Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had In the brave squares of war; Yet now-No matter. Cleo. Ah, stand by. Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen. Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him; He is unqualitied with very shame. Cleo. Well then,-Sustain me:—Oh! Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches; Her head's declin'd, and death will seize her; but Your comfort makes the rescue. Ant. I have offended reputation; A most unnoble swerving. Eros. Sir, the queen. Ant. O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See, How I convey my shame out of thine eyes? By looking back on what I have left behind 'Stroy'd in dishonour. Cleo. O my lord, my lord! Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought, Ant. 6 Dealt on lieutenantry' probably means only fought by proxy,' made war by his lieutenants, or on the strength of his lieutenants. In a former scene Ventidius says:— 'Cæsar and Antony have ever won More in their officer, than person.' To deal on any thing' is an expression often used by old writers. In Plutarch's Life of Antony Shakspeare found the following words: They were always more fortunate when they made warre by their lieutenants than by themselves. " 7 Unqualitied seems to mean here unsoldiered, quality being used for profession by Shakspeare and his cotemporaries. Steevens says, perhaps unqualitied only signifies unmanned in general, disarmed of his usual faculties.' 8 But is here used in its exceptive sense. See vol. i. p. 17, note 12. 9 How by looking another way, I withdraw my ignominy from your sight.' And thou should'st tow me after: O'er my spirit Cleo. Ant. O, my pardon. Now I must To the young man send humble treaties, dodge Cleo. O pardon, pardon. Ant. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates 10 All that is won and lost: Give me a kiss; Even this repays me.-We sent our schoolmaster, Is he come back?-Love, I am full of lead::Some wine, within there, and our viands :-Fortune knows, e scorn her most, when most she offers blows. We [Exeunt. SCENE X. Cæsar's Camp, in Egypt. Enter CÆSAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and Cæs. Let him appear Know you him? Dol. that's come from Antony. Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster 1: An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither He sends so poor a pinion of his wing, Which had superfluous kings for messengers, 10 Values. Euphronius, schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra. Cæs. Enter EUPHRONIUS. Approach, and speak, Eup. Such as I am, I come from Antony: As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf Cæs. Be it so; Declare thine office. Cæs. Cæs. Bring him through the bands. [Exit EUPHRONIUS. To try thy eloquence, now 'tis time: Despatch; From Antony win Cleopatra: promise, [To THYREUS. And in our name, what she requires; add more, From thine invention, offers: women are not, In their best fortunes, strong; but want will perjure 2 His grand sea' appears to mean the sea from which the dew-drop is exhaled. The poet may have considered the sea as the source of dews as well as rain. His we find frequently used for its. 3 The diadem, the crown. A Friend here means paramour. See Cymbeline, Acti. Sc. 5. The ne'er-touch'd vestal": Try thy cunning, Thyreus; Cas. Observe how Antony becomes his flaw"; And what thou think'st his very action speaks In every power that moves. Thyr. Cæsar, I shall. [Exeunt. SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. Cleo. What shall we do, Enobarbus? Eno. Think, and die1. 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, whose several ranges Frighted each other? why should he follow? The itch of his affection should not then 2 Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point, 5 O opportunity! thy guilt is great, Rape of Lucrece. 6 Note how Antony conforms himself to this breach in his fortune.' 1 To think, or take thought, was anciently synonymous with to grieve. Thus in Julius Cæsar, Act ii. Sc. 1:— all that he can do Is to himself take thought, and die for Cæsar.' So Viola pined in thought. And in The Beggar's Bush of Beaumont and Fletcher: 'Can I not think away myself and die?' 2 i. e. set the mark of folly upon it. So in The Comedy of Errors: and the while His man with scissars nicks him like a fool.' When half to half the world oppos'd, he being Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace. Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS. Ant. Is this his answer? Eup. Ay, my lord. Ant. The queen shall then have courtesy, so she Will yield us up. Eup. He says so. Ant. Let her know it. To the boy Cæsar send this grizled head, With principalities. Cleo, That head, my lord? Ant. To him again; Tell him, he wears the rose Of youth upon him; note from which the world should Something particular: his coin, ships, legions As i'the command of Cæsar: I dare him therefore To lay his gay comparisons apart, And answer me declin'd1, sword against sword, [Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS. 3 i.e. he being the object to which this great contention is limited, or by which it is bounded. So in Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1:— the king That was and is the question of these wars.' + His gay comparisons may mean those circumstances of splendour and power in which he, when compared with me, so much exceeds me. I require of Cæsar not to depend on that superiority which the comparison of our different fortunes may exhibit, but to answer me man to man in this decline of my age and power.' |