ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. ACT.I. SCENE I. - Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and Philo. Philo. Nay, but this dotage of our general's O’erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes, That o'er the files and musters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, The office and devotion of their view Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst The buckles on his breast, reneges - all temper; And is become the bellows, and the fan, To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come! Flourish. Enter Antony and CLEOPATRA, with their Trains; Eunuchs fanning her. Take but good note, and you shall see in him The triple pillarof the world transform'd Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see. 1 reneges — ] Renounces. • The triple pillar - ] Triple is here used improperly for third, or one of three. One of the triumvirs, one of the three masters of the world. VOL. VII. H Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. earth. Enter an Attendant. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates me:- The sum. 4 Cleo. Nay, hear them®, Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry; Or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent His powerful mandate to you, Do this, or this; Take in that kingdom®, and enfranchise that ; Perform't, or else we damn thee. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance, — nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your dismission Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony. Where's Fulvia's process ?? Cæsar's, I would say ? Both ? Call in the messengers. — As I am Egypt's queen, Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine Is Cæsar's homager : else so thy cheek pays shame, When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds. — The messengers, Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair, [Embracing. And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind, S - bourn - ] Bound or limit. The sum.] Be brief, sum thy business in a few words. 5 Nay, hear them,] i. e. the news. This word, in Shakspeare's time, was considered as plural. 6 Take in, &c.] i. e. subdue, conquer. 9 On pain of punishment, the world to weet,& Excellent falshood ! But stirr'd by Cleopatra. — Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Fye, wrangling queen! [Exeunt Ant. and CLEOP. with their Train. Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius priz'd so slight? Phi. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, Dem. I'm full sorry, to weet,] To know. 9 Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours,] For the love of Love, means, for the sake of the queen of love. Let's not confound the time - ] i. e. let us not consume the time. 2 No messenger; but thine and all alone, &c.] Cleopatra has said, “ Call in the messengers ;” and afterwards, “Hear the ambassadors.” Talk not to me, says Antony, of messengers ; I am now wholly thine, and you and I unattended will to-night wander through the streets. • That he approves the common liar,] Fame. That he proves the common liar, fame, in his case to be a true reporter. Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope [Exeunt. Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAs, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen ? O, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must change his horns with garlands ! Alex. Soothsayer. things? Show him your hand. Enter ENOBARBUS. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. you are. change his horns with garlands! ] i. e. be a triumphant cuckold; a cuckold who will consider his state as an honourable Mr. Malone, and some other of the commentators think the word should be charge. one. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all : let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage 5: find me to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. Char. O excellent ! I love long life better than figs. Sooth. You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names?: Pr’ythee, how many boys and wenches must I have? 5 to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage :) Herod paid homage to the Romans, to procure the grant of the kingdom of Judea: but I believe there is an allusion here to the theatrical character of this monarch, and to a proverbial expression founded on it. Herod was always one of the personages in the mysteries of our early stage, on which he was constantly represented as a fierce, haughty, blustering, tyrant, so that Herod of Jewry became a common proverb, expressive of turbulence and rage. Thus, Hamlet says of a ranting player, that he “out-herods Herod.” And, in this this tragedy, Alexas tells Cleopatra, that “not even Herod of Jewry dare look upon her when she is angry;" i.e. not even a man as fierce as Herod. According to this explanation, the sense of the present passage will be - Charmian wishes for a son who may arrive at such power and dominion that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke. STEEVENS. I love long life better than figs.] This is a proverbial expression. 7 Then, belike, my children shall have no names :) If I have already had the best of my fortune, then I suppose I shall never name children, that is, I am never to be married. However, tell me the truth, tell me, how many ys and wenches ? 6 |
