SCENE X.

Cæsar's Camp, in Egypt.

Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS,1 and Others. Cas. Let him appear that 's come from Antony.— Know you him?

Dol.

Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster:2
An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He sends so poor a pinion of his wing,

Which had superfluous kings for messengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Cas.

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
To his grand sea.3

1

Thyreus,] In the old copy always-Thidias. Steevens. his schoolmaster:] The name of this person was Euphronius. Steevens.

2

He was schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra. Malone. as petty to his ends,

3

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To his grand sea.] Thus the old copy. To whose grand sea? I know not. Perhaps we should read:

To this grand sea.

We may suppose that the sea was within view of Cæsar's camp, and at no great distance. Tyrwhitt.

The modern editors arbitrarily read:-the grand sea.

I believe the old reading is the true one. His grand sea may mean his full tide of prosperity. So, in King Henry VI, P. I:

"You are the fount that makes small brooks to flow;

"Now stops thy spring; my sea shall suck them dry,
"And swell so much the higher by their ebb."

Again, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher:

though I know

"His ocean needs not my poor drops, yet they
"Must yield their tribute here."

There is a play-house tradition that the first Act of this play was written by Shakspeare. Mr. Tollet offers a further explanation of the change proposed by Mr. Tyrwhitt : Alexandria, towards which Cæsar was marching, is situated on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, which is sometimes called mare magnum. Pliny terms it, "immenşa æquorum vastitas." I may add, VOL. XIII.

Ee

Cas.

Be it so; Declare thine office.
Eup. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and
Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted,
He lessens his requests; and to thee sues
To let him breathe between the heavens and earth,
A private man in Athens: This for him.
Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness;
Submits her to thy might; and of thee craves
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

Cas.
For Antony,
I have no ears to his request. The queen
Of audience, nor desire, shall fail; so she
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,5
Or take his life there: This if she perform,
She shall not sue unheard. So to them both.
Eup. Fortune pursue thee!
Cas.

Bring him through the bands.
[Exit EUP.

To try thy eloquence, now 'tis time: Despatch;
From Antony win Cleopatra: promise, [To THYR.
And in our name, what she requires; add more,

that Sir John Mandeville, p. 89, calls that part of the Mediterranean which washes the coast of Palestine," the grete see." Again, in A. Wyntown's Cronykil, B. IX, ch. xii, v. 40: 66 the Mediterane,

"The gret se clerkis callis it swa."

The passage, however, is capable of yet another explanation. His grand sea 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. Steevens.

Tyrwhitt's amendment is more likely to be right, than Steevens's explanation. M. Mason.

I believe the last is the right explanation. Henley.

The last of Mr. Steevens's explanations certainly gives the sense of Shakspeare. If his be not used for its, he has made a person of the morn-drop. Ritson.

4 The circle of the Ptolemies] The diadem; the ensign of royalty. Johnson.

So, in Macbeth:

5

"All that impedes thee from the golden round,
"Which fate and metaphysical aid

"Would have thee crown'd withal." Malone.

-friend,] i. e. paramour. See Vol. XVI, note on Cym beline, Act I, sc. v. Steevens.

From thine invention, offers: women are not,

In their best fortunes, strong; but want will perjure The ne'er-touch'd vestal: Try thy cunning, Thyreus; Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we

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 ?9

7

Eno.

-will perjure

Think, and die.1

The ne'er-touch'd vestal:] So, in The Rape of Lucrece:
"O Opportunity! thy guilt is great:-

"Thou mak'st the vestal violate her oath." Malone.

how Antony becomes his flaw;] That is, how Antony conforms himself to this breach of his fortune. Johnson. And what thou think'st his very action speaks

In every power that moves.] So, in Troilus and Cressida:
her foot speaks, her-spirits look out

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“At every joint and motive of her body." Steevens.

9 What shall we do, Enobarbus 2] I have little doubt but that the verb-do, which is injurious to the metre, was interpolated, and that some player or transcriber (as in many former instances) has here defeated the purpose of an ellipsis convenient to versification. What shall we? in ancient familiar language, is frequently understood to signify-What shall we do? Steevens.

1 Think, and die.] Sir T. Hanmer reads:

Drink, and die.

And his emendation has been approved, it seems, by Dr. Warburton and Mr. Upton. Dr. Johnson, however, "has not advanced it into the page, not being convinced that it is necessary. "Think, and die," says he, "that is, Reflect on your own folly, and leave the world, is a natural answer." I grant it would be, according to this explanation, a very proper answer from a moralist or a divine; but Enobarbus, I doubt, was neither the one nor the other. He is drawn as a plain, blunt soldier; not likely, however, to offend so grossly in point of delicacy as Sir T. Hanmer's alteration would make him. I believe the true reading is:

Wink, and die.

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?

Eno. Antony only, that would make his wilk: Lord of his reason. What although you fled From that great face of war, whose several ranges Frighted each other? why should he follow?3

When the ship is going to be cast away, in The Sea Voyage of Beaumont and Fletcher, (Act I, sc. i,) and Aminta is lamenting Tibalt says to her:

Go, take your gilt

Prayer-book, and to your business; wink, and die?" insinuating plainly, that she was afraid to meet death with her eyes open. And the same insinuation, I think, Enobarbus might very naturally convey in his return to Cleopatra's desponding question. Tyrwhitt.

I adhere to the old reading, which may be supported by the following passage in Julius Cæsar:

all that he can do

"Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cæsar."

Mr. Tollet observes, that the expression of taking thought, in our old English writers, is equivalent to the being anxious or solicitous, or laying a thing much to heart. So, says he, it is used in our translations of The New Testament, Matthew vi, 25, &c. So, in Holinshed, Vol. III, p. 50, or anno 1140: "— - taking thought for the losse of his houses and money, he pined away and died." In the margin thus: "The bishop of Salisburie dieth of thought.” Again, in p. 833. Again, in Stowe's Chronicle, anno 1508:

66

Christopher Hawis shortened his life by thought-taking.” Again, in p. 546, edit. 1614. Again, in Leland's Collectanea, Vol. I, p. 234: "their mother died for thought." Mr. Tyrwhitt, however, might have given additional support to the reading which he offers, from a passage in The Second Part of King Henry IV:

66

-led his powers to death,

"And winking leap'd into destruction." Steevens.

After all that has been written upon this passage, I believe the old reading is right; but then we must understand think and die to mean the same as die of thought, or melancholy. In this sense is thought used below, Act IV, sc. vi, and by Holinshed, Chronicle of Ireland, p. 97: "His father lived in the Tower-where for thought of the young man his follie he died." There is a passage almost exactly similar in The Beggar's Bush of Beaumont and Fletcher, Vol. II, p. 423:

"Can I not think away myself and die?" Tyrwhitt. Think and die :--Consider what mode of ending your life is most preferable, and immediately adopt it. Henley.

2 although The first syllable of this word was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the measure. Steevens.

3

- why should he follow ?] Surely, for the sake of metre, we should read-follow you? Steevens.

The itch of his affection should not then
Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point,
When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
The mered question:5 'Twas a shame no less
Than was his loss, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

Cleo.

Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS.

Ant. Is this his answer?

Eup.

Ant.

Ay, my lord.

The queen

Shall then have courtesy, so she will yield

Us up.

Eup. He says so.

Ant.

Let her know it.6

To the boy Cæsar send this grizled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim
With principalities.

4 Have nick'd his captainship;] i. e. set the mark of folly on it. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

"His man with scissars nicks him like a fool." Steevens.

5 he being

The mered question:] The mered question is a term I do not understand. I know not what to offer, except –

The mooted question.

That is, the disputed point, the subject of debate. Mere is indeed a boundary, and the meered question, if it can mean any thing, may, with some violence of language, mean, the disputed boundary. Johnson.

So, in Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil, B. III, 1582:

"Whereto joinctlye mearing a cantel of Itayle neereth." Barrett, in his Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, interprets a meere-stone by lapis terminalis. Question is certainly the true reading. So, in Hamlet, Act I, sc. i:

the king

"That was and is the question of these wars." Steevens. Possibly Shakspeare might have coined the word meered, and derived it from the adjective mere or meer. In that case, the mered question might mean, the only cause of the dispute-the only subject of the quarrel. M. Mason.

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.

Let her know it.] To complete the verse, we might addLet her know it then. Steevens.