Ant. Ay, Lepidus. Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile. Ant. They are so. Pom. Sit, and some wine.-A health to Lepidus. Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out. Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me, you'll be in, till then. Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard, the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that. [Aside. Men. Pompey, a word. And hear me speak a word.1 Pom. This wine for Lepidus. [Aside. Forbear me till anon. Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like it self; and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates. Lep. What colour is it of? Ant. Of its own colour too. 9 I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things; Pyramis for pyramid was in common use in our author's time. So, in Bishop Corbet's Poems, 1647: "Nor need the chancellor boast, whose pyramis "Above the host and altar reared is." From this word Shakspeare formed the English plural, pyramises, to mark the indistinct pronunciation of a man nearly intoxicated, whose tongue is now beginning to "split what it speaks." In other places he has introduced the Latin plural pyramides, which was constantly used by our ancient writers. So, in this play: "My country's high pyramides · 39 Again, in Sir Aston Cockain's Poems, 1658: "Neither advise I thee to pass the seas, "To take a view of the pyramides." Again, in Braithwaite's Survey of Histories, 1614: "Thou art now for building a second pyramides in the air. Malone. 1 And hear me speak a word.] The two last syllables of this hemistich are, I believe, an interpolation. They add not to the sense, but disturb the measure. Steevens. Lep. 'Tis a strange serpent. Ant. 'Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.2 Cas. Will this description satisfy him? Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure. Pom. [To MENAS aside.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away! Do as I bid you.-Where 's this cup I call'd for? [Aside. I think, thou 'rt mad. The matter? [Rises, and walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith: What 's else to say? Be jolly, lords. Ant. These quick-sands, Lepidus, Keep off them, for you sink. Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world? Pom. What say'st thou? Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That's twice. Pom. How should that be? Men. Although thou think me poor, I am the man, Will give thee all the world. Pom. But entertain it, and, Hast thou drunk well? Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove: Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips,3 Is thine, if thou wilt have 't. Show me which way. Pom. Men. These three world-sharers, these competitors,* Are in thy vessel: Let me cut the cable ;5 2 the tears of it are wet.] "Be your tears wet?" says Lear to Cordelia, Act IV, sc. vii. 3 4 Malone. or sky inclips,] i. e. embraces. Steevens. competitors,] i. e. confederates, partners. See Vol. II, p. 183, n. 4. Steevens. 5 Let me cut the cable;] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "Now in the middest of the feast, when they fell to be merie with Antonius loue vnto Cleopatra, Menas the pirate came to Pompey, and whispering in his eare, said unto him: shall I And, when we are put off, fall to their throats: Pom. Ah, this thou should'st have done, And not have spoke on 't! In me, 'tis villainy; In thee, it had been good service. Thou must know, 'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour; Mine honour, it. Repent, that e'er thy tongue Hath so betray'd thine act: Being done unknown, I should have found it afterwards well done; But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink. Men. For this, [Aside. I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd, Shall never find it more. Pom. This health to Lepidus. Ant. Bear him ashore.-I'll pledge it for him, Pompey. Eno. Here's to thee, Menas. Men. Pom. Fill, till the cup be hid. Enobarbus, welcome. Eno. There's a strong fellow, Menas. [Pointing to the Attendant who carries off LEP. Why? Men. cut the gables of the ankers, and make thee Lord not only of Sicile and Sardinia, but of the whole empire of Rome besides? Pompey hauing pawsed a while vpon it, at length auns wered him thou shouldest haue done it, and neuer have told it me, but now we must content vs with that we haue. As for my selfe, I was neuer taught to breake my faith, nor to be counted a traitor." Steevens. 6 All there is thine.] Thus the old copy. Modern editors read: All then is thine. If alteration be necessary, we might as well give: All theirs is thine. All there, however, may mean, all in the vessel. Steevens. 7 thy pall'd fortunes] Palled, is vapid, past its time of excellence; palled wine, is wine that has lost its original sprightliness. Johnson. Palled is a word of which the etymology is unknown. Perhaps, says Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, it is only a corruption of paled, and was originally applied to colours. Thus, in Chaucer's Manciple's Prologue, v. 17,004: "So unweldy was this sely palled ghost." Steevens. & Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd, Shall never find it more.] This is from the ancient proverbial rhyme : "He who will not, when he may, "When he will, he shall have nay." Steevens. Eno. The third part of the world, man; See'st not? He bears Men. The third part then is drunk: 'Would it were all, That it might go on wheels!1 Eno. Drink thou; increase the reels. Men. Come. Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast. Ant. It ripens towards it.-Strike the vessels,3 ho! Here is to Cæsar. Cas. I could well forbear it. It's monstrous labour, when I wash my brain, Ant. Be a child o' the time. The third part then is drunk: 'Would it were all, &c.] The old copy reads-The third part then he is drunk, &c. The context clearly shows that the transcriber's ear deceived him, and that we should read as I have printed it,―The third part then is drunk. Malone. 1 That it might go on wheels!] The World goes upon Wheels, is the title of a pamphlet written by Taylor the water-poet. Malone. 2 increase the reels.] As the word-reel, was not, in our author's time, employed to signify a dance or revel, and is used in no other part of his works as a substantive, it is not impossible that the passage before us, which seems designed as a continuation of the imagery suggested by Menas, originally stood thus: "Drink thou, and grease the wheels." A phrase, somewhat similar, occurs in Timon of Athens: 66 "That from it all consideration slips." Steevens. 3 Strike the vessels,] Try whether the casks sound as empty. Johnson. I believe, strike the vessels means no more than chink the vessels one against the other, as a mark of our unanimity in drinking as we now say, chink glasses. Steevens. Mr. Steevens is surely right. So, in one of Iago's songs: "And let me the cannikin clink." Ritson. Vessels probably mean kettle-drums, which were beaten when the health of a person of eminence was drunk; immediately after we have, "make battery to our ears with the loud musick." They are called kettles in Hamlet: "Give me the cups; "And let the kettle to the trumpet speak." Dr. Johnson's explanation degrades this feast of the lords of the whole world into a rustic revel. H. White. Cas. Possess it, I'll make answer:4 but I had rather fast From all, four days, than drink so much in one. Eno. Ha, my brave emperor! Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals, Pom. [TO ANT. Let 's ha 't, good soldier. Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense Eno. All take hands. Make battery to our ears with the loud musick :- 4 I'll make answer:] The word-make, only serves to clog the metre. Steevens. 5 Come, let us all take hands;] As half a line in this place may have been omitted, the deficiency might be supplied with words resembling those in Milton's Comus: "Come, let us all take hands, and beat the ground, 6 Make battery to our ears-] So, in King John: 7 The holding every man shall bear,] In old editions: The holding every man shall beat, The company were to join in the burden, which the poet styles, the holding. But how were they to beat this with their sides? I am persuaded, the poet wrote: The holding every man shall bear, as loud As his strong sides can volley. The breast and sides are immediately concerned in straining to sing as loud and forcibly as a man can. Theobald. Mr. Theobald's emendation is very plausible; and yet beat might have been the poet's word, however harsh it may appear at present. In Henry VIII, we find a similar expression: 66 let the musick knock it." Steevens. The holding every man shall beat,] Every man shall accompany the chorus by drumming on his sides, in token of concurrence and applause. Johnson. I have no doubt but bear is the right reading. To bear the bur. den, or, as it is here called, the holding of a song, is the phrase at this day. The passage quoted by Mr. Steevens from King Henry VIII, relates to instrumental musick, not to vocal. Loud as his sides can volley, means, with the utmost exertion of his voice. So we say, he laughed till he split his sides. M. Mason. Theobald's emendation appears to me so plausible, and the VOL. XIII. Bb |