How he's employ'd; he fhall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent, where you shall fee
How hardly I was drawn into this war;
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and fee
What I can fhew in this.

SCENE II.

Changes to the Monument.

[Exeunt.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmion, Iras, Mardian, and

Cleo.

Seleucus, above.

Y defolation does begin to make

MY

A better life; 'tis paltry to be Cafar :
Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave,
A minister of her Will, and it is great
To do that thing, that ends all other deeds;
Which fhackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which fleeps, and never palates more the Dung;
The beggar's nurse, and Cæfar's.

2

Enter

-Fortune's knave,] The is occafioned by the lofs of a

fervant of fortune.

3

and it is great To do that thing that ends all

other deeds; Which hackles accidents, and bolts up change; Which fleeps, and never palates more the DUNG:

The beggar's nurfe, and Cæfar's.] The action of Suicide is here faid, to fhackle accidents; to bolt up change; to be the beggar's nurse, and Cæfar's. So far the defcription is intelligible. But when it is faid, that it fleeps and never palates more the Dung, we find neither fenfe nor propriety; which

whole line between the third and
fourth, and the corrupt reading
of the laft word in the fourth.
We should read the paffage thus,
-and it is great

To do that thing that ends all
other deeds;
Which hackles accidents, and
bolts up, change;
[Lulls wearied nature to a found
repose]

(Which fleeps, and never palates
more the DUGG:)

The beggar's nurfe, and Cæfar's. That this line in hooks was the fubftance of that loft, is evident from its making fenfe of all the

reft:

Enter Proculeius.

Pro. Cæfar fends Greeting to the Queen of Egypt, And bids thee ftudy on what fair demands Thou mean'ft to have him grant thee.

Cleo. What's thy name?

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. Antony

Did tell me of you, bade me truft you, but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

That have no ufe for trufting. If your mafter
Would have a Queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That Majefty, to keep decorum, must

No lefs beg than a Kingdom; if he please.
To give me conquer'd Egypt for my Son,
He gives me fo much of mine own, as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro. Be of good cheer.

You're fall'n into a princely hand. Fear nothing;
Make your full ref'rence freely to my Lord,
Who is fo full of grace, that it flows over

reft: which are to this effect, It is great to do that which frees us from all the accidents of humanity, lulls our over-wearied nature to repoje, (which now fleeps, and has no more appetite for wordly enjoy ments.) and is equally the nurse of Cæfar and the beggar. WARB.

I cannot perceive the lofs of a line, or the need of an emendation. The commentator feems to have entangled his own ideas; his fuppofition that fuicide is called the beggar's nurfe, and Cæfar's, and his confeffion that the pofition is intelligible, fhew, I think, a mind not intent upon the bufinefs before it." The diffi

culty of the paffage, if any difficulty there be, arifes only from this, that the act of fuicide, and the state which is the effect of fuicide, are confounded. Voluntary death, fays fhe, is an act which bolts up change; it produces a state,

Which fleeps, and never palates more the dung,

The beggar's nurfe, and Cæfar's. Which has no longer need of the grofs and terrene fuftenance, in the ufe of which Cafar and the beggar are on a level.

The fpeech is abrupt, but perturbation in such a state is furely natural.

On

On all that need. Let me report to him
Your sweet dependency, and you fhall find
A conqu❜ror that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. Pray you, tell him,

I am his fortune's vaffal, and I fend him
The Greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly
Look him i' th' face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.

Have comfort, for, I know, your plight is pity'd
Of him that caus'd it.

[Afide.] You fee, how easily she may be furpriz'd. Here Gallus, and Guard, afcend the Monument by a Ladder, and enter at a Back-Window,

Guard her, 'till Cafar come.

-that will pray in aid for kindness, Praying in aid is a law term, used for a petition made in a court of juftice for the calling in of help from another that hath an intereft in the caufe in question. Oxford Editor.

5-fend him

The Greatnefs he has got.
I allow him to be my conqueror;
I own his fuperiority with com-
plete fubmiffion.

6 Char. You fee, how eafily fhe may be furpriz'd,] Here Charmion, who is fo faithful as to die with her mistress, by the ftupidity of the editors is made to countenance and give directions for her being furpriz'd by CeJar's meffengers. But this blunder is for want of knowing, or obferving, the hiftorical fact. When Cafar fent Proculeius to the Queen, he sent Gallus after

Iras. O Royal Queen!

Char. Oh Cleopatra! thou art taken, Queen.-
Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

[Drawing a dagger. The Monument is open'd; Proculeius rushes in, and difarms the Queen.

Pro. Hold, worthy lady, hold;

Do not yourself fuch wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo, What, of death too, that rids our dogs of * languish?

Pro. Do not abuse my mafter's bounty, by Th' undoing of yourfelf: let the world fee His Nobleness well acted, which your death Will never let come forth.

Cleo. Where art thou, Death?

Come hither, come: oh come, and take a Queen

9 Worth many babes and beggars.

Pro. Oh, temperance, lady!

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, Sir: If idle talk will once be neceffary,

culeius, interrupting the civility of his answer,

your plight is pity'd Of him that caus'd it. Cries out,

Guard her, 'till Cæfar comes. 7 who are in this RELIEV'D, but not betray'd.] As plaufible as this reading is, it is corrupt. Had Shakespear ufed the word reliev'd, he would have added, and not betray'd. But that he used another word the reply fhews, What, of death too: which will not agree with relieved; but will direct us to the genuine word, which is,

BEREAV'D, but not betray'd. i. e. bereav'd of death, or of the means of deftroying yourself, but

I'll

not betray'd to your destruction. By the particle too, in her reply, The alludes to her being before bereav'd of Antony. And thus his speech becomes correct, and her reply pertinent. WARB.

I do not think the emendation neceffary, fince the sense is not made better by it, and the abruptnefs of Cleopatra's anfwer is more forcible in the old reading. 8 For languish, I think we mav read anguish.

9 Worth many babes and beg

gars. Why death wilt thou not rather feize a Queen, than employ thy force upon babes and beggars.

If idle TALK will once be necary,] This nonfenfe fhould

I'll not fleep neither. This mortal houfe I'll ruin,
Do Cæfar what he can. Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's Court,
Nor once be chaftis'd with the fober
eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoift me up,
And shew me to the fhouting varletry

Of cens'ring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt
Be gentle Grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me ftark naked, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My Country's high Pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro. You do extend

These thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find cause in Cæfar.

SCENE III.

Dol. Proculeius,

Enter Dolabella,

What thou haft done thy mafter Cafar knows,
And he hath fent for thee; as for the Queen,
I'll take her to my guard.

Pro. So, Dolabella,

It fhall content me beft. Be gentle to her.
To Cæfar I will fpeak what you fhall please,

fhould be reform'd thus,

If idle TIME will once be necesary. i. e. if repofe be neceffary to cherish life, I will not fleep.

WARBURTON.

I do not fee that the nonfenfe is made fenfe by the change. Sir T. Hanmer reads,

If idle talk will once be accef-
fary;

[To Cleopatra.

Neither is this better. I know not what to offer better than an eafy explanation. That is, I will not eat, and if it will be neceffary now for once to walle a moment in idle talk of my purpole, I will not fleep neither. In common converfation we often ufe will be, with as little relation to futurity. As, Now I am going it will be fit for me to dine firft.