So saucy with the hand of she here (what's her name, Ant. Tug him away; being whipped, [Exeunt Attend., with THYREUS. You were half blasted ere I knew you.-Ha! Cleo. Good my lord, Ant. You have been a boggler ever. But when we in our viciousness grow hard, (O, misery on't!) the wise gods seel our eyes; In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us Adore our errors; laugh at us, while we strut To our confusion. Cleo. O, is it come to this? Ant. I found you as a morsel, cold upon Dead Cæsar's trencher; nay, you were a fragment Luxuriouly picked out.-For, I am sure, Though you can guess what temperance should be, Cleo. Wherefore is this? Ant. To let a fellow that will take rewards, And say, God quit you! be familiar with 1 Since she ceased to be Cleopatra. 2 i. e. on menials. Servants are called eaters and feeders by several of our old dramatic writers. 3 Close up. 4 Wantonly. 5 This is an allusion, however improper, to the Psalms. The horned herd! for I have savage cause; A haltered neck, which does the hangman thank Re-enter Attendants, with THYreus. 1 Att. Soundly, my lord. Ant. Cried he? and begged he pardon? 1 Att. He did ask favor. Ant. If that thy father live, let him repent Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry To follow Cæsar in his triumph, since Thou hast been whipped for following him: henceforth, Shake thou to look on't.-Get thee back to Cæsar, My speech, and what is done; tell him, he has Ant. Alack, our terrene moon Is now eclipsed; and it portends alone The fall of Antony! Cleo. I must stay his time. Ant. To flatter Cæsar, would you mingle eyes With one that ties his points ?3 1 i. e. ready, active. 2 To requite me. 3 i. e. with a menial attendant. Points were the laces with which our ancestors fastened their trunk-hose. Not know me yet? Cleo. Ant. Cold-hearted toward me? Ah, dear, if I be so, Cleo. Ant. I will oppose his fate. Our force by land Have knit again, and fleet,3 threatening most sealike. Where hast thou been, my heart?-Dost thou hear, lady? If from the field I shall return once more Cleo. Cleo. It is my birthday. poor; but, since my lord I had thought to have held it 1 That is, as the hailstone dissolves or wastes away. 2 Cleopatra's son by Julius Cæsar. 3 To fleet and to float were anciently synonymous. 4 Nice is here equivalent to soft, or luxurious. 5 Feast days in the colleges of either university, are called gaudy days, as they were formerly in the Inns of Court. Ant. We'll yet do well. Cleo. Call all his noble captains to my lord. Ant. Do so; we'll speak to them; and to-night I'll force The wine peep through their scars.-Come on, my queen; There's sap in't yet.-The next time I do fight, [Exeunt ANT., CLEO., and Attendants. Eno. Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious, Is, to be frighted out of fear; and, in that mood, Restores his heart. When valor preys on reason, [Exit. ACT IV. SCENE I. Cæsar's Camp at Alexandria. Enter CESAR, reading a letter; AGRIPPA, MECENAS, and others. Cæs. He calls me boy; and chides, as he had power To beat me out of Egypt: my messenger He hath whipped with rods; dares me to personal combat, Cæsar to Antony. Let the old ruffian know, I have many other ways to die; mean time, Mec. Cæsar must think, 1 i. e. the estridge falcon. When one so great begins to rage, he's hunted Cæs. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and others. Ant. He will not fight with me, Domitius. Eno. Ant. Why should he not? No. Eno. He thinks, being twenty times of better fortune, He is twenty men to one. Ant. To-morrow, soldier, By sea and land I'll fight; or I will live, Or bathe my dying honor in the blood Shall make it live again. Woo't thou fight well? Ant. Well said; come on.Call forth my household servants; let's to-night Enter Servants. Be bounteous at our meal.-Give me thy hand; me well, And kings have been your fellows. Cleo. 1 i. e. take advantage of. What means this? 2 Let the survivor take all; no composition; victory or death. |