Enter a Messenger. Mes. The emperor calls Canidius. Can. With news the time's in labour, and throes

forth Each minute some,

[Exeunt. SCE N E VIII.

A PLA I N.

Enter Cæfar, Taurus, &c.
Cæs. Taurus.'
Taur. My lord.
Cæf. Strike not by land. Keep whole, provoke not

battle,
Till we have done at sea. Do not exceed
The prescript of this scrowl: our fortune lies
Upon this jump.

(Exeunt.
Enter Antony and Enobarbus.
Ant. Set we our squadrons on yon' fide o' the hill,
In the eye of Cæsar's battle ; from which place
We may the number of the ships behold,
And so proceed accordingly.

(Exeunt. Enter Canidius, marching with his land-army one way

over the stage; and Taurus, the lieutenant of Cæfar, the other way. After their going in, is beard the noise of a sea-fight. Alarm. Enter Enobarbus. Eno. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no

longer : 3 The Antoniad, the Ægyptian admiral,

3 The Antoniad, &c.] Which Plutarch says, was the name of Cleopatra's ship.

Pope.

With all their sixty, fly, and turn the rudder ;
To see't, mine eyes are blasted.

Enter Scarus.
Scar. Gods and Goddesses,
All the whole synod of them !

Eno. What's thy passion ?
Scar. + The greater cantle of the world is lost
With very ignorance; we have kiss'd away
Kingdoms and provinces.

Eno. How appears the fight?

Scar. On our fide like the stoken'd pestilence, Where death is sure. Yon' 6 ribauld nag of Ægypt, ? Whom leprosy o'ertake! i' the midst o the fight, When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd

ner.

6

* The greater cantle—] A piece or lump.

Pope. Cantle is rather a corner. Cæsar in this play mentions the three100k'd world. Of this triangular world every triumvir had a cor

Johnson. token'd) Spotted.

JOHNSON. ribauld-) A luxurious squanderer.

Pope. The word is in the old edition ribaudred, which I do not understand, but mention it, in hopes others may raise some happy conjecture.

JOHNSON. -Yon ribauld nag of Ægypt,] I believe we Mhould read, bag. What follows seems to prove it:

She once being looft,
The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,
Claps on his sea-wing

Observations and Conjectures, printed at Oxford, 1766. The brieze, or aftrum, the fly that flings cattle, proves that nog is the right word.

JOHNSON. ? Whom leprosy o'ertake!Lepresy, an epidemical dislemper of the Ægyprians; to which Horace probably alludes in the controverted line.

Contaminalo cum grege turpium
Morbo virorum.

JOHNSON. Surely leprosy is no disorder among horses. STEEVENS. Vol. VIII.

O

Boch

Both as the same, or rather ours the elder;
The brieze upon her, like a cow in June,
Hoits fails, and Aies.

Eno. That I beheld:
Mine eyes did ficken at the sight, and could not
Endure a further view.

Scar. She once being looft',
The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,
Claps on his sea-wing, and like a doating mallard,
Leaving the fight in height, fies after her:
I never saw an action of such shame;
Experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before
Did violate so itself.

Eno. Alack, alack!

Enier Canidius.

.Can. Our fortune on the sea is out of breath,
And sinks most lamentably. Had our general
Been what he knew himself, it had gone well :
Oh, he has given example for our flight,
Most grolly by his own.
Eno. Ay, are you thereabouts? why then, good

night
Indeed.

Can. Towards Peloponnesus are they fled.

Scar. 'Tis easy to't.
And there I will attend what further comes.

Can. To Cæfar will I render
My legions, and my horse ; fix kings already
Shew me the way of yielding.

Eno. I'll yet follow

! --being looft,] To loof is to bring a ship close to the wind.

STEEVENS.

The

The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason Sits in the wind against me. [Exeunt, severally.

SCENE IX.

The palace in Alexandria. Enter Antony, with Eros and other attendants. Ant. Hark, the land bids me tread no more upon't, It is asham’d to bear me !-Friends, come hither; I am so lated in the world, that I Have lost my way for ever :-I have a ship Laden with gold ; take that, divide it ; fly, And make your peace with Cæsar.

Omnes. Fly! not we.

Ant. I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards To run, and shew their shoulders.-Friends, be gone: I have myself resolv'd upon a course, Which has no need of you. Be gone, My treasure's in the harbour :-Take it.-Oh, I follow'd that I blush to look upon : My very hairs do mutiny; for the white Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them For fear and doating.' Friends, begone ; you shall Have letters from me to some friends, that will Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not fad, Nor make replies of lothness : take the hint, Which my despair proclaims. Let that be left,

'The wounded chance of Antony,–] I know not whether the author, who loves to draw his images from the sports of the field, might not have written,

The wounded chase of Antony, The allusion is to a deer wounded and chased, whom all other deer avoid. I will, says Enobarbus, follow Antony, though chased and wounded. The common reading, however, may very well stand. Johns. -solated in the world,-) Alluding to a benighted traveller.

JOHNSON. O 2

Which

Which leaves itself.—To the sea-side. Straightway
I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a little: pray you now :
Nay, do so ; for, indeed, 3 I have lost command,
Therefore, I pray you :-I'll see you by and by.

Enier Cleopatra, led by Charmian and Iras.
Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him:-Comfort him.
Iras. Do, most dcar queen.
Cbar. Do! why, what else?
Cleo. Let me fit down: oh Juno !
Ant. No, no, no, no, no.
Eros. See you here, sir!
Ant. Oh fy, fy, fy.
Char. Madam,-
Iras. Madam, oh good empress !
Eros. Sir, sir.

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes ;—4 He at Philippi kept
His sword e'en like a dancer, while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius; Sand 'twas I,
'That the mad Brutus ended : "he alone
Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had

3 ~I've lost command,] I am not master of my own emotions.

JOHNSON. He at Philippi kept His sword e'en like a dancer,-) In the Morisco, and perhaps anciently in the Pyrrhick dance, the dancers held swords in their hands with the points upward.

JOHNSON. Saad was I, That the mad Brutus ended:--) Nothing can be more in character, than for an infamous debauched tyrant to call the heroic love of one's country and public liberty, madness. WARBURTON.

be aione Dealt on lieutenantry, I know not whether the meaning is, that Cæsar acted only as lieutenant at Philippi, or that he made his attempts only on lieutenants, and left the generals to Antony.

Jognson. Dealt on lieutenantry, I believe, means only,-fought by proxy, made war by his lieutenants.

STEEVENS.

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