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Whom leprosy o'ertake! i'the midst o'the fight,—
When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd,
Both as the same, or rather ours the elder,-
The brize upon her, like a cow in June,

Hoists sails, and flies.

Eno.

That I beheld:

Mine eyes did sicken at the sight, and could not Endure a further view.

Scar.

She once being loof'd,

The noble ruin of her magick, Antony,

Claps on his sea-wing, and like a doting mallard,
Leaving the fight in height, flies after her:

I never saw an action of such shame;
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.
To Cæsar will I render
My legions, and my horse; six kings already
Show me the way of yielding.

6 The brize is the œstrum, or gadfly, so troublesome to cattle in the summer months.

7 To loof is to bring a ship close to the wind. This expression is in the old translation of Plutarch. It also frequently occurs in Hackluyt's Voyages.

Eno.

I'll yet follow

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

[Exeunt.

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 lated1 in the world, that I

-I have a ship

Have lost my way for ever:—
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 you2. 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 seaside straightway:

8 Wounded chance.' This phrase is nearly of the same import as 'broken fortunes.'

1 Belated, benighted. So in Macbeth:

'Now spurs the lated traveller apace.'

2 Thus also in Hamlet:

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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 command3,
Therefore I pray you;-I'll see you by and by.
[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.

Ant. No, no, no, no, no.

Eros. See you here, sir?
Ant. O fye, fye, fye.
Char. Madam,-

O Juno!

Iras. Madam; O good empress!-
Eros. Sir, sir,—

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes;-He, at Philippi, kept
His sword e'en like a dancer: while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius: and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus 5 ended: he alone

3 I entreat you to leave me, because I have lost all power to command your absence.'

4 The meaning appears to be, that 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. It is alluded to in All's Well that Ends Well: Bertram, lamenting that he is kept from the wars, says:—

'I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock,
Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry,
Till honour be bought up, and no sword worn,
But one to dance with.'

And in Titus Andronicus:

6

our mother unadvised

Gave you a dancing rapier by your side.'

5 Nothing can be more in character than for an infamous debauched tyrant to call the heroick love of one's country and public liberty, madness.'-Warburton.

Dealt on lieutenantry 6, and no practice had

In the brave squares of war; Yet now-No matter.

Cleo. Ah, stand by.

Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen.

Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him; He is unqualitied with very shame.

Cleo. Well then,-Sustain me :-Oh!

Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches; Her head's declin'd, and death will seize her; but Your comfort makes the rescue.

Ant. I have offended reputation;

A most unnoble swerving.

Eros.

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.

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,

6 Dealt on lieutenantry' probably means only fought by proxy,' made war by his lieutenants, or on the strength of his lieutenants. In a former scene Ventidius says:

'Cæsar and Antony have ever won

More in their officer, than person.'

To 'deal on any thing' is an expression often used by old writers. In Plutarch's Life of Antony Shakspeare found the following words: They were always more fortunate when they made warre by their lieutenants than by themselves.

7 Unqualitied seems to mean here unsoldiered, quality being used for profession by Shakspeare and his cotemporaries. Steevens says, perhaps unqualitied only signifies unmanned in general, disarmed of his usual faculties.'

8 But is here used in its exceptive sense. See vol. i. p. 17,

note 12.

9 How by looking another way, I withdraw my ignominy from your sight.'

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.

O, 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 10 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. [Exeunt.

SCENE X. Cæsar's Camp, in Egypt.

Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and
Others.

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

Dol.

Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster1:

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.

10 Values.

Euphronius, schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra.

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