As his strong sides can volley. [Musick plays. ENO. places them hand in hand. Come, thou monarch of the vine, Cup us, till the world go round! Ces. What would you more?-Pompey, good night, Let me request you off: our graver business Pom. I'll try you o' the shore. Ant. And shall, sir: give 's your hand. Pom. O, Antony, You have my father's house,—But what? we are friends: change is so small, that I have given it a place in the text, as did Mr. Steevens, in his edition. The meaning of the holding is ascertained by a passage in an old pamphlet called The Serving-Man's Comfort, 4to. 1598: - where a song is to be sung the under-song or holding whereof is, It is merrie in haul where beards wag all." Malone. 66 8 with pink eyne:] Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says a pink eye is a small eye, and quotes this passage for his authority. Pink eyne, however, may be red eyes: eyes inflamed with drinking, are very well appropriated to Bacchus. So, in Julius Cæsar: such ferret and such fiery eyes.” -like a So, Greene, in his Defence of Coney-Catching, 1592: " pink-ey'd ferret." Again, in a song sung by a drunken Clown in Marius and Sylla, 1594: "Thou makest some to stumble, and many mo to fumble, "And me have pinky eyne, most brave and jolly wine!" Steevens. It should be observed, however, that from the following passage in P. Holland's translation of the 11th Book of Pliny's Natural History, it appears that pink-eyed signified the smallness of eyes: also them that were pinke-eyed and had verie small eies, they termed ocellæ.” Steevens. 90, Antony,' You have my father's house,] The historian Paterculus says: Come, down into the boat. Eno. Take heed you fall not.[Exeunt Poм. CES. ANT. and Attendants. Menas, I'll not on shore. Men. No, to my cabin.These drums!-these trumpets, flutes! what!-Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewel To these great fellows: Sound, and be hang'd, sound out. [A Flourish of Trumpets, with Drums. Eno. Ho, says 'a!-There 's my cap. Men. Ho!-noble captain! Come. [Exeunt. ACT III..... SCENE I. A Plain in Syria. Enter VENTIDIUS, as after Conquest, with SILIUS, and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead Body of Pacorus borne before him. Ven. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck;1 and now Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death Make me revenger.-Bear the king's son's body Sil. Noble Ventidius, Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm, The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony 66 -cum Pompeio quoque circa Misenum pax inita: Qui haud absurdè, cum in navi Cæsaremque et Antonium cœna exciperet, dixit: In carinis suis se cœnam dare; referens hoc dictum ad loci nomen, in quo paterna domus ab Antonio possidebatur." Our author, though he lost the joke, yet seems willing to commemorate the story. Warburton. The joke of which the learned editor seems to lament the loss, could not be found in the old translation of Plutarch, and Shakspeare looked no further. See p. 266, n. 7. Steevens. 1 struck;] alludes to darting. Thou whose darts have so often struck others, art struck now thyself. Johnson. 2 Thy Pacorus, Orodes,] Pacorus was the son of Orodes, King of Parthia. Steevens. Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and Ven. More in their officer, than person: Sossius, Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour. I could do more to do Antonius good, But 'twould offend him; and in his offence Sil. Thou hast, Ventidius, That without which a soldier, and his sword, 3 Better leave undone, &c.] Old copies, unmetrically (because the players were unacquainted with the most common ellipsis): Better to leave undone, &c. Steevens. when him we serve 's away.] Thus the old copy, and such certainly was our author's phraseology. So, in The Winter's Tale: "I am appointed him to murder you." See also Coriolanus, Vol. XIII, p. 177, n. 2. The modern editors, however, all read, more grammatically, when he we serve, &c. Malone. 5 That without which-] Here again, regardless of metre, the old copy reads: That without the which Steevens. 6 That without which a soldier, and his sword, Grants scarce distinction.] Grant, for afford. It is badly and obscurely expressed: but the sense is this: Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there would be no distinction between thee and thy sword. You would be both equally cutting and senseless. This was wisdom or knowledge of the world. Ventidius had told him the reasons why he did not pursue his advantages: and his friend, by this compliment, acknowledges them to be of weight. Warburton. We have somewhat of the same idea in Coriolanus:" "Who, sensible, outdares his senseless sword." Steevens. Ven. I'll humbly signify what in his name, Sil. Where is he now? Ven. He proposeth to Athens: whither with what haste The weight we must convey with us will permit, We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass along. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Rome. An Ante-Chamber in Cæsar's House. Enter AGRIPPA, and ENOBARBUS, meeting. Agr. What, are the brothers parted? Eno. They have despatch'd with Pompey, he is gone s The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps To part from Rome: Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus, Agr. 'Tis a noble Lepidus. Eno. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar! Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony! Eno. Cæsar? Why, he 's the Jupiter of men: Agr. What 's Antony? The god of Jupiter. Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How?" the nonpareil! Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!8 Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say,-Cæsar;—go no further.9 7 How?] I believe, was here, as in another place in this play printed by mistake, for ho. See also Vol. IV, p. 421, n. 1. I perceive no need of alteration. Steevens. Of Antony? O, thou Arabian bird! Malone. Speak you of Cæsar, he is the nonpareil; speak you of Antony he is the Arabian bird. M. Mason. 8 Arabian bird!] The phoenix. Johnson. So, again, in Cymbeline: She is alone the Arabian bird, and I "Have lost my wager." Steevens. Cæsar-go no further.] I suspect that this line was de Agr. Indeed, he ply'd them both with excellent praises. Eno. But he loves Cæsar best;-Yet he loves Antony: Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets,1 cannot Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love To Antony. But as for Cæsar, Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder. Agr. Both he loves. Eno. They are his shards, and he their beetle. So, [Trumpets. signed to be metrical, and that (omitting the impertinent go) we should read: Would you praise Cæsar, say-Cæsar;-no further. Steevens. 1 bards, poets,] Not only the tautology of bards and poets, but the want of a correspondent action for the poet, whose business in the next line is only to number, makes me suspect some fault in this passage, which I know not how to mend. Johnson. I suspect no fault. The ancient bard sung his compositions to the harp; the poet only commits them to paper. Verses are often called numbers, and to number, a verb (in this sense) of Shakspeare's coining, is to make verses. This puerile arrangement of words was much studied in the age of Shakspeare, even by the first writers. So, in An excellent Sonnet of a Nimph, by Sir P. Sidney; printed in England's Helicon, 1600: "Vertue, beauty, and speach, did strike, wound, charme, My hart, eyes, eares, with wonder, loue, delight: "First, second, last, did binde, enforce, and arme, "His works, showes, sutes, with wit, grace, and vowes-might: "Thus honour, liking, trust, much, farre, and deepe, "Held, pearst, possest, my judgment, sence, and will; "Till wrongs, contempt, deceite, did grow, steale, creepe, "Bands, faŭour, faith, to breake, defile, and kill. "Then greefe, unkindnes, proofe, tooke, kindled, taught, "Well grounded, noble, due, spite, rage, disdaine : "But ah, alas (in vaine) my minde, sight, thought, "Dooth him, his face, his words, leaue, shunne, refraine. "For nothing, time, nor place, can loose, quench, ease, "Mine owne, embraced, sought, knot, fire, disease." Steevens. Again, in Daniel's 11th Sonnet, 1594: "Yet I will weep, vow, pray to cruell shee; "Flint, frost, disdaine, weares, melts, and yields, we see.” Malone. 2 They are his shards, and he their beetle.] i. e. They are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground. So, in Macbeth: the shard-borne beetle." See Vol VII, p. 137, n. 3. Steevens. |