EROS. The queen, my lord, the queen!
IRAS. Go to him, madam, speak to him;

He is unqualitied with very shame.

:-0!

CLEO. Well then,-sustain me :

EROS. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches; Her head's declin'd, and death will seize her, buta 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 what I have left behind

'Stroy'd in dishonour.

CLEO.

O, my lord, my lord!

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

ANT.
My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings,
And thou shouldst tow me after: o'er my spirit
Thyt full supremacy thou knew'st, and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

Egypt, thou knew'st too well

CLEO.

ANT.

O, my pardon!

Now I must
To the young man send humble treaties, dodge
And palter in the shifts of lowness; who
With half the bulk o' the world play'd as I pleas'd,
Making and marring fortunes. You did know
How much you were my conqueror; and that
My sword, made weak by my affection, would
Obey it on all cause.

ANT. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates 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
We scorn her most when most she offers blows. (4)

SCENE XII.-Cæsar's Camp in Egypt.

Enter CAESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and others.

CES. Let him appear that 's come from Antony.

Know you him?

(*) First folio, stowe.

-but-] Unless.

[Exeunt.

(+) Old text, The; corrected by Theobald. (1) Old text, Thidias, all through.

b How I convey, &c.] How I pass by sleight my shame out of thy sight, in looking

another way.

e-rates-] Counts for, is equivalent to.

DOL.

Cæsar, 't is his schoolmaster:"

An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He sends so poor a pinion of his wing,
Which had superfluous kings for messengers,
Not many moons gone by.

CAS.

Enter EUPHRONIUS. *

Approach, and speak.

EUP. 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 sea.b

CES.

Be 't so:-declare thine office.

EUP. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and
Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted,
He lessens his requests; and to thee sues

To let him breathe between the heavens and earth,
A private man in Athens: this for him.

Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness;
Submits her to thy might; and of thee craves
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

CES.

For Antony,
I have no ears to his request. The queen
Of audience nor desire shall fail, so she
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,
Or take his life there; this if she perform,
She shall not sue unheard. So to them both.
EUP. Fortune pursue thee!
CES.

Bring him through the bands. [Exit EUPHRONIUS. [To THYREUS.] To try thy eloquence, now 't is time: despatch! From Antony win Cleopatra: promise,

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
The ne'er-touch'd vestal. Try thy cunning, Thyreus,
Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we

Will answer as a law.

THYR.

Cæsar, I go.

CES. Observe how Antony becomes his flaw,d And what thou think'st his very action speaks In every power that moves.

8

THYR.

Cæsar, I shall.

First folio, Ambassador from Antony.

[Exeunt.

- his schoolmaster:] Euphronius was the tutor of Antony's children by Cleopatra. b To his grand sea.]-Here, as usual, "his" stands for the then rare its; and "its grand sea' "imports the ocean whence the dew-drop was exhaled. See Steevens' note ad l. in the Variorum.

The circle-] The round and top of sovereignty, the diadem.

d Observe how Antony becomes his flaw,-] This is not very clear. Johnson explains

it, "how Antony conforms himself to this breach of his fortune."

SCENE XIII.-Alexandria.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.

CLEO. What shall we do, Enobarbus?
ENO.

a

Think, and die.

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 b
Frighted each other? why should he follow?
The itch of his affection should not then
Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point,
When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
The mered question, 't was a shame no less
Than was his loss, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

CLEO.

Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter ANTONY with EUPHRONIUS.

ANT. Is that 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 't.

ANT. To him again: tell him, he wears the rose
Of youth upon him; from which the world should note
Something particular: his coin, ships, legions,

May be a coward's; whose ministers would prevail
Under the service of a child as soon

As i' the command of Cæsar: I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,

And answer me declin'd, sword against sword,
Ourselves alone. I'll write it; follow me.

[Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS.

Think, and die.] Despair and die. To take thought was formerly an expression equivalent to, take to heart, or yield to sorrow. Thus, in “Julius Cæsar,” Act II. Sc. 1,

All that he can do

Is to himself,-take thought, and die for Cæsar."

From that great face of war, whose several ranges-] The commentators, perhaps, have a perception of what this means, since they pass it silently; to us it is inexplicable, and we cannot choose but look on "ranges" as a misprint for the rages of grim-visag'd

war.

e Have nick'd-] Have emasculated.

d The mered question,-] Possibly, the entire, or sole question; but the word reads suspiciously. Johnson suggested, "The mooted question," and is followed by Mr. Collier's annotator.

VOL. VL

K

ENO. [Aside.] Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will
Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show,
Against a sworder! I see men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffera all alike. That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Cæsar will
Answer his emptiness!-Cæsar, thou hast subdu'd
His judgment too.

ATT.

Enter an Attendant.

A messenger from Cæsar.

CLEO. What, no more ceremony?-See, my women!—
Against the blown rose may they stop their nose,
That kneel'd unto the buds.-Admit him, sir.

[Exit Attendant.

ENO. [Aside.] Mine honesty and I begin to square.b

The loyalty well held to fools does make

Our faith mere folly:-yet he that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord,

Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i' the story.

CLEO.

THYR. Hear it apart.

Enter THYREUS.

Cæsar's will?

CLEO. None but friends; say boldly.
THYR. So, haply, are they friends to Antony.
ENO. He needs as many, sir, as Cæsar has;
Or needs not us. If Cæsar please, our master
Will leap to be his friend: for us, you know,
Whose he is we are; and that is Cæsar's.

THYR.

So.

Thus then, thou most renown'd: Cæsar entreats,
Not to consider in what case thou stand'st,
Further than he is Cæsar.*

Go on right royal!

CLEO.
THYR. He knows that you embrace not Antony
As you did love, but as you fear'd him.

CLEO.

O!

THYR. The scars upon your honour, therefore, he Does pity, as constrained blemishes,

Not as deserv'd.

What is most right: mine honour was not yielded,
But conquer'd merely.

(*) First folio, Casars; corrected in the second folio.

To suffer-] The verb is apparently used here in an active sense, meaning to punish

or afflict.

to square.] To quarrel.

b

c

- a place-] A seat of dignity.

ENO. [Aside.]

To be sure of that,

I will ask Antony.-Sir, sir, thou art so leaky,
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, fora
Thy dearest quit thee.

THYR.
Shall I say to Cæsar
What you require of him? for he partly begs
To be desir'd to give. It much would please him,
That of his fortunes you should make a staff
To lean upon: but it would warm his spirits,
To hear from me you had left Antony,

And put yourself under his shroud,b
The universal landlord.

[Exit ENOBARBUS.

Most kind messenger,

Say to great Cæsar this:-in disputation

c

I kiss his conqu❜ring hand: tell him, I am prompt
To lay my crown at 's feet, and there to kneel:
Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear
The doom of Egypt.

THYR.

"Tis your noblest course. Wisdom and fortune combating together,

If that the former dare but what it can,

No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay
My duty on your hand.

CLEO.

Your Cæsar's father, oft,

When he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in,
Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place,

As it rain'd kisses.

ANT.

Re-enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.

Favours, by Jove that thunders?—

One that but performs

What art thou, fellow?

THYR.

The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest
To have command obey'd.

ENO. [Aside to THYR.] You will be whipp'd.

ANT. Approach, there!-Ah, you kite!-Now, gods and devils! Authority melts from me: Of late, when I cried ho!

Like boys unto a muss," kings would start forth,

And cry, Your will?

for

Thy dearest quit thee.]

See note (), p. 110.

And put yourself under his shroud,-] Capell adds, "the great;" Mr. Collier's annotator," who is."

e-in disputation-] Theobald reads, "in deputation;" we are of opinion, however, that, as in Act II. Sc. 7, disposition was misprinted disputation, the reciprocal error has been perpetrated here, and that the poet wrote, "in disposition," that is, in inclination, willingly.

4 — a muss,-] A scramble.