In the brave fquares of war: yet now-no matter

Cleo. Ah, ftand by.

Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen

Iras. Go to him, madam, fpeak to him; He is unqualitied with very fhame.

Cleo. Well then, fuftain me: oh!

Eros. Moft noble fir, arife; the queen approaches;

Her head's declin'd, and death will feize her; but Your comfort makes the rescue.

Ant. I have offended reputation;

A most unnoble fwerving,

Eros. Sir, the queen.

Ant. O whither haft thou led me, Egypt? See, 'How I convey my fhame out of thine eyes; By looking back on what I have left behind, 'Stroy'd in difhonour.

Cleo. Oh, my lord, my lord;

Forgive my fearful fails! I little thought,
You would have follow'd.

Ant. Egypt, thou knew'ft too well,

My heart was to thy rudder ty'd by the strings
And thou shouldft towe me after. O'er my fpirit
Thy full fupremacy thou knew'ft; and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the Gods
Command me.

Cleo. Oh, my pardon.

Ant. Now I muft

To the young man fend humble treaties, dodge
And palter in the fhifts of lowness; who,

With half the bulk o' the world, play'd as I pleas'd,
Making and marring fortunes. You did know,

7 death will feize her, but

Your comfort, &c.] But has here, as once before in this play, the force of except, or unless.

JOHNSON.

8 How I convey my fhame-] How, by looking another way, I

withdraw my ignominy from your fight.

9-ty'd by the firing,] That is by the heart firing.

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

How much you were my conqueror; and that
My fword, made weak by my affection, would
Obey it on all cause.

Cleo. Pardon, pardon.

Ant. Fall not a tear, I fay; one of them rates All that is won and loft: give me a kiss,

Even this repays me.

We sent our schoolmafter; is he come back?
Love, I am full of lead; fome wine,

Within there, and our viands. Fortune knows,
We scorn her moft, when moft fhe offers blows.
[Exeunt.

SCENE X.

Cafar's camp, in Egypt.

Enter Cæfar, Dolabella, Thyreus, with others.

Caf. Let him appear, that's come from Antony.Know you him?

Dol. Cæfar, 'tis his fchoolmaster :

An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He fends so poor a pinion of his wing,

Which had fuperfluous kings for meffengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Enter Ambaffador from Antony.

Caf. Approach, and speak.

Amb. Such as I am, I come from Antony:

I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf"

To his grand fea.

as petty to his ends,

As is the morn,dew on the myrtle leaf

Caf.

To his grand fea.] Thus the old copy. To whofe grand fea? I know not. Perhaps we should read,

To this grand fea.

We

Caf. Be it fo. Declare thine office.

Amb. Lord of his fortunes he falutes thee, and Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted, He leffens his requests; and to thee fues

To let him breathe between the heavens and earth
A private man in Athens. This for him.
Next, Cleopatra does confefs thy greatnefs;
Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves
'The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

Caf. For Antony,

I have no ears to his request. The queen
Of audience, nor defire, fhall fail; fo fhe
From Ægypt drive her all-difgraced friend,
Or take his life there.-This if the perform,
She fhall not fue unheard. So to them both.
Amb. Fortune pursue thee!

Caf. Bring him through the bands.

[Exit Ambaffador. To try thy eloquence now 'tis time: difpatch, From Antony win Cleopatra: promife, [To Thyreus. And in our name, what the requires; add more, From thine invention, offers. Women are not In their best fortunes, ftrong; but want will perjure The ne'er-touch'd veftal. Try thy cunning, Thyreus; Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we Will answer as a law.

Thyr. Cæfar, I go.

2

Caf. Obferve, how Antony becomes his flaw;

We may suppose that the fea was within view of Cæfar's camp, and at no great distance.

T. T.

The modern editors arbitrarily read," the grand fea."

STEEVENS.

The circle of the Ptolomies-] The diadem, the enfign of roy

alty. JOHNSON. bow Antony becomes his flaw;] That is, how Antony conforms himself to this breach of his fortune. O 4

JOHNSON.

And

And what thou think'st his very action speaks
In every power that moves,
Thyr. Cæfar, I fhall.

[Exeunt.

SCENE XI.

ALEXANDRI A.

Enter Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, and Iras.

Cleo. What fhall we do, Enobarbus?

Eno.

Think, and die.

3 Think, and die.] Read,

Drink, and die.

Cleo.

This reply of Enobarbus feems grounded upon a peculiarity in the conduct of Antony and Cleopatra, which is related by Plutarch: that, after their defeat at Actium, they inftituted a fociety of friends, who entered into engagement to die with them, not abating, in the mean time, any part of their luxury, excess, and riot, in which they had liv'd before. HANMER.

This reading, offered by fir T. Hanmer, is received by Dr. Warburton and Mr. Upton, but I have not advanced it into the page, not being convinced that it is neceffary. Think, and die ; that is, Reflect on your folly, and leave the world, is a natural answer. JOHNSON.

Sir T. Hanmer reads,

Drink, and die.

66

And his emendation has been approved, it seems, by Dr. Warburton and Mr. Upton. Mr. Johnson, however," has not advanced "it into the page, not being convinced that it is necessary. “Think, and die;" fays he, that is, Reflect on your own felly, " and leave the world, is a natural answer." I grant it would be, according to this explanation, a very proper answer from a moralift or a divine; but Enobarbus, I doubt, was neither the one nor the other. He is drawn as a plain, blunt foldier; not likely, however, to offend fo grofly in point of delicacy as fir T. Hanmer's alteration would make him. I believe the true reading is,

Wink, and die.

When the ship is going to be caft away, in the Sea-voyage of Beaumont and Fletcher, (Act i. Scene 1.) and Aminta is lamenting, Tibalt fays to her,

Go,

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?
Eno. Antony only, that would make his will
Lord of his reason. What though you fled
From that great face of war, whofe feveral ranges
Frighted each other? why fhould he follow?
The itch of his affection fhould not then

Have nick'd his captainfhip; at fuch a point,
When half to half the world oppos'd, 4 he being
The meered queftion. 'Twas a fhame no. less
Than was his lofs, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter Antony, with the Ambassador.

Ant. Is that his anfwer?

Amb. Ay, my lord.

Ant. The queen fhall then have courtesy,

So fhe will yield us up.

Amb. He fays fo.

Ant. Let her know it.

To the boy Cæfar fend this grizled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim
With principalities.

Go, take your gilt

Prayer-book, and to your bufinefs; wink, and die : infinuating plainly, that' fhe was afraid to meet death with her eyes open. And the fame infinuation, I think, Enobarbus might very naturally convey in his return to Cleopatra's defponding question.

Obfervations and Conjectures, &c. printed at Oxford, 1766.

be being

The meered queftion.- The meered question is a term I do not understand. I know not what to offer, except,

The mooted question.

That is, the difputed point, the fubject of debate. Mere is indeed a boundary, and the meered question, if it can mean any thing, may, with fome violence of language, mean, the difputed boundary.

JOHNSON.
Cleo.