Vd. Not fo, my lord. [Alarum. 5 Bru. Nay, I am fure it is, Volumnius. Thou fee'ft the world, Volumnius, how it goes; Our enemies have beat us to the pit : It is more worthy, to leap in ourselves, Than tarry 'till they pufh us. Good Volumnius, Thou know'ft, that we two went to school together; Even for that our love of old, I pray thee, Hold thou my fword's hilt, whilft I run on it. Val. That's not an office for a friend, my lord. [Alarum ftill. Ch. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here. Strato, thou haft been all this while asleep; So, fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue [Alarum. Cry within, Fly, fly, fly. Cli. Fly, my lord, fly. [Exeunt Clitus, Dar. and Vol. Bru. Hence; I will follow. I pr'ythee, Strato, ftay thou by thy lord: Thy life hath had some smack of honour in it: Bru, Farewel, good Strato.-Cæfar, now be still ;] Mef. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Meffala; The conquerors can but make a fire of him: For Brutus only overcame himself, 10 And no man elfe hath honour by his death. Luc. So Brutus fhould be found.-I thank thee, Brutus, That thou haft prov'd Lucilius' faying true. Octa. All that ferv'd Brutus, I will entertain them. 15 Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? Stra. Ay, if Meffala will prefer me to you. Ofta. Do fo, good Meffala. 20 Mej. How died my mafter, Strato? Stra. I held the fword, and he did run on it. Mef. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the confpirators, fave only he, Did that they did in envy of great Cæfar; 25 He, only, in a general honeft thought, And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle; and the elements So mix'd in him, that nature might stand up, And fay to all the world, This was a man! Ambaffadors from Antony to Cæfar, Captains, Soldiers, Meffengers, and other Attendants. 1 i. c. renounces. 2 Gyfly is here used both in the original meaning for an Egyptian, and in its accidental fenfe for a bad weman. 3 Triple is here used improperly for third, or one of three. One of the triumvirs, one of the three mafters of the world. i. e. bound or limit. 5 i.e. be brief, fum thy bufinefs in a few words. Kingdoms. Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike Alex. Shew him your hand. [A little I can read. [Embracing. And such a twain can do 't; in which, I bind, Cleo. Excellent falfhood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her ? I'll feem the fool I am not; Antony Will be himself. Ant. But ftirr'd by Cleopatra. Now, for the love of love, and his foft hours, Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, Enter Encbarbus. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, 5 Cleopatra's health to drink. 10 15 Char. Good fir, give me good fortune. Scoth. I make not, but forefee. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You fhall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you fhall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You fhall be more beloving, than belov'd. Char. Good now, fome excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and 20 widow them all! let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage! find me to marry with Octavius Cæfar, and companion me with my mistress! Soctb. You shall out-live the lady whom you 25 ferve. 30 35 40 Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs 7. Sooth. You have seen and prov'd a fairer former Than that which is to approach. [fortune Char. Then, belike, my children fhall have no names: Pr`ythee, how many boys and wenches muft I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And foretel every with, a million 9. Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Alex. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, fhall be-drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palm prefages chastity, if nothing elfe. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus prefageth Char. Lord Alexas, fweet Alexas, moft any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the foothfayer that you prais'd fo to the queen? O! that I knew this husband, which, you fay, 45 famine. muft change his horns with garlands. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot footh fay. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognoftication, I cannot fcratch mine ear.50 Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. 6 Herod To know. 2 But here fignifies unless. 3 Meaning, that he proves the common lyar, fame, in his cafe to be a true reporter. 4 Dr. Johnfon doubts, whether change in this place may not fignify merely to drefs, or to dress with changes of garlands; certain it is, that change of clothes in the time of Shakspeare fignified variety of them. A heated liver is fuppofed to make a pimpled face. was always one of the perfonages in the mysteries of our early stage, on which he was conftantly reprefented as a fierce, haughty, bluftering tyrant, fo that Herod of Jewry became a common proverb, expreffive of turbulence and rage. Thus Hamlet fays of a ranting player, that he "out-berods Herod." The meaning then is, Charmian wishes for a fon, who may arrive to fuch power and dominion, that the proudest and fierceft monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke. 7 A proverbial expreffion. A fairer fortune may mean, a more reputable one. Her answer then implies, that belike all her children will be baftards, who have no right to the name of their father's family. 9 The meaning is, If you had as many wombs as you will have wishes, and I fould foretel all those wishes, 1 fhould foretel a million of children. It is an ellipfis very frequent in converfation;-I fhould fhame you, and tell all; that is, and if I should tell all. And is for and if, which was anciently, and is full provincially used for if. 8 Alexas, come, his fortune, his fortune.-O let rc With fuch full licence, as both truth and malice him marry a woman that cannot go, fweet Ifis, I Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of Char. Amen. Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make 25 me a cuckold, they would make themfelves whores, but they'd do't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Char. Not he, the queen. Enter Cleopatra. Cleo. Saw you my lord? Eno. No, lady. Cleo. Was he not here? Char. No, madam. Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds, When our quick winds lie ftill 2; and our ills told us, [Exit. Or lofe myself in dotage.-What are you? Ant. Where died she? 2 Mef. In Sicyon : Her length of fickness, with what else more ferious There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I defire it: Cles. He was difpos'd to mirth; but on the fud-35I muft from this enchanting queen break off; A Roman thought hath ftruck him.- -Enobar- Mef. Fulvia thy wife firft came into the field. But foon that war had end, and the time's state Cæfar; 145 Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, Eno. What's your pleasure, fir? Eno. Why, then we kill all our women: We fee how mortal an unkindness is to them; if they fuffer our departure, death's the word. Ant. I must be gone. Eno. Under a compelling occafion, let women die: It were pity to caft them away for nothing; though, between them and a great cause, they fhould be efteem'd nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the leaft noise of this, dies inftantly; I have 50 feen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment 5: I do think, there is mettle in death, which commits fome loving act upon her, the hath fuch a celerity in dying. On; Mef. Labienus (this is stiff news) Ant. She is cunning past man's thought. Eno. Alack, fir, no; her paffions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love: We cannot call her winds and waters, fighs and tears; they are greater ftorms and tempefts than almaInacks can report: this cannot be cunning in her; 4 Could for would. Could, 1i. e. feized. 2 The sense is, that man, not agitated by censure, like foil not ventilated by quick winds, produces more evil than good. 3 i. e. by regular repetition. would, and should, are very often indifcriminately used in the old plays. meaner motives. 3 D 5 i. e. for lefs reafon; upon if |