Imatges de pàgina
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Thy fpirits all of comfort! fare thee well.

Octa. My noble brother!

Ant. The April's in her eyes; It is love's fpring,
And these the showers to bring it on :-)

:-Be cheerful.

Octa. Sir, look well to my husband's houfe; and-
Caf. What, Octavia?

Oa. I'll tell you in your ear.

Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can

Her heart inform her tongue: the fwan's down feather,
That ftands upon the fwell at the full of tide,

And neither way inclines.

Eno. Will Cæfar weep?

Agr. He has a cloud in his face.

[Afide to Agrippa.

Eno. He were the worfe for that, were he a horfe';
So is he, being a man.

Agr. Why, Enobarbus ?

When Antony found Julius Cæfar dead,

He cried almost to roaring: and he wept,

When at Philippi he found Brutus flain.

Eno. That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum; What willingly he did confound, he wail'd:

Her brother wishes that both thefe elements may prove kind to her; and this is all. So Caffio fays in Othello:

O, let the heavens

Give him defence against the elements,

"For I have loft him on a dangerous fea." MASON.

In the paffage juft quoted the elements muft mean, not earth and water, (which Mr. Mafon fuppofes to be the meaning here,) but air and water; and such, I think, (as an anonymous commentator has alfo fuggefted) is the meaning here. The following lines in Troilus and Crefida likewife favour this interpretation:

eves.

66 -anon behold

"The ftrong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
"Bounding between the two meist elements,

"Like Perfeus' horfe." MAIONE.

1- were be a berfe;] A horfe is faid to have a cloud in bis face, when he has a black or dark. coloured fpot in his forehead between his This gives him a four look, and being fuppofed to indicate an ill-temper, is of course regarded as a great blemish. STEEVENS. be did confound-] i, e. deftroy. See Vol. V. p. 506, n. 4.

5

MALONE.

Believe

!

Believe it, till I weep too3.

Caf. No, fweet Octavia,

You fhall hear from me ftill; the time fhall not
Out-go my thinking on you.

Ant. Come, fir, come;

I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,
And give you to the gods.

C. Adieu; be happy!

Lep. Let all the number of the ftars give light

To thy fair way!

Ca. Farewel, farewel!

Ant. Farewel!

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SCENE

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS,

Cleo. Where is the fellow?

Alex. Half afeard to come.

Cleo. Go to, go to:-Come hither, fir.

Enter a Meffenger.

Alex. Good majesty,

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you,
But when you are well pleas'd.

Cleo. That Herod's head

I'll have: But how? when Antony is gone
Through whom I might command it.-Come thou near.
Mef. Moft gracious majefty,-

Cleo. Didit thou behold

Octavia?

Mef. Ay, dread queen.
Cleo. Where?

Mef. Madam, in Rome

3 Believe it, till I weep too.] Believe it, (fays Enobarbus) that Antony did fo, i.e. that he wept over fuch an event, till you fee me weeping on the fame occafion, when I shall be obliged to you for putting fuch a conftruction on my tears, which, in reality, (like bis) will be tears of joy.

Kk 4

STEEVENS.

I look'd

I look'd her in the face; and faw her led
Between her brother and Mark Antony.
Cleo. Is the as tall as me?

Mef. She is not, madam.

Cleo. Didft hear herffpeak? Is the fhrill-tongu'd, or low? Mef. Madam, I heard her fpeak; fhe is low-voic'd. Cleo. That's not fo good:-he cannot like her long 5. Char. Like her? OIfis! 'tis impoffible.

Cleo. I think fo, Charmian: Dull of tongue, and dwarfish!

What majefty is in her gait? Remember,.
If e'er thou look'dft on majefty.

Mef. She creeps;

Her motion and her station are as one:

She fhews a body rather than a life;

A ftatue, than a breather.

Cleo. Is this certain ?

Mef. Or I have no obfervance,

Char. Three in Egypt

Cannot make better note.

Cleo. He's very knowing,

I do perceive't:-There's nothing in her yet:-
The fellow has good judgment.

4 Is fhe as tall as me? &c. &c. &c.] This fcene (fays Dr. Grey) is a manifeft allufion to the questions put by queen Elizabeth to fir James Melvill, concerning his miftrefs, the queen of Scots. Whoever will give himself the trouble to confult his Memoirs, will probably suppose the refemblance to be more than accidental. STEEVENS.

5 That's not so good:-be cannot like ber long.] Cleopatra perhaps does not mean "That is not fo good a piece of intelligence as your laft;" but, "That, i. e. a low voice, is not fo good as a fhrill tongue."

That a low voice (on which our authour never omits to introduce an elogium when he has an opportunity,) was not efteemed by Cleopatra as a merit in a lady, appears from what the adds afterwards,-" Dull of tongue, and dwarfish!"-If the words be understood in the fenfe first mentioned, the latter part of the line will be found inconfiftent with the foregoing.

.1

Perhaps, however, the authour intended no connexion between the two members of this line; and that Cleopatra, after a pause, should exclaim-He cannot like her, whatever her merits be, for any length of time. My firft interpretation I believe to be the true one. MALONE. 6 ber ftation] Station, in this inftance, means the a& ef flanding.

So, in Hamlet:

"Aftation like the herald Mercury." STEEVENS.

Char.

Char. Excellent.

Cleo. Guefs at her years, I pr'ythee,
Mef. Madam, fhe was a widow.
Cleo. Widow?-Charmian, hark,
Mes. And I do think, fhe's thirty,

Cleo. Bear'ft thou her face in mind? is it long, or round?
Mef. Round even to faultinefs.

Cleo. For the most part too,

They are foolish that are fo.-Her hair, what colour?
Mef. Brown, madam: And her forehead
As low as fhe would wish it 7.

Cleo. There's gold for thee.

Thou must not take my former fharpness ill
I will employ thee back again; I find thee
Moft fit for bufinefs: Go, make thee ready;
Our letters are prepar❜d.

Char. A proper man.

[Exit Meffenger,

Cleo. Indeed, he is fo: I repent me much,
That fo I harry'd him. Why, methinks, by him,
This creature's no fuch thing.

Char. Nothing, madam.

Cleo. The man hath feen fome majefty, and should know. Char. Hath he feen majefty? Ifis else defend,

And ferving you so long!

Cleo. I have one thing more to ask him yet, good Charmian:

7 As low as she would wish it.] Low foreheads were in Shakspeare's age thought a blemish. So, in the Tempest:

- with foreheads villainous low."

See alfo Vol. I. p. 176, n. 1.

You and She are not likely to have been confounded; otherwife we might fuppofe that our authour wrote

As low as you would with it. MALONE.

8 -fo I harry'd bim.] To barry, is to ufe roughly. I meet with the word in The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601:

Will barry me about instead of her." STEEVENS. Minfheu, in his DICT. 1617, explains the word thus: "To turmoile or vexe." Cole in his English Dicт. 1676, interprets baried by the word pulled, and in the fenfe of pulled and lugged about, I believe the word was ufed by Shakspeare. See the marginal direction in p. 481. In a kindred fenfe it is used in the old tranflation of Plutarch; Pyrrhus feeing his people thus troubled, and barried to and fro," &c.

MALONE.

But

But 'tis no matter; thou fhalt bring him to me
Where I will write: All may be well enough.
Char. I warrant you, madam.

SCENE IV.

Athens. A Room in Antony's House.

Enter ANTONY, and OCTAVIA.

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Ant. Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that, that
Were excufable, that, and thoutands more
Of femblable import,-but he hath wag'd

[Exeunt.

New wars 'gainft Pompey; made his will, and read it
To publick car:

Spoke fcantly of me: when perforce he could not
But pay me terms of honour, cold and fickly

He vented them: moft narrow measure lent me :
When the best hint was given him, he not took't?,
Or did it from his teeth.

Octa. O my good lord,

Believe not all; or, if you must believe,

Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady,

If this divifion chance, ne'er ftood between,

Praying for both parts: The good gods will mock me prefently,

When I fhall pray, 0, bless my lord and bufband!
Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud,

O, bless my brother! Hufband win, win brother,
Prays, and deftroys the prayer; no midway
'Twixt these extremes at all.

Ant. Gentle Octavia,

Let your beft love draw to that point, which feeks
Beft to preferve it: If I lose mine honour,

I lose myself: better I were not yours,

Than yours fo branchlefs. But, as you requested,
Yourfelf fhall go between us: The mean time, lady,

be not took't,-] The old copy has-not look't. Corrected by Dr. Thirlby, MALONE.

I Than yours fo branchlefs.] Old Copy-your. Corrected in the fecond folio. This is one of the many mistakes that have arifen from the tranfcriber's ear deceiving him, your fo and yours fo, being scarcely diftinguishable in pronunciation.

MALONE.

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