Enter EROS, with Armour. Come, my good fellow, put thine iron9 on:— If fortune be not ours to-day, it is Because we brave her.-Come. Cleo. What 's this for? Ant. Nay, I'll help too.1 Ah, let be, let be! thou art The armourer of my heart:-False, false; this, this. Well, well; Eros. Briefly, sir.2 Cleo. Is not this buckled well? Ant. Rarely, rarely: To doff 't for our repose, shall hear a storm.- 8 my good fellow,] The necessary pronoun possessivemy, was introduced, in aid of metre, by Mr. Rowe. Steevens. 9 thine iron] I think it should be rather— mine iron- Johnson. Thine iron is the iron which thou hast in thy hand, i. e. Antony's armour. So, in King Henry V, Henry says to a soldier, "Give me thy glove;" meaning Henry's own glove, which the soldier at that moment had in his hat. Malone. 1 Nay, I'll help too.] These three little speeches, which in the other editions are only one, and given to Cleopatra, were happily disentangled by Sir T. Hanmer. Johnson. In the old copy the words stand thus: Cleo. Nay I'll help too, Antony. What's this for Ah let be, let be; &c. Sooth, la, I'll help Thus it must be. Sir Thomas Hanmer gave the words-"What's this for?" to Antony; but that they belong to Cleopatra, appears clearly, I think, from the subsequent words, which have been rightly attributed to Antony. What's this piece of your armour for? says the queen. Let it alone, replies Antony; "false, false; this, this." This is the piece that you ought to have given me, and not that of which you asked the use. Malone. 2 Briefly, sir.] That is, quickly, sir. Johnson. 3 To doff't-] To doff is to do off, to put off. See Vol. VII, p. 341, n. 9. Steevens. 4 More tight at this, than thou:] Tight is handy, adroit. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "bear you these letters_tightly." n the country, a tight lass still signifies a handy one. Steevens That thou could'st see my wars to-day, and knew'st Enter an Officer, armed. A workman in 't.-Good morrow to thee; welcome: And go to it with delight. 1 off. A thousand, sir, Early though it be, have on their riveted trim,5 And at the port expect you. [Shout. Trumpets. Flourish. Enter other Officers, and Soldiers. 2 Off. The morn is fair.-Good morrow, general. All. Good morrow, general. Ant. 'Tis well blown, lads. This morning, like the spirit of a youth [Kisses her. [Exeunt ANT. EROS, Officers, and Soldiers. Char. Please you, retire to your chamber? Cleo. Lead me. He goes forth gallantly. That he and Cæsar might SCENE V. Antony's Camp near Alexandria. [Exeunt. Trumpets sound. Enter ANTONY and EROS; a Soldier meeting them. 5 old Sold. The gods make this a happy day to Antony !? have on their riveted trim,] So, in King Henry V: Malone. 6 The morn is fair.-Good morrow, general.] This speech, in the copy, is erroneously given to Alexas. Steevens. Alexas had now revolted, and therefore could not be the speaker. See p. 342. Malone. Ant. 'Would, thou and those thy scars had once pre vail'd To make me fight at land! Sold. Ant. Sold, Who's gone this morning? One ever near thee: Call for Enobarbus, Say, I am none of thine. Ant. Sold. He is with Cæsar. Eros. What say'st thou? Sir, Sir, his chests and treasure He has not with him. Ant. Sold. Is he gone? Most certain. Ant. Go, Eros, send his treasure after; do it; Who? [Exeunt. 7 Sold. The gods make this a happy day to Autony!] "Tis evident, as Dr. Thirlby likewise conjectured, by what Antony immediately replies, that this line should not be placed to Eros, but to the Soldier, who, before the battle of Actium, advised Antony to try his fate at land. Theobald. The same mistake has, I think, happened in the next two speeches addressed to Antony, which are also given in the old copy to Eros. I have given them to the Soldier, who would naturally reply to what Antony said. Antony's words, "What sayst thou 2" compared with what follows, show that the speech beginning, "Who? One ever near thee:" &c. belongs to the Soldier. This regulation was made by Mr. Capell. Malone. 8 Eros, despatch.] Thus the second folio; except that these two words are here, for the sake of metre, transposed. The first folio has Dispatch Enobarbus. Dr. Johnson would read-. Despatch! To Enobarbus; And Mr. Holt White supposes that "Antony, being astonished at the news of the desertion of Enobarbus, merely repeats his name in a tone of surprize." SCENE VI. Cæsar's Camp before Alexandria. Flourish. Enter CÆSAR, with AGRIPPA, ENOBARBUS, and Others. Cas. Go forth, Agrippa, and begin the fight: Our will is, Antony be took alive ;9 Make it so known. Agr. Cæsar, I shall. [Exit AGR. Cas. The time of universal peace is near: In my opinion, Antony was designed only to enforce the order he had already given to Eros. I have therefore followed the second folio. Steevens. It will be evident to any person who consults the second folio with attention and candour, that many of the alterations must have been furnished by some corrected copy of the first folio, dr an authority of equal weight, being such as no person, much less one so ignorant and capricious as the editor has been represented, could have possibly hit upon, without that sort of information. Among these valuable emendations is the present, which affords a striking improvement both of the sense and of the metre, and should of course be inserted in the text, thus: Corrupted honest men. Eros, despatch. The same transposition, which is a mere, though frequent, inadvertence of the press, has happened in a subsequent scene: Unarm, Eros; the long days task is done:" Where the measure plainly requires, as the author must have written,-Eros, unarm. Ritson. 9 Our will is, Antony be took alive;] It is observable with what judgment Shakspeare draws the character of Octavius. Antony was his hero; so the other was not to shine: yet being an historical character, there was a necessity to draw him like. But the ancient historians, his flatterers, had delivered him down so fair, that he seems ready cut and dried for a hero. Amidst these difficulties Shakspeare has extricated himself with great address. He has admitted all those great strokes of his character as he found them, and yet has made him a very unamiable character, deceitful, mean-spirited, narrow-minded, proud, and revengeful Warburton. Shall bear the olive freely.] So, in King John: Mess. Enter a Messenger. Is come into the field. Cas. Antony Go, charge Agrippa Plant those that have revolted in the van, That Antony may seem to spend his fury Upon himself. [Exeunt CES. and his Train. End. Alexas did revolt; and went to Jewry, On affairs of Antony; there did persuade Great Herod to incline himself to Cæsar, And leave his master Antony: for this pains, Cæsar hath hang'd him. Canidius, and the rest That fell away, have entertainment, but No honourable trust. I have done ill; Of which I do accuse myself so sorely, That I will joy no more. Sold. Enter a Soldier of Cæsar's. Enobarbus, Antony Hath after thee sent all thy treasure,3 with So, Lyly, in Euphues and his England, 1580: "The island is in fashion three-corner'd," &c. Malone. Shall bear the olive freely.] i. e. shall spring up every where spontaneously and without culture. Warburton. Dr. Warburton mistakes the sense of the passage. To bear does not mean to produce, but to carry; and the meaning is, that the world shall then enjoy the blessings of peace, of which olive branches were the emblem. The success of Augustus could not so change the nature of things, as to make the olive-tree grow without culture in all climates, but it shut the gates of the temple of Janus. M. Mason. I doubt whether Mr. M. Mason's explication of the word bear be just. The poet certainly did not intend to speak literally; and might only mean, that, should this prove a prosperous day, there would be no occasion to labour to effect a peace throughout the world; it would take place without any effort or negociation. Malone. My explanation of this passage is supported by the following lines in The Second Part of King Henry IV, Vol. IX, p. 140, where Westmorland says 2 "There is not now a rebel's sword unsheath'd, persuade -] The old copy has dissuade, perhaps rightly. It is undoubtedly corrupt. The words in the old translation of Plutarch are: "for where he should have kept Herodes from revolting from him, he persuaded him to turne to Cæsar." Malone. |