Imatges de pàgina
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His sons he there proclaim'd, The kings of kings:
Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia,

He gave to Alexander; to Ptolemy he assign'd
Syria, Cilicia, and Phoenicia : She

In the habiliments of the goddess Isis

That day appear'd; and oft before gave audience
As 'tis reported, so.

Mec. Let Rome be thus

Inform'd.

Agr. Who, queasy with his insolence

Already, will their good thoughts call from him.
Cas. The people know it; and have now receiv'd
His accusations.

Agr. Whom does he accuse?

Cos. Cæsar and that, having in Sicily
Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him
His part o'the isle: then does he say, he lent me
Some shipping unrestor'd: lastly, he frets,

That Lepidus of the triumvirate

Should be depos'd; and, being, that we detain
All his revenue.

Agr. Sir, this should be answer'd.

Caes. 'Tis done already, and the messenger gone. I have told him, Lepidus was grown too cruel ;

That he his high authority abus'd,

And did deserve his change; for what I have conquer'd,

I grant him part; but then, in his Armenia,

And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I

Demand the like.

Mec. He'll never yield to that.

Cas. Nor must not then be yielded to in this.

Enter OCTAVIA.

Oct. Hail, Cæsar, and my lord! hail, most dear Cæsar! Cas. That ever I should call thee, cast-away!

Oct. You have not call'd me so, nor have you cause. Caes. Why have you stol'n upon us thus? You come not Like Cæsar's sister: The wife of Antony

Should have an army for an usher, and

The neighs of horse to tell of her approach,
Long ere she did appear; the trees by the way,
Should have borne men; and expectation fainted,
Longing for what it had not: nay, the dust
Should have ascended to the roof of heaven,
Rais'd by your populous troops: But you are come

A market-maid to Rome; and have prevented
The ostent of our love, which, left unshown
Is often left unlov'd: we should have met you
By sea, and land; supplying every stage
With an augmented greeting.

Oct. Good my lord,

To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did it
On my free-will. My lord, Mark Antony,
Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted
My grieved ear withal; whereon, I begg'd
His pardon for return.

Caes. Which soon he granted,

Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him.
Oct. Do not say so, my lord.

Cas. I have eyes upon him,

And his affairs come to me on the wind.

Where is he now ?

Oct. My lord, in Athens.

Cas. No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra

Hath nodded him to her.

He hath given his empire

Up to a whore; who now are levying

The kings o'the earth for war: He hath assembled
Bocchus, the king of Lybia; Archelaus,

Of Cappadocia; Philadelphos, king

Of Paphlagonia; the Tracian king, Adallas;
King Malchus of Arabia; king of Pont;
Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king
Of Comagene, Polemon and Amintas,
The kings of Mede, and Lycaonia, with a
More larger list of scepters.

Oct. Ah me, most wretched,

That have my heart parted betwixt two friends,
That do afflict each other!

Cas. Welcome hither:

Your letters did withhold our breaking forth;
Till we perceiv'd, both how you were wrong led,
And we in negligent danger. Cheer your heart:
Be you not troubled with the time, which drives
O'er your content these strong necessities;
But let determin'd things to destiny

Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome :
Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd

[6] That is, his wife being an obstruction, a bar to the prosecution of his wanton pleasures with Cleopatra.

WARBURTON.

Beyond the mark of thought: and the high gods,
To do you justice, make them ministers

Of us, and those that love you. Best of comfort;
And ever welcome to us.

Agr. Welcome, lady.

Mec. Welcome, dear madam.

Each heart in Rome does love and pity you :
Only the adulterous Antony, most large

In his abominations, turns you off;

And gives his potent regiment to a trull,"

That noises it against us.

Oct. Is it so, sir?

Caes. Most certain. Sister, welcome: Pray you, Be ever known to patience: My dearest sister! [Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

ANTONY'S Camp, near the Promontory of Actium. Enter
CLEOPATRA and ENOBARBUS.

Cleo. I will be even with thee, doubt it not.
Eno. But why, why, why?

Cleo. Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars 7

And say'st, it is not fit.

Eno. Well, is it? is it?

Cleo. Is't not? Denounce against us, why should not we Be there in person ?

Eno. [Aside.] Well, I could reply :

If we should serve with horse and mares together,
The horse were merely lost; the mares would bear
A soldier, and his horse.

Cleo. What is't you say ?

[6] Regiment--is government, authority; he puts his power and his empire into the hands of a false woman.

It may be observed, trull was not, in our author's time, a term of mere infamy, but a word of slight contempt, as wench is now. JOHNSON.

[7] To forspeak, is to contradict, to speak against, as forbid is to order negatively. JOHNSON.

[8] Cleopatra means to say, "Is not the war denounced against us? Why should we not then attend in person?" She says, a little lower,

"A charge we bear i' the war,

And, as the president of my kingdom, will
Appear there for a man."

She speaks of herself in the plural number, according to the usual style of sovereigns. M. MASON. I read with the old copy, introducing only the change of a single letter,---denounc't instead of denounc'd. There is, however, in the folio, a comma after the word not, and no point of interrogation at the end of the sentence. MALONE. Surely no valid inference can be drawn from such uncertain premises as the punctuation of the old copy, which (to use the words of Rosalind and Touchstone in As you like it) is "as fortune will, or as the destinies decree.”

STEEVENS.

Eno. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony;

Take from his heart, take from his brain, from his time,
What should not then be spar'd. He is already

Traduc'd for levity; and 'tis said in Rome,
That Photinus an eunuch, and your maids,
Manage this war.

Cleo. Sink Rome; and their tongues rot,

That speak against us! A charge we bear i'the war,
And, as the president of my kingdom, will

Appear there for a man.

I will not stay behind.

Eno. Nay, I have done :

Here comes the emperor.

Speak not against it ;

Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS,

Ant. Is't not strange, Canidius,

That from Tarentum, and Brundusium,
He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea,

And take in Toryne ?--You have heard on't, sweet?
Cleo. Celerity is never more admir'd,

Than by the negligent.

Ant. A good rebuke,

Which might have well become the best of men,
To taunt at slackness.-Canidius, we

Will fight with him by sea.

Cleo. By sea! what else?

Can. Why will my lord do so?

Ant. For he dares us to't.

Eno. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight. Can. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia, Where Cæsar fought with Pompey: But these offers, Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off; And so should you.

Eno. Your ships are not well-mann'd :

Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people
Ingross'd by swift impress: In Cæsar's fleet

Are those, that often have 'gainst Pompey fought :
Their ships are yare ;9 yours, heavy. No disgrace
Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,

Being prepar'd for land.

Ant. By sea, by sea.

Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away The absolute soldiership you have by land; Distract your army, which doth most consist

[9] Yare--generally signifies dextrous, manageable.

STEEVENS,

Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted
Your own renowned knowledge; quite forego
which promises assurance; and
Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard,
From firm security.

The way

Ant. I'll fight at sea.

Cleo. I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better. Ant. Our overplus of shipping will we burn; And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium Beat the approaching Cæsar. But if we fail, Enter a Messenger.

We then can do't at land.-Thy business?

Mes. The news is true, my lord; he is descried ;
Cæsar has taken Toryne.

Ant. Can he be there in person? 'tis impossible;
Strange, that his power should be.-Canidius,
Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land,
And our twelve thousand horse :-We'll to our ship;
Enter a Soldier.

Away, my Thetis !-How now, worthy soldier?
Sold. Ŏ noble emperor, do not fight by sea;
Trust not to rotten planks: Do you misdoubt
This sword, and these my wounds? Let the Egyptians,
And the Phoenicians, go a ducking; we

Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,
And fighting foot to foot.

Ant. Well, well, away. [Exe. ANT. CLEO. and ENG
Sold. By Hercules, I think, I am i'the right.

Can. Soldier, thou art but his whole action grows Not in the power on't: So our leader's led,

And we are women's men.

Sold. You keep by land

The legions and the horse whole, do you not?
Can. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius,

Publicola, and Cælius, are for sea:

But we keep whole by land. This speed of Cæsar's
Carries beyond belief."

Sold. While he was yet in Rome,

His power went out in such distractions, as

[1] That is, his whole conduct becomes ungoverned by the right or by reason. JOHNSON. Canidius means to say, His whole conduct in the war is not founder upon that which is his greatest strength, (namely, his land force,) but on the caprice of a woman, who wishes that he should fight by sea. MALONE.

STEEVENS.

Perhaps this phrase is from archery.
Distractions---detachments, separate bodies. JOHNSON.

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