N

Enter Demetrius and Philo.

PHILO.

AY, but this dotage of our General, O'erflows the measure; thofe his goodly eyes,

That o'er the files and mufters of the war

Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, The office and devotion of their view

Upon a tawny front. His Captain's heart,

Which in the fcuffles of great fights hath burst

The buckles on his breaft,

reneges all temper;'

reneges

Ireneges-] Renounces,

POPE.

And

5 And is become the bellows, and the fan,

To cool a Gypfy's luft. Look, where they come !

Flourish. Enter Antony, and Cleopatra, ber Ladies in the train, Eunuchs fanning her.

Take but good note, and you fhall fee in him
The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a Strumpet's fool. 'Behold, and fee.

Cleo. If it be love, indeed, tell me, how much? Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

Cleo. I'll fet a 5 bourn how far to be belov'd.

Ant.

Then must thou needs find out new heav'n, new earth.

Enter a Messenger.

Mef. News, my good Lord, from Rome.
Ant. Grates me. 7 The fum.

Cleo. Nay, hear it, Antony.

Fulvia, perchance, is angry; or who knows,
If the scarce bearded Cafar have not fent
His powerful Mandate to you," Do this, or this;
"Take in that Kingdom, and infranchise that;
"Perform't, or elfe we damn thee.-

Ant. How, my love?

Cleo. Perchance, nay and most like,

You must not ftay here longer, your difmiffion
Is come from Cafar; therefore hear it, Antony.
Where's Fulvia's Procefs? Cafar's, I'd fay-Both?
-Call in the Meffengers-As I'm Egypt's Queen,
Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine
Is Cafar's homager; elfe fo thy cheek pays fhame
When fhrill-tongu'd Fulvia fcolds. The Meffengers-
Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt, and the wide arch
Of the rang'd Empire fall! Here is my space;
Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike
Feeds beaft as man; the nobleness of life

8

Is to do thus, when fuch a mutual Pair, [Embracing. And fuch a Twain can do't; in which, I bind,

7

The fum.] Be brief, fum the raised empire, for the ranged thy business in a few words. empire, as it was first given. It is not eafy to guess how Dr. Warburton miffed this opportunity of inferting a French word, by reading,

-and the wide arch Of the rang'd Empire fall!-] Taken from the Roman cuftom of raifing triumphal arches to perpetuate their victories. Extremely noble.

WARB.

I am in doubt whether ShakeSpeare had any idea but of a fabrick ftanding on pillars. The later editions have all printed,

and the wide arch Of derang'd empire fall! Which, if deranged were an Englifh word, would be preferable both to raised and ranged.

On

On pain of punishment, the world to weet,
We stand up peerless.

Cleo. [Afide.] Excellent falfhood!

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I'll feem the fool, I am not. Antony

Will be himself.

Ant. But ftirr'd by Cleopatra.

Now for the love of love, and his foft hours,
Let's not confound the time with conference harsh
There's not a minute of our lives fhould ftretch
Without fome pleafure: Now, what fport to-night ?
Cleo. Hear the Ambaffadors.

Ant. Fy, wrangling Queen!

Whom every thing becomes; to chide, to laugh,
To weep: whofe every paffion fully ftrives
To make itself in thee fair and admir'd.
No Meffenger, but thine-And all alone,

To night we'll wander through the streets, and note
The qualities of People. Come, my Queen,
Laft night you did defire it.-Speak not to us.

[Exeunt, with their Train.

Dem. Is Cafar with Antonius priz'd fo flight? Phil. Sir, fometimes, when he is not Antony, He comes too short of that great property Which still should go with Antony.

Dem. I am full forry,

That he approves the common liar, who

Thus fpeaks of him at Rome; but I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow.

Reft

you happy!

[Exeunt.

have the old Saxon fignification of without, unless, except. Antony, fays the Queen, will recal lect his thoughts, unless kept, he replies, in commotion by Cleopa

tra.

SCENE

SCENE II.

Enter Enobarbus, Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer.

Char. Lord Alexas, fweet Alexas, moft any thing Alexas, almoft most abfolute Alexas, where's the Soothsayer that you prais'd fo to th' Queen? Oh! that I knew this hufband, which you fay, muft change his horns with garlands.

Alex. Soothsayer,

Sooth. Your will?

Char. Is this the man? Is't you, Sir, that know things?

Sooth. In Nature's infinite Book of Secrecy,

A little I can read.

Alex. Shew him your hand.

Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly. Wine enough, Cleopatra's health to drink.

Char. Good Sir, give me good fortune.

Sooth. I make not, but forefee.

Char. Pray then, foresee me one.

Sooth. You fhall be yet far fairer than you are;

Char. He means, in flesh.

Iris. No, you fhall paint when you are old.

Char. Wrinkles forbid!

Alex. Vex not his prefcience, be attentive.
Char. Hush!

Sooth. You fhall be more beloving, than beloved.

change his horns with garlands.] This is corrupt; the true reading evidently is, muft CHARGE bis horns with garlands, i e. make him a rich and honourable cuckold, having his horns hung about with garlands. WARBURTON.

Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, not improbably, change for horns his garlands. I am in doubt whether to change, is not merely to dress, or to dress with charges of garlands.

Char.