Rome become 
 one. The treaty with Pompey concluded at Misenum becomes a Roman business ; and 
 the interval I have marked between this and the preceding act is of dubious propriety. 
 It becomes still more so if we include in Day 5 the following scene, which certainly can- 
 not be later than the morrow of Act II. sc. v" 
 
 t "Time is so shuffled in these scenes that it is extremely difficult to make out anv 
 consistent scheme ; on the whole, I incline to transfer this scene to Day 4, and accord- 
 ingly place it within brackets. It might follow, in stage representation, sc. vi. and vii. 
 "of Act II., or, better perhaps, come between them, thus affording variety to the audience 
 and an equal distribution of repose and action to the players." 
 
 % " Much of the business of this scene— not easily to be gathered from the drama it- 
 self—is derived by the editors from Plutarch's history of Mark Antony, tin which the 
 play is founded. I am in some doubt whether a separate day, the morrow of Day 12, 
 should not be marked for the last two scenes. Historically, of course, some time-elapsed 
 between the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra ; but all these scenes from Act IV.^sc. x. to 
 the end of the- play are dramatically so closely connected that, in the absence of any 
 specific note of time which would justify this division, I have deemed it best to include 
 them all in one day, the last. " 
 
 
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
 EXPLAINED. 
 
 abode (=abiding), 172. 
 
 about, 185. 
 
 abstract of all faults, 175. 
 
 absurd, 215. 
 
 abused (=deceived), 156. 
 
 afeard, 186. 
 
 affect (=like), 174. 
 
 all to nought, 185. 
 
 all-obeying, 200. 
 
 alms-drink, 189. 
 
 anchor his aspect, 177. 
 
 angle {=fishing-line., 186. 
 
 Antoniad, 158, 197. 
 
 appeach, 165. 
 
 appeal ( = impeachment ), 
 
 approof, 193. 
 
 approve (=prove), 169. 
 
 April in her eyes, 193. 
 
 Arabian bird, 192. 
 
 are you thereabouts? 198. 
 
 argument (=proof ), 199. 
 
 arm-gaunt, 178. 
 
 art not what thou 'rt sure of, 
 
 187. . 
 as (=as if), 171, 200, 202, 204, 
 
 217. 
 as (conjunction of reminder), 
 
 176, 180. 
 as (omitted), 214. 
 aspect (accent), 178. 
 aspic, 216. 
 at heel of, 182. 
 at the last, best, 174. 
 atone (—reconcile,, 181. 
 attend (=wait for), 198. 
 augurers, 206, 217. 
 avoid (=depart), 215. 
 ay me ! 196. 
 
 ballad us, 215. • 
 band (=bond), 193. 
 banquet (=dessert), 189. 
 Basan, the hill of, 201. 
 battery from my heart, 207. 
 battle (=army), 197. 
 beastly (adverb), 178. 
 becked, 206. . . 
 
 become themselves, 184. 
 
 becomed, 196. 
 
 becomes his flaw, 199. 
 
 becomings. 175. _ 
 
 beguiled (=deceived), 217. 
 
 belike, 170, 202. 
 
 bends, 183. 
 
 bestrid, 213: 
 
 bewrayed, 164. 
 
 billiards, 185. 
 
 blown, 203, 217. 
 
 blows my heart, 204. 
 
 blubbering, 165. 
 
 boar of Thessaly, 207. 
 
 bolts up change, 211. 
 
 bond, 177. 
 
 boot thee with, 186. 
 
 boxed (=beat), 166. 
 
 boy my greatness, 215. 
 
 bravery (=show,', 158. 
 
 breather, 194. 
 
 brief (=abstract\ 214. 
 
 brize, 198. 
 
 brooched, 209. 
 
 brows' bent, 173. 
 
 burgonet, 177. 
 
 but (^except), 169. 
 
 but (=if not), 210, 214. 
 
 but (=unless), 199. 
 
 but for vacancy, 184. 
 
 by revolution lowering, 171. 
 
 Csesarion, 201. 
 
 caitiff (= wretched), 166. 
 
 call on him, 176. 
 
 cantle. 197. 
 
 carbuncledlike Phoebus' car, 
 
 204. 
 carects, 160. 
 
 careful (^industrious), 160. 
 carriage (=cargo), 160. 
 carriage of his chafe, 175. 
 carries (=has a range;, 197. 
 case, 210. 
 
 cast (=compute), 193. 
 cement (accent), 193. 
 certain (noun), 154. 
 chance (^fortune), 198, 214. 
 
 ! change (=exchange\ 169. 
 
 I chares, 210, 215. 
 
 I charm (=charmer\ 206. 
 
 chastised (accent), 212. 
 ' check (= reproof), 203. 
 
 chuck (=chick), 203. 
 
 circle (=crown), 199. 
 I cithernes, 151. 
 I clean (=pure), 162. 
 
 clip (=embrace l , 204, 217. 
 
 cloth-of-gold of tissue, 182. 
 
 cloud in his face, 193. 
 
 clouts about their heads. 
 204. 
 
 cloyless, 179. 
 
 colour (=pretext^, 173. 
 
 come thee, 204. 
 
 comes deared, 177. 
 
 comparisons, 200. 
 
 competitor ( = associate ), 
 175, 190. 
 
 compose (= agree), 179. 
 
 composure (=composition), 
 176. 
 
 conclusion, still, 209. 
 
 conclusions (=experiments), 
 217. 
 
 condemned (accent), 174 
 
 confound (=consume;, 169, 
 176. 
 
 confound (= destroy), 194. ■ 
 
 considerate (=discreet), 181 
 
 continent (=container), 207. 
 
 conversation (=behaviour), 
 
 . 189, 
 
 cop-tank, 157. 
 
 corrigible, 208. 
 
 could (=would fain), 171. , 
 
 course (=follow), 200. 
 
 courser's hair, 173. 
 
 court of guard, 205. 
 
 crack (=break), 207. 
 
 cranewes, 165. 
 
 crested, 213. 
 
 crownet, 206, 213. 
 
 cunning (=skill), 185. 
 
 curious (=careful), 193. 
 
 curstness, 179. 
 
2 20 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 
 
 daff, 203. 
 
 danger (verb), 173. 
 
 dare (noun), 172. 
 
 darkens, 192. 
 
 darkling, 208. 
 
 dealt on lieutenantry, 198. 
 
 dear'st, 196. 
 
 death and honour, 202. 
 
 declined, 200. 
 
 defeat (^destroy), 208. 
 
 defend (=lorbid;, 194. 
 
 demi- Atlas. 177. 
 
 demon (=genius), 185. 
 
 demurely, 205. 
 
 demuring, 209. 
 
 denounced (=declared), 196. 
 
 determines (—comes to an 
 
 end), 201. 
 did you disquiet, 181. 
 die the death, 207. 
 diminutives, 206. 
 disaster (verb), 190. 
 discandying, 201, 206. 
 discontents (=malcontents\ 
 
 176. 
 disgested, 182. 
 disguise (^intoxication), 191. 
 dislimns, 207. 
 disponge, 205. 
 dispose (=dispose of), 215. 
 di sposed ( = made terms) , 208. 
 distractions, 197. 
 divine of, 189. 
 do his kind, 216. 
 doughty-handed, 204. 
 drave, 170. 
 drew cuts, 154. 
 drink carouses, 205. 
 droven, 170, 204. 
 dull Octavia, 212. 
 dumbed, 178. 
 
 ear (=plough), 177. 
 earing (= tilling), 171. 
 earn our chronicle, 201. 
 earns a place i' the story, 
 
 200. 
 ebbed (active\ 176. 
 e'en a woman, 209. 
 Egypt (=queen of Egypt), 
 
 174, 178. 
 Egypt's widow, 179. 
 elder (=superior), 198. 
 elements, 193. 
 embattle, 205. 
 embossed, 207. 
 end (=put an end to), 198, 
 
 207. 
 enforce (=urge), 181, 214. 
 enow, 154, 176. 
 enter me with him, 208. 
 entertainment, 203. 
 envy (=malice), 214. 
 
 Epicurean (accent), 179. 
 estridge, 202. 
 Euphrates (accent), 171. 
 exigent (noun), 208. 
 expedience ( — expedition ) , 
 
 172. 
 extemporally, 215. 
 extended (—seized', 171. 
 eyne, 191. 
 
 fairy (^enchantress), 204. 
 
 fall (=befall), 197. 
 
 fall (transitive), 199. 
 
 fame (=report), 182. 
 
 fast and loose, 206. 
 
 fats (=vats), 191. 
 
 favour (=face), 186. 
 
 fear (=frighten), 187. 
 
 fear (personified), 185. 
 
 feature, 187. 
 
 feeders, 201. 
 
 fervency, 186. 
 
 fetch him in, 202. 
 
 finish (—die). 215. 
 
 flaw (=misfortune), 199. 
 
 fleet (afloat), 201. 
 
 flush youth, 177. 
 
 foison, 190. 
 
 fond (=foolish), 152. 
 
 fool (in pity), 216. 
 
 for (=as for), 157. 
 
 for my bond, 177. 
 
 for that (=because\ 196. 
 
 for that (=nevertheless), 181. 
 
 forgotten (active), 175. 
 
 formal (=ordinary), 18S. 
 
 forspoke, 196. 
 
 found (=discovered), 152. 
 
 from (=away from), 188. 
 
 from his teeth, 194. 
 
 front ( = face), T77, 180. 
 
 frustrate (trisyllable), 210. 
 
 fugitive (= deserter), 205. 
 
 fullest (man), 200. 
 
 garboils, 174, 181. 
 gard ( = edging , 160. 
 gariand of the war, 209. 
 gaudy ( = festive), 202. 
 gentle (vocative), 209. 
 gests, 204. 
 ghosted, 187. 
 gilded (with scum), 177. 
 give (=represent), 176. 
 give me grace, 200. 
 give off, 202. 
 go on wheels, 190. 
 goest thou back ? 214. 
 good now, 174. 
 got upon me, 208. 
 grants (=affords), 192. 
 grates me, 168. 
 grave (—deadly), 206. 
 
 great medicine, 178. 
 greed (=agreed), 188. 
 griefs (^grievances), 181. 
 gypsy, 168. 
 
 H (play upon), 204. 
 
 hairs, 191. 
 
 harried, 194. 
 
 heat my liver, 170. 
 
 heaviness (play upon), 209. 
 
 held my cap orf, 190. 
 
 Herculean, 175. 
 
 Herod, 170, 194. 
 
 high-battled, 200. 
 
 him ( = he), 192. 
 
 his (=its), 199, 211. 
 
 ho! 172 
 
 ho, ho, ho ! 202. 
 
 noising, 159. 
 
 holding (of song), 191. 
 
 homager, 169. 
 
 home (adverb), 171. 
 
 hoo ! 192, 193. 
 
 hope (—expect), 179. 
 
 hope of, 169. 
 
 how intend you ? 180. 
 
 howboys, 151. 
 
 huswife Fortune, 209. 
 
 if idle talk will once be nec- 
 essary, 212. 
 
 immoment, 214. 
 
 imperious (^imperial), 208. 
 
 import, 182. 
 
 importune (accent), 208. 
 
 in deputation, 200. 
 
 in (=in for it), 190. 
 
 in (=into), 177. 
 
 in negligent danger, 196. 
 
 inclips, 190. 
 
 ingrossed by swift impress, 
 196. 
 
 inhooped, 185. 
 
 injurious (=malignant), 210. 
 
 instance (=urgency), 156. 
 
 intrinsicate, 216. 
 
 it own, 190. 
 
 Jack, 201. 
 
 jaded, 192. 
 
 jointing (^joining), 170. 
 
 jump (=hazard), 197. 
 
 kept my square, 184. 
 kind (=nature), 216. 
 knave (=servant), 207, 211. 
 known (=known each oth- 
 er), 189. 
 
 lack blood to think on 't, 
 
 177- . 
 Lampnas, 169. 
 languish (noun\ 212. 
 
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 2 2I 
 
 lanked, 177. 
 
 lated, 198. 
 
 launch (=lance\ 210. 
 
 left unloved, 195. 
 
 length, 207. 
 
 Lethe'd, 179. 
 
 levelled at, 217. 
 
 Lichas, 206. 
 
 lift (=lifted), 163. 
 
 lipped, 186. 
 
 Livia, 214. 
 
 lo thee ! 208. 
 
 loathness, 198. 
 
 loden, 160. 
 
 loofed, 198. 
 
 lottery (=prize), 184. 
 
 loud (=in high words), 179. 
 
 Love (=Venus), 169. 
 
 luxuriously, 201. 
 
 Lydia, 195. 
 
 made no fault, 186. 
 
 made their bends adornings, 
 
 183. 
 make better note, 194. 
 make boot of, 202. 
 make too great an act, 192. 
 makes religion, 215. 
 mallard, 198. 
 mandragora, 177. 
 mankind (accent*, 204. 
 many our contriving friends, 
 
 172. 
 marble-constant, 215. 
 matter (=subject), 179. 
 mean (=means), 153, 193, 
 
 204. 
 mechanic (=vulgar), 203. 
 meetly, 175. 
 
 merchandise (plural), 187. 
 mered question, 200. 
 merely (=enthely), 197. 
 merits (=desertsj, 215. 
 middest, 159. 
 mingle (noun), 178. 
 missive (=messenger), 181. 
 misthought, 215. 
 mistress (trisyllable), 186. 
 mocks the pauses, 210. 
 Modena (accent), 177 
 modern (^ordinary), 214. 
 moe, 207. 
 monster-like, 206. 
 moody (=sad), 185. 
 more larger, 196. 
 more urgent touches, 172. 
 mortal (= deadly), 216. 
 most (=utmost), 182. 
 motion (=mind), 184. 
 Mount (=Misenum), 185. 
 much unequal, 187. 
 muleters, 196. 
 muss, 200. 
 
 naked (=unarmed), 163. 
 
 nature's piece, 213. 
 
 naught (=worthless), 210. 
 
 negligent danger, 196. 
 
 Nessus, 206. 
 
 never (=not), 176. 
 
 news (number), 168, 176. 
 
 nice (=dainty), 201. 
 
 nicked, 200. 
 
 no such thing, 194. 
 
 noises it, 196. 
 
 not (transposed^, 178, 180. 
 
 not petty things admitted, 
 
 214. 
 number (verb", 193. 
 
 O (=fhe earth), 213. 
 oblivion (subjective), 175. 
 observance, 194. 
 obstruct (noun), 195. 
 occasion (=need), 189. 
 odds (number), 209. 
 o'ercount (play upon), 188. 
 of (=for), 182. 
 of (= with), 215. 
 of (with agent), 182. 
 office, 168. 
 oily palm, 170. 
 onion-eyed, 172, 202. 
 ■ only (=sole), 151. 
 only (transposed , 206. 
 orbs (=spheres), 201. 
 ordinary (=meal , 184. 
 owe (— ownj, 204. 
 
 pace ( = break in\ 181. 
 
 packed cards, 207. 
 
 Pacorus, 192. 
 
 pageants, 207. 
 
 pales, 190. 
 
 palled, 190. 
 
 palter, 199. 
 
 paragon (verb), 178. 
 
 parcel of, 200. 
 
 part (= depart), 172. 
 
 particular, 174, 205. 
 
 partisan (= halberd', 190. 
 
 patch a quarrel, 180. 
 
 penetrative, 208. 
 
 perforce, 210. 
 
 period (=end), 202, 208. 
 
 pestered, 151. 
 
 petition us at home, 172. 
 
 Philippan, 186. 
 
 piece (=masterpiece\ 193, 
 
 213. 
 pinch one another by the 
 
 disposition, 189. 
 pink eyne, 191. 
 placed (=fixed), 215. 
 plants (play upon), 189. 
 plates (=silver coin), 213. 
 pleached, 208. 
 
 plebeians (accent), 206. 
 
 points (=lacings), 201. 
 
 port (=gate), 173, 203. 
 
 possess it, 191. 
 
 possess you, 198. 
 
 post (^posted), 151. 
 
 power (=army), 197. 
 
 power (=bodily organ), 19 > 
 
 power unto, 182. 
 
 practised (=plotted), 180. 
 
 pray in aid, 212. 
 
 pray ye, sir ? 1 89. 
 
 precedence, 186. 
 
 pregnant (=probable\ 179. 
 
 prepared (nails), 206. 
 
 prescript, 197. 
 
 present (=represent\ 215. . 
 
 presently, 152, 163, 194. 
 
 prest (= impress), 158. 
 
 pretty (=minute), 167. 
 
 process (=summons , 169. 
 
 project (=shape), 214. 
 
 proof of harness, 204. 
 ■ proper (=nice), 194. 
 ! propertied as, 213. 
 ! prorogue, 179. 
 ] prosecution (=pursuit), 208. 
 | prove (=test), 160. 
 ! Ptolemy, 175. 
 
 : purchased (^acquired), 176. 
 ! purge, 174. 
 
 : put it to the haste, 215. 
 1 pyramides, 190,213. 
 
 pyramises, 190. 
 
 i quails, 185. 
 
 : quality (—disposition), 173. 
 
 ! queasy with, 195. 
 
 quick (= lively), 215. 
 
 quicken (— revive), 209. 
 
 quit (=requite), 201. 
 
 race of heaven, 173. 
 rack, 207. 
 ranged, 169. 
 ranges (noun), 199. 
 rates (=is worth), 199. 
 raught, 205. 
 record (accent), 205. 
 reel the streets, 176. 
 reels (noun), 190. 
 regiment (=rule), 196. 
 remarkable, 209. 
 rendered (=gave up), 207. 
 reneges, 168. 
 
 reports (= reporters), 180. 
 requires (=requests,, 199. 
 revolted, 205. 
 rheum, 193. 
 ribaudred, 198. 
 riggish, 184. 
 right ( —very;, 206. 
 rivality, 195. 
 
222 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 
 
 safe (verb), 174, 204. 
 
 salt (=wanton), 178. 
 
 scald (adjective), 215. 
 
 scotches, 204. 
 
 seal (figurative), 214. 
 
 seel (=blind), 201. 
 
 self (—same), 166, 210. 
 
 sernblable, 194. 
 
 set up his rest, 162. 
 
 several (=separate), 178. 
 
 shall (=will), 178. 
 
 shards, 193. 
 
 she (=her), 201. 
 
 should (=would), 184. 
 
 show (=appear), 204. 
 
 showed (participle), 185. 
 
 shrewd (=evil), 205. 
 
 shroud (=shelter), 200. 
 
 Sicyon (spelling), 171. 
 
 sides o' the world, 173. 
 
 signs well, 202. 
 
 since (with past tense), 173. 
 
 sirrah (feminine), 210, 215- 
 
 sirs (feminine), 210. 
 
 sith, 163, 166. 
 
 sithence. 166. 
 
 sits (of the wind), 198. 
 
 skreeked, 165. 
 
 so (=if), 174. 
 
 so (omitted), 217. 
 
 soils (=stains), 176. 
 
 solder (spelling), 194. 
 
 soldier's pole, 203. 
 
 something (adverb), 204,217. 
 
 sottish (=stupid), 210. 
 
 space (=time), 179- 
 
 spanieled, 206. 
 
 speeds (=prospers), 185. 
 
 sphere, 190, 208. 
 
 spirit (monosyllable), 180. 
 
 splitted, 210. 
 
 sport (ironical), 209. 
 
 square (=just), 182. 
 
 square (=quarrel), 179, 200. 
 
 squares (=squadrons), 199. 
 
 stablishment, 195. 
 
 staged, 200. . 
 
 stain (=eclipse), 194. 
 
 stale (=urine), 177. 
 
 stale (verb), 184. 
 
 stall (=dwell), 210. 
 
 stands our lives upon, 179. 
 
 station, 194. 
 
 stays upon your will, 171. . 
 
 steer humanity, 210. 
 
 still conclusion, 209. 
 
 stinted (=ceased), 163. 
 
 stomach (=disposition\ 180. 
 
 stomach (=resent), 194. 
 
 stomaching, 179. 
 
 straighter (=stricter), 153. 
 
 strike the vessels, 191. 
 
 stroyed, 199. 
 
 subscribe, 203. 
 success (=issue), 195. 
 such . . . that, 176. 
 such whose, 173. 
 suffer (=suffer loss), 200. 
 j sweep your way, 198. 
 swell, 183. 
 sworder, 200. 
 synod, 197. 
 
 T (a wound like a\ 204. 
 
 table (=tablet), 167. 
 
 tabourines, 205. 
 
 tackle, 183. 
 
 take all, 202. 
 
 take in (=subdue), 169, 196, 
 
 200. 
 tall,(=stput), 187. 
 targes, 188. 
 
 Telamon for his shield, 207. 
 temperance (=chastity),2oi. 
 temperance (=self-control), 
 
 ,212. 
 tended her i' the eyes, 182. 
 that (affix), 20a 
 that thy spirit, 184, 208. 
 the which, 192. 
 thee (=thou), 204. 
 Thetis, 197. 
 
 thickens (=grows dim), 185. 
 think, and die, 199. 
 thought (=sorrow*, 204. 
 three-nooked world, 203. 
 thrived (participle), 174. 
 throes forth, 197. 
 Thyreus, 199. 
 tidings (number), 208. 
 ties his points, 201. 
 tight (=handy), 203. 
 timelier, 188. 
 tires (noun), 186.. 
 't is (contemptuous), 192. 
 't is easy to 't, 198. 
 't is pity of him, 177. 
 to (=for), 182. 
 to (omitted 1 . 202, 203. 
 to my sister's view, 182. 
 to weet, 169. 
 tokened, 197. 
 took (participle*, 203. 
 touch their effects. 217. 
 toward (=in preparation), 
 
 189. 
 treaties, 199. 
 triple (=third\ 168. 
 triple-turned, 206. 
 trised, 164, 165. 
 triumphing (accent), 204. 
 triumvirate. 157. 
 troth (=truth), 156, 167. 
 true (=honest), 189. 
 trull. 196. 
 trussed, 164. 
 
 unfolded with, 214. 
 
 unhair. 186. 
 
 unnoble, 199. 
 
 unpolicied, 216. 
 
 unqualitied, 199. 
 
 unstate, 200. 
 
 up (=shut up), 195. 
 
 upon far poorermoment, 172. 
 
 upon the river, 182. 
 
 uprise, 206. 
 
 urge me in his act, 180. 
 
 use (=are accustomed), 186. 
 
 useful (adverb), 208. 
 
 vessels (=casks), 191. 
 vials (for tears), 174. 
 vie (=rival), 213. 
 vile (spelling), 216. 
 virtue (:=valour, , 204. 
 
 waged, 210. 
 
 wailed (=bewailed*. 194. 
 
 waned (=faded), 178. 
 
 warded (^guarded), 167. 
 
 wassails, 177. 
 
 way 's (=way he is), 187. 
 
 well (of the dead). 186. 
 
 well said (=well done' 1 , 203. 
 
 well studied. 188. 
 
 well-favouredly, 161, 166. 
 
 wench, 184. 
 
 wharfs (= banks), 183. 
 
 what poor an, 215. 
 
 what they undid did, 1S2. 
 
 whatsome'er, 189. 
 
 where (=whereas), 161. 
 
 which (=who), 199, 208. 
 
 whiles, 178. 
 
 who (=whom^, 195. 
 
 whole (= sound), 204. 
 
 wild (world*, 216. 
 
 windowed, 208. 
 
 windows (=eyelids), 2 16- 
 
 wish (=pray), 173. 
 
 with (=by), 197. 
 
 woo't, 202, 209. 
 
 words (=flatters), 215. 
 
 worky-day, 170. 
 
 worm (=snake), 216. 
 
 worser, 186. 
 
 wot' st, 177. 
 
 wounded chance, 198. 
 
 wrestle (spelling), 194. 
 
 wretch, 216. 
 
 yarage, 158. 
 
 yare, 183. 197, 201, 216. 
 
 yarely, 183- 
 
 yet (transposed*, 179, 206. 
 
 yield (^reward), 202. 
 
 yond, 197. 
 
 your (colloquial*, iqo. 
 
 your considerate stone, 181. 
 
SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 WITH NOTES BY WM. J. ROLFE, A.M. 
 
 The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 The Tempest. 
 
 Julius Caesar. 
 
 Hamlet. 
 
 As You Like It. 
 
 Henry the Fifth, 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
 Henry the Eighth. 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream. 
 
 Richard the Second. 
 
 Richard the Third. 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Roineo and Juliet. > 
 
 Othello. 
 
 Twelfth Night. 
 
 The Winter's Tale. 
 
 King John. 
 
 Henry IV. Part I. 
 
 Henry IV. Part II. 
 
 Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 56 crs 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew. 
 
 AU 's Well That Ends Well. 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 
 Comedy of Errors. 
 
 Cymbeline. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 Love's Labour 's Lost. 
 
 Timon of Athens. 
 
 Henry YI. Part X, 
 
 Henry VI. Part II. 
 
 Henry VI. Part III. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen, n 
 
 Poems. 
 
 Sonnets. 
 
 Titus Andronicus. 
 
 per Vol. ; Paper, 40 cts. per Vol. 
 
 In the preparation of this edition of the English Classics it has been 
 the aim to adapt them for school and home reading, in essentially the 
 same way as Greek and Latin Classics are edited for educational pur- 
 poses. The chief requisites are a pure text (expurgated, if necessary), 
 and the notes needed for its thorough explanation and illustration. 
 
 Each of Shakespeare's plays is complete in one volume, and is pre- 
 ceded by an Introduction containing the " History of the Play," the 
 " Sources of the Plot," and " Critical Comments on the Play." 
 
 From Horace Howard Furness, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor of the "New Vario- 
 rum Shakespeare.'''' 
 
 No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed with the 
 conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they are 
 edited. The educational purposes for which the notes are written Mr. 
 Rolfe never loses sight of, but like "a well-experienced archer hits the 
 mark his eye doth level at." 
 
Rolfe's Shakespeare. 
 
 From F. J. FURNIVALL, Director of the New Shakspere Society, London. 
 
 The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's Plays 
 over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe edits the plays 
 as works of a poet, and not only as productions in Tudor English. Some 
 editors think that all they have to do with a play is to state its source 
 and explain its hard words and allusions ; they treat it as they would a 
 charter or a catalogue of household furniture, and then rest satisfied. 
 But Mr. Rolfe, while clearing up all verbal difficulties as carefully as any 
 Dryasdust, always adds the choicest extracts he can find, on the spirit 
 and special " note " of each play, and on the leading characteristics of its 
 chief personages. He does not leave the student without help in getting 
 at Shakspere's chief attributes, his characterization and poetic power. 
 And every practical teacher knows that while every boy can look out 
 hard words in a lexicon for himself, not one in a score can, unhelped, 
 catch points of and realize character, and feel and express the distinctive 
 individuality of each play as a poetic creation. 
 
 From Prof. Edward Dowden, LL.D., of the University of Dublin, 
 Author of "Shakspere : His Mind and Art.'''' 
 I incline to think that no edition is likely to be so useful for school and 
 home reading as yours. Your notes contain so much accurate instruc- 
 tion, with so little that is superfluous ; you do not neglect the aesthetic 
 study of the play ; and in externals, paper, type, binding, etc., you make 
 a book " pleasant to the eyes " (as well as " to be desired to make one 
 wise ") — no small matter, I think, with young readers and with old. 
 
 From Edwin A. Abbott, M.A., Author of " Shakespearian Grammar." 
 I have not seen any edition that compi esses so much necessary infor- 
 mation into so small a space, nor any that so completely avoids the com- 
 mon faults of commentaries on Shakespeare — needless repetition, super- 
 fluous explanation, and unscholar-like ignoring of difficulties. 
 
 From Hiram Corson, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon and English 
 Literature, Cornell University, Ithaca, A r . Y. 
 In the way of annotated editions of separate plays of Shakespeare, for 
 educational purposes, I know of none quite up to Rolfe's. 
 
OCT 5 - 1950 
 
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