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Experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before
Did violate so itself.

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Can. Our fortune on the sea is out of breath, And sinks most lamentably. Had our general Been what he knew himself, it had

gone well: O, he has given example for our flight, Most grossly, by his own.

Eno. Ay, are you thereabouts? Why then, good night

Indeed.

[Aside.

Can. Towards Peloponnesus are they fled. Scar. 'Tis easy to't; and there I will attend What further comes.

Can.
My legions, and my horse; six kings already
Show me the way of yielding.

To Cæsar will I render

Eno.

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I'll yet follow

[Exeunt.

The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason Sits in the wind against me.

SCENE IX.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter ANTONY and Attendants.

Ant. Hark, the land bids me tread no more upon't, It is asham'd to bear me!-Friends, come hither, I am so lated in the world,' that I

Have lost my way for ever:—I have a ship

6 The wounded chance of Antony,] i. e. the broken fortunes of Antony.

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so lated in the world,] Alluding to a benighted traveller.

Laden with gold; take that, divide it; fly,
And make your peace with Cæsar.

Att.

Fly! not we. Ant. I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards

To run, and show their shoulders.-Friends, be gone;

I have myself resolv'd upon a course,
Which has no need of you; be gone:
My treasure's in the harbour, take it.—0,
I follow'd that I blush to look upon:
My very hairs do mutiny; for the white
Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them
For fear and doting.-Friends, be gone; you shall
Have letters from me to some friends, that will
Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad,
Nor make replies of loathness: take the hint
Which my despair proclaims; let that be left
Which leaves itself: to the sea side straightway:
I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a little: 'pray you now:-
Nay, do so; for, indeed, I have lost command,
Therefore I pray you:-I'll see you by and by.

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[Sits down.

Enter EROS, and CLEOPATRA, led by CHARMIAN and IRAS.

Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him:-Comfort him.

Iras. Do, most dear queen.

Char. Do! Why, what else?

Cleo. Let me sit down.

O Juno!

Ant. No, no, no, no, no.
Eros. See you here, sir?

I have lost command,] i. e. I entreat you to leave me,

because I have lost all power to command your absence.

VOL. VII.

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Ant. O fye, fye, fye.

Char. Madam,

Iras. Madam; O good empress!

Eros. Sir, sir,

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes;-He, at Philippi, kept

His sword even like a dancer; while I struck

The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus ended: he alone

Dealt on lieutenantry,' and no practice had

In the brave squares of war: Yet now-No matter. Cleo. Ah, stand by.

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Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen.

Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him;

He is unqualitied2 with very

shame.

Cleo. Well then,-Sustain me:—O!

Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen ap proaches;

Her head's declin'd, and death will seize her; but3 Your comfort makes the rescue.

Ant. I have offended reputation;

A most unnoble swerving.

Eros.

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Sir, the queen.

Ant. O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See, How I convey my shame out of thine eyes By looking back on what I have left behind 'Stroy'd in dishonour.

9 He, at Philippi, kept

His sword even like a dancer;] i. e. Cæsar never offered to draw his sword, but kept it in the scabbard, like one who dances with a sword on, which was formerly the custom in England.

1

he alone

Dealt on lieutenantry,] i. e. fought by proxy, made war by his lieutenants, or on the strength of his lieutenants.

2 He is unqualitied-] Perhaps, unqualitied, signifies unmanned in general, disarmed of his usual faculties.

death will seize her; but-] But has here, as once before

in this play, the force of except, or unless.

How I convey my shame-] How, by looking another

way, I

withdraw my ignominy from your sight.

Cleo.

O my lord, my lord! Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought, You would have follow'd.

Ant. Egypt, thou knew'st too well, My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings, And thou should'st tow me after: O'er my spirit Thy full supremacy thou knew'st; and that Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods Command me.

Cleo.

Ant.

Q, my pardon.

Now I must To the young man send humble treaties, dodge And palter in the shifts of lowness; who With half the bulk o'the world play'd as I pleas'd, Making, and marring fortunes. You did know, How much you were my conqueror; and that My sword, made weak by my affection, would Obey it on all cause.

Cleo.

O pardon, pardon, Ant. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates All that is won and lost: Give me a kiss;

Even this repays me.-We sent our schoolmaster, Is he come back?-Love, I am full of lead:

Some wine, within there, and our viands:-Fortune

knows,

We scorn her most, when most she offers blows.

SCENE X.

Cæsar's Camp, in Egypt.

[Exeunt.

Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and Others.

Caes. Let him appear that's come from Antony.Know you him?

5 tied by the strings,] That is, by the heart-string.

Dol.

Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster:

An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He sends so poor a pinion of his wing,
Which had superfluous kings for messengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Cæs.

Enter EUPHRONIUS.

Approach, and speak.

Eup. Such as I am, I come from Antony:
I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf
To his grand sea."

Cæs.

Be it so; Declare thine office. Eup. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted, He lessens his requests; and to thee sues

To let him breathe between the heavens and earth,
A private man in Athens: This for him.
Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness;
Submits her to thy might; and of thee craves
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

Cæs.
For Antony,
I have no ears to his request. The queen
Of audience, nor desire, shall fail; so she
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,"
Or take his life there: This if she perform,

his schoolmaster:] The name of this person was Euphronius. He was schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra. as petty to his ends,

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As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To his grand sea.] His grand sea may mean his full tide of prosperity; or it may mean the sea from which the dew-drop is exhaled. Shakspeare might have considered the sea as the source of dews as well as rain. His is used instead of its.

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royalty.

circle of the Ptolemies-] The diadem; the ensign of

- friend,] i. e. paramour.

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