Enter Dolabella. Dol. Where is the Queen? Char. Behold, Sir. Cleo. Dolabella! Dol. Madam, as thereto fworn, by your Command, Which my love makes religion to obey, I tell you this: Cæfar through Syria Intends his journey, and, within three days, Cleo. Dolabella, I fhall remain your debtor. Dol. I your fervant. Adieu, good Queen; I must attend on Cefar. Exit. Cleo. Farewel, and thanks. Now, Iras, what think'ft thou? Thou, an Egyptian puppet, fhalt be fhewn Iras. The Gods forbid! Cleo. Nay, 'tis moft certain, Iras: fawcy lictors Will catch at us like ftrumpets, and fcall'd rhimers Ballad us out-o'-tune. The quick Comedians Extemp'rally will ftage us, and present Our Alexandrian revels: Antony Shall be brought drunken forth, and I fhall fee I'th' poíture of a whore. Iras. O the good Gods! Cleo. Nay, that's certain. Iras. I'll never fee it; for, I'm fure, my nails Are stronger than mine eyes. Cleo. Cleo. Why, that's the way (69) To fool their preparation, and to conquer Their most affur'd intents. Now, Charmian: Enter Charmian. Shew me, my women, like a Queen: go fetch Now, noble Charinian, we'll difpatch indeed; And when thou'ft done this chare, I'll give thee leave To play till dooms-day Wherefore this noife? Enter a Guardsman. Guardf. Here is a rural fellow, That will not be deny'd your Highness' prefence; Cleo. Let him come in. How poor an inftrument [Exit Guardfman. May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty. 169 Why, that's the way To fool their preparation, and to conquer Their most abfurd Intents.] As plaufible as this Epithet may at first Glance appear, I have great Sufpicions of it. Why fhould Cleopatra call Cafar's Defigns abfurd? She could not think his Intent of carrying her in Triumph, fuch; with regard to his own Glory and her finding an Expedient to dif appoint him, could not bring it under that predicament. I much tather think, the Poet wrote; and to conquer Their most affur'd Intents. i, e. the Purposes, which they are moft determin'd to put in practice i make Themselves most fure of accomplishing. So, in Lear: Stand in affured Lofs. All, that offer to defend him, So, before in this Play, by an equivalent Epithet; That Nature must compell us to lament Our most perfifted Deeds. I'm marble conftant: now the fleeting moon. Enter Guardfman, and Clown with a basket. Cleo. Avoid and leave him. [Exit Guardsman. Haft thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, Clown. Truly, I have him: but I would not be the party fhould defire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal: thofe, that do die of it, do feldom or never recover. Cleo. Remember'st thou any that have dy'd on't? Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer than yesterday, a very honeft woman, but fomething given to lie, as a woman fhould not do, but in the way of honefty.. How she dy'd of the biting of it, what pain fhe felt! truly, the makes a very good report o'th' worm: but he, that will believe half that they fay, fhall never be faved by all that they do: (70) but this is most fallible, the worm's an odd worm. Cleo. Get thee hence, farewel. Clown. I with you all joy of the worm. Cleo. Farewel. Clown. You muft think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind. Cleo. Ay, ay, farewel. Clown. Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping of wife people; for, indeed, there is no goodness in the worm. Cleo. Take thou no care, it fhall be heeded. Clown. Very good: give it nothing, I pray you, for it is not worth the feeding. Cleo. Will it eat me? Clown. You must not think, I am fo fimple, but (70) But he that will believe All that they fay, shall never be fav'd by half that they do.] Shakespeare's Clowns are always Jokers, and deal in fly Satire. "Tis plain, this must be read the contrary way, and all and half change places with one another. Mr. Warburton. I know the devil himself will not eat a woman: I know, that a woman is a difh for the Gods, if the devil dress her not. But, truly, these fame whore-fon devils do the Gods great harm in their women! for in every ten that they make, the devils, mar five. Cleo. Well, get thee gone, farewel. Clown. Yes, forfooth, I with you joy o'th' worm. [Exit. The juice of Egypt's grape fhall moift this lip. Antony call, I fee him rowfe himself To praise my noble act. (71) I hear him mock [Applying the afp. Have I the afpick in my lips? doft fall? To Iras. Doft thou lye ftill? If thus thou vanisheft, thou tell'ft the world, It is not worth leave-taking. [Iras dies. Char. Diffolve, thick Cloud, and rain, that I may say, The Gods themselves do weep. Cleo. This proves me base If the first meet the curled Antony, He'll make demand of her, and spend that kifs, (71) I hear him mock The Luck of Cæfar, which the Gods give Men This, poffibly, might have been fhadow'd out from Claudian.. ·Jàm non ad culmina rerum, Injuftos creviffe queror: tolluntur in altum, Ut lapfu graviore ruant. In Rufinum. lib. I. Mr. Warburton. Which is my heav'n to have. Come, mortal wretch, Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool, Char. Oh eastern star! Cleo. Peace, peace! Doft thou not see my baby at my breast, That fucks the nurse asleep? Char. O break! O break! Cleo. As fweet as balm, as foft as air, as gentle, O Antony! Nay, I will take thee too. (72) [Applying another Afp to her Arm. What (72) O Antony! nay I will take thee too.] As there has been hitherto no Break in this Verfe, nor any marginal Direction, Thee neceffarily muft feem to refer to Antony. But 'tis certain, Cleopatra is here defign'd to apply One Afpick to her Arm, as the had before clap'd One to her Breast. And the last Speech of Dolabella in the Play is a Confirmation of This. Here, on ber Breaft, There is a Vent of Blood, and something blown ; The like is on her Arm. Dion Caffius, in the 51ft Book of his Roman History is exprefs as to fmall Punctures of the Afp being discover'd only on her Arm. Κεντήματα η λεπτὰ περὶ τὸν βραχίονα αυτής ΜΟΝΑ βρέθη And Plutarch fays, towards the Conclufion of M. Antary's Life, that he had two Marks imprinted by the Sting of the Alp: and that Gafar carried a Statue of her in Triumph, with an Afp fix'd to her Arm. However, the Application of the Afpick to her Breaft is not the Invention of our Poet. Virgil, who fays nothing of the Locality of her Wounds, plainly intimates that the applied two of these venomous Creatures. Æneid. VIII. Necdum etiam geminos à tergo refpicit Angues. Strabo, Velleius Paterculus, Eutropius, and Lucius Florus leave this Matter as much at large. But I remember to have feen Pictures of a Cleopatra (of what Age, I can't fay;) with the Afpick on her Bofom, and her Breaft bloody. Befides, Leonarda Auguftini, among his antique Gemms, exhibits one of Cleopatra upon an Agot, with an Afpięk biting her right Breaft. And Strada, the Mantuan Antiquary, who gives us a Medal of this Princefs, fays, that the dy'd by Serpents apply'd to her Breafts. And Domitius Calderinus, upon the 59th Epigram of the IVth Book of Martial, fays precifely, that the procur'd her own Death by applying Afps to her Breaft and Arm. Nam Cleo patra |