Cleo. O my lord, my lord! Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought, 5 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. [Exeunt. SCENE X. Cæsar's Camp, in Egypt. Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and Others. Cæs. Let him appear that's come from Antony.Know you him? 5 tied by the strings,] That is, by the heart-string. Dol. Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster: An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither Cæs. Enter EUPHRONIUS. Approach, and speak. Eup. 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 Cæs. Be it so; Declare thine office. Cæs. 6 his schoolmaster:] The name of this person was Euphronius. He was schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra. 7 as petty to his ends, As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf To his grand sea.] His grand sea may mean his full tide of prosperity; or it may mean the sea from which the dew-drop is exhaled. Shakspeare might have considered the sea as the source of dews as well as rain. His is used instead of its. "circle of the Ptolemies-] The diadem; the ensign of royalty. 9 · friend,] i. e. paramour. She shall not sue unheard. So to them both. Cæs. Bring him through the bands. To try thy eloquence, now 'tis time: Despatch; [TO THYREUS. Cas. Observe how Antony becomes his flaw;' And what thou think'st his very action speaks In every power that moves. Thyr. Cæsar, I shall. [Exeunt. SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. Cleo. What shall we do, Enobarbus? Eno. Think, and die. Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this? Eno. Antony only, that would make his will Lord of his reason. What although 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 how Antony becomes his flaw;] That is, how Antony con forms himself to this breach of his fortune. Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point, Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace. Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS. Ant. Is this his answer? To the boy Cæsar send this grizled head, With principalities. Cleo. That head, my lord? Ant. To him again; Tell him, he wears the rose 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 Cæsar: I dare him therefore And answer me declin'd, sword against sword, [Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS. ? Have nick'd his captainship ;] i. e. set the mark of folly on it. s — he being The mered question:] Mered is, I suspect, a word of our author's formation, from mere: he being the sole, the entire subject or occasion of the war. MALONE. 4 his gay comparisons apart, And answer me declin'd,] I require of Cæsar not to depend on Eno. Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show," 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 Cæsar will Answer his emptiness!-Cæsar, thou hast subdu'd His judgment too. Att. Enter an Attendant. A messenger from Cæsar. Cleo. What, no more ceremony?-See, my women! Against the blown rose may they stop their nose, [Aside. The loyalty, well held to fools, does make Does conquer him that did his master conquer, Enter THYREus. Cleo. Cæsar's will? Thyr. Hear it apart. Cleo. None but friends; say boldly. that superiority which the comparison of our different fortunes may exhibit to him, but to answer me man to man, in this decline of my age or power. JOHNSON. be stag'd to the show,] that is, exhibited, like conflicting gladiators, to the publick gaze. are A parcel of their fortunes;] i. e. as we should say at present, are of a piece with them. 7 to square.] i. e. to quarrel. |