This is to horse.-Adieu, noble Agrippa. Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewel. Enter CESAR, ANTÓNY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA. Cas. You take from me a great part of myself;3 This be not cherish'd. Though you be therein curious, the least cause Cas. Farewel, my dearest sister, fare thee well; 3 You take from me a great part of myself;] So, in The Tempest: "I have given you here a third of my own life." Steevens. Again, in Troilus and Cressida: "I have a kind of self resides in you." Malone. — as my furthest band -] As 1 will venture the greatest; 'pledge of security, on the trial of thy conduct. Johnson. Band and bond, in our author's time, were synonymous, See Comedy of Errors, Act IV, sc. ii. Malone. 5 - the piece of virtue,] So, in The Tempest: "Thy mother was a piece of virtue”. Again, in Pericles: "Thou art a piece of virtue" &c. Steevens. the cement of our love, To keep it builded,] So, in our author's 119th Sonnet: "Grows fairer than at first." Malone. therein curious,] i. e. scrupulous. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: "For curious I cannot be with you." See Vol. VI, p. 126, n. 9. Steevens. Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well. Ant. The April 's in her eyes: It is love's spring, And these the showers to bring it on.-Be cheerful. 8 The elements be kind &c.] This is obscure. It seems to mean, May the different elements of the body, or principles of life, maintain such proportion and harmony as may keep you cheerful. Johnson. The elements be kind &c. I believe means only, May the four elements, of which this world is composed, unite their influences to make thee cheerful. There is, however, a thought, which seems to favour Dr. Johnson's explanation, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher and Shakspeare: 66 My precious maid, "Those best affections that the heavens infuse "In their best temper'd pieces, keep enthron'd Again, in Twelfth Night: "Does not our life consist of the four elements?-Faith, so they say." And another, which may serve in support of mine, the elements, "That know not what or why, yet do effect These parting words of Cæsar to his sister, may indeed mean no more than the common compliment which the occasion of her voyage very naturally required. He wishes that serene weather and prosperous winds may keep her spirits free from every apprehension that might disturb or alarm them. Steevens. The elements be kind to thee, (i. e. the elements of air and water.) Surely this expression means no more than, I wish you a good voyage; Octavia was going to sail with Antony from Rome to Athens. H. White. Dr. Johnson's explanation of this passage is too profound to be just. Octavia was about to make a long journey both by land and by water. Her brother wishes that both these elements may prove kind to her; and this is all. So, Cassio says, in Othello: "Give him defence against the elements, "For I have lost him on a dangerous sea." M. Mason. In the passage just quoted, the elements must mean, not earth and water, (which Mr. M. Mason supposes to be the meaning here,) but air and water; and such, I think, (as an anonymous commentator has also suggested,) is the meaning here. The following lines in Troilus and Cressida likewise favour this interpretation: 66 anon behold "The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut, Octa. Sir, look well to my husband's house; and Cæs. Octavia? Oct. I'll tell you in your ear. What, Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can Her heart inform her tongue: the swan's down feather, That stands upon the swell at full of tide, And neither way inclines.9 Eno. Will Cæsar weep? Agr. [Aside to AGR. He has a cloud in 's face. Eno. He were the worse for that, were he a horse;1 So is he, being a man. Agr. Why, Enobarbus? He cried almost to roaring: and he wept, Eno. That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum; 9 stands upon the swell at full of tide, And neither way inclines.] This image has already occurred in The Second Part of King Henry IV: 1 "As with the tide swell'd up unto its height, "That makes a still-stand, running neither way." Steevens. were he a horse;] A horse is said to have a cloud in his face, when he has a black or dark-coloured spot in his forehead between his eyes. This gives him a sour look, and being supposed to indicate an ill-temper, is of course regarded as a great blemish. The same phrase occurs in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, edit. 1632, 524: "Every lover admires his mistress, though she be very deformed of her selfe-thin leane, chitty face, have clouds in her face, be crooked,” &c. Steevens. 2 What willingly he did confound, he wail'd:] So, in Macbeth: wail his fall 66 "Whom I myself struck down." Malone. To confound is to destroy. See Vol. IX, p. 270, n. 8. Malone. 3 Believe it, till I weep too.] I have ventured to alter the tense of the verb here, against the authority of all the copies. There was no sense in it, I think, as it stood before. Theobald. ham afraid there was better sense in this passage as it originally stood, than Mr. Theobald's alteration will afford us. Believe it, (says Enobarbus) that Antony did so, i. e. that he wept over such an event, till you see me weeping on the same occasion, when I shall be obliged to you for putting such a construction on my tears, Cas. No, sweet Octavia, You shall hear from me still; the time shall not Out-go my thinking on you. Come, sir, come; Ant. Ces. Adieu; be happy! Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light To thy fair way! Cas. Ant. Farewel, farewel! [Kisses OTCA. Farewel! [Trumpets sound. Exeunt. SCENE III. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS. Cleo. Where is the fellow? Alex. Cleo. Go to, go to:-Come hither, sir. Alex. Half afeard to come. Enter a Messenger. Good majesty, That Herod's head Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you, But when you are well pleas'd. Clea. I'll have: But how? when Antony is gone Through whom I might command it.-Come thou near. Mess. Most gracious majesty, I look'd her in the face; and saw her led which, in reality, (like his) will be tears of joy. I have replaced the old reading. Mr. Theobald reads-till I wept too. Steevens. I should certainly adopt Theobald's amendment, the meaning of which is, that Antony wailed the death of Bratus so bitterly, that I [Enobarbus] was affected by it, and wept also. Mr. Steevens's explanation of the present reading is so forced, that I cannot clearly comprehend it. M. Mason. Between her brother and Mark Antony. Cleo. Is she as tall as me?+ Mess. She is not, madam. Cleo. Didst hear her speak? Is she shrill-tongu'd, or low? Mess. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low-voic'd. Cleo. That's not so good:-He cannot like her long.5 Char. Like her? O Isis! 'tis impossible. Cleo. I think so, Charmian: Dull of tongue, and dwarf ish! 4Is she as tall as me? &c. &c. &c.] This scene (says Dr. Grey) is a manifest allusion to the questions put by Queen Elizabeth to Sir James Melvil, concerning his mistress the Queen of Scots. Whoever will give himself the trouble to consult his Memoirs, may probably suppose the resemblance to be more than accidental. Steevens. I see no probability that Shakspeare should here allude to a conversation that passed between Queen Elizabeth and a Scottish ambassador, in 1564, the very year in which he was born, and does not appear to have been made publick for above threescore years after his death; Melvil's Memoirs not being printed till 1683. Such enquiries, no doubt, are perfectly natural to rival females, whether queens or cinder-wenches. Ritson. 5 That's not so good:-he cannot like her long.] Cleopatra perhaps does not mean-"That is not so good a piece of intelligence as your last;" but, "That, i. e. a low voice, is not so good as a shrill tongue." That a low voice (on which our author never omits to introduce an elogium when he has an opportunity) was not esteemed by Cleopatra as merit in a lady, appears from what she adds afterwards," Dull of tongue, and dwarfish!"-If the words be understood in the sense first mentioned, the latter part of the line will be found inconsistent with the foregoing. Perhaps, however, the author intended no connection between the two members of this line; and that Cleopatra, after a pause, should exclaim-He cannot like her, whatever her merits be, for any length of time. My first interpretation I believe to be the true one. It has been justly observed that the poet had probably queen Elizabeth here in his thoughts. The description given of her by a contemporary, about twelve years after her death, strongly confirms this supposition. "She was (says the Continuator of Stowe's Chronicle) tall of stature, strong in every limb and joynt, her fingers small and long, her voyce loud and shrill." Malone. It may be remarked, however, that when Cleopatra applies the epithet “shrill-tongued" to Fulvia, (see p. 189,) it is not introduced by way of compliment to the wife of Antony. Steevens. The quality of the voice is referred to, as a criterion similar to that, already noticed, of the hair. See p, 264, n. 1. Henley. |