Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike Embracing. Cleo. Excellent falsehood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?- A little I can read. Alex. Shew him your hand. Enter Enobarbus. Eno. Bring in thebanquet quickly; wine enough, 5 Cleopatra's health to drink." 10 Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra.- Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, note The qualities of people. Come, my queen; Dem. I am full sorry, That he approves the common liar', who Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope SCENE II. Another part of the Palace. 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 belov’d. Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and 20 widow them all! let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage! tind me to marry with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress! Sooth. You shall out-live the lady whom you 25 serve. 30 35 [Exeunt. 1401 Enter Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer. Alex. Soothsayer. Char. Is this the man? [know things? -Is't you, sir, that Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy, Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs'. [fortune, Sooth. You have seen and prov'da fairer former Ihan that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pry'thee, how many boys and wenches must I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And foretell 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. Alex. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be-drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. famine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot sooth-say. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.50 Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. Meaning, that he proves the common lyar, fame, Dr. Johnson doubts, whether change in this place may not signify merely to dress, or to dress with changes of garlands; certain it is, that change of clothes in the time of Shakspeare signified variety of them. 'Herod was always one of the personages in the mysteries of our early stage, on which he was conA heated liver is supposed to make a pimpled face. stantly represented as a fierce, haughty, blustering tyrant; so that Herod of Jewry became a common proverb, expressive of turbulence and rage. Thus Hamlet says of a ranting player, that he "out-herods Hered."-The meaning then is, Charmian wishes for a son, who may arrive to such power and dominion, that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke. "A proverbial expression. answer then implies, that belike all her children will be bastards, who have no right to the name of A fairer fortune may mean, a more reputable one.—Her their father's family. "The meaning is, If you had as many wombs as you will have wishes, and I should foretell all those wishes, I should foretell a million of children.-It is an ellipsis very frequent in conversation;-I should shame you, and tellall; that is, and if I should tell all. "And is for and if, which was anciently, and is still provincially used for iƒ. 7 Sooth. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose. Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome: Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase; and taunt my faults weeds, Alexas,-come, his fortune, his fortune.-O, let 10 With such full licence, as both truth and malice him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, 1| Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth 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 15 prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wiv'd, so it is a deadly 20 sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded: Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly. Char. Amen. Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make 25 me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but they'd do 't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Enter Cleopatra. Cleo. Saw you my lord? Eno. No, lady. Cleo. Was he not here? Char. No, madam, [us, Or lose myself in dotage.-What are you? 2 Mes. In Sicyon: Her length of sickness, with what else more serious Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sud-35I must from this enchanting queen break off; Cleo. Seck him, and bring him hither. Where's Mes. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. But soon that war had end, and the time's state Cæsar; Whose better issue in the war, from Italy, Mes. The nature of bad news infects the teller. On; 451 Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, Eno. What's your pleasure, sir? Eno. Why, then we kill all our women: We Eno. 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 esteem'd nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly; I have 50seen her die twenty times upon far poorer inoment': I do think, there is mettle in death, which commits some loving act upon her, she hath such a celerity in dying. [thus; 55 Things that are past, are done, with me. Tis Mes. Labienus (this is stiff news) Ant. She is cunning past man's thought. Eno. 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 almanacks can report: this cannot be cunning in her; 1i. e. seized. The sense is, that man, not agitated by censure, like soil not ventilated by quick winds, produces more evil than good. i. e. by regular repetition. Could for would.-Could, would, and should, are very often indiscriminately used in the old plays. i. e. for less reason; if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove. Ant. 'Would I had never seen her! Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been 5 blest withal, would have discredited your travel. Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Sir? Ant. Fulvia is dead, Ant. Dead. [10] Eno, Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shews to man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein, that when 15 old robes are worn out, there are members to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented: this grief is crown'd with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new 20 petticoat: and, indeed, the tears live in an onion, that should water this sorrow. [state, Ant. The business she hath broach'd in the Cannot endure my absence. Eno. And the business you have broach'd here, 25 cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode. 30 35 Ant. No more light answers. Let our officers Enb. I shall do't. SCENE III. [Exeunt. 40 Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report, [Exit Alex, Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly, You do not hold the method to enforce Cleo. What should I do, I do not? Char. In each thing give him way, cross him in But here comes Antony. [pose, Ant. I am sorry to give breathing to my pur- dearest queen, [news. Cleo. I know, by that same eye, there's some good I have no power upon you; hers you are. Cleo. O, never was there queen So mightily betray'd! Yet, at the first, Ant. Cleopatra, [true, Cleo. Why should I think, you can be mine, and Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness, To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in swearing! Ant. Most sweet queen,— [going, Cleo. Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your Bliss in our brows' bent'; none our parts so poor, Ant. How now, lady! [know, Cleo. I would, I had thy inches; thou should'st 50 There were a heart in Egypt. Ant. Hear me, queen: The strong necessity of time commands Our services a while; but my full heart Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he 55 Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius I did not send you';-If you find him ṣad, Makes his approaches to the port of Rome; The meaning is this; "As the gods have been pleased to take away your wife Fulvia, so they have provided you with a new one in Cleopatra; in like manner as the tailors of the earth, when your old garments are worn out, accommodate you with new ones." Expedience for expedition. i. e. things that touch me more sensibly. i. e. wish us at home. 'Alluding to an old idle notion, that the hair of a horse dropped into corrupted water, will turn to an animal. You must go as if you came without my order or knowledge. i. e. in the arch of our eye-brows. had a smack or flavour of heaven.-The race of wine is the taste of the soil. Where be the sacred vials thou should'st fill Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come;- Ant. My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands Cleo. So Fulvia told me. I pr'ythee, turn aside, and weep for her; Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more. Cleo. And target.-Still he mends; But this is not the best: Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, Ant. I'll leave you, lady. Cleo. Courteous lord, one word. Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it: 5 JO, my oblivion is a very Antony, Ant. But that your royalty Holds idleness your subject, I should take you 5 For idleness itself'. 10 [15] 1201 Cleo. 'Tis sweating labour, a To bear such idleness so near the heart And all the gods go with you! Upon your sword Ant. Let us go. Come; Our separation so abides, and flies, That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, Enter Octavius Cæsar, Lepidus, and Attendants. Cas. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth 25 It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate [know, One 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 30 More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall find there 35 140 A man, who is the abstract of all faults Lep. I must not think, there are Cas. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit comes him, (As his composure must be rare indeed, [tony Whom these things cannot blemish !) yetmust An50 No way excuse his foils, when we do bear So great weight in his lightness 10: If he fill'd 7 6 The i. e. the commotion she occasioned.-The word is derived from the old French garbouil, which Cotgrave explains by hurlyburly, great stir. 2 Alluding to the lacrymatory vials, or bottles of 3 So for us. 4 i, e. to me, tears, which the Romans sometimes put into the urn of a friend. the queen of Egypt. Antony traced his descent from Anton, a son of Hercules. plain meaning is, My forgetfulness makes me forget myself.--But she expresses it by calling forget'i, e. according to fulness Antony; because forgetfulness had forgot her, as Antony had done. Warburton, But that your charms hold me, who am the greatest fool on earth, in chains, I should have adjudged you to be the greatest." Cleopatra may perhaps here allude to Antony having before called her, in the first scene," wrangling queen, whom every thing becomes." meaning, according to Mr, Malone, is, "As the stars or spots of heaven are not obscured, but rather rendered more bright, by the blackness of the night; so neither is the goodness of Antony eclipsed by his evil qualities, but, on the contrary, his faults seem enlarged and aggravated by his virtues," 10 i. e. trifling levity. 9 The His Mes. Thy biddings have been done; and every Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea; And it appears, he is belov'd of those That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports The discontents repair, and men's reports Give him much wrong'd. Cas. I should have known no less:It hath been taught us from the primal state, That he, which is, was wish'd, until he were; And the ebb'dman,ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love, 'Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, [body, Goes to, and back, lackying the varying tide, To rot itself with motion. Mes. Cæsar, I bring thee word, No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon 15 20 25 Cas. Doubt it not, sir; I knew it for my bond. [Exeunt. 30 In aught an eunuch has: 'Tis well for thee, 135 Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against, 40 The roughest berry on the rudest hedge; Lep. It is pity of him. Cas. Let his shames quickly Drive him to Rome: Time is it, that we twain Did shew ourselves i' the field; and, to that end, Assemble me immediate council: Pompey Thrives in our idleness. That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections? Mar. Yes, gracious madam. Cleo. Indeed? [thing Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do noBut what in deed is honest to be done: Yet have I fierce affections, and think, What Venus did with Mars. Cleo. O Charmian! [he? Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits 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? 45 The demy Atlas of this earth, the arm And burgonet' of man.-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, 50 That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black, And wrinkled deep in time! Broad-fronted Cæsar, 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 Call on him, is visit him for it. 2 i. c. boys old enough to know their duty. plow. i. e. turn pale at the thought of it. Flush youth is youth ripened to whose blood is at the flow. 6 Wassel is here put for intemperance in general. cumstances of Antony's distress are taken literally from Plutarch. was supposed to procure sleep. A burgonet is a kind of helmet. 8 3 To ear is to manhood; youth 'All these cir A plant of which the infusion Cleo. |