Our ftrength is all gone into heaviness",

That makes the weight: Had I great Juno's power,
The ftrong-wing'd Mercury fhould fetch thee up,
And fet thee by Jove's fide. Yet come a little,-
Withers were ever fools;-O, come, come, come;
[They draw Antony up.

And welcome, welcome! die, where thou haft liv'd":
Quicken with kiffing; had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.

All. A heavy fight!

Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying:

Give me fome wine, and let me speak a little.
Cleo. No, let me fpeak; and let me rail fo high,
That the falfe housewife Fortune break her wheel,
Provok'd by my offence.

Ant. One word, sweet queen:

Of Cæfar feek your honour, with your fafety.-O!
Cleo. They do not go together.

Ant. Gentle, hear me :

None about Cæfar truft, but Proculeius.

Cleo. My refolution, and my hands, I'll truft;

None about Cæfar.

6

Ant. The miferable change now at my end",

Lament

into heavinefs,] Heavinefs is here ufed equivocally for forrow and weight. MALONE.

7

where thou baft liv'd:] Old Copy-when thou, &c. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

8 Quicken with kiffing;] That is, Revive by my kifs. JOHNSON, So in Heywood's Royal King, &c. 1637 :

"And quickens moft where he would most destroy." STEEV. 9 Give me fome wine, &c.] This circumstance, like almost every other, Shakspeare adopted from Plutarch. Sir Thomas North, in his tranflation, fays," Antony made her ceafe from lamenting, and called for wine, either because he was athirst, or else for that thereby to haften his death. When he had dronke, he earnestly prayed her, and perfuaded that she would fecke to fave her life, if the could poffible, without reproache and dishonour: and that the fhould chiefly truft Proculeius above any man elfe about Cæfar." STEEVENS.

boufewife Fortune, &c.] This defpicable line has occurred before. JOHNSON.

See As you like it, p. 126, n. 6. housewife Fortune from her wheel,"

"Let us fit, and mock the good &c. MALONE.

2 The miferable change, &c.] This fpeech ftands thus in fir Thomas

North's

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Lament nor forrow at: but please your thoughts,
In feeding them with thofe my former fortunes
Wherein I liv'd, the greateft prince o' the world,
The nobleft: and do now not bafely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to

My countryman; a Roman, by a Roman
Valiantly vanquish'd. Now, my fpirit is going;
I can no more.

Cleo. Nobleft of men, woo't die ?

Haft thou no care of me? fhall I abide

In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a ftye ?-O, fee, my women,

The crown o' the earth doth melt:-My lord!-
O, wither'd is the garland of the war,

The foldier's pole 3 is fallen; young boys, and girls,

Are level now with men: the odds is gone,

And there is nothing left remarkable

Beneath the visiting moon *.

Char. O, quietness, lady!

Iras. She is dead too, our fovereign.

Char. Lady,

Iras. Madam,—

Char. O madam, madam, madam!

Iras. Royal Egypt! emprefs!

Char. Peace, peace, Iras.

573

[dies.

[She faints.

North's tranflation of Plutarch." As for himself, the fhould not lament nor forrow for the miferable change of his fortune at the end of his days; but rather, that the fhould think him the more fortunate, for the former triumphs and honours he had received, confidering that while he lived, he was the nobleft and greateft prince of the world, and that now he was overcome, not cowardly, but valiantly; a Roman, by another Roman." STEEVENS.

3 The foldier's pole-] He at whom the foldiers pointed, as at a pageant held high for obfervation. JOHNSON.

4- the odds is gone,

And there is nothing left remarkable

Beneath the vifiting moon.] So, in Macbeth:
from this inftant

"There's nothing serious in mortality;
"All is but toys; renown, and grace, is dead;
"The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
"Is left this vault to brag on." MALONE.

Clea

Cleo. No more, but e'en a woman3; and commanded
By fuch poor paffion as the maid that milks,
And does the meanest chares.-lt were for me
To throw my scepter at the injurious gods;
To tell them, that this world did equal theirs,
Till they had ftolen our jewel. All's but naught;
Patience is fottifh; and impatience does
Become a dog that's mad: Then is it fin,
To rush into the fecret houfe of death,

Ere death dare come to us ?- How do you, women?
What, what? good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian?
My noble girls!-Ah, women, women! look,
Our lamp is fpent, it's out :-Good firs, take heart:-
[to the guard below.
We'll bury him and then, what's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,

And make death proud to take us. Come, away:
This cafe of that huge spirit now is cold.

Ah, women, women! come; we have no friend
But refolution, and the briefest end.

[Exeunt; thofe above bearing off Antony's body.

5 No more, but e'en a woman;] Iras has juft faid,-Royal Egypt, Empress! Cleopatra completes the fentence, (without taking notice of the intervening words spoken by Charmian,)-Empress "no more; but e'en a woman,' now on a level with the meanest of my fex. So, in Julius Caefar, p. 329, Caffius fays,

"No, it is Cafca; one incorporate

"To our attempts. Am I not fray'd for, Cinna?"

to which Cinna replies, without taking any notice of the latter words [Am I not stay'd for?]:

"I am glad on't."

i. e. I am glad that Casca is incorporate to our attempts. See alfo p. 183,

n.4.

The old copy reads-but in a woman. The emendation was made by Dr. Johnson. The fame error has happened in many other places in thefe plays. See Vol. III. p. 373, n. 9. MALONE.

Peace, peace, Iras, is faid by Charmian, when the fees the queen recovering, and thinks fpeech troublefome. JOHNSON.

- the meaneft chares.] i. e. task-work. Hence our term charewoman. So, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630: "She, like a good wife, is teaching her fervants fundry cbares."

Again, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578:

"Well, I must trudge to do a certain chare." STILVENS.

ACT

ACT V. SCENE

Cæfar's Camp before Alexandria.

I.

Enter CESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECENAS GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and Others.

Caf. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; Being fo fruftrate, tell him, he mocks us by The paufes that he makes.

Dol.

7 Mecanas,] In the old copy Menas.Mec. however is prefixed to the fpeeches allotted to this perfon through the fcene. The correction in the prefent ftage-direction was made by Mr. Theobald. MALONE. s Being fo fruftrate, tell him, be mocks us by

The paufes that he makes.] Fruftrate, for fruftrated, was the language of Shakpeare's time. So, in the Tempest:

66 and the fea mocks

"Our fruftrate search by land."

So ernfummate for confummated, contaminate for contaminated, &c. &c. The last two words of the first of thefe lines are not found in the old copy. The defect of the metre fhews that fomewhat was omited, and the paffage by the omiffion was rendered unintelligible.

When in the lines juft quoted, the fea is faid to mock the fearch of those who were seeking on the land for a body that had been drown'd in the ocean, this is easily underfood. But in that before us the cafe is very different. When Antony himself made thefe paufes, would he mock, or laugh at them? and what is the meaning of mocking a pause?

In Measure for Measure the concluding word of a line was omitted, and in like manner has been fupplied:

"How I may formally in perfon bear [me]

"Like a true friar."

and fimilar omissions have happened in many other plays. See Vol. VI. p. 507. n. 3.

In further fupport of the emendation now made, it may be obferved, that the word mock, of which our authour makes frequent ufe, is almost always employed as I fuppofe it to have been ufed here. Thus, in K. Lear: "Pray do not mock me." Again, in Measure for Measure: "You do blafpheme the good in mocking me.'

Again, in All's well that ends well:

33

"You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves,
"And mock us with our barenefs."

Again, in the play before us :

that nod unto the world,

"And mock our eyes with air."

The fecond interpretation given by Mr. Steevens in the following note is a juft interpretation of the text as now regulated; but extracts from the words in the old copy a meaning, which, without thofe that I have fupplied, they certainly do not afford. MALONE.

He

Dol. Cæfar, I fhall 9.

[Exit DOLABELLA.

Enter DERCETAS, with the fword of ANTONY.

Caf. Wherefore is that? and what art thou, that dar'ß Appear thus to us?

Der. I am call'd Dercetas ;

Mark Antony I ferv'd, who beft was worthy

Beft to be ferv'd: whilft he stood up, and spoke,

He was my mafter; and I wore my life,

To spend upon his haters: If thou please

To take me to thee, as I was to him

I'll be to Cæfar; if thou pleaseft not,
I yield thee up my life.

Caf. What is't thou fay'ft?

Der. I fay, O Cæfar, Antony is dead.

Caf. The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater crack: The round world should have shook Lions into civil streets',

And

He mocks the paufes that be makes. i. e. he plays wantonly with the intervals of time which he should improve to his own preservation. Or the meaning may be.-being thus defeated in all his efforts, and left without refource, tell him that these affected paufes and delays of his in yielding himself up to me, are mere idle mockery. He mocks the paufes, may be a licentious mode of expreflion for-be makes a mockery of us by thefe paufes; i, e. he trifles with us. STEEVENS.

9 Caefar, I fhall.] The exit of Dolabella is not marked here in the old copy, but Mr. Theobald justly oblerves, that he must be supposed to have gone immediately to execute Cæfar's commands; who afterwards, when he asks for him, recollects that he feat him on bufinefs. The fubfequent fpeeches therefore in this fcene, which are given to Dolabella in the folio, have been transferred to Agrippa. MALONE.

The round world should have shook

Lions into civil ftreets, &c.] I think here is a line loft, after which it is in vain to go in queft. The fenfe feems to have been this: The round world fhould have shook, and this great alteration of the system of things should fend lions into freets, and citizens into dens. There is fenfe ftill, but it is harth and violent. JOHNSON.

I believe we should read-The ruin'd world, i. e. the general eruption of elements should have fhock, &c. Shakspeare feems to mean that the death of fo great a man ought to have produced effects fimilar to thofe which might be expected from the diffolution of the unfiverse when all diftinctions fhall be loft. To shake any thing out, is a phrase in common ufe among our ancient writers. So Holinfhed, p. 743"God's providence fhaking men out of their shifts of fuppofed fafetie, &c."

Perhaps