Remains in use 3 with you. Our Italy Shines o'er with civil fwords: Sextus Pompeius Equality of two domestick powers Breeds fcrupulous faction: The hated, grown to ftrength, Into the hearts of fuch as have not thriv'd Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom, It does from childishness :-Can Fulvia die "? Ant. She's dead, my queen: Look here, and, at thy fovereign leisure, read 5 Remains in ufe-] The poet feems to allude to the legal distinction between the afe and abfolute poffeffion. JOHNSON. 6-hould fafe my going,] i. e. fhould render my going not dangerous, not likely to produce any mischief to you. Mr. Theobald instead of fafe, the reading of the old copy, unneceffarily reads falue. MALONE. It does from childishness: can Fulvia die?] Though age has not exempted me from folly, I am not fo childish, as to have apprehenfions from a rival that is no more. And is Fulvia dead indeed? Such, I think, is the meaning. MALONE. That Fulvia was mortal, Cleopatra could have no reason to doubt; the meaning therefore of her queftion feems to be :-Will there ever be an end of your excuses? As often as you want to leave me, will not fome Fulvia, fome new pretext be found for your departure? She has already faid that though age could not exempt her from fome follies, at least it frees her from a childish belief all he fays. STEEVENS. 8 The garboils fhe awak'd;—] i. e. the commotion the occafioned. The word is ufed by Heywood in the Rape of Lucrece, 1616: thou Tarquin, doft alone furvive, "The head of all thofe garboils." The word is derived from the old French garbouil, which Cotgrave explains by burlyburly, great ftir. STEEVENS. In Cawdrey's Alphabetical Table of bard Words, Svo. 1604, gar boile is explained by the word burlyburly. MALONE. Cleo. O moft falfe love! Where be the facred vials thou should'st fill Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come ;- Ant. My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which ftands Cleo. So Fulvia told me. I pr'ythee, turn afide, and weep for her; Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more. Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. 90 moft falfe love! Where be the facred vials thou should'ft fill With forrowful water ] Alluding to the lachrymatory vials, or bottles of tears, which the Romans fometimes put into the urn of a friend. JOHNSON. So, in the first A&t of The Two Noble Kinfmen, written by Fletcher in conjunction with Shakspeare: "Balms and gums, and heavy cheers, STEEVENS. So Antony loves.] i. e. uncertain as the ftate of my health is the love of Antony. STEEVENS. I believe Mr. Steevens is right: yet before I read his note, I thought the meaning to be," My fears quickly render me ill; and I am as quickly well again, when I am convinced that Antony has an affection for me." So, for fo that. If this be the true fenfe of the passage, is ought to be regulated thus: I am quickly ill, and well again, So Antony loves. MALONE. 2 — to Egypt:-] To me, the queen of Egypt. JOHNSON. Ant. Ant. Now, by my fword, Cleo. And target,-Still he mends; But this is not the beft: Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, The carriage of his chafe. Ant. I'll leave you, lady. Cleo. Courteous lord, one word. Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it: and I have lov'd,-but there's not it; Sir, you That you know well: Something it is I would,- And I am all forgotten 4. Ant. But that your royalty Holds idleness your fubject, I fhould take you 3 Cleo. Herculean Roman-] Antony traced his descent from Anton, a fon of Hercules. STEEVENS. 4 O, my oblivion is a very Antony, And I am all forgottten.] Cleopatra has fomething to fay, which feems to be fupprefs'd by forrow, and after many attempts to produce her meaning, the cries out: 0, this oblivious memory of mine is as falfe and treacherous to me as Antony is, and I forget every thing. Oblivion, I believe, is boldly used for a memory apt to be deceitful. STEEVENS. I have not the fmallest doubt that Mr. Steevens's explanation of this paffage is juft, and therefore have not encumbered the page with any conjectures upon it. Dr. Johnson fays, that "it was her memory, not her oblivion, that like Antony, was forgetting and deserting her." It certainly was; it was her oblivious memory, as Mr. Steevens has well interpreted it; and the licence is much in our authour's manner. MALONE. 5 But that your royalty Holds idleness your fubject, I fbeuld take you For idleness itself. The fenfe may be :-But that your queenship chufes idleness for the subject of your converfation, I should take you for idleness itself. So Webiter (who was often a very close imitator of Shakspeare) in his Vittoria Corombona, 1612: how idle am I "To question my own idleness!" Or an antithefis may be defigned between royalty and fubject,-But that I know you to be a queen, and that your royalty bolds idleness in subjection to you, exalting you far above its influence, I should suppose you to be the very genius of idleness itself. STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens's latter interpretation is, I think, nearer the truth: But perhaps your subject rather means, whom being in subjection to you can Cleo. 'Tis fweating labour, To bear fuch idleness fo near the heart hence Since my becomings kill me, when they do not you And all the gods go with you! upon your fword Ant. Let us go. Come; Our feparation fo abides, and flies, That thou, refiding here, go'ft yet with me, Away. SCENE IV. ; Rome. An Appartment in Cæfar's house. [Exeunt. Enter OCTAVIUS CÆSAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. Caf. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate One great competitor7: From Alexandria This is the news; He fishes, drinks, and waftes The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or Vouchfaf'd to think he had partners: You fhall find there A man, who is the abstract of all faults That all men follow. Lep. I must not think, there are can command at pleasure," to do your bidding," to affume the airs of coquetry, &c. Were not this coquet one of your attendants, I should fuppofe you yourself were this capricious being. MALONE. 6 Since my becomings kill me,] There is fomewhat of obfcurity in this expreffion. In the firft fcene of the play Antony had called her: wrangling queen, "Whom every thing becomes." It is to this, perhaps, that the alludes. STEEVENS. 7 One great competitor :-] Perhaps, Our great competitor. JOHNSON. Competitor means here, as it does wherever the word occurs in Shakfpeare, affociate, or partner. MASON. Evils Evils enough to darken all his goodness: His faults, in him, feem as the fpots of heaven, Caf. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is not Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy; To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit And keep the turn of tipling with a slave; To reel the streets at noon, and ftand the buffet With knaves that smell of fweat: fay, this becomes him, 8 His faults, in bim, feem as the spots of beav'n, More firy by night's blackness ;] If by fpots are meant fars, as night has no other fiery spots, the comparison is forced and harsh, stars having been always supposed to beautify the night; nor do I comprehend what there is in the counter-part of this fimile, which anfwers to night's blacknefs. Hanmer reads: -Spots on ermine, Or fires, by night's blackness. JOHNSON. The meaning feems to be-As the stars or fpots of heaven are not obfcured, but rather rendered more bright, by the blackness of the night, fo neither is the goodness of Antony eclipfed by his evil qualities, but, on the contrary, his faults feem enlarged and aggravated by his virtues. That which answers to the blackness of the night, in the counterpart of the fimile, is Antony's goodness. His goodnefs is a ground which gives a relief to his faults, and makes them ftand out more prominent and confpicuous. It is objected, that stars rather beautify than deform the night. But the poet confiders them here only with respect to their prominence and Splendour. It is fufficient for him that their fcintilations appear ftronger in confequence of darknefs, as jewels are more refplendent on a black ground than on any other. That the prominence and splendour of the ftars were alone in Shakspeare's contemplation, appears from a paffage in Hamlet, where a fimilar thought is lefs equivocally exprefs'd: "Your fkill fhall, like a ftar i' the darkest night, "Stick firy off indeed." A kindred thought occurs in K. Henry V. "though the truth of it stands off as grofs Again, in K. Henry IV. P. I. 91 And like bright metal on a fullen ground, "My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, "Than that which hath no foil to fet it off." MALONE. · purchas'd ;] Procured by his own fault or endeavour. JOHNSON. (As |
