Yet cannot hold this vifible fhape, my knave. With hips made cities, condemn myself, to lack Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us She has robb'd me of my fword. Mar. No, Antony 5 Than fhe, which, by her death, our Cæfar tells, Difgrace and horror, that, on my command, Eras. The gods withhold me! My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled Shall I do that, which all the Parthian darts, With thine entirely. fides Ant. Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and Eres. What would my lord? Ant. Since Cleopatra dy'd, I have liv'd in fuch difhonour, that the gods Though enemy, loft aim, and could not? Ant. When I did make thee free, fwor'ft thou not Fras. My fword is drawn. Ant. Then let it do at once Eros, My dear master, My captain, and my emperor! let me fay, Eros. Why, there then :-Thus do I escape the Of Antony's death. Ant, Thrice nobler than myfelf! I should, and thou could'ft not. My queen and Eros A bridegroom in my death, and run into❜t 1 Shakspeare has here (Dr. Warburton fays), as ufual, taken his metaphor from a low trivial fubje&; but has ennobled it with much art, by so contriving that the principal term in the fubject from whence the metaphor was taken, fhould belong to, and fuit the dignity of, the fubject to which the metaphor is transferred; thereby providing at once for the integrity of the figure, and the noblenefs of the thought and this by the word triumph, which either fignifies Octavius's conquest, or what we now call, contractedly, the trump at cards, then called the triumph or the triumphing fort. 2 i. e. the thing that contains thee. 3 Dr. Johnson thinks we should read, "Seel then, and all is done" i. e. Ciofe thine eyes for ever, and be quiet. To feel hawks is to clofe their eyes. folded in each other. 5 Corrigible for corrected, and afterwards penetrative for penetrating. is the dignity, the authority. 4 Arms 6 Worfhip learn'd [phefying fear Dio. Lock'd in her monument. But, fearing fince how it might work, hath fent Ant. Too late, good Diomed :-Call my guard, Enter a Guard. Ant. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra 'Tis the last service that I fhall command you. live to wear All your true followers out. [have Dear, dear, my lord, pardon; I dare not, Ant. O, quick, or I am gone. [my lord! Cico. Here's fport, indeed!-How heavy weighs 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 ;-[fate [They draw Antony up to Cleopatra. And welcome, welcome! die, where thou haft Ant. Nay, good my fellows, do not pleafe tharp [Exeunt, bearing Antony. liv'd: Quicken with kiffing 7;-had my lips that power, Thus would I wear them out. 3 She 4 1. c. To difpofe may here fignify to make terms, to fettle matters. 2 i. e. without light. defires the fun to burn his own orb, the vehicle of light, and then the earth will be dark. adorn'd. A brooch was an ornament formerly worn in the bat. Brooches in the North are buckles fet with flones, fuch as thofe with which thirt-bofoms and handkerchiefs are clafped. lent coolness of refolution. 6 Dr. Johnfon fuppofes the meaning of thefe ftrange words to be, "Here's trifling! You do not work in carnefi,” 7 That is, Revive by my kifs. si. e. Cleo. No, let me fpeak; and let me rail fo high, That the falfe hufwife Fortune break her wheel, Provok'd by my offence.. Ant. One word, sweet queen: Of Cæfar feek your honour, with your fafety.-O!- None about Cæfar truft, but Proculeius. Cleo. My refolution, and my hands, I'll truft, Ant. The miferable change now at my end, [Antony dies. Cleo. Nobleft of men, woo't die? Char. O, quietnefs, lady! [She faints. Char. O madam, madam, madam,- Char. Peace, peace, Iras. Cleo. No more-but e'en a woman; and com By fuch poor paffion as the maid that milks, Ere death dare come to us ?-How do you, women? mian ? My noble girls!—Ah, women, women! look, heart :- [Exeunt, bearing off Antony's body. SCENE I Cæfar's Camp. ACT V. Enter Cefar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Mecænas, lus, Proculeius, and train. Caf. GR Caf. The breaking of fo great a thing should make A greater crack: The round world Should have fhook lions into civil streets, Gal-And citizens to their dens 4:—The death of Antony O to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; Being fo fruftrated, tell him, he mocks The paufes that he makes 3. Dol. Cæfar, I fhall. Der. I am call'd Dercetas ; To take me to thee, as I was to him I'll be to Cæfar; if thou pleasest not, I yield thee up my life. Caef. What is 't thou fay'st? Der. I fay, O Cæfar, Antony is dead. Is not a fingle doom; in the name lay Der. He is dead, Cæfar; Not by a publick minister of justice, I robb'd his wound of it; behold it ftain'd Cef. Look you fad, friends? The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings Agr. And ftrange it is, That nature must compel us to lament Mec. His taints and honours He at whom the foldiers pointed, as at a pageant held high for observation. work. Hence the modern term chare-woman. 2 i. c. tafk3 i. e. he trifles with us. jectures, that a line is loft here. 4 Dr. Johnfon con Mr. Malone, however, believes that only two words are wanting,. and propofes to read, "The round world should have shook, Thrown raging liens into civil fireets, And citizens to their dens.” 5 But for if not. Waged Mec. When fuch a fpacious mirror's fet before He needs muft fee himself. Gef. O Antony! [him, I have follow'd thee to this ;-But we do lance Unreconciliable, should divide Our equalness to this 2-Hear me, good friends,—— But I will tell you at fome meeter feason; Enter an Egyptian. The bufinefs of this man looks out of him, Confin'd in all the has, her monument, Cef. Bid her have good heart; She foon fhall know of us, by fome of ours, [Exit. Egypt. So the gods preferve thee ! Cf. Come hither, Proculeius; Go, and fay, We purpose her no thame: give her what com forts The quality of her paffion fhall require ; Pro. Cæfar, I fhall. [Exit Proculeius. Cef. Gallus, go you along.-Where's bella, To fecond Proculeius ? All. Dolabella! Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, and Iras. Cleo. My defolation does begin to make A better life: 'Tis paltry to be Cæfar; Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave 3, A minifter 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 4, The beggar's nurfe and Cæfar's. Enter, below, Proculeius, Gallus, L And bids thee study on what fair demands Cleo. What's thy name? Pro. My name is Proculeius. Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but No lefs beg t. an a klugdom: if he please Pro. Be of good cheer; You are fallen into a princely hand, fear nothing: A conqueror, that will pray in aid 5 for kindness, Cleo. Pray you, tell him I am his fortune's vaffal, and I fend him Pro. This I'll report, dear lady. [Exit Gallus. Caf. Let him alone, for I remember now How he's employ'd; he fhall in time be ready. Go with me to my tent; where you fhall fee How hardly I was drawn into this war; How calm and gentle I proceeded still [Exit. Char. O Cleopatra ! thou art taken, queen! [Drawing a dagger. Proculeius rushes in, and dijarms the Queen. i. e. his taints and honours were an equal match; were oppofed to each other in juft proportions, like the counterparts of a wager. 2 That is, fhould have made us, in our equality of fortune, difagree to a pitch like this, that one of us mult die. 3 i. e. the fervant of fortune. 4 i. e. Voluntary death produces a ftate which has no longer need of the grofs and terrene luftenance, in the use of which Cæfar and the beggar are on a level. 5 Praying in aid is a law term, ufed for a petition made in a court of juftice for the calling in of help from another that hath an interest in the caule in queftion. • I allow him to be my conqueror. Pro. Pro. Hold, worthy lady, hold: [languifh Cles. What, of death too, that rids our dogs of Pro. Cleopatra, Dol. Moft fovereign creature, Cleo. His legs beftrid the ocean; his rear'd arm Crefted the world: his voice was property'd As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty, There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas, That grew the more by reaping: His delights Were dolphin-like; they fhew'd his back above [queen The element they liv'd in: In his livery [were Come hither, come! come, come, and take a Walk'd crowns, and crownets; realms and islands Worth many babes and beggars! Do not abufe our master's bounty, by Cleo. Where art thou, death? Pre. O, temperance, lady! Cien. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, fir; Pro. You do extend Thefe thoughts of horror further than you shall Enter Dolabella. Dol. Proculeius, What thou haft done thy mafter Cæfar knows, Pro. So, Dolabella, It shall content me best: be gentle to her.- If you'll employ me to him, Cleo. Say, I would die. As plates 3 dropt from his pocket. [man Cleo. Think you there was, or might be, fuch a As this I dream'd of? Dol. Gentle madam, no. Cleo. You lye, up to the hearing of the gods. Dol. Hear me, good madam: Your lofs is as yourfeif, great; and you bear it By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots Cleo. I thank you, fir. [To Cleopatra. Dol. It is the emperor, madam. [Exit Proculeius. I pray you, rife; rife, Ægypt. Dol. Moft noble emprefs, you have heard of me? Dol. Affuredly, you know me. Cles. No matter, fir, what I have heard or known. [dreams; Caf. Arife, you fhall not kneel: Cleo. Sir, the gods [Cleo, kneels. Will have it thus; my mafter and my lord Caf. Take to you no hard thoughts: Cleo. Sole fir o' the world, I cannot project 5 mine own cause fo well Cf. Cleopatra, know, We will extenuate rather than enforce : 1 Once may mean fometimes. The meaning of Cleopatra feems to be this: If idle talking be fome-, times neceffary to the prolongation of life, why I will not fleep, for fear of talking idly in my fleep.' 3 Plates probably mean, fluer money. 4 The word piece is a term appropriated to works of art. Here Nature and Fancy produce each their pie e, and the piece done by Nature had the preference. Antony was in reality past the fize of dreaming; he was more by Nature than Fancy could prefent in fleep. 5 To project à caufe is to reprefent a caule; to project is well, is to plan or contrive a scheme of defence. |