Come hither, sirrah: In Parthia did I take thee prisoner; Mes. It is but change, Titinius; for Octavius As Cassius' legions are by Antony. Tit. These tidings will well comfort Cassius. All disconsolate, The sun of Rome is set! Our day is gone; [done! Mes. Mistrust of good success hath done this O, hateful error, melancholy's child! Tit. Hie you, Messala, And I will seek for Pindarus the while. Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius ? [Exit MESSALA. And bid me give 't thee? Didst thou not hear their Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing. 1 The same expression occurs in Antony and Cleopatra : That which was a horse, even with a thought, The rack dislimns.' 2 Cassius is now on a hill: he therefore means a billock somewhat higher than that on which he now is. 3 So in King Lear, the Bastard, dying, says :"The wheel is come full circle.' 4 Sirrah, as appears from many of the old plays, was the usual address in speaking to servants and children. See note on Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 2. Alarum. Re-enter MESSALA, with BRUTUS, young Bru. O, Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet! Cato. [Low Alarums. Brave Titinius! Look, whe'r he have not crown'd dead Cassius! heads! Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with I will proclaim my name about the field :- [Charges the Enemy. Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend: know me for Brutus. Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; Luc. There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight; Only I yield to die : [Offering Money. Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death. 1 Sold. We must not.-A noble prisoner! neral: 6 populumque potentem In sua victrici conversum viscera dextra.' 6 So when he [Brutus] was come thither, after he had lamented the death of Cassins, calling him the last of all the Romans, being impossible that Rome should ever breed againe so noble and valiant a man as he, he caused his body to be buried.'-North's Plutarch. 'Objectum est Historico (Cremutio Cordo. Tacit Ann lib. iv. 34,) quod Brutum Cassiumque ultimos Romano rum dixisset.Suet. Tiber. lib. iii. c. 61. Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus: Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you, [Exeunt. SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS. Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain.' Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: Slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. [Whispering. Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius! Cli. O, Dardanius! Dar. O, Clitus! I'll rather kill myself. [Whispers him. I do such a deed? Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius: list a word. Vol. What says my lord? Bru. Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Caesar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night at Sardis, once; And, this last night, here in Philippi's fields. I know, my hour is come. Vol. Not so, my lord. Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes; Our enemies have beat us to the pit : It is more worthy to leap in ourselves, Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, Thou know'st that we two went to school together; Even for that our love of old, I pray thee, Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it. Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord. [Alarum still. Bru. Farewell to you;-and you ;-and you, Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here. Volumnius. 1 A passage from Plutarch will illustrate this scene: Furthermore, Brutus thought that there was no great number of men slaine in battell, and to know the truth of it there was one called Statilius, that promised to goe through his enemies, (for otherwise it was impossible to goe see their campe,) and from thence, if all were well, that he would lift up a torche-light in the aire, and then returne againe with speed to him. The torche-light was lift up as he had promised, for Statilius went thither. Nowe Brutus seeing Statilius tarie long after, and that he came not againe, he sayd: If Statilius be alive, he will come againe. But his evil fortune was suche that, as he came backe, he lighted in his enemies' hands, and was slaine. Now the night being farre spent, Brutus, as he sate, bowed towards Clitus, one of his men, and told him somewhat in his eare; the other aunswered him not, but fell a weeping. Thereupon he proved Dardanius, and sayd somewhat also to him at length he came to Volumnius him selfe, and speaking to him in Greeke, prayed him for the studies sake which brought them acquainted together, that he would helpe him to put his hande to his sword, to thrust it in him to kill him. Volumnius denied his request, and so did many others and amongest the rest one of them said there was no tarrying for them there, but that they must needes flie. Then Brutus rising up, We must flie in deede, sayd he; but it must be with our hands, not with our feete. Then taking every man by the hand, he sayd these words unto them with a chearful counte. nance:-It rejoyceth my hart that no one of my friends hath failed me at my neede, and I do not complayne of Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; Hence; I will follow. LUMNIUS. I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord: still: Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Caesar, now be kill'd not thee with half so good a will. [He runs on his Sword and dies. Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their Army. Oct. What man is that? Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy master? Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala; The conquerors can but make a fire of him; For Brutus only overcame himself, And no man else hath honour by his death. Luc. So Brutus should be found.-I thank thee, That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true. Oct. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? How died my master, Strato? Strat. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators, save only he, And common good to all, made one of them. Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar; He, only, in a general honest thought, His life was gentle; and the elements So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up, And say to all the world, This was a man! my fortune, but only for my countries sake: for as for me, I thinke myselfe happier than they that have overcome, considering that I leave a perpetual fame of our corage and manhoode, the which our enemies the couquerors shall never attaine unto by force nor money, neither can let their posteritie to say, that they have beene naughtie and unjust men, have slaine good men to usurpe tyrannical power not pertaining to them. Having sayd so, he prayd every man to shift for them. selves, and then he went a little aside,' &c. 2 Hilts is frequently used where only one weapon is spoken of. Cassius says to Pindarus, in a former scene, Here, take thou the hilts. And, King Richard III. Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword." So in the Mirror for Magistrates, 1587 :"A naked sword he had, That to the hilts was all with blood imbrued.' 3 i. e. receive them into my service. 4 To prefer seems to have been the general term for recommending a servant. Thus in The Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 2: Its Shylock thy master, spoke with me this day, usual sense was to advance, or set before others." 5 Drayton, in his Barons' Wars, has a similar pas sage, thus given by Steevens: 'He was a man (then boldly dare to say) OF this tragedy many particular passages deserve re- In whom so mir'd the elements all lay, He of a temper was so absolute, As that it seem'd when nature him began, He afterwards revised the poem, which was, I believe, Such one he was (of him we boldly say,) In whose rich soule all soveraigne powers did sute; As all did govern, yet did all obey; That seem'd, when heaven his modell first began, The poem originally appeared under the title of 'Mor- ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. AFTER a perusal of this play, the reader will, I Warburton has observed that Antony was Shak doubt not, be surprised when he sees what John-speare's hero; and the defects of his character, a son has asserted:-That its power of delighting is lavish and luxurious spirit, seem almost virtues when derived principally from the frequent changes of the opposed to the heartless and narrow-minded littleness scene; and that no character is very strongly dis- of Octavius Cæsar. But the ancient historians, his criminated.' If our great poet has one superemi- flatterers, had delivered the latter down ready cut and nent dramatic quality in perfection, it is that of being dried for a hero; and Shakspeare has extricated himable to go out of himself at pleasure to inform and self with great address from the dilemma. He has animate other existences.' It is true, that in the number admitted all those great strokes of his character as he of characters many persons of historical importance found them, and yet has made him a very unamiable are merely introduced as passing shadows in the character, deceitful, mean-spirited, proud, and rescene; but the principal personages are most empha- vengeful." tically distinguished by lineament and colouring, and powerfully arrest the imagination.' The character of Cleopatra is indeed a masterpiece: though Johnson pronounces that she is only distinguished by feminine arts, some of which are too low. It is true that her seductive arts are in no respect veiled over; but sae is still the gorgeous Eastern Queen, remarkable for the fascination of her manner, if not for the beauty of her person; and though she is vain, ostentatious, fickle, and luxurious, there is that heroic regal dignity about her, which makes us, like Antony, forget her defects: 'Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale The mutual passion of herself and Antony is without moral dignity, yet it excites our sympathy--they seem formed for each other. Cleopatra is no less remarkable for her seductive charms, than Antony for the splendour of his martial achievements. Her death, 100, redeems one part of her character, and obliterates all faults. Schlegel attributes this to the penetration of Shak. speare, who was not to be led astray by the false glitter of historic fame, but saw through the disguise thrown around him by his successful fortunes, and distin guished in Augustus a man of little mind. Malone places the composition of this play in 1608. No previous edition to that of the folio of 1623 has been hitherto discovered; but there is an entry of A Booke called Antony and Cleopatra,' to Edward Blount, in 1608, on the Stationers' books. Shakspeare followed Plutarch, and appears to have been anxious to introduce every incident and every personage he met with in his historian. Plutarch mentions Lamprias his grandfather, as authority for some of the stories he relates of the profuseness and luxury stage-direction of Scene 2, Act i. in the old copy, In the of Antony's entertainments at Alexandria. Lamprius, Ramnus, and Lucilius are made to enter with the rest; but they have no part in the dialogue, nor do their names appear in the list of Dramatis Personæ. 2 K SCENE I. Palace. ACT I. Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's NAY, but this dotage of our general's Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. reckon'd. Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, now earth.4 Ant. Enter an Attendant. Ant. News, my good lord, from Rome. Grates me :-The sum. Cleo. Nay, hear them," Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry; Or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cesar 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. 1 i. e. renounces. The metre would be improved by reading reneyes, or reneies, a word used by Chaucer and other of our elder writers: but we have in King Lear, renege, affirm, &c. Stanyhurst, in his version of the second book of the Eneid, has the word : To live now longer, Troy burnt, he flatly reneageth. 2 Triple is here used for third, or one of three; one of the Triumvirs, one of the three masters of the world. To sustain the pillars of the earth is a scriptural phrase. Triple is used for third in All's Well that Ends Well: Which, as the dearest issue of his practice; He bade me store up as a triple eye.' 3 So in Romeo and Juliet : They are but beggars that can count their worth. And in Much Ado about Nothing: 'I were but little happy, if I could say how much.' 'Basia pauca cupit, qui numerare potest.' Martial, vi. 36. 4 Then must you set the boundary at a distance greater than the present visible universe affords.' 5 Be brief, sum thy business in a few words. 6. e. the news; which was considered plural in Shakespeare's time. See King Richard III. Act. iv. Sc. 4. 7 Take in, it has before been observed, signifies subdue, conquer. MENAS, MENECRATES, Friends of Pompey. TAURUS, Lieutenant-General to Cæsar. EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from Antony to ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES, Attendants on Cleopatra. A Soothsayer. A Clown. CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt. OCTAVIA, Sister to Cesar, and Wife to Antony. CHARMIAN, and IRAS, Attendants on Cleopatra. Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attend ants. SCENE, dispersed in several Parts of the Roman Empire. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair, Cleo. Will be himself. Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra.Now, for the love of Love,12 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? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. 11 I think that Johnson has entirely mistaken the meaning of this passage, and believe Mason's explanation nearly correct. Cleopatra means to say that Antony will act like himself,' (i. e. nobly,) without regard to the mandates of Cæsar or the anger of Fulvia. To which he replies, But stirr'd by Cleopatra,' i. e. ‘Idd, if moved to it by Cleopatra.' This is a compliment to her. Johnson was wrong in supposing but to be used here in its exceptive sense. The qualities of people.' Come, my queen; [Exeunt ANT. and CLEO. with their Train. Dem. I'm full sorry, [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. Another Room. Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? O, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with garlands !3 Alex. Soothsayer. Char. Is this the man?--Is't you, sir, that know things? Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy, A little I can read. Alex, Show him your hand. Enter ENOBARBUS. say. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.-Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend!Alexas,-come, his fortune, his fortune.-O, let him marry a woman 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-fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. Char. 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 may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches Just I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile' every wish, a million. Char. Out, fool; I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. 1 Sometime also when he would goe up and down the city disguised like a slave in the night, and would peere into poor mens windows and their shops, and scold and brawl with them within the house; Cleopatra would be also in a chambermaid's array, and amble up and down the streets with him.' Life of Antonius in North's Plutarch. That he proves the common liar, Fame, in his case to be a true reporter.' Shakspeare usually uses approve for prove, and approof for proof. 3 The old copy reads, change his horns,' &c A similar error of change for charge is also found in Co riolanus. 4 The liver being considered the seat of love, Charmian says she would rather heat her liver with drink ing than with love's fire. A heated liver was supposed to make a pimpled face. 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! Char. Amen." Aler. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but they'd do't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Not he, the queen. Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sudden Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither. Where's Alex. Here, madam, at your service.-My lord Enter ANTONY, with a Messenger and Attendants. Mess. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field Mess. Ay: But soon that war had end, and the time's state at such power and dominion that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke. It should be remembered that Herod of Jewry was a favourite character in the mysteries of the old stage, and that he was always represented a fierce, haughty, blustering tyrant. 6 That is, prove bastards. Thus in the Rape of Lu. crece : Thy issue blurr'd with nameless bastardy. And Launce, in the third act of The Two Gentlemen of Verona - That's as much as to say bustard virtues, that indeed know not their fathers, and therefore have no names. A fairer fortune means a more serene or more prosperous fortune. 7 The old copy reads, foretel. Warburton has the merit of the emendation. 8 This has allusion to the common proverbial saying, 'You'll never be burnt for a witch,' spoken to a silly 5 This (says Johnson) is one of Shakspeare's natu-person, who is indeed no conjuror. ral touches. Few circumstances are more flattering to the fair sex, than breeding at an advanced period of |