Not to confider in what cafe thou ftand'ft, 7 CLEO. Cæfar entreats, Go on: Right royal. Not to confider in what cafe thou ftand', Further than he is Cæfar.] Thus the fecond folio; and on this reading the fubfequent explanation by Dr. Warburton is founded. The first folio, which brings obfcurity with it, has than he is Cæfar's. See Mr. Malone's note. STEEVENS. i. e. Cæfar intreats, that at the fame time you confider your defperate fortunes, you would confider he is Cafar: That is, generous and forgiving, able and willing to restore them. WARBURTON. It has been juft faid, that whatever Antony is, all his followers are; that is, Cafar's." Thyreus now informs Cleopatra that Cæfar entreats her not to confider herself in a state of subjection, further than as she is connected with Antony, who is Cafar's: intimating to her, (according to the inftructions he had received from Cæfar, to detach Cleopatra from Antony, fee p, 569,) that the might make feparate and advantageous terms for herself. I fufpect that the preceding fpeech belongs to Cleopatra, not to Enobarbus. Printers ufually keep the names of the perfons who appear in each scene, ready compofed; in confequence of which, fpeeches are often attributed to those to whom they do not belong. Is it probable that Enobarbus fhould prefume to interfere here? The whole dialogue naturally proceeds between Cleopatra and Thyreus, till Enobarbus thinks it necessary to attend to his own intereft, and fays what he speaks when he goes out. The plural number, (us) which fuits Cleopatra, who throughout the play affumes that royal ftyle, ftrengthens my conjecture. The words, our mafter, it may be faid, are inconfiftent with this fuppofition; but I apprehend, Cleopatra might have thus described Antony, with fufficient propriety. They are afterwards explained: "Whose he is, we are." Antony was the master of her fate. MALONE. Enobarbus, who is the buffoon of the play, has already prefumed [See p. 471.] to interfere between the jarring Triumvirs, and might therefore have been equally flippant on the occafion before us. For this reafon, as well as others, I conceive the speech in question to have been rightly appropriated in the old copy.-What a diminution of Shakspeare's praife would it be, if four lines that exactly fuit the mouth of Enobarbus, could come with equal propriety from the lips of Cleopatra! STEEVENS, As 8 THYR. He knows, that you embrace not Antony you did love, but as you fear'd him. THYR. The scars upon your honour, therefore, he Does pity, as conftrained blemishes, Not as deferv'd. CLEO. He is a god, and knows What is most right: Mine honour was not yielded, But conquer'd merely. ENO. To be fure of that, [Afide. I will ask Antony.-Sir, fir, thou'rt so leaky, That we must leave thee to thy finking, for Thy deareft quit thee." THYR. [Exit ENOBARBUS. Shall I fay to Cæfar What you require of him? for he partly begs And put yourself under his fhrowd, The univerfal landlord. CLEO. What's your name? Moft kind meffenger, THYR. My name is Thyreus." CLEO. 8 that you embrace not] The author probably wroteembrac'd. MALONE. 9 thort fo leaky, &c. Thy deareft quit thee.] So, in The Tempest : "A rotten carcafe of a boat the very rats Inftinctively had quit it." STEEVENS. VOL. XII. P P Say to great Cæfar this, In difputation I kifs his conqu❜ring hand: tell him, I am prompt 2 Say to great Cæfar this, In difputation, I kifs his conqu'ring hand:] The poet certainly wrote: Say to great Cæfar this; In deputation I kifs his conqu' ring hand: i. e, by proxy; I depute you to pay him that duty in my name. WARBURTON. I am not certain that this change is neceffary.-I kifs his band in difputation-may mean, I own he has the better in the controverfy. I confefs my inability to difpute or contend with him. To difpute may have no immediate reference to words or language by which controverfies are agitated. So, in Macbeth, " Difpute it like a man;" and Macduff, to whom this short speech is addreffed, is difputing or contending with himself only. Again, in Twelfth Night. For though my foul difputes well with my fenfe."-If Dr. Warburton's change be adopted, we fhould read-" by deputation." STEEVENS. I have no doubt but deputation is the right reading. Steevens having proved, with much labour and ingenuity, that it is but by a forced and unnatural conftruction that any fenfe can be extorted from the words as they ftand. It is not neceffary to read by deputation, instead of in. That amendment indeed would render the paffage more ftrictly grammatical, but Shakspeare is, frequently, at least as licentious in the ufe of his particles. M. MASON. I think Dr. Warburton's conjecture extremely probable. The objection founded on the particle in being used, is in my apprehenfion, of little weight. Though by deputation is the phrafeology of the present day, the other might have been common in the time of Shakspeare. Thus a deputy fays in the first scene of King John: "Thus, after greeting, fpeaks the king of France, "In my behaviour, to his majefty, The borrow'd majefty of England here." Again, in King Henry IV. P. I': "Of all the favourites that the absent king "In deputation left behind him here." Again: Bacon in his Hiftory of Henry VII. fays, "—if he relied upon that title, he could be but a king at courtefie."-We fhould now fay, "by courtefy."-So, " in any hand," was the phrafe of Shakspeare's time, for which," at any hand," was afterwards used. Suppofing difputation to mean, as Mr. Steevens conceives, not verbal controverfy, but ftruggle for power, or the contention of To lay my crown at his feet, and there to kneel: Tell him, from his all-obeying breath3 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. 4 Your Cæfar's father Oft, when he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in,5 Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place, As it rain'd kiffes. adverfaries, to fay that one kiffes the hand of another in contention, is furely a ftrange phrafe: but to kifs by proxy, and to marry by proxy, was the language of Shakspeare's time, and is the language of this day. I have, however, found no example of in deputation being used in the fenfe required here. MALONE. 3 Tell him, from his all-obeying breath &c.] Doom is declared rather by an all-commanding, than an all-obeying breath. I fuppofe we ought to read, all-obeyed breath. JOHNSON. There is no need of change. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakspeare ufes longing, a participle active, with a paffive fignification: "To furnish me upon my longing journey." i. e. my journey long'd for. In The Unnatural Combat, by Maffinger, the active participle is yet more irregularly employed: "For the recovery of a ftrangling husband.” i. e. one that was to be strangled. STEEVENS. All-obeying breath is, in Shakspeare's language, breath which all obey. Obeying for obeyed. So, inexpreffive for inexpreffible, delighted for delighting, &c. MALONE. 4 Give me grace-] Grant me the favour. JOHNSON. S taking kingdoms in,] See p. 550, n. 2. REED. 580 ANT. Re-enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS. Favours, by Jove that thunders !→ What art thou, fellow? THYR. One, that but performs The bidding of the fullest man,' and worthieft ENO. You will be whipp'd. ANT. Approach, there:-Ay, you kite!-Now gods and devils! Authority melts from me: Of late, when I cry'd, bo! Like boys unto a mufs," kings would start forth, And cry, Your will? Have you no ears? I am Enter Attendants. Antony yet. Take hence this Jack," and whip him. ENO. 'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp, Than with an old one dying. ANT. Moon and stars! Whip him:-Were't twenty of the greatest tribu in Othello: taries the fulleft man,] The most complete, and perfect. So, "What a full fortune doth the thick-lips owe." See Vol. IV. p. 462, n. 5. MALONE. Like boys unto a muss,] i. e. a fcramble. POPE. So ufed by Ben Jonfon in his Magnetick Lady: nor are they thrown "To make a mufs among the gamefome fuitors." Again, in The Spanish Gipfie, by Middleton and Rowley, 1653: "To fee if thou be'ft alcumy or no, They'll throw down gold in musses." STEEVENS. MALONE. |