Diffolve my life! The next Cæfarion fmite!" ANT. I will oppose his fate. Our force by land Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning moft fealike. 9The next Cæfarion fmite!] Cæfarion was Cleopatra's fon by Julius Cæfar. STEEVENS. The folio has Smile. This literal error will ferve to corroborate Dr. Farmer's conjecture in King Henry V. Vol. IX. p. 307. n. 3. REED. 2 By the difcandying of this pelleted form,] The old folios read, difcandering from which corruption both Dr. Thirlby and I faw, we must retrieve the word with which I have reformed the text. THEOBALD. Difcandy is used in the next act. MALONE. 3 till the flies and gnats of Nile Have buried them for prey!] We have a kindred thought in Macbeth: 4 "Shall be the maws of kites." STEEVENS. —and fleet,] Float was a modern emendation, perhaps right. The old reading is, and fleet, JOHNSON. I have replaced the old reading. Float and fleet were synonySo, in the tragedy of Edward 11. by Marlow, 1598: "This ifle fhall fleet upon the ocean." mous. Again, in Tamburlaine, 1590: "Shall meet thofe Chriftians fleeting with the tide.” Again, in The Cobler's Prophecy, 1594: "And envious fnakes among the fleeting fish." Again, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. II. c. vii: "And in frayle wood on Adrian gulfe doth fleet." Where haft thou been, my heart?-Doft thou hear, lady? If from the field I fhall return once more CLEO. That's my brave lord! ANT. I will be treble-finew'd,' hearted, breath'd, And fight malicioufly: for when mine hours Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives Again, in Harding's Chronicle, 1543: "The bodies flete amonge our fhippes eche daye." Mr. Tollet has fince furnished me with inftances in fupport of this old reading, from Verftegan's Reftitution of decay'd Intelligence, Holinthed's Defcription of Scotland, and Spenfer's Colin Clout's come bome again. STEEVENS. The old reading fhould certainly be reftored. Fleet is the old word for float. See Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, 1598, 2399, .4883. TYRWHITT. 5 I and my fword will earn our chronicle ;] I and my fword will do fuch acts as fall deferve to be recorded. MALONE. So, in a former part of this fcene Enobarbus has faid: "And earns a place i' the story." STEEVENS. 6 I will be treble-finew'd,] So, in The Tempeft: 66 which to do, "Trebles thee o'er." Antony means to say, that he will be treble-hearted, and treblebreath'd, as well as treble-finew'd. MALONE. 7 Were nice and lucky,] Nice, for delicate, courtly, flowing in peace. WARBURTON. Nice rather feems to be, juft fit for my purpose, agreeable to my wifh. So we vulgarly fay of any thing that is done better than was expected, it is nice. JOHNSON. Nice is trifling. So, in Romeo and Juliet, A& V. fc. ii: "The letter was not nice, but full of charge." See a note on this paffage. STEEVENS. Again, in King Richard III: 66 My lord, this argues confcience in your grace, "But the refpects thereof are nice and trivial." MALONE. Of me for jefts; but now, I'll fet my teeth, CLEO. It is my birth-day: I had thought, to have held it poor; but, fince my lord Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra. ANT. We'll yet do well. CLEO. Call all his noble captains to my lord. ANT. Do fo, we'll fpeak to them; and to-night I'll force The wine peep through their scars.-Come on, my queen; There's fap in't yet." The next time I do fight, I'll make death love me; for I will contend Even with his peftilent scythe.* 7 [Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and Attendants. gaudy night:] This is ftill an epithet bestowed on feaft days in the colleges of either univerfity. STEEVENS. Gawdy, or Grand days in the inns of court, are four in the year, Afcenfion day, Midfummer day, All-faints day, and Candlemas day." The etymology of the word," fays Blount in his Dictionary, may be taken from Judge Gawdy, who (as fome affirm) was the first inftitutor of those days; or rather from gaudium, because (to say truth) they are days of joy, as bringing good cheer to the hungry students. In colleges they are most commonly called Gawdy, in inns of court Grand days, and in fome other places they are called Collar days." REED. Days of good cheer in fome of the foreign univerfities are called Gaudeamus days. C. Is Antony again, c.] I fhrewdly fufpect that-again, which fpoils the verfe, is an interpolation, on the players' old principle of opening the fenfe, without regard to the metre. STEEVENS. 9 There's fap in't yet.] So, in King Lear: "Then there's life in't." STEEVENS. ENO. Now he'll out-ftare the lightning.' To be furious, Is, to be frighted out of fear: and in that mood, The dove will peck the eftridge; and I see still, A diminution in our captain's brain Reftores his heart: When valour preys on reason, It eats the fword it fights with. I will feek Some way to leave him. 2 The next time I do fight, I'll make death love me; for I will contend [Exit. Even with his peftilent feythe.] This idea feems to have been caught from the 12th book of Harrington's tranflation of The Orlando Furiofo, 1591: "Death goeth about the field, rejoicing mickle, "To fee a fword that fo surpass'd his fickle." The idea, however, is not entirely modern; for in Statius, Thebaid I. v. 633, we find that death is armed with a weapon: Mors fila fororum Enfe metit. STEEVENS. 3 Now he'll out-ftare the lightning.] Our author in many of the speeches that he has attributed to Antony, feems to have had the following paffage in North's tranflation of Plutarch in his thoughts: "He [Antony] ufed a manner of phrafe in his fpeeche, called Afiatick, which carried the best grace at that time, and was much like to him in his manners and life; for it was full of oftentation, foolish braverie, and vaine ambition." MALONE. See Dr. Johnfon's note, at the conclufion of the play. STEEVENS. ACT IV. SCENE I. Cæfar's Camp at Alexandria. Enter CESAR, reading a letter; AGRIPPA, MECENAS, and Others. CES. He calls me boy; and chides, as he had power To beat me out of Egypt: my messenger He hath whipp'd with rods; dares me to perfonal combat, Cæfar to Antony: Let the old ruffian know, MEC. Cæfar muft think," 4 I have many other ways to die ;] What a reply is this to Antony's challenge? 'tis acknowledging that he fhould die under the unequal combat; but if we read, He hath many other ways to die: mean time, I laugh at his challenge. In this reading we have poignancy, and the very repartee of Cafar. Let's hear Plutarch. After this, Antony fent a challenge to Cæfar, to fight him hand to hand, and received for answer, that he might find feveral other ways to end his life. UPTON. I think this emendation deferves to be received. It had, before Mr. Upton's book appeared, been made by Sir T. Hanmer. JOHNSON. Moft indifputably this is the fenfe of Plutarch, and given fo in the modern tranflations; but Shakspeare was mifled by the ambiguity of the old one: "Antonius fent again to challenge Cæfar to fight him: Cæfar answered, that he had many other ways to die, than fo." FARMER. 5 Cæfar muft think,] Read: Cæfar needs muft think,-. RITSON. |