Enter CESAR and his Forces, marching. Cæs. But being charged, we will be still by land, Which, as I take't, we shall; for his best force Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales, And hold our best advantage. Re-enter ANTONY and SCARUS. [Exeunt. Ant. Yet they're not joined. Where yonder pine does stand, I shall discover all; I'll bring thee word Straight, how 'tis like to go. Scar. [Exit. Swallows have built In Cleopatra's sails their nests; the augures 2 Say, they know not,—they cannot tell ;—look grimly, His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fight. Re-enter ANTONY. Ant. All is lost; This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me. My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder 1 But, in its exceptive sense, for be out, i. e. without. Steevens has adduced a passage from the MS. Romance of Guillaume de Palerne, in the Library of King's Coll., Cambridge, in which the orthography almost explains the word: "I sayle now in the see as schip boute mast, Boute anker, or ore, or any semlych sayle." 2 The old copy reads auguries. Augurs, the plural of augur, was anciently spelled augures, which we should read here, and not augurers, substituted by Malone. 3 Cleopatra first belonged to Julius Cæsar, then to Antony, and now, as Antony supposes, to Augustus. For when I am revenged upon my charm, [Exit SCARUS. O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more. Do we shake hands. All come to this!-The hearts O this false soul of Egypt! This grave charm 2 What, Eros, Eros! Enter CLEOPATRA. Ah, thou spell! Avaunt. Cleo. Why is my lord enraged against his love? Ant. Vanish; or I shall give thee thy deserving, And blemish Cæsar's triumph. Let him take thee, And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians; Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown For poor'st diminutives, for doits; 5 and let Patient Octavia plough thy visage up With her prepared nails. [Exit CLEO.] 'Tis well thou'rt gone, If it be well to live; but better 'twere 1 The old editions read pannell'd. Spanieled is the happy emendation of sir Thomas Hanmer. 2 This grave charm" probably means this deadly or destructive piece of witchcraft. 3 "That which I looked to as the reward or crown of my endeavors." 4 The allusion is to the game of fast and loose, or pricking at the belt or girdle, still practised by juggling cheats at fairs, and which was practised by the gypsies in Shakspeare's time. 5 i. e. for the smallest pieces of money. The old copy reads, "for dolts;" and, at Mr. Tyrwhitt's suggestion, Steevens reads, "to dolts." The shirt of Nessus is upon me. Teach me, Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage. Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon; SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN. Cleo. Help me, my women! O, he is more mad Than Telamon1 for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so embossed." Char. To the monument; There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead. The soul and body rive not more in parting, Than greatness going off. Cleo. death. [Exeunt. SCENE XII. The same. Another Room. Enter ANTONY and EROS. Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me? Eros. Ay, noble lord. Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish; 1 i. e. than Ajax Telamon for the armor of Achilles, the most valuable part of which was the shield. The boar of Thessaly was the boar killed by Meleager. 2 When a hunted animal is so hard run that it foams at the mouth, it is said to be embossed. A vapor, sometime, like a bear, or lion, With trees upon't, that nod unto the world, And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs; They are black vesper's pageants. Eros. Ay, my lord. Ant. That which is now a horse, even with a thought, The rack dislimns,1 and makes it indistinct, As water is in water. Eros. It does, my lord. Ant. My good knave Eros, now thy captain is 3 Packed cards with Cæsar, and false played my glory Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us Enter MARDIAN. She has robbed me of my sword. No, Antony; Mar. Ant. Hence, saucy eunuch; peace; She hath betrayed me, and shall die the death. Mar. Death of one person can be paid but once; And that she has discharged. What thou wouldst do Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake Was, Antony! most noble Antony! 1 i. e. "the fleeting away of the clouds destroys the picture." 2 Knave was familiarly used for servant. 3 "To pack the cards" was to put them together in an unfair manner. It is often used, metaphorically, for contriving together to deceive another. Then in the midst a tearing groan did break Between her heart and lips. Thy name so buried in her. Ant. Mar. She rendered life, Dead, then? Dead. Ant. Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, And we must sleep.-That thou depart'st hence safe, Does pay thy labor richly; go.-Off, pluck off;— [Exit MARDIAN. I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and And all the haunt be ours.-Come, Eros, Eros! Re-enter EROS. Since Cleopatra died, Eros. What would my lord? Ant. I lived in such dishonor, that the gods Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword 1 "The battery from my heart," means "the battery proceeding from my heart. 2 i. e. the thing that contains thee. 3 Steevens thinks that the Poet wrote life, and not length. But length may signify extension or protraction of life. |