ANT. I am not married, Cæfar: let me hear Agrippa further speak.

AGR. To hold you in perpetual amity, To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts With an unflipping knot, take Antony Octavia to his wife: whofe beauty claims No worse a husband than the beft of men ; Whofe virtue, and whofe general graces, fpeak That which none elfe can utter. By this marriage, All little jealoufies, which now feem great,

And all great fears, which now import their dan

gers,

Would then be nothing: truths would be but tales,'
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both,
Would, each to other, and all loves to both,
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke;
For 'tis a studied, not a prefent thought,
By duty ruminated.

ANT.

Will Cæfar speak?

CES. Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd

Your reproof &c.] That is, you might be reproved for your rafhnefs, and would well deferve it. Your reproof, means, the reproof you would undergo. The expreffion is rather licentious; but one of a fimilar nature occurs in The Cuftom of the Country, where Arnoldo, fpeaking to the Physician, fays,

66

And by your fuccefs

"In all your undertakings, propagate
"Your great opinion in the world.

Here, your opinion means, the opinion conceived of you.

M. MASON,

Dr. Warburton's emendation is certainly right. The error was one of many which are found in the old copy, in confequence of the tranfcriber's ear deceiving him. So, in another scene of this play, we find in the first copy-mine nightingale, inftead of my nightingale; in Coriolanus, news is coming, for news is come in; in the fame play, higher for hire, &c. &c. MALONE.

2- but tales,] The conjunction-but, was fupplied by Sit Thomas Hanmer to perfect the metre. We might read, I think, with lefs alliteration, as tales. STEEVENS.

To this good purpose, that fo fairly fhows,

Dream of impediment!-Let me have thy hand:
Further this act of grace; and, from this hour,
The heart of brothers govern in our loves,
And fway our great designs!

CES.

There is my hand. A fifter I bequeath you, whom no brother Did ever love fo dearly: Let her live

To join our kingdoms, and our hearts; and never Fly off our loves again!

LEP.

Happily, amen!

ANT. I did not think to draw my fword 'gainst
Pompey;

For he hath laid ftrange courtefies, and great,
Of late upon me: I must thank him only,
Left my remembrance fuffer ill report ; +

At heel of that, defy him.

LEP.
Time calls upon us :
Of us muft Pompey presently be fought,
Or else he seeks out us.

3 - already.] This adverb may be fairly confidered as an inserpolation. Without enforcing the fenfe, it violates the measure.

STEEVENS.

+ Left my remembrance suffer ill report;] Left I be thought too willing to forget benefits, I must barely return him thanks, and then I will defy him. JOHNSON.

5 Of us &c.] In the language of Shakspeare's time, means-by S. MALONE.

Great, and increafing: but by fea

He is an abfolute mafter.

ANT.

So is the fame.

'Would, we had spoke together! Hafte we for it: Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, despatch we The bufinefs we have talk'd of.

CES.

And do invite you to my fifter's view,

Whither straight I will lead you.

ANT.

Not lack your company.

LEP.

With most gladnefs;

Let us, Lepidus,

Noble Antony,

Not fickness fhould detain me.

[Flourish. Exeunt CESAR, ANTONY, and LEPIDUS. MEC. Welcome from Egypt, fir.

ENO. Half the heart of Cæfar, worthy Mecenas ! -my honourable friend, Agrippa!

AGR. Good Enobarbus!

MEC. We have caufe to be glad, that matters are fo well digefted. You ftay'd well by it in Egypt.

ENO. Ay, fir; we did fleep day out of countenance, and made the night light with drinking.

MEC. Eight wild boars roafted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve perfons there; Is this true? ENO. This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had

3 And where] And was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, for the fake of metre. STEEVENS.

4

most gladness;] i. e. greateft. So, in K. Henry VI. P. I: "But always refolute in moft extremes." STEEVENS,

much more monftrous matter of feaft, which worthily deferved noting.

MEC. She's a moft triumphant lady, if report be fquare to her."

ENO. When fhe first met Mark Antony, she purfed up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus."

AGR. There she appear'd indeed; or my reporter devis'd well for her.

ENO. I will tell you:

The barge she fat in,' like a burnish'd throne,

S be fquare to her.] i. e. if report quadrates with her, or fuits with her merits. STEEVENS,

6 When he first met Mark Antony, fhe purfed up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus.] This paffage is a ftrange inftance of negligence and inattention in Shakspeare. Enobarbus is made to say that Cleopatra gained Antony's heart on the river Cydnus; but it appears from the conclufion of his own description, that Antony had never feen her there; that, whilft fhe was on the river, Antony was fitting alone, enthroned in the market-place, whistling to the air, all the people having left him to gaze upon her; and that, when the landed, he sent to her to invite her to fupper.

M. MASON. The barge fhe fat in, &c.] The reader may not be difpleafed with the prefent opportunity of comparing our author's defcription with that of Dryden:

"Her galley down the filver Cydnus row'd,

"The tackling, filk, the ftreamers wav'd with gold,
"The gentle winds were lodg'd in purple fails:

Her nymphs, like Nereids, round her couch were plac'd, "Where the, another fea-born Venus, lay.—

She lay, and leant her cheek upon her hand,
"And caft a look fo languishingly sweet,
"As if, fecure of all beholders' hearts,

"Neglecting fhe could take 'em: Boys, like Cupids,
"Stood fanning with their painted wings the winds
"That play'd about her face: But if the fmil'd,
"A darting glory feem'd to blaze abroad;
"That men's defiring eyes were never wearied,
"But hung upon the object: To foft flutes

"The filver oars kept time; and while they play'd,
"The hearing gave new pleasure to the fight,

Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold; Purple the fails, and fo perfumed, that

The winds were love-fick with them: the oars were

filver;

Which to the tune of flutes kept ftroke, and made
The water, which they beat, to follow faster,
As amorous of their ftrokes. For her own perfon,
It beggar'd all defcription: fhe did lie

In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,)
O'er-picturing that Venus, where we fee,

The fancy out-work nature: on each fide her,
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like'smiling Cupids,
With diverse-colour'd fans, whofe wind did feem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid, did."

AGR. O, rare for Antony ! ENO. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,"

"And both to thought. 'Twas heaven, or fomewhat more;
"For fhe fo charm'd all hearts, that gazing crowds
"Stood panting on the shore, and wanted breath
"To give their welcome voice." REED.

O'er-picturing that Venus, where we fee, &c.] Meaning the Venus of Protogenes mentioned by Pliny, 1. 35, c. 10.

WARBURTON.

9 And what they undid, did.] It might be read lefs harshly:

And what they did, undid. JOHNSON.

The reading of the old copy is, I believe, right. The wind of the fans feemed to give a new colour to Cleopatra's cheeks, which they were employed to cool; and what they undid, i. e. that warmth which they were intended to diminish or allay, they did, i. e. they feem'd to produce. MALONE.

2

-tended her i the eyes,] Perhaps tended her by th' eyes, difcovered her will by her eyes. JOHNSON.

Perhaps this expreffion as it ftands in the text, may fignify that the attendants on Cleopatra looked obfervantly into her eyes, to catch her meaning, without giving her the trouble of verbal ex