Imatges de pàgina
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1 Sold. Let's hear him, for the things he speaks May concern Cæsar.

3 Sold.

[Dies.

Let's do so. But he sleeps.

1 Sold. Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his Was never yet for sleeping. †

2 Sold.
Go we to him.
3 Sold. Awake, awake, sir; speak to us.
2 Sold.

Hear you, sir?

1 Sold. The hand of death hath raught him.4

Hark, the drums

[Drums afar off. Demurely wake the sleepers. Let us bear him To the court of guard; he is of note: our hour Is fully out.

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Enter ANTONY and SCARUS, with Forces, marching.

Ant. Their preparation is to-day by sea;

We please them not by land.

Scar.

For both, my lord.

Ant. I would, they'd fight i'the fire, or in the air;

+ "sleep." Malone.

4 The hand of death hath raught him.] Raught is the ancient preterite of the verb to reach.

Hark, the drums

Demurely-] Demurely for solemnly.

We'd fight there too.

But this it is; Our foot

Upon the hills adjoining to the city,

Shall stay with us: order for sea is given;
They have put forth the haven: Further on,+
Where their appointment we may best discover,
And look on their endeavour.

6

[Exeunt.

Enter CESAR, and his Forces, marching.

Cas. But being charg'd, we will be still by land,
Which, as I take't, we shall7; for his best force
Is forth to man his gallies. To the vales,
And hold our best advantage.

Re-enter ANTONY and SCARUS.

[Exeunt.

Ant. Yet they're not join'd: 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 augurers

Say, they know not,-they cannot tell:-look grimly, And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony

Is valiant, and dejected; and, by starts,

His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear,
Of what he has, and has not.

Ant.

For

Alarum afar off, as at a Sea-fight.

Re-enter ANTONY.

All is lost;

further on," Mr. Malone reads, or rather substitutes, "Let's seek a spot," &c.

6 Where their appointment we may best discover,

And look on their endeavour.] i. e. where we may best discover their numbers, and see their motions.

7 But being charg'd, we will be still by land,

Which, as I take't, we shall ;] i. e. unless we be charg'd we will remain quiet at land, which quiet I suppose we shall keep. But being charg'd was a phrase of that time, equivalent to unless we be.

This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me:

My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder
They cast their caps up, and carouse together

Like friends long lost.-Triple-turn'd whore"! 'tis thou
Hast sold me to this novice: and my heart
Makes only wars on thee.-Bid them all fly;
For when I am reveng'd upon my charm,
I have done all :- Bid them all fly, be gone.

O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more:
Fortune and Antony part here; even here

[Exit SCARUS.

Do we shake hands. -All come to this?-The hearts
That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets,
On blossoming Cæsar; and this pine is bark'd,
That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am:
O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,"
Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home,
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,1
Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,
Beguil❜d me to the very heart of loss. 3 —
What, Eros, Eros !

3

8 Triple-turn'd whore !] She first belonged to Julius Cæsar, then to Antony, and now, as he supposes, to Augustus. It is not likely that in recollecting her turnings, Antony should not have that in contemplation which gave him most offence.

9 this grave charm,] By this grave charm, is meant, this sublime, this majestick beauty; or rather, this deadly, or destructive piece of witchcraft.

1 — was my crownet, my chief end,] i. e. last purpose, probably from finis coronat opus.

Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,

Beguil'd me, &c.] There is a kind of pun in this passage, arising from the corruption of the word Egyptian into gipsy. The old law-books term such persons as ramble about the country, and pretend skill in palmistry and fortune-telling, Egyptians. Fast and loose is a term to signify a cheating game, of which the following is a description. A leathern belt is made up into a number of intricate folds, and placed edgewise upon a table. One of the folds is made to

Enter CLEOPATRA.

Ah, thou spell! Avaunt.

Cleo. Why is my lord enrag'd 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, to dolts1; 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

Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death

Might have prevented many.-Eros, ho!-
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;5

And with those hands, that grasp'd the heaviest club,
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die;
To the Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot: she dies for't.-Eros, ho!

[Exit.

resemble the middle of the girdle, so that whoever should thrust a skewer into it would think he held it fast to the table; whereas, when he has so done, the person with whom he plays may take hold of both ends, and draw it away. This trick is now known to the common people, by the name of pricking at the belt or girdle, and perhaps was practised by the gypsies in the time of Shakspeare. SIR J. HAWKINS. to the very heart of loss.] To the utmost loss possible.

3

4

most monster-like, be shown

For poor'st diminutives, to dolts ;] i. e. shown as monsters are, not only for the smallest piece of money, but to the most stupid and vulgar spectators. Mr. Malone reads "for doits," i. e. farthings.

5 Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o'the moon ;] This image our poet may have taken from Seneca's Hercules, who says Lichas being launched into the air, sprinkled the clouds with his blood; or more probably from Golding's version of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

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 Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss'd."

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.
To the monument:
Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself;

Say, that the last I spoke was, Antony,
And word it, pr'ythee, piteously: Hence,

Mardian; and bring me how he takes my death.-
To the monument.

[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 :

A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion,

A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock,

A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon't, that nod unto the world,

6 Than Telamon for his shield;] i. e. than Ajax Telamon for the armour of Achilles, the most valuable part of which was the shield. The boar of Thessaly was the boar killed by Meleager.

7 Was never so emboss'd.] A hunting term; when a deer is hard run, and foams at the mouth, he is said to be imbost.

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