Now, noble Charmian, we 'll despatch indeed: And, when thou hast done this chare, I 'll give thee leave To play till dooms-day.-Bring our crown and all. Wherefore 's this noise? Guard. [Exit IRAS. A Noise within. Enter one of the Guard. Here is a rural fellow, That will not be denied your highness' presence; Cleo. Let him come in. How poor an instrument May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty. 9 "Unto the maides quoth Hector then, your mistresse where is she? "What, is not she now gone abroade some sister hers to see, "Or to my good sisters there hir griefe, to put away, How poor &c.] Thus the second folio. The first nonsensically reads-What poor &c. Steevens. 1 — now the fleeting_moon No planet is of mine.] Alluding to the Egyptian devotion paid to the moon under the name of Isis. Warburton. I really believe that our poet was not at all acquainted with the devotion that the Egyptians paid to this planet under the name of Isis; but that Cleopatra having said, I have nothing of woman in me, added, by way of amplification, that she had not even the changes of disposition peculiar to her sex, and which sometimes happen as frequently as those of the moon; or that she was not, like the sea, governed by the moon. So, in King Richard III: " — I being governed by the watry moon," &c. Why should she say on this occasion that she no longer made use of the forms of worship peculiar to her country? Fleeting is inconstant. So, in William Walter's Guistard and Sismond, 12mo. 1597: "More variant than is the flitting lune." Again, in Greene's Metamorphosis, 1617: "-to show the world she was not fleeting." See Vol. XI, p. 49, n. 9. Steevens. Our author will himself furnish us with a commodious interpretation of this passage. I am now "whole as the marble, founded as the rock," and no longer changeable and fluctuating between different purposes, like the fleeting and inconstant moon, "That monthly changes in her circled orb." Malone. Re-enter Guard, with a Clown bringing a Basket. Cleo. Avoid, and leave him. [Exit Guard. Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, That kills and pains not? Clown. Truly I have him: but I would not be the party that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal; those, that do die of it, do seldom or never re cover. Cleo. Remember'st thou any that have died on 't? Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer than yesterday: a very honest woman, but something given to lie; as a woman should not do, but in the way of honesty: how she died of the biting of it, what pain she felt,-Truly, she makes a very good report o' the worm: But he that will believe all that they say, shall never be saved by half that they do :3 But this is most fallible, the worm 's an odd worm. 2 the pretty worm of Nilus Worm is the Teutonick word for serpent; we have the blind-worm and slow-worm still in our language, and the Norwegians call an enormous monster, scen sometimes in the Northern ocean, the sea-worm. Johnson. So, in The Dumb Knight, 1633: "Those coals the Roman Portia did devour, "Are not burnt out, nor have th' Egyptian worms Again, in The Tragedy of Hoffman, 1631: I'll watch for fear "Of venemous worms." See Vol. X, p. 206, n. 2. Steevens. In the Northern counties, the word worm is still given to the serpent species in general. I have seen a Northumberland ballad, entituled, The laidly Worm of Spindleston Heughes, i. e. The loathsome or foul serpent of Spindleston Craggs; certain rocks so called, near Bamburgh Castle. Shakspeare uses worm again in the same sense. See The Second Part of King Henry VI: "The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal." Percy. Again, in the old version of The New Testament, Acts xxviii, "Now when the barbarians sawe the worme hang on his hand," &c. Tollet. 3 But he that will believe all that they say, shall never be saved by half that they do:] Shakspeare's clowns are always jokers, and deal in sly satire. It is plain this must be read the contrary way, and all and half change places. Warburton. Probably Shakspeare designed that confusion which the critick would disentangle. Steevens. Cleo. Get thee hence; farewel. Clown. I wish you all joy of the worm. Cleo. Farewel. [Clown sets down the Basket. Clown. You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind.4 Cleo. Ay, ay; farewel. Clown. Look you, the worm is not to be trusted, but in the keeping of wise people; for, indeed, there is no goodness in the worm. Cleo. Take thou no care; it shall be heeded. Clown. Very good: give it nothing, I pray you, for it is not worth the feeding. Cleo. Will it eat me? Clown. You must not think I am so simple, but I know the devil himself will not eat a woman: I know, that a woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her not. But, truly, these same whoreson devils do the gods great harm in their women; for in every ten that they make, the devils mar five. Cleo. Well, get thee gone; farewel. Clown. Yes, forsooth; I wish you joy of the worm. [Exit. Re-enter IRAS, with a Robe, Crown, &c. will do his kind.] The serpent will act according to his nature. Johnson. So, in Heywood's If you know not Me you know Nobody, 1633: "Good girls, they do their kind.” Again, in the ancient black letter romance of Syr Tryamoure, no date: "He dyd full gentylly his kinde." Again, in Philemon Holland's translation of the 8th Book of Pliny's Nat. Hist. ch. 42: " Queene Semiramis loved a great horse that she had so farre forth, that she was content hee should doe his kind with her." Steevens. Again, in The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562. "For tickle Fortune doth, in changing, but her kind." Malone. 5 Immortal longings in me:] This expression appears to have been transplanted into Addison's Cato: "This longing after immortality.” Steevens. Now no more The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:] This verb occurs also in Chapman's version of the 22d Iliad: Yare, yare, good Iras; quick.-Methinks, I hear To praise my noble act; I hear him mock I give to baser life. So,-have you done? [Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies. Have I the aspick in my lips? Dost fall?1 If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world It is not worth leave-taking. Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; The gods themselves do weep! that I may say, 7 Yare, yare,] i. e. make haste, be nimble, be ready. So, in the old bl. romance of Syr Eglamoure of Artoys: "Ryght soone he made him yare.” See Vol. II, p. 9, n. 2. Steevens. A preceding passage precisely ascertains the meaning of the word: to proclaim it civilly, were like "A halter'd neck, which does the hangman thank 8 I am fire, and air; my other elements I give to baser life.] So, in King Henry V: "He is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him." "Do not our lives (says Sir Andrew Aguecheek) consist of the four elements?" Malone. Homer, Iliad VII, 99, speaks as contemptuously of the grosser elements we spring from: σε Αλλ ὑμεῖς μὲν πάντες ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα γενοισθε.” Steevens. Have I the aspick in my lips?] Are my lips poison'd by the aspick, that my kiss has destroyed thee? Malone. 1 Dost fall?] Iras must be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while her mistress was settling her dress, or I know not why she should fall so soon. Steevens. 2 - a lover's pinch,] So before, p. 222: "That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black." Steevens, Cleo. This proves me base: If she first meet the curled Antony, He'll make demand of her;3 and spend that kiss, With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate Char. Cleo. O eastern star! Peace, peace! Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, Char. 3 He'll make demand of her;] He will enquire of her concerning me, and kiss her for giving him intelligence. Johnson. Come, mortal wretch,] Old copies, unmetrically: Come, thou mortal wretch,· -. Steevens. 4 Unpolicied!] i. e. an ass without more policy than to leave the means of death within my reach, and thereby deprive his triumph of its noblest decoration. Steevens. • That sucks the nurse asleep?] Before the publication of this piece, The Tragedy of Cleopatra, by Daniel, 1594, had made its appearance; but Dryden is more indebted to it than Shakspeare. Daniel has the following address to the asp: "Better than death death's office thou dischargest, "That with one gentle touch can free our breath; "And in a pleasing sleep our soul enlargest, "Making ourselves not privy to our death."Therefore come thou, of wonders wonder chief, "That open canst with such an easy key "The door of life; come gentle, cunning thief, "That from ourselves so steal'st ourselves away." See Warton's Pope, Vol. IV, 219, v. 73. Dryden says on the same occasion: 66 Welcome thou kind deceiver! |