Did urge me in his act : I did inquire it; And make the wars alike against my stomach, Cas. You praise yourself By laying defects of judgment to me; but You patch'd up your excuses. Ant. 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 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. Eno. Would we had all such wives, that the men might go to wars with the women! Ant. So much uncurable, her garboils, Cæsar, I wrote to you, Sir, He fell upon me, ere admitted; then Lep. Soft, Cæsar. Ant. No, Lepidus, let him speak; Ces. To lend me arms, and aid, when I requir'd them; The which you both denied. Neglected, rather; Ant. And then, when poison'd hours had bound me up From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may, I'll 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. Lep. "Tis nobly spoken. Mec. If it might please you, to enforce no further The griefs between ye: to forget them quite, Were to remember that the present need Speaks to atone." word of war.' Mason supposed some words had been transposed, and that the passage ought to stand thus :and for contestation Their theme was you; you were the word of war.' 1 i. e. never did make use of my name as a pretence for the war. 6 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; it is a tender point, and touches my character nearly. Let him therefore urge his charge, that I may vindicate myself.' Ant. You wrong this presence, therefore speak Cas. Speak, Agrippa. Agr. Thou hast a sister by the mother's side, Admir'd Octavia: great Mark Antony Is now a widower. Cæs. Say not so, Agrippa; If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof Were well deserv'd of rashness.12 Ant. I am not married, Cæsar: let me hear Agrippa further speak. Agr. 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 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 'tis a studied, not a present thought; By duty ruminated. 10 Go to, then, henceforward I will be as mute as a marble statue, which seems to think, though it can say nothing.' statua taciturnior exit Plurumque et risum populi quatit.” Horace. As mute as a stone, and As silent as a stone, are common expressions. 11 I do not (says Cæsar) think the man wrong, but too free of his interposition; for it cannot be, we shall remain in friendship; yet if it were possible, I would endeavour it.' 12 That is, 'You might be reproved for your rashness, and would well deserve it. The old copy reads 'proof,' Warburton made the emendation Mec. Welcome from Egypt, sir. As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, Agr. Eno. Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Mecænas! It should be better, he became her guest; my honourable friend, Agrippa!— Agr. Good Enobarbus! Mec. We have cause to be glad, that matters are so well digested. You stayed well by it in Egypt. Eno. Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance, and made the night light with drinking. Which she entreated: Our courteous Antony, Mec. Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve persons there; Is this true? Eno. This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had much more monstrous matter of feast, which wor-Hop forty paces through the public street: thily deserved noting. And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted, That she did make defect, perfection, And, breathless, power breathe forth. Mec. She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square to her. Eno. When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart upon the river of Cydnus.3 Agr. There she appeared, indeed; or my reporter devised well for her. Eno. I will tell you: The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,^ The winds were lovesick with them: the oars were Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made 1 Lest I be thought too willing to forget benefits, I must barely return him thanks, and then I will defy him.' 2 i. c. if report quadrates, or suits with her merits. 3 Enobarbus is made to say that Cleopatra gained Antony's heart on the river Cydnus; but it appears from the conclusion of his own description, that Antony had never seen her there; that whilst she was on the river, Antony was sitting alone, enthroned in the market-place, whistling to the air, all the people having left him to gaze upon her: and that when she landed he sent to her to invite her to supper. Mec. Now Antony must leave her utterly. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Cloy th' appetites they feed; but she makes hungry Mec. If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle For she so charm'd all hearts, that gazing crowds 5 i. e. waited upon her looks, discovered her will by her looks. So Spenser, Faerie Queene, b. i. c. iii. :From her fayre eyes he tooke commandement, And by her looks conceited her intent." 6 Made their bends adornings. On this passage there are several pages of notes in the variorum Shakspeare, which, as Steevens remarks, supply a powerful instance of the uncertainty of verbal criticism; for the same phrase is there explained with reference to four different images-bows, groups, eyes, and tails. Until some more fortunate conjecture shall be offered, I Shak-adopt Steevens's opinion, that the plain sense of the passage seems to be, these ladies rendered that homage which their assumed characters obliged them to pay their queen, a circumstance ornamental to themselves. Each inclined her person so gracefully, that the very act of humiliation was an improvement of her own beauty.' 4 The reader will be pleased to have it in his power to compare Dryden's description with that of speare: Her galley down the silver Cydnus row'd, Where she, another seaborn Venus, lay,- 7 Yarely frame,' i. e. readily perform. 8 Cleopatra, as appears from the tetradrachms of Antony, was no Venus; and indeed the majority of ladies who most successfully enslaved the hearts of princes, are known to have been less remarkable for per sonal than mental attractions. The reign of insipid beauty is seldom lasting; but permanent must be the rule of a woman who can diversify the sameness of life by an inexhausted variety of accomplishments. 9 Riggish is wanton, immodest. Dryden has em lated Shakspeare in this, as well as the passage before cited; it should be remembered, however, that Shakspeare furnished him with his most striking images. 10 Lottery, for allotment. Thither! Ant. If you can, your reason? Hie you again to Egypt. Therefore, O, Antony, stay not by his side: Speak this no more. thee. If thou dost play with him at any game, Ant. Get thee gone : Say to Ventidius, I would speak with him: [Exit Soothsayer. He shall to Parthia.-Be it art, or hap, He hath spoke 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: And though I make this marriage for my peace, 1 The same construction is found in Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 1, Shouting their emulation.' And in King Lear, Act ii. Sc. 2, Smile you my speeches ? 2 A Fear was a personage in some of the old Moralities. See Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. The whole thought is borrowed from North's translation of Plutarch. 3 So in Macbeth, light thickens.' 4 Shakspeare derived this from Plutarch. The ancients used to match quails as we match cocks. Julius Pollux relates that a circle was made in which the birds were placed, and he whose quail was first driven out of this circle lost the stake. We are told by Mr. Marsden that the Sumatrans practice these quail Combats. The Chinese have always been extremely fond of quail fighting. Mr. Douce has given a print, from an elegant Chinese miniature painting, which represents some ladies engaged at this amusement, where the quails are actually inhooped. See Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 87. 5 Mount Misenum. Cleo. Let it alone; let us to billiards:" Come, Charmian. Char. My arm is sore, best play with Mardian. Cleo. As well a woman with an eunuch play'd, As with a woman;-Come, you'll play withi me, sir? Mar. As well as I can, madam. Cleo. And when good will is show'd, though it The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now:- 'Twas merry, when Cleo. That time!-0 times!I laugh'd him out of patience; and that night I laugh'd him into patience: and next morn, Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst I wore his sword Philippan. O! from Italy; Enter a Messenger. Rain10 thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears, That long time have been barren. Mess. Cleo. Antony's dead? Madam, madam, 7 It is scarcely necessary to remark that this is an anachronism. Billiards were not known to the ancients. 8 This circumstance is from Plutarch: Antony had fished unsuccessfully in Cleopatra's presence, and she laughed at him. The next time, therefore, he directed the boatmen to dive under water, and attach a fish to his hook. The queen perceived the stratagem, but affecting not to notice it, congratulated him on his success. Another time, however, she determined to laugh at him once more, and gave orders to her own people to get the start of his divers, and put some dried salt fish on his hook. 9 The battle of Philippi being the greatest action of Antony's life, it was an adroit piece of flattery to name his sword from it. It does not, however, appear to be perfectly in costume; the dignifying of weapons with names in this manner had its origin in later times. The swords of the heroes of romance have generally pompous names. 10 The old copy reads 'Ram thou,' &c. Rain agrees better with the epithets fruitful and barren. So in 6 Moody here means melancholy. Cotgrave explains Timon:moody by the French words morné, triste. 'Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear.' If thou say so, villain, thou kill'st thy mistress: If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here To Mess. First, madam, he's well. Cleo. Why, there's more gold. But, sirrah, mark; We use say, the dead are well: bring it to that, The gold I give thee, will I melt, and pour Down thy ill-uttering throat. Mess. Good madam, hear me. Mess. Yet if thou say, Antony lives, is well, Mess. Madam, he's well. Well said. Thou'rt an honest man. Mess. And friends with Cæsar. Mess. Cæsar and he are greater friends than ever. Mess. The good and bad together: He's friend with Cæsar; Mess. Free, madam! no; I made no such report: For what good turn? Gracious madam, The very devil assum'd thee formally. 2 That is, I will give thee a kingdom, it being the eastern ceremony at the coronation of their kings to powder them with gold dust and seed pearl. So Mil ton: Char. Good madam, keep yr urself within yourself; 5 The man is innocent. Cleo. Some innocents 'scape not the thunderbolt. the gorgeous east, with liberal hand, Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold.' See the Life of Tunur Bec, or Tamerlane, by M. Petit de la Croix, liv. ii. c. 2. He is married? Mess. Take no offence, that. I would not offend To punish me for what you make me do, That art not-What? thou'rt sure ofGet The merchandise which thou hast brought from Char. 'em Cæsar. Lead me from hence, I am paid for't now. I faint; O, Iras, Charmian, 'Tis no matter;— 6 This thought seems to be borrowed from the laws of chivalry, which forbade a knight to engage with his inferior. 7 The old copy thus exhibits this line : That art not what thou'rt sure of. Get thee hence." The emendation admitted in the text is partly that of Monck Mason. Johnson has observed that the line consists of abrupt starts. Cleopatra interrupts herself with passionate exclamations, and breaks off her interrogatory by again driving out the hateful messenger of 3 i. c. abates the good quality of what is already re-ill news. Mason would read, What! tho'rt sure of ported. 4 Profit ther, recompense thee. 6 Contain yourself, restrain your passion within bounds. So in the Taming of the Shrew. 'Doubt not, my lord, we can contain ourselves.' and Steevens adopted his reading. 8 Feature was anciently used for the form or fashion of the whole body. 9 Cleopatra is now talking in broken sentences, not of the messenger, but of Antony. SCENE VI. Near Misenum. Enter POMPEY and MENAS, at one side, with Drum and Trumpet: at another, CESAR, LEPIDUS, ANTONY, ENOBARBUS, MECENAS, with Soldiers marching. Pom. Your hostages I have, so have you mine; And we shall talk before we fight. Cas. Most meet 285 Ant. The beds i' the east are soft; and thanks to That call'd me, timelier than my purpose, hither; Cas. Pom. That first we come to words; and therefore have we But in my bosom shall she never come, Our written purposes before us sent; you Pom. Take your time. Cæs. We'll speak with thee at sea: at land, thou know'st Pom. At land, indeed, Be pleas'd to tell us how you take There's the point. Cas. Cæs. And what may follow, You have made me offer Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must Cas. Ant. Lep. That's our offer. Know then, I came before you here, a man prepar'd Put me to some impatience :-Though I lose Ant. I have heard it, Pompey ; Pom. Let me have your hand: I did not think, sir, to have met you here. 1 Brave, courageous. To make my heart her vassal. I 2 This verb is used by Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, Pref. p. 22, ed. 1632: What madnesse ghosts this old man? but what madnesse ghosts us all? 3Thou canst not affright us with thy numerous navy.' So in Measure for Measure:- Lep. Well met here. Pom. I hope so, Lepidus.-Thus we are agreed: crave, our composition may be written, And seal'd between us. Cæs. That's the next to do. Pom. We'll feast each other, ere we part; and let us Eno. At sea, I think. Men. We have, sir. Eno. You have done well by water. Eno. I will praise any man that will praise me:10 though it cannot be denied what I have done by land. Men. Nor what I have done by water. Eno. Yes, something you can deny for your own safety: you have been a great thief by sea. Men. And you by land. 6 i. e. foreign to the object of our present discussion Shakspeare uses the present as a substantive many times. accounts in arithmetic. margin of North's Plutarch, 1579:- Cleopatra trussed have known together at Orleans.' Setting it up to fear the birds of prey.' 4 At land indeed thou dost exceed me in possessions; having added to thy own my father's house.' O'ercount seems to be used equivocally, and Pom-1 pey perhaps is meant to insinuate that Antony not only ment (which gives so very true and natural a picture of 10 The poet's art in delivering this humorous sentioutnumbered but had overreached him. The circum- the commerce of the world) can never be sufficiently stance of Antony's obtaining the house of Pompey's admired. father, the poet had from Plutarch. 5 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.' The confession could come from none but a moral lesson insinuated under it, that flattery can make frank and rough character, like the speaker's: and the its way through the most stubborn manners, deserves our serious reflection.'-Warburton. |