6 Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony? VEN. I'll humbly signify what in his name, That magical word of war, we have effected; How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks, The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia We have jaded out o'the field. SIL. Where is he now? VEN. He purposeth to Athens: whither with what haste The weight we must convey with us will permit, We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass [Exeunt. along. SCENE II. Rome. An Ante-Chamber in Cæsar's House. Enter AGRIPPA, and ENOBARBUS, meeting. AGR. What, are the brothers parted? ENO. They have despatch'd with Pompey, he is gone; The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps • That without which a soldier, and his sword, Grants scarce distinction.] Grant for afford. It is badly and obscurely expressed; but the sense is this: Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there would be no distinction between thee and thy sword. You would be both equally cutting and senseless. This was wisdom or knowledge of the world. Ventidius had told him the reasons why he did not pursue his advantages; and his friend, by this compliment, acknowledges them to be of weight. WARBURTON. We have somewhat of the same idea in Coriolanus: "Who, sensible, outdares his senseless sword." STEEVENS. To part from Rome: Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus, Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled With the green sickness. AGR. 'Tis a noble Lepidus. ENO. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar! AGR. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony! ENO. Cæsar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men. AGR. What's Antony? The god of Jupiter. ENO. Spake you of Cæsar? How?" the nonpareil! AGR. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!" ENO. Would you praise Cæsar, say,-Cæsar;go no further." 7 AGR. Indeed, he ply'd them both with excellent praises. How?] I believe, was here, as in another place in this play, printed by mistake, for ho. See also Vol. VII. p. 379, n. 1. MALONE. I perceive no need of alteration. STEEVENS. Spake you of Cæsar? How? the nonpareil! Of Antony? O, thou Arabian bird! Speak you of Cæsar, he is the nonpareil; speak you of Antony, he is the Arabian bird. M. MASON. 8 - Arabian bird!] The phoenix. JOHNSON. So, again, in Cymbeline: "She is alone the Arabian bird, and I "Have lost my wager." STEEvens. Cæsar ;-go no further.] I suspect that this line was designed to be metrical, and that (omitting the impertinent go) we should read: Would you praise Cæsar, say-Cæsar;-no further. STEEVENS. ENO. But he loves Cæsar best;-Yet he loves Antony : Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets,' cannot Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love To Antony. But as for Casar, Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder. AGR. Both he loves. 'bards, pocts,] Not only the tautology of bards and poets, but the want of a correspondent action for the poet, whose business in the next line is only to number, makes me suspect some fault in this passage, which I know not how to mend. JOHNSON. I suspect no fault. The ancient bard sung his compositions to the harp; the poet only commits them to paper. Verses are often called numbers, and to number, a verb (in this sense) of Shakspeare's coining, is to make verses. age This puerile arrangement of words was much studied in the of Shakspeare, even by the first writers. So, in An excellent Sonnet of a Nimph, by Sir P. Sidney; printed in England's Helicon, 1600: "Vertue, beauty, and speach, did strike, wound, charme, My hart, eyes, eares, with wonder, loue, delight: "First, second, last, did binde, enforce, and arme, "His works, showes, sutes, with wit, grace, and vowes-might: Again, in Daniel's 11th Sonnet, 1594: STEEVENS. "Flint, frost, disdaine, weares, melts, and yields, we see." MALONE. ENO. They are his shards, and he their beetle." So, [Trumpets. This is to horse.—Adieu, noble Agrippa. AGR. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA. ANT. No further, sir. CES. You take from me a great part of myself;3 Use me well in it.-Sister, prove such a wife As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest band+ Shall pass on thy approof.-Most noble Antony, Let not the piece of virtue," which is set Betwixt us, as the cement of our love, To keep it builded," be the ram, to batter 2 They are his shards, and he their beetle.] i. e. They are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground. So, in Macbeth: You take from me a great part of myself;] So, in The Tempest: "I have given you here a third of my own life." STEEVENS. Again, in Troilus and Cressida : "I have a kind of self resides in you." MALONE. as my furthest band-] As I will venture the greatest pledge of security, on the trial of thy conduct. JOHNSON. Band and bond, in our author's time, were synonymous. See Comedy of Errors, Act IV. sc. ii. MALONE. the piece of virtue,] So, in The Tempest: "Thy mother was a piece of virtue.” Again, in Pericles: 6 "Thou art a piece of virtue" &c. STEEVENS. the cement of our love, To keep it builded,] So, in our author's 119th Sonnet: The fortress of it: for better might we Have loved without this mean, if on both parts Though you be therein curious," the least cause For what you seem to fear: So, the gods keep you, And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends! We will here part. 8 CES. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well; The elements be kind to thee, and make Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well. 7- therein curious,] i. e. scrupulous. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: "For curious I cannot be with you." See Vol. IX. p. 162, n. 7. STEEVENS. The elements be kind &c.] This is obscure. It seems to mean, May the different elements of the body, or principles of life, maintain such proportion and harmony as may keep you cheerful. JOHNSON. The elements be kind &c. I believe means only, May the four elements, of which this world is composed, unite their influences to make thee cheerful. There is, however, a thought, which seems to favour Dr. Johnson's explanation, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher and Shakspeare: My precious maid, "Those best affections that the heavens infuse "In their best temper'd pieces, keep enthron'd Again, in Twelfth-Night: "Does not our life consist of the four elements?-Faith, so they say.' And another, which may serve in support of mine: 66 the elements, "That know not what or why, yet do effect |