Oct.

Ah me, most wretched,

That have my heart parted betwixt two friends,
That do afflict each other!

Cæs.
Welcome hither:
Your letters did withhold our breaking forth;
Till we perceiv'd, both how you were wrong led,
And we in negligent danger. Cheer your heart:
Be you
not troubled with the time, which drives
O'er your content these strong necessities;
But let determin'd things to destiny

Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome: Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd

Beyond the mark of thought: and the high gods, To do you justice, make them ministers

Of us, and those that love you. Best of comfort; And ever welcome to us.

Agr.

Welcome, lady.

Mec. Welcome, dear madam.

Each heart in Rome does love and pity you:
Only the adulterous Antony, most large
In his abominations, turns you off;

And gives his potent regiment to a trull5,
That noises it against us.

This eliptical phrase is merely an expression of endearment addressed to Octavia—' Thou best of comfort to thy loving brother.'

5

'And gives his potent regiment to a trull.'

Regiment is government, authority; he puts his power and his empire into the hands of a harlot. Regiment is used for regimen or government by most of our ancient writers. Thus Spenser, Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 10:

So when he had resigned his regiment.'

And in Lyly's Woman in the Moon, 1597:

Or Hecate in Pluto's regiment,'

6 Milton has used this uncommon verb in Paradise Regained,

b. iv.:

though noising loud,

And threatening nigh.'

Oct.

Is it so, sir?

Cæs. Most certain. Sister, welcome. Pray you, Be ever known to patience: My dearest sister! [Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

Antony's Camp, near the Promontory of Actium.

Enter CLEOPATRA and ENOBARBUS.

Cleo. I will be even with thee, doubt it not.
Eno. But why, why, why?

Cleo. Thou hast forespoke1 my being in these wars; And say'st, it is not fit.

Eno.

Well, is it, is it?

Cleo. Is't not denounc'd against us? Why should

not we

Be there in person?

Eno. [Aside.] Well, I could reply ;

3

If we should serve with horse and mares together, The horse were merely lost; the mares would bear A soldier, and his horse.

1 To forespeak here is to speak against, to gainsay, to contradict; as to forbid is to order negatively. The word had, however, the meaning, anciently, of to charm or bewitch, like forbid in Macbeth. See vol. iv. p. 217, note 6. Thus in the Arraignment of Paris, 1584:-Thy life forspoke by love.' And in Drayton's Epistle from Elinor Cobham to Duke Humphrey :

:

'Or to forspeak whole flocks as they did feed.' Steevens erroneously explains these instances: the first he makes to mean contradicted; the last, to curse. Substitute bewitched and to bewitch, and we have the true meaning. Thus Baret:To forespeake, or bewitch; fascinare.'

6

2 The old copy reads, If not denounc'd,' &c. Steevens reads, 'Is't not? Denounce against us, why,' &c. The emendation I have adopted is more simple, and gives an equally clear meaning. Cleopatra means to say, Is not the war denounced against us? Why should not we then attend in person?' Malone explains the reading of the old copy thus:- If there be no particular denunciation against us, why should we not be there in person?'

3 i. e. entirely, absolutely.

Cleo.

What is't you say?

Eno. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony; Take from his heart, take from his brain, from his

time,

What should not then be spar'd. He is already
Traduc'd for levity; and 'tis said in Rome,

That Photinus a eunuch, and your maids,
Manage this war.

Cleo.

Sink Rome; and their tongues rot,

That speak against us! A charge we bear i' the war,
And, as the president of my kingdom, will

Appear there for a man. Speak not against it;
I will not stay behind.

Eno.

Nay, I have done :

Here comes the emperor.

Ant.

Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS.

Is't not strange, Canidius,

That from Tarentum, and Brundusium,

He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea,

And take in Toryne?—You have heard on't, sweet? Cleo. Celerity is never more admir'd,

Than by the negligent.

Ant.

A good rebuke,

Which might have well becom❜d the best of men,

To taunt at slackness.—Canidius, we

Will fight with him by sea.

Cleo.

By sea! What else?

Can. Why will my lord do so?
Ant.
For that 5 he dares us to't.
Eno. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight.
Can. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia,

4 Take, subdue. This phrase occurs frequently in Shakspeare, and has been already explained.

5 i. e. cause that, or that is the cause. See vol. i. p. 109, note 12; vol. iii. p. 284, note 4.

Where Cæsar fought with Pompey: But these offers, Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off; And so should you.

Eno. Your ships are not well mann'd: Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people Ingross'd by swift impress; in Cæsar's fleet Are those, that often have 'gainst Pompey fought: Their ships are yare; yours, heavy. No disgrace Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,

Being prepar'd for land.

Ant.

By sea, by sea.

Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away The absolute soldiership you have by land; Distract your army, which doth most consist Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted Your own renowned knowledge; quite forego The way which promises assurance; and Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard, From firm security.

Ant.

I'll fight at sea.

Cleo. I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better. Ant. Our overplus of shipping will we burn; And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium

Beat the approaching Cæsar. But if we fail,

Enter a Messenger.

We then can do't at land.—Thy business?

Mess. The news is true, my lord; he is descried; Cæsar has taken Toryne.

6 Yare is quick, nimble, ready. So in The Tempest, Act v. Sc. 1:Our ship is tight and yare.' The word seems to have been much in use with sailors formerly. The lesser [ship]

will come and go, leave and take, and is yare; whereas the greater is slow.'-Raleigh. 'Cæsar's ships were not built for pomp, high and great, &c.; but they were light of yarage.'— North's Plutarch.

Ant. Can he be there in person? 'tis impossible;
Strange, that his power should be.-- Canidius,
Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land,
And our twelve thousand horse:-We'll to our ship;
Enter a Soldier.

Away, my Thetis 8!-How now, worthy soldier?
Sold. O noble emperor, do not fight by sea;
Trust not to rotten planks: Do you misdoubt
This sword, and these my wounds? Let the Egyp-
tians,

And the Phoenicians, go a ducking: we

Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,
And fighting foot to foot.

Ant.

Well, well, away. [Exeunt ANTONY, CELOPATRA, and ENOBARBUS.

Sold. By Hercules, I think, I am i' the right. Can. Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows Not in the power on't?: So our leader's led, And we are women's men.

Sold.

You keep by land The legions and the horse whole, do you not?

Can. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius, Publicola, and Cælius, are for sea:

But we keep whole by land. This speed of Cæsar's Carries 10 beyond belief.

7 Strange that his forces should be there.

Antony may address Cleopatra by the name of this seanymph, because she had just promised him assistance in his naval expedition; or perhaps in allusion to her voyage down the Cydnus, when she appeared, like Thetis, surrounded by the Nereids.

9 His whole conduct in the war is not founded upon that which is his greatest strength (namely his land force), but on the caprice of a woman, who wishes that he should fight by sea.' 10 i.e. e. passes all belief. I should not have noticed this, but for Steevens's odd notion of its being a phrase from archery.