Fol. Not fo, my lord. Br. Nay, I am fure it is, Volumnius. Thou fee'ft the world, Volumnius, how it goes; Our enemies have beat us to the pit : [Alarum. It is more worthy, to leap in ourselves, Than tarry 'till they puth us. Good Volumnius, Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; [ellarum, Cry whoin, Fly, fly, fly. Ch. Fly, my lord, fly. [Exeunt Clitus, Dar and Val. Bru. Hence; I will follow. I pr'ythee, Strato, ftay thou by thy lord: Thy life hath had fome fmack of honour in it: Stra. Give me your hand first : Fare you well, Bru, Farewel, good Strato.—Cæfar, now be still;. Mf. My mafter's man.-Strato, where is thy And no man elfe hath honour by his death. That thou haft prov'd Lucilius' faying true. Ofa. All that ferv'd Brutus, I will entertain them. Fellow, wilt thou beftow thy time with me? Stra, Ay, if Meffala will prefer me to you. Mf. How died my mafter, Strato? Ant. This was the noblett Roman of them all: All the confpirators, fave only he, Did that they did in envy of great Cæfar; Oia. According to his virtue let us ufe him, [Exeunt. ANTONY Ambassadors from Antony to Cæjar, Captains, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. I i. e. renounces. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new hea ven, new earth. Enter a Meffenger. Mef. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates me :-The fum 5. Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry; or, who knows If the fcarce-bearded Cæfar have not fent His powerful mandate to you, "Do this, or this 3 "Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that; "Perform 't, or elfe we damn thee. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your difmiffion Both ? 3 Call in the meffengers.-As I am Ægypt's queen, Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine Is Cæfar's homager: elfe fo thy cheek pays fhame, When fhrill-tongu'd Fulvia fcolds.- -The meffengers. [arch Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt and the wide Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; 2 Gypfy is here ufed both in the original meaning for an Egyptian, and in its accidental fense for a bad woman. 3 Triple is here ufed improperly for third, or one of three. One of the triumvirs, one of the three mafters of the world. fum thy bulinefs in a few words. 4 i. e bound or limit. si, e. be brief, Kingdoms Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike [Embracing. And fuch a twain can do 't; in which, I bind, Cleo. Excellent falihood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?- int. But firr'd by Cleopatra.- Now, for the love of love, and his foft hours, Ant. Fye, wrangling queen! A little I can read. Alex. Shew him your hand. Enter Enobarbus. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, Char. Good fr, give me good fortune. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You thall be yet far fairer than you are." Iras. No, you fhail paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prefcience; be attentive. Sooth. You fhall be more beloving, than belov'd. Char. Good now, fome 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 6! find me to marry with Octavius Cæfar, and compania Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, Sooth. You fhall out-live the lady whom you serve. Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs 7, Sooth. You have feen and prov'd a fairer former Than that which is to approach, [fortune Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names 3: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches muft I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And foretel every with, a million 9. Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wifhes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Enter Ghamian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer.fhall be-drunk to bed. Char. Lord Alexas, fweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most abfolute Alexas, where's the foothfayer that you prais'd fo to the queen? O! that I knew this hufband, which, you fay, muft change 4 his horns with garlands. Alex. Soothfayer. Sooth. Your will? [know things? Ias. There's a palm prefages chastity, if nothing elfe. Char. Even as the a'erflowing Nilus prefageth famine. say. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot footh Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitfel Char. Is this the man - -Is't you, fir, that prognoftication, I cannot fcratch mine ear.Sooth. In nature's infinite book of fecrecy, 1 To know. 2 But here fignifies unless. 4 Dr. Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune, 3 Meaning, that he proves the common lyar, fame, in his cafe to be a true reporter. Johnfon doubts, whether change in this place may not fig nify merely to drefs, or to dress with changes of garlands; certain it is, that change of clothes in the time of Shakipeare fignified variety of them. 5 A heated liver is fuppofed to make a pimpied face. 6llerod was always one of the perfonages in the myfteries of our early age, on which be was conftantly reprefented as a fierce, haughty, bluffering tyrant, fo that Herod of Jewry became a common proverb, expreffive of turbulence and rage. Thus Hamlet fays of a ranting player, that be out-nerods Herod." The meaning then is, Charmian wishes for a fon, who may arrive to fuch power and dominion, that the proudest and fiercelt monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke. 7 A proverbial expreffion. 8 A fairer fortune may mean, a more reputable one. Her anfwer then implies, that belike all her children will be baftards, who have no right to the name of their father's fame ly. 9 The meaning is. If you had as many wombs as you will have wishes, and Ieuld foretel all thes wifhes, I fhould foretel a million of children. It is an ellipfis very frequent in converiation;-I fhould fhame you, and tell all; that is, and if I fhould tell all. and is for and f, which was an ciently, and is itill provincially ufed for if. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Hath, with his Parthian force, extended Afia, Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. From Euphrates his conquering banner shook, From Syria, to Lydia, and to lonia; Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than Whilft The? Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nofe. Char. Our worfer thoughts heavens mend !Alexas,-come, his fortune, his fortune.-O let him marry a woman that cannot go, fweet Ifis, I befeech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worfe, 'till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fiftyfold a cuckold! Good Ifis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Ifis, I beseech thee! Iras. Amen. Dear goddefs, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to fee a handfome man loofe-wiv'd, fo it is a deadly forrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded; Therefore, dear Ifis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly. Char. Amen. Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themfelves whores, but they'd do't. Eno. Huh! here comes Antony. Char. Not he, the queen. Enter Cleopatra. Cleo. Saw you my lord? Eno. No, lady. Cleo. Was he not here? Char. No, madam. Ant. Antony, thou wouldst fay,- [tongue; When our quick winds lie ftill2; and our ills told us, These ftrong Ægyptian fetters I must break, Or lose myself in dotage.—What are you? 2 Mef. In Sicyon: [one? Her length of fickness, with what else more serious By revolution 3 lowering, does become The oppofite of itself: fhe's good, being gone; [on. Cleo. He was difpos'd to mirth; but on the fud-1 must from this enchanting queen break off; den A Roman thought hath struck him.- [bus, Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, -Enobar- My idleness doth hatch.-How now! Enobarbus ! Enter Enobarbus. [Alexas? But foon that war had end, and the time's ftate Whofe better iffue in the war, from Italy, Ant. Well, what worst? Mef. The nature of bad news infects the teller. Mef. Labienus (this is stiff news) Eno. Under a compelling occafion, let women die: It were pity to caft them away for nothing; though, between them and a great caufe, they should be esteem'd nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the leaft noife of this, dies inftantly; I have feen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment 5: I do think, there is mettle in death, which commits fome loving act upon her, the hath fuch a celerity in dying. Ant. She is cunning patt man's thought. Eno. Alack, fir, no; her pailions are made of nothing but the fineft part of pure love: We cannot call her winds and waters, fighs and tears; they are greater ftorms and tempefts than almanacks can report: this cannot be cunning in her; 1 i. e. feized. 2 The fenfe is, that man, not agitated by cenfure, like foil not ventilated by quick winds, produces more evil than good. 3. e. by change of circumstances. 4 Could for would. Could, would, and fhould, are very often indifcriminately fed in the old plays. 5 i. e. for lefs reafon; upon meaner motives, |