The kings of Mede, and Lycaonia, with a
More larger list of sceptres.

Oct.
Ah me, most wretched,
That have my heart parted betwixt two friends,
That do afflict each other!

Cas.
Welcome hither;
Your letters did withhold our breaking forth;
Till we perceiv'd, both how you were wrong led,
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,
To do you justice, make them ministers

us,

Of and those that love you. Best of comfort;'
And ever welcome to us.

Agr.

Welcome, lady.

Mec. Welcome, dear madam.

Each heart in Rome does love and pity you:
Only the adulterous Antony, most large
In his abominations, turns you off;
And gives his potent regiment to a trull,
That noises it against us.

Oct.

Is it so, sir? Cas. Most certain. Sister, welcome. Pray you, Be ever known to patience: My dearest sister! [Exeunt. SCENE VII. Antony's Camp, near the Promontory of Actium. Enter CLEOPATRA and ENO

BARBUS.

This elliptical phrase is merely an expression of endearment addressed to Octavia-Thou best of comfort to thy loving brother.'

2 And gives his potent regiment to a trull, Regiment is government, authority; he puts his power and his empire into the hands of a harlot. Regiment is used for regimen or government by most of our ancient writers. Thus Spenser, Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 10:'So when he had resigned his regiment.

And in Lyly's Woman in the Moon, 1597 :

'Or Hecate in Pluto's regiment.

By sea! What else? Can. Why will my lord do so?

Ant.

For that he dares us to't.
Eno. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight.
Can. 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
And so should you.

Eno.
Your ships are not well mann'd:
Your mariners are muleteers, 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
Being prepar'd for land.
Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,

Ant.

By sea, by sea.

Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away
The absolute soldiership you have by land;
Distract your army, which doth most consist
Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted
Your own renowned knowledge; quite forego
The way which promises assurance; and
Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard,
From firm security.
I'll fight at sea.

Ant.

Cleo. I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better.
Ant. Our overplus of shipping will we burn;
And, with the rest full mann'd, from the head of

Actium

Beat the approaching Cæsar. But if we fail,
Enter a Messenger.

We then can do't at land.-Thy business?
Mess. The news is true, my ford; he is descried;
Cæsar has taken Toryne.

Ant. Can he be there in person? 'tis impossible;
Strange, that his power should be.10-Canidius,
Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land,
And our twelve thousand horse: We'll to our ship;
Enter a Soldier.

Away, my Thetis !11-How now, worthy soldier?
Sold. Ó, noble emperor, do not fight by sea;
Trust not to rotten planks: Do you misdouht
This sword, and these my wounds? Let the Egyp-
tians,

And the Phoenicians, go a ducking: we
Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,
And fighting foot to foot.
Ant.
Well, well, away.
[Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and ENOBARBUS.
say, 'Is not the war denounced against us? Why should
not we then attend in person? Malone explains the
reading of the old copy thus :-'If there be no particu-
lar denunciation against us, why should we not be there
in person?"

6 i. e. entirely, absolutely.

7 Take, subdue. This phrase occurs frequently in Shakspeare, and has been already explained. Si. e. cause that, or that is the cause.

9 Yare is quick, nimble, ready. So in The Tempest,

3 Milton has used this uncommon verb in Paradise Act v. Sc. 1: Our ship is tight and yare. The word Regained, b. iv. :

seems to have been much in use with sailors formerly. The lesser [ship] will come and go, leave and take, and is yare; whereas the greater is slow.'-Raleigh. 4 To forespeak here is to speak against, to gainsay,Cæsar's ships were not built for pomp, high and great, to contradict; as to forbid is to order negatively. The word had, however, the meaning, anciently, of to charm or bewitch, like forbid in Macbeth.

5 The old copy reads, if not denounc'd,' &c. Steevens reads, Is't not? Denounce against us, why,' &c. The emendation I have adopted is more simple, and gives an equally clear meaning. Cleopatra means to

&c.; but they were light of yarage.—North's Plutarch.
10 Strange that his forces should be there.
11 Antony may address Cleopatra by the name of this
sea-nymph, because she had just promised him assist.
ance in his naval expedition; or perhaps in allusion to
her voyage down the Cydnus, when she appeared, like
Thetis, surrounded by the Nereids

SCENE VIII. A Plain near Actium. Enter
CESAR, TAURUS, Officers, and others.

Cas. Taurus,

Taur.

Cæs.

My lord.

Strike not by land; keep whole :
Provoke not battle, till we have done at sea.
Do not exceed the prescript of this scroll:
Our fortune lies upon this jump.5

Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.

[Exeunt.

Ant. Set we our squadrons on yon' side o' the
hill,

In eye of Caesar's battle; from which place
We may the number of the ships behold,
And so proceed accordingly.
[Exeunt.
Enter CANIDIUS, marching with his Land Army
one way over the Stage; and TAURUS, the Lieu-
tenant of Cæsar, the other way. After their going
in, is heard the noise of a Sea-fight. Alarum.-
Re-enter ENOBARBUS.

Eno. 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.

Scar.

Enter SCARUS.

Gods and goddesses,
All the whole synod of them!
Eno.
What's thy passion?
Scar. The greater cantle' of the world is lost
With very ignorance; we have kiss'd away
Kingdoms and provinces.

Eno.

How appears the fight? Scar. On our side like the token'da pestilence, Where death is sure. Yon ribaudred hag of Egypt,

Can.

To Cæsar will I render

My legions, and my horse; six kings already
Show me the way of yielding.
Eno.

I'll yet follow
The wounded chance12 of Antony, though my reason
Sits in the wind against me.
[Exeunt.
SCENE IX.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
Enter ANTONY, and Attendants.

Ant. Hark, the land bids me tread no more upon't,
It is asham'd to bear me !-Friends, come hither.
I am so lated13 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 Cæsar.
Att.

Fly! not we. Ant. I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards

To run, and show their shoulders.-Friends, be
gone;

I have myself resolv'd upon a course,
Which has no need of you; be gone:
My treasure's in the harbour, take it.-0,
I follow'd that I blush to look upon:
My very hairs do mutiny: for the white
For fear and doting.-Friends, be gone; you shall
Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them
Have letters from me to some friends, that will
Sweep your way for you.14 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 seaside straitway:
I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a little; 'pray you now:

Whom leprosy o'ertake! i' the midst o' the fight,ay, do so; for, indeed, I have lost command, 15

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.

1 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.

2 i. e. passes all belief. I should not have noticed this, but for Steevens's odd notion of its being a phrase from archery.

8 Detachments, separate bodies.

4 i. e. emits as in parturition: So in The Tempest:proclaim a birth,

Which throes thee much to yield.'

5 i. e. this hazard. Thus in Macbeth:'We'd jump the life to come.'

6 The Antoniad, Plutarch says, was the name of Cleopatra's ship.

7 A cantle is a portion, a scantling, a fragment: it also signified a corner, and a quarter-piece of any thing. It is from the old French, chantel, or eschantille. 9 The death of those visited by the plague was certain, when particular eruptions appeared on the skin; and these were called God's tokens.

Therefore I pray you ;-I'll see you by-and-by.
[Sits down.

9 The old copy reads, rihaudred nag,' which was altered by Steevens and Malone into ribald-rid raz,' but quite unnecessarily. Ribaudred is obscene, indecent in words or acts. Thus Baret:-' A ribaudrous and filthie tongue; os obscænum et impudicum. Ri baudrie, villanie in actes or wordes, filthiness, uncleanness.' And in Horman's Vulgaria-Refrayne fro suche foule and rebaudry wordes. Mr. Tyrwhitt saw that the context required we should read hag instead of nag, which was an easy typographical error.

10 The brize is the strum, or gadfly, so troublesome to cattle in the summer months.

11 To loof is to bring a ship close to the wind. This expression is in the old translation of Plutarch. It also frequently occurs in Hackluyt's Voyages.

12 Wounded chance.' This phrase is nearly of the same import as 'broken fortunes.'

13 Belated, benighted. So in Macbeth:
Now spurs the lated traveller apace.'

14 Thus also in Hamlet:-

they must sweep my way, And marshal me to knavery.'

15 I entreat you to leave me, because I have lost all power to command your absence.'

and IRAS.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

293

Enter EROS, and CLEOPATRA, led by CHARMIAN SCENE X. Cæsar's Camp, in Egypt. Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and others. Cas. Let him appear that's come from Antony. you him?

Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him ;-Comfort him.

Iras. Do, most dear queen.

Char. Do! why, what else?

Cleo. Let me sit down. O, Juno.

Ant. No, no, no, no, no.

Eros. See you here, sir?

Ant. O, fie, fie, fie.
Char. Madam,-

Iras. Madam; O, good empress!-
Eros. Sir, sir,-

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes;-He, at Philippi, kept
His sword e'en like a dancer: while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius: and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus2 ended: he alone
Dealt on lieutenantry,3 and no practice had
In the brave squares of war
Yet now-No matter.
;
Cleo. Ah, stand by.
Eros. The queen, my lord, the
Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him;
queen.
He is unqualitied with very shame.

Cleo. Well then,-Sustain me:-Oh!
Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches;
Her head's declin'd, and death will seize her; but
Your comfort makes the rescue.

Ant. I have offended reputation;
A most unnoble swerving.

Eros.

Sir, the queen.
Ant. O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt?
How I convey my shame out of thine eyes,
By looking back on what I have left behind
'Stroy'd in dishonour.

Cleo.

O, my lord, my lord!

Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought,
You would have follow'd.

See,

Ant.
Egypt, thou knew'st too well,
My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings,
And thou should'st 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.

Cleo.

Ant.

O, my pardon.

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.

Cleo.

O, pardon, pardon.

Ant. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates'
All that is won and lost: Give me a kiss;
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.

Be it so; Declare thine office.
Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted,
Eup. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and
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;
The circle1" of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Submits her to thy might; and of thee craves
Now hazarded to thy grace.
For Antony,
I have no ears to his request. The queen
Of audience, nor desire, shall fail: so she
Or take his life there: This if she perform,
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,"
She shall not sue unheard. So to them both
Eup. Fortune pursue thee!

SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
Enter CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN,
and IRAS.

Cleo. What shall we do, Enobarbus?
Eno.

Think, and die. 14 fortunate when they made warre by their lieutenants found the following words :- They were always more

than by themselves."

4 Unqualitied seems to mean here unsoldiered, qua[Exeunt.lity being used for profession by Shakspeare and his only signifies unmanned in general, disarmed of his contemporaries. Steevens says, 'Perhaps unqualitied usual faculties.'

1 The meaning appears to be, that Cæsar never of fered to draw his sword, but kept it in the scabbard, like one who dances with a sword on, which was for. merly the custom in England. It is alluded to in All's Well that Ends Well: Bertram, lamenting that he is kept from the wars, says:

'I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock,
Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry,
Till honour be bought up, and no sword worn,
But one to dance with.'

And in Titus Andronicus:

Gave you a dancing rapier by your side.' 2'Nothing can be more in character than for an infamous debauched tyrant to call the heroic love of one's country and public liberty, madness.'-Warburton.

3' Dealt on lieutenantry' probably means only fought by proxy,' made war by his lieutenants, or on the strength of his lieutenants. In a former scene Ventidius says:

'Cæsar and Antony have ever won More in their officer, than person.' To deal on any thing' is an expression often used by old writers. In Plutarch's Life of Antony, Shakspeare |

5 But is here used in its exceptive sense.

ignominy from your sight.'
6 How, by looking another way, I withdraw my

7 Values.

8 Euphronius, schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra.

9 His grand sea' appears to mean the sea from which the dew-drop is exhaled. The poet may have considered the sea as the source of dews as well as rain. His we find frequently used for its. 10 The diadem, the crown.

11 Friend here means paramour.

12

'O, opportunity! thy guilt is great.
Thou mak'st the vestal violate her oath,
Rape of Lucrece.

in his fortune.'
13 Note how Antony conforms himself to this breach

14 To think, or take thought, was anciently synony.
mous with to grieve. Thus in Julius Cæsar, Act ii.
Sc. 1:
all that he can do

Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar.'

Enter THYREus.

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?
Eno. 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: "Twas a shame no less
Than was his loss, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

Cleo.

Pr'ythee, peace: Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS. Ant. Is this his answer?

Eup.

Ay, my lord.

Ant. The queen shall then have courtesy, so she

Will yield us up.

Eup. He says so.

Ant.

Let her know it.

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 Cæsar: I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,
And answer me declin'd,' sword against sword,
Ourselves alone; I'll write it; follow me.

[Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS.
Eno. Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will
Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show,4
Against a sworder.-I see, men's judgments are
A parcels 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 Cæsar will
Answer his emptiness!-Caesar, thou hast subdu'd
His judgment too.

Against the blown rose may they stop their nose,
That kneel'd unto the buds.-Admit him, sir.

Eno. Mine honesty, and I begin to square. [Aside.
The loyalty, well held to fools, does make
Our faith mere folly :-Yet he, that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fallen lord,
Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i' the story.

So Viola pined in thought. And in The Beggar's
Bush, of Beaumont and Fletcher :--

"Can I not think away myself, and die?

1 i. e. set the mark of folly upon it. So in the Comedy of Errors :-

Thyr. The scars upon your honour, therefore, he
Does pity, as constrained blemishes,"
Not as deserv'd.

Cleo.

Eno.

He is a god, and knows

What is most right: Mine honour was not yielded,
But conquer'd merely.
To be sure of that, [Aside.
I will ask Antony.-Sir, sir, thou'rt so leaky,
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee."

Thyr.

[Exit ENOBARBUS.
Shall I say to Cæsar
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,
And put yourself under his shroud,
The universal landlord.

Say to great Cæsar this in disputation,"
I kiss his conquring hand: tell him, I am prompt
To lay my crown at his feet, and there to kneel:
Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear
The doom of Egypt.
Thyr.
'Tis your noblest course.
Wisdom and fortune combatting together,
If that the former dare but what it can,
No chance
My duty on your hand.
shake it. Give me grace1s to lay
may

Cleo.

Your Caesar's father

Oft, when he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in,
As it rain'd kisses.
Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place,

Re-enter ANTONY and ENOBAREUS.

Ant.
Favours, by Jove that thunders!-
What art thou, fellow?
Thyr.
One, that but performs

have a clear meaning in the present reading: 'Cæsar
entreats, that at the same time you consider your des
perate fortunes, you would consider he is Cæsar: that
is, generous and forgiving, able and willing to restore
them. I think with Malone that the previous speech,
which is given to Enobarbus, was intended for Cleo
8 Shakspeare probably wrote embrac`d.
9 So in The Tempest :-

2 i. e. he being the object to which this great conten-patra. tion is limited or by which it is bounded. So in Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1:

the king

That was and is the question of these wars.'

A rotten carcass of a boatthe very rats Instinctively had quit it.'

3 His gay comparisons may mean those circumstances of splendour and power in which he, when com 10 Warburton suggests that we should read, in depu pared with me, so much exceeds me. Irequire of Ca-tation, i. e. as my deputy, say to great Cæsar this, sar not to depend on that superiority which the comparison of our different fortunes may exhibit, but to answer me man to man in this decline of my age and power.'

44. e. be exhibited, like conflicting gladiators, to the public gaze.

5 i. e. are of a piece with them.

6 To square is to quarrel. Enobarbus is deliberating upon desertion, and finding it is more prudent to forsake a fool, and more reputable to be faithful to him, makes no positive conclusion.

7 Thus the second folio. The first folio has, than he is Caesar's,' which brings obscurity with it. We

&c. Why the old punctuation of this line was altered
in the modern editions, I am at a loss to imagine: the
passage has been made obscure by printing it thus:
Say to great Cæsar this, In disputation

I kiss his conquering hand.'

The following passage in King Henry IV. Part I. seems
to support Warburton's emendation:-

"Of all the favourites that the absent king
In deputation left behind him here.'

11 i. e. breath which all obey. Obeying for obeyed; in other places we have delighted for delighting, guile for guiling, &c.

12 Grant me the favour.

man, and worthiest

The bidding of the fullest
To have command obey'd.
Eno.
You will bo whipp'd.
Ant. Approach, there:-Ay, you kite;-Now,
gods and devils!

Authority melts from me: Of late, when I cried, Ho!
Like boys unto a muss,2 kings would start forth,
And cry, Your will? Have you no ears? I am
Enter Attendants.

Antony yet. Take hence this Jack, and whip him.
Eno. Tis better playing with a lion's whelp,
Than with an old one dying.
Moon and stars!

Ant.

Whip him:-Were't twenty of the greatest tribu

tarries

That do acknowledge Cæsar, should I find them
So saucy with the hand of she here (What's her

name,

Since she was Cleopatra ?3)-Whip him, fellows,
Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face,
And whine aloud for mercy: Take him hence.
Thyr. Mark Antony,-

Ant.
Tug him away: being whipp'd,
Bring him again :-This Jack of Caesar's shall
Bear us an errand to him.-

[Exeunt Attend. 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.4

Cleo.

Good my lord,-
Ant. You have been a boggler ever:
But when we in our viciousness grow hard,
(0, misery on't!) the wise gods seel' our eyes;
In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us
Adore our errors; laugh at us, while we strut
To our confusion.

Cleo.

O, is it come to this?

Ant. I found your as a morsel, cold upon
Dead Cesar's trencher: nay, you were a fragment
Of Cneius Pompey's; besides what hotter hours,
Unregister'd in vulgar fame, you have
Luxuriously pick'd out:-For, I am sure,

Ant. Cried he? and begg'd he pardon?
1 Att. He did ask favour.

Ant. If that thy father live, let him repent
Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry
To follow Cæsar in his triumph, since
Thou hast been whipp'd for following him: hence-
forth,

The white hand of a lady fever thee,
Shake thou to look on't.-Get thee back to Cæsar,
He makes me angry with him: for he seems
Tell him thy entertainment: Look, thou say,
Proud and disdainful; harping on what I am;
Not what he knew I was: He makes me angry;
And at this time most easy 'tis to do't;
When my good stars, that were my former guides,
Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires
My speech, and what is done; tell him, he has
Into the abysm of hell. If he mislike
Hipparchus, my enfranchis'd bondman, whom
He may at pleasure whip, or hang, or torture,
As he shall like, to quit me: Urge it thou:
Hence, with thy stripes, begone. [Exit THYReus,
Cleo. Have you done yet?
Alack, our terrene moon
Is now eclips'd; and it portends alone
The fall of Antony!

Ant.

Cleo.

I must stay his time.

Ant. To flatter Caesar, would you mingle eyes With one that ties his points?10

Cleo.

Not know me yet?

Ant. Cold-hearted toward me?
Cleo.
Ah, dear, if I be so,
From my cold heart let heaven engender hail,
And poison it in the source; and the first stone
Drop in my neck: as it determines,11 so
Dissolve my life! The next Cæsarion12 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!

Ant.
I am satisfied.
Cæsar sits down in Alexandria; where
I will oppose his fate. Our force by land
Hath nobly held; our sever'd navy too
13 threat'ning most

Though you can guess what temperance should be, Have knit again, and fleet,13

Ant. To let a fellow that will take rewards,
And God quit you! be familiar with
My playfellow, your hand; this kingly seal,
And plighter of high hearts!-0, that I were
Upon the hill of Basan," to outroar

The horned herd! for I have savage cause;
And to proclaim it civilly, were like

A halter'd neck, which does the hangman thank
For being yare about him.-Is he whipp'd?

Re-enter Attendants, with THYREUS.

1 Att. Soundly, my lord.

1 The most complete and perfect. And in Othello:
"What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe.'
2 A muss is a scramble.

nor are they thrown

Cleo.
my brave lord!
Ant. I will be treble-sinew'd, hearted, breath'd,
And fight maliciously: for when mine hours
Were nice1 and lucky, men did ransom lives
Of me for jests; but now, I'll set my teeth,
And send to darkness all that stop me.-Come,
6 Wantonly.

5 Close up.
7 This is an allusion, however improper, to the Psalms.
An high hill as the hill of Basan.' The idea of
the horned herd was also probably caught from the same
source:- Many oren are come about me: fat bulls of
Basan close me in on every side. It is not without
pity and indignation (says Johnson) that the reader
of this great poet meets so often with this low jest,
which is too much a favourite to be left out of either
mirth or fury.'

8 i. e. ready, nimble, active.

9 To repay ine this insult, to requite me.

10 i. e. with a menial attendant. The reader will doubtless remember that points were the laces with which our ancestors fastened their trunk-hose.

To make a muss among the gamesome suitors.' Jonson's Magnetic Lady. Dryden uses the word in the Prologue to Widow Ranter: 'Bauble and cap no sooner are thrown down, But there's a muss of more than half the town.' 3 That is, since she ceased to be Cleopatra. 4 i. e. on menials. Servants are called eaters and feeders by several of our old dramatic writers. Morose, in the Silent Woman of Ben Jonson, says: Where are all my eaters, my mouths now? Bar up my doors, you varlets.' And in The Wits, by Sir W. Davenant: tall eaters, in blue coats, sans number.' Thus also in Fletcher's Nice Valour, Act iii. Sc. 1 :— 'Servants he has, lusty tall feeders.' Have I (says Antony) abandoned Octavia, a gem of women, to be abused by a woman so base as to look on servants!" We are indebted to Mr. Gifford for fully es13 To fleet and to float were anciently synonymous,→→ tablishing this explanation, and showing that Steevens Thus Baret:-To frete above the water: flotter." Stee. gave the true meaning of the passage; thereby over-vens has adduced numerous examples from old writers. throwing Johnson's misconception, and Malone's perti- 14 Nice is here equivalent to soft, tender, wanton, or nacious support of it. See the works of Ben Jonson, luxurious.

vol. iii. p. 408.

11 That is, as the hailstone dissolves or wastes away. So in King Henry VI. Part II. :-

'Till his friend sickness hath determin'd me.' 12 Cleopatra's son by Julius Cæsar.

In softer and more fortunate hours."