Imatges de pàgina
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SCENE III.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Alexas, and Iras.

Cleo. Where is he?

Char. I did not fee him fince.

Cleo. See, where he is, who's with him, what he does..

'I did not fend you. If you find him fad,

Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report,
That I am fudden fick. Quick, and return.

Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly,

You do not hold the method to enforce

The like from him.

Cleo. What should I do, I do not?

Char. In each thing give him way, crofs him in nothing.

Cleo. Thou teacheft, like a fool, the way to lofe him.

Char. Tempt him not fo too far. I wish forbear; In time we hate that which we often fear.

Enter Antony.

But here comes Antony.

Cleo. I am fick, and fullen.

Ant. I am forry to give breathing to my purpose. Cleo. Help me away, dear Charmian, I shall fall; It cannot be thus long, the fides of nature

Will not fuftain it.

Ant. Now, my deareft queen,

Cleo. Pray you, ftand farther from me.

Ant. What's the matter?

Cleo. I know, by that fame eye, there's fome good

news.

I did not fend you.-] You muft go as if you came without my order or knowledge.

JOHNSON.
What

What says the marry'd woman?-You may go;
'Would, she had never given you leave to come!
Let her not fay, 'tis I that keep you here,
I have no power upon you :-Her's you are.
Ant. The Gods beft know,-

Cleo. O never was there queen

So mightily betray'd! yet at the first
I saw the treasons planted.

Ant. Cleopatra,

Cleo. Why fhould I think, you can be mine, and

true,

Though you with fwearing shake the throned Gods, Who have been falfe to Fulvia? Riotous madness, To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in fwearing!

Ant. Moft sweet queen,

Cleo. Nay, pray you, feek no colour for your going,

But bid farewell, and go: when you fued staying,
Then was the time for words: No going then ;-
Eternity was in our lips and eyes;

Blifs in our brows' bent; none our parts fo poor,
But was a race of heaven. They are fo ftill,
Or thou, the greatest foldier of the world,

Art turn'd the greatest liar.

Ant. How now, lady?

Cleo. I would I had thy inches; thou should'st know There were a heart in Ægypt.

Ant. Hear me, queen:

The strong neceffity of time commands

Our fervices a-while; but my full heart

-a race of heaven.- -] i, e. had a fmack or flavour WARB.

of heaven. This word is well explained by Dr. Warburton; the race of wine is the tafte of the foil. Sir T. Hanmer, not understanding the word, reads, ray.

JOHNSON.

Remains

Remains in ufe with you. Our Italy
Shines o'er with civil fwords: Sextus Pompeius
Makes his approaches to the port of Rome.
Equality of two domestic powers

Breeds fcrupulous faction: The hated, grown to ftrength,

Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace
Into the hearts of fuch as have not thriven

Upon the prefent ftate, whofe numbers threaten;
And quietnefs, grown fick of reft, would purge
By any defperate change. 4 My more particular,
And that which moft with you fhould fafe my going,
Is Fulvia's death.

Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me
freedom,

It does from childifhnefs.-Can Fulvia die?
Ant. She's dead, my queen:

Look here, and at thy fovereign leisure read
The garboils she awak'd; at the last, best,
See, when, and where fhe died.

3 Remains in use―] The poet seems to allude to the legal diftinction between the use and abfolute poffeffion. JOHNSON.

4

-My more particular,

And that which most with you should fave my going,

Is Fulvia's death.] Thus all the more modern editions; the firft and fecond folio's read fafe: All corruptedly. Antony is giving feveral reasons to Cleopatra, which make his departure from Egypt neceffary; moft of them, reasons of ftate; but the death of Fulvia, his wife, was a particular and private call. Cleopatra is jealous of Antony, and fufpicious that he is feeking colours for his going. Antony replies to her doubts, with the reasons that obliged him to be abfent for a time; and tells her, that, as his wife Fulvia is dead, and so she has no rival to be jealous of, that circumftance should be his best plea and excufe, and have the greatest weight with her for his going. Who does not fee now, that it ought to be read,

-Should falve my go`ng.

THEOBALD.

Mr. Upton reads, I think rightly,

-jafe my going.

JOHNSON.
Cleo.

Cleo. O moft falfe love!

Where be the facred vials thou shouldft fill
With forrowful water? Now 1 fee, I fee,
In Fulvia's death, how mine fhall be receiv'd.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you fhall give the advices. By the fire,
That quickens Nilus' flime, I go from hence,
Thy foldier, fervant; making peace, or war,
As thou affect'ft.

Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come :-
But let it be. I am quickly ill, and well.
-So, Antony loves.

Ant. My precious queen, forbear;

And give true evidence to his love, which stands
An honourable trial.

Cleo. So Fulvia told me.

I pr'ythee, turn afide, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me and fay, the tears

6

Belong to Egypt. Good now, play one scene
Of excellent diffembling, and let it look

Like perfect honour.

Ant. You'll heat my blood: No more.

Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. Ant. Now by my fword,

Cleo. And target,

-Still he mends;

But this is not the beft. Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, How this Herculean Roman does become

The carriage of his chafe.

Ant. I'll leave you, lady.

Cleo. Courteous lord, one word.

50 moft falfe love!

Where be the facred vials thou shouldft fill

With forrowful water?] Alluding to the lachrymatory vials, or bottles of tears, which the Romans fometimes put into the urn of a friend.

JOHNSON.

to Egypt.] To me, the queen of Egypt. JOHNSON.

Sir, you and I must part,—but that's not it;
Sir, you and I have lov'd,-but there's not it;
That you know well something it is, I would:
7 Oh, my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all forgotten.

8

Ant. But that your royalty

Holds idleness your fubject, I fhould take you
For idleness itself.

7 Oh, my oblivion is a very Antony,

Cleo.

And I am all forgotten.] The plain meaning is, My forgetfulness makes me forget myself. But the expreffes it by calling forgetfulness, Antony; becaufe forgetfulness had forgot her, as Antony had done.. For want of apprehending this quaintnefs of expreffion, the Oxford editor is forced to tell us news, That all forgotten is an old way of Speaking, for apt to forget every thing. WARBURTON.

I cannot understand the learned critic's explanation. It appears to me, that she should rather have said,

O my remembrance is a very Antony,
And I am all forgotten.

It was her memory, not her oblivion, that, like Antony, was forgetting and deferting her. I think a flight change will restore the paffage. The queen, having fomething to fay, which she is not able, or would not seem able to recollect, cries out,

O my oblivion!-'Tis a very Antony.

The thought of which I was in queft is a very Antony, is treacherous and fugitive, and has irrevocably left me,

And I am all forgotten.

If this reading ftand, I think the explanation of Hanmer must be received.

JOHNSON.

Dr. Warburton's explanation is certainly juft, and I cannot fee any occafion for alteration. Cleopatra has fomething to fay, which feems to be fupprefs'd by forrow, and after many attempts to produce her meaning, fhe cries out, This quality I have of forgetting what concerns me nearly, too much resembles Antony, or is an Antony, and my welfare is alike forgoten by him and by myself. STEEVENS.

But that y
your royalty

Holds idleness your fubject, I should take you

For idleness itself.] i. e. But that your charms hold me, who am the greatest fool on earth, in chains, I should have adjudged you to be the greateft. That this is the fenfe is fhewn by her answer,

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