For he dares us to't. ANT. CAN. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharfalia, Where Cæfar fought with Pompey: But thefe of fers, Which ferve not for his vantage, he shakes off; ENO. Your fhips are not well mann'd: Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people No difgrace Are those, that often have 'gainft Pompey fought: ANT. By fea, by fea. ENO. Moft worthy fir, you therein throw away The abfolute foldiership you have by land; Distract your army, which doth most confift Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted Your own renowned knowledge; quite forego The way which promises affurance; and 3 For he dares us -] i. e. because he dares us. So, in Othello: -Haply, for I am black —." The old copy redundantly reads-For that he. See Vol. XIII. P. 149, n. 4. STEEVENS. Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, &c.] The old copy has militers. The correction was made by the editor of the fecond folio. It is confirmed by the old translation of Plutarch: "-for lacke of watermen his captains did preffe by force all fortes of men out of Græce, that they could rake up in the field, as travellers, muliters, reapers, harveft-men," &c. Muliter was the old fpelling of muleteer. MALONE. 5 Their fhips are yare; yours, heavy.] So, in Sir Thomas North's Plutarch. Cæfar's fhips were not built for pomp, high and great, &c. but they were light of yarage." Tare generally fignifies, dextrous, manageable. See Vol. III. p. 5, n. 3. STEEVENS. Give up yourself merely to chance and Kazard,” From firm security.Qadrema maď CLEO. I have fixty fails, Cæfar none better.* ANT. Our overplus of shipping will we burn; And, with the reft full-mann'd, from the head of Actium Beat the approaching Cæfar. But if we fail, Enter a Meffenger. We then can do't at land.-Thy business? ANT. Can he be there in perfon? 'tis impoffible; Away, my Thetis !-How now, worthy foldier? ·Cæfar none better.] I muft fuppofe this mutilated line to have originally ran thus: I have fixty fails, Cæfar himself none better. STEEVENS. 5 Strange, that his power fhould be.] It is ftrange that his forces fhould be there. So afterwards in this scene: "His power went out in such distractions as Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece : "Before the which was drawn the power of Greece." MALONE. my Thetis !] Antony may addrefs Cleopatra by the name of this fea-nymph, becaufe fhe had juft promifed him affiftance in his naval expedition; or perhaps in allufion to her voyage down SOLD. O noble emperor,' do not fight by fea; Trust not to rotten planks: Do you misdoubt This fword, and these my wounds? Let the Egyptians, And the Phoenicians, go a ducking; we Have us'd to conquer, standing on the earth, ANT. Well, well, away. [Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and ENOBARBUS. SOLD. By Hercules, I think, I am i' the right. CAN. Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows 8 Not in the power on't: So our leader's led, And we are women's men. the Cydnus, when the appeared like Thetis furrounded by the Nereids. STEEVENS, 10 noble emperor, &c.] So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch. "Now, as he was fetting his men in order of battel, there was a captaine, & a valiant man, that had ferued Antonius in many battels & conflicts, & had all his body hacked & cut: who as Antonius paffed by him, cryed out vnto him, and fayd: O, noble emperor, how commeth it to passe that you trust to these vile brittle fhippes? what, doe you miftruft thefe woundes of myne, and this fword? let the Egyptians and Phoenicians fight by fea, and fet vs on the maine land, where we vfe to conquer, or to be flayne on our feete. Antonius paffed by him, and fayd neuer a word, but only beckoned to him with his hand and head, as though he willed him to be of good corage, although indeede he had no great corage himfelfe." STEEVENS. 8 Sold. By Hercules, I think, I am i' the right. Can. Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows a Not in the power on't:] That is, his whole conduct becomes ungoverned by the right, or by reafon. JOHNSON. I think the fenfe is very different, and that Canidius means to fay, His whole conduct in the war is not founded upon that which is his greatest ftrength, (namely his land force,) but on the caprice of a woman, who wishes that he should fight by fea. Dr. Johnfon refers the word on't to right in the preceding fpeech. I apprehend, it refers to action in the fpeech before us. MALONE. SOLD. You keep by land The legions and the horse whole, do you not? But we keep whole by land. This fpeed of Cæfar's SOLD. His power went out in fuch distractions,' as Beguil'd all spies. While he was yet in Rome, MES. The emperor calls for Canidius. CAN. With news the time's with labour; and throes forth," Each minute, fome. [Exeunt. 5 Carries beyond belief.] Perhaps this phrafe is from archery. So, in King Henry IV. P. II: " he would have carried you a forehand fhaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half." STEEVENS. 6 While he was-] Of what ufe are the words-he was, except to vitiate the metre? STEEVENS. " --distractions,] Detachments; feparate bodies. JOHNSON. The word is thus ufed by Sir Paul Rycaut in his Maxims of Turkish Polity: - and not fuffer his affections to wander on other wives, flaves, or diftractions of his love." STEEVENS. 8 The emperor calls for Canidius.] The prepofition-for, was judiciously inferted by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the measure. So, in a future scene: "-call for Enobarbus,-." STEEVENS. 9 — and throes forth,] i. e. emits as in parturition. So, in The Tempest: proclaim a birth "Which throes thee much to yield." STEEVENS. SCENE VIII. A Plain near Actium. Enter CESAR, TAURUS, Officers, and Others. CES. Taurus, TAUR. CES. My lord. Strike not by land; keep whole : Provoke not battle, till we have done at sea. Do not exceed the prefcript of this scroll: Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS. [Exeunt. ANT. Set we our fquadrons on yon' fide o' the hill, In eye of Cæfar's battle; from which place [Exeunt. Enter CANIDIUs, marching with his land army one way over the stage; and TAURUS, the lieutenant of Cæfar, the other way. After their going in, is beard the noife of a fea-fight. Alarum. Re-enter ENOBARBUS. ENO. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer : The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral, 2 The Antoniad, &c.] Which Plutarch fays, was the name of Cleopatra's fhip. POPE. |