Ant. The April's in her eyes: it is love's spring, And these the showers to bring it on.-Be cheerful. Octa. Sir, look well to my husband's house; and Cæs. Octavia? Octa. I'll tell you in your ear. What, Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can Her heart inform her tongue : the swan's down feather, That stands upon the swell at full of tide, And neither way inclines. Eno: Will Cæsar weep? Agr. [Aside to AGRIPPA. He has a cloud in's face 9. Eno. He were the worse for that, were he a horse; So is he, being a man. Agr. Eno. That year, indeed, he was troubled with a What willingly he did confound 1o, he wail'd: 11 9 A horse is said to have a cloud in his face, when he has a dark coloured spot in his forehead between his eyes. This gives him a sour look, and being supposed to indicate an ill temper, is of course looked upon as a great blemish. Burton has applied the phrase to the look of a female:- Every lover admires his mistress, though she be very deformed of herselfe-thin, leane, chitty-face, have clouds in her face, be crooked,' &c.-Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 524, ed. 1632. 10 To confound is to consume, to destroy. See Minsheu's Dic-' tionary, 1617, in voce. See vol. v. p. 139, note 11, vol. viii. p. 143. "Theobald reads, 'till I wept too.' Mr. Steevens endeavours to give a meaning to the passage as it now stands:- - Believe (says Enobarbus) that he wept over such an event, till you see me weeping on the same occasion, when I shall be obliged to you for putting such a construction on my tears, which, in reality (like his), will be tears of joy.' I must confess I prefer the emendation of Theobald to the explanation of Steevens. Cæs. No, sweet Octavia, You shall hear from me still; the time shall not Outgo my thinking on you. Ant. Come, sir, come; I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love: Cæs. Adieu; be happy! Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light To thy fair way! Cleo. Go to, go to:-Come hither, sir. Alex. Enter a Messenger. Good majesty, That Herod's head Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you, Cleo. I'll have: But how? when Antony is gone Through whom I might command it.-Come thou Mess. Madam, in Rome I look'd her in the face; and saw her led Cleo. Is she as tall as me? She is not, madam. Cleo. Didst hear her speak? Is she shrill-tongu'd, or low? Mess. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low- Cleo. That's not so good:-he cannot like her long. What majesty is in her gait? Remember, If e'er thou look'dst on majesty. 1 She creeps; Mess. A statue, than a breather. He's very knowing, I do perceive't:-There's nothing in her yet:- Char. Cleo. Guess at her years, I pr'ythee. Mess. She was a widow. Cleo. Excellent. Madam, Widow?-Charmian, hark 2. Mess. And I do think, she's thirty. 1 Station here means the act of standing. So in Hamlet :— A station like the herald Mercury.' 2 Cleopatra rejoices in this circumstance, as it sets Octavia on a level with herself, who was no virgin, when she fell to the lot of Antony. Cleo. Bear'st thou her face in mind? is't long, or round? Mess. Round even to faultiness. Cleo. For the most part too, they are foolish that are so 3. Her hair, what colour? Mess. Brown, madam: And her forehead As low as she would wish it. Cleo. There is gold for thee. Thou must not take my former sharpness ill:- Char. 4 [Exit Messenger. A proper man. I repent me much, Why, methinks, by him, Cleo. Indeed, he is so: Char. Nothing, madam. Cleo. The man hath seen some majesty, and should know. Char. Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend, And serving you so long! Cleo. I have one thing more to ask him yet, good But 'tis no matter; thou shalt bring him to me [Exeunt. 3 This is from the old writers on physiognomy. Thus in Hill's Pleasant History, &c. 1613: The head very round, to be forgetful and foolish.' Again :-' The head long, to be prudent and wary.' A low forehead,' &c. p. 218. 4 To harry is to harass, to worry, to use roughly, to vex, or molest, from the old Norman-French harier of the same meaning. The word occurs frequently in our old writers. Thus in The Revengers' Tragedy, 1607 :— 'He harry'd her amidst a nest of pandars.' So Nash, in his Lenten Stuff: As if he were harrying and chasing his enemies.' SCENE IV. Athens. A Room in Antony's House. Enter ANTONY and OCTAVIA. Ant. Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that, New wars 'gainst Pompey: made his will, and read it Spoke scantly of me; when perforce he could not Oct. When I shall pray2, O bless my lord and husband! O, bless my brother! Husband win, win brother, Ant. 1 i. e. to appearance only, not seriously. Thus Dryden in his Wild Gallant:- I am confident she is only angry from the teeth outward.' So Chapman, in his version of the fifteenth Iliad:'She laught, but meerly from her lips.' And Fuller, in his Holie Warre, b. iv. c. 17: This bad breath, though it came but from the teeth of some, yet proceeded from the corrupt lungs of others.' 2 The situation and sentiments of Octavia resemble those of Lady Blanch in King John, Act iii, Sc. 1. |