I am fo lated in the world', that I

Have loft my way for ever:-I have a ship
Laden with gold; take that, divide it; y,
And make your peace with Cæfar.

Att. Fly! not we.

Ant. I have fled myself; and have inftructed cowards
To run, and fhew their fhoulders.-Friends, be gone;
I have myself refolv'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 raihnefs, and they them
For fear and doating.-Friends, be gone; you fhall
Have letters from me to fome friends, that will
Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not fad,
Nor make replies of lothnefs: take the hint
Which my defpair proclaims; let that be left
Which leaves itself: to the fea fide straightway:
I will poffefs you of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a little: 'pray you now :-
Nay, do fo; for, indeed, I have loft command",
Therefore I pray you :-I'll fee you by and by.

Enter EROS, and CLEOPATRA, led by CHARMIAN and
IRAS.

Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him:-Comfort him,

Iras. Do, moft dear queen.

Char. Do! Why, what else?

Cleo. Let me fit down. O Juno!

-fo lated in the world,-] Alluding to a benighted traveller.

So, in Macbeth, A& III:

"Now fpurs the lated traveller apace." STEEVENS. 2 let that be left

JOHNSON.

Which leaves itfelf:] Old Copy-let them, &c. Corrected by Mr. Capell. MALONE.

3-I've loft command,] I am not mafter of my own emotions.

JOHNSON.

Surely, he rather means,-I intreat you to leave me, because I have

loft all power to command your abfence. STEEVENS.

Ant. No, no, no, no, no.
Eros. See you here, fir?
Ant. O fye, fye, tye.

Char. Madam,

Iras. Madam; O good emprefs!-
Eros. Sir, fir,-

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes ;-He, at Philippi, kept
His fword even like a dancer; while I ftruck
The lean and wrinkled Caffius; and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus ended: he alone
Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had
In the brave fquares of war: Yet now-No matter.

4-He, at Philippi, kept

Clea

His fword even like a dancer ;-] I believe it means that Cæfar never offered to draw his fword, but kept it in the scabbard, like one who dances with a fword on, which was formerly the custom in England. There is a fimilar allufion in Titus Andronicus, A& II. fc. i:

❝ our mother, unadvis'd,

"Gave you a dancing rapier by your fide." STEEVENS. That Mr. Steevens's explanation is juft, appears from a paffage in All's Well that Ends Well. Bertram, lamenting that he is kept from the wars, fays,

"I fhall ftay here the forehorse to a smock,
"Creaking my fhoes on the plain masonry,

"Till honour be bought up, and no fword vorn,

"But one to dance with."

The word worn fhews that in both paffages our authour was thinking of the English, and not of the Pyrrick, or the Morifco, dance, (as Dr. Johnfon fuppofed,) in which the fword was not worn at the fide, but held in the hand with the point upward. MALONE.

5- and 'twas I,

That the mad Brutus ended :] Nothing can be more in character, than for an infamous debauched tyrant to call the heroick love of one's country and publick libery, madness. WARBURTON.

6- be alone

Dealt on lieutenantry,] Dealt on lieutenantry, I believe, means only, fought by proxy, made war by his lieutenants, or, on the strength of his lieutenants. So, in the countefs of Pembroke's Antonie, 1595:

-Caffius and Brutus ill betid,

"March'd against us, by us twice put to flight,
"But by my fole conduct; for all the time,

"Cæfar heart-fick with fear and feaver lay."

To deal on any thing, is an expreffion often used in the old plays.

So, in the Roaring Girl, 1611:

"You will deal upon men's wives no more."

The

Cleo. Ah, ftand by.

Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen. Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him; He is unquality'd' with very shame.

Cleo. Well then,-Sustain me :—O !

Eros. Moft noble fir, arife; 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 fwerving.

Eros. Sir, the queen.

Ant. O, whither haft thou led me, Egypt? See, How I convey my shame out of thine eyes,

By looking back on what I have left behind

Again, in Have with you to Saffron Walden, &c. by Nathe, 1596; "At Wolfe's he is billeted, sweating and dealing upon it most intentively." Again, in Orbello:

Upon malicious bravery doft thou come,

To start my quiet."

Again, in King Richard III:

64

are they that I would have thee deal upon." STEIV. In the life of Antony Shakspeare found the following paffage: they were always more fortunate when they made warre by their hieutenants, than by themselves ;"-which fully explains that before us.

The fubfequent words alfo-" and no practice had," &c. thew that Mr. Steevens has rightly interpreted this paffage. The phrafe to deal on is likewife found in Pierce Pennyleffe bis fupplication to the Devil, by T. Nafhe, 1592.1 "When dice, luit, and drunkennefs, all have dealt upen him, if there be never a plaie for him to go to for his penie, he fits melancholie in his chamber." MALONE.

7 He is unquality'd-] I fuppofe fhe means, he is unfoldiered. Qua lity in Shakspeare's age was often ufed for profeffion. It has, I think, that meaning in the paffage in Othello, in which Defdemona alfo expreffes her defire to accompany the Moor in his military service:

"My heart's fubdued

"Even to the very quality of my lord." MALONE.

8-death will feize ber; but

Your comfort, &c.] But has here, as once before in this play, the force of except, or unles. JOHNSON.

I rather incline to think that but has here its ordinary fignification. If it had been used for unless, Shakspeare would, I conceive, have written, according to his ufual practices, make. MALONE.

9 How I convey my fhame-] How, by looking another way, I with draw my ignominy from your fight. JOHNSON.

'Stroy'd

'Stroy'd in difhonour.

Cleo. O my lord, my lord!

Forgive my fearful fails! I little thought,
You would have follow'd.

Ant. Egypt, thou knew'ft too well,

My heart was to thy rudder ty'd by the strings",
"And thou fhould'ft tow me after: O'er my fpirit
Thy full fupremacy 3 thou knew'ft; and that'
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

Cleo. O, my pardon.

Ant. Now I must

To the young man fend humble treaties, dodge
And palter in the fhifts 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 fword, made weak by my affection, would
Obey it on all caufe.

Cleo. Pardon, pardon.

Ant. Fall not a tear, I fay; one of them rates
All that is won and loft: Give me a kifs;

Even this repays me.-We fent our school-master,
Is he come back?-Love, I am full of lead :—

Some wine, within there, and our viands :-Fortune

knows,

We fcorn her most, when moft fhe offers blows. [Exeunt.

ty'd by the firings,] That is, by the beart-firing. JOHNSON. So, in the Tragedie of Antonie, done into English by the countess of Pembroke, 1595:

2

as if his foule

"Unto his ladies foule had been enchained,
"He left his men," STEEVENS.

fhould't tow-] The old copy has-fhould't flow me. This is one of the many corruptions occafioned by the transcriber's ear deceiv ing him. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. 3 Tby full fupremacy-] Old Copy-The full. Theobald. MALONE.

Corrected by Mr.

When the battle's loft and won." MALONE,

SCENE

SCENE X.

Cæfar's Camp, in Egypt.

Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and Others

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

Dol. Cæfar, 'tis his fchoolmafter":

An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He fends fo poor a pinion of his wing,

Which had fuperfluous kings for messengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Enter Ambafador from Antony.

Caf. Approach, and speak.

Amb. Such as I am, I come from Antony:

I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf
To his grand fea7.

5

Caf.

Thyreus,-] In the old copy always-Thidias. STEEVENS. bis fchoolmafter:] The name of this perfon was Euphrenius. STEEVENS.

He was schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra. MALONE. as petty to bis ends,

7

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To his grand sea.] Thus the old copy. To whofe grand fea? 1 know not. Perhaps we should read:

To this grand fea.

We may fuppofe that the sea was within view of Cæfar's camp, and at no great distance. TYRWHITT.

The modern editors arbitrarily read :—the grand fea.

I believe the old reading is the true one. His grand fea may mean his full tide of profperity. So, in the Two Noble Kinsmen by Fletcher: though I know

"His ocean needs not my poor drops, yet they

"Muft yield their tribute here."

There is a play-houfe tradition that the first act of this play was written by Shakspeare. Mr. Tollet offers a further explanation of the change propofed by Mr. Tyrwhitt: "Alexandria, towards which Cæfar was marching, is fituated on the coaft of the Mediterranean fea, which is fometimes called mare magnum. Pliny terms it, “immensa æquorum vaftitas." I may add, that fir John Mandevile, p. 89. calls that part of

thr