SCENE V. Antony's Camp near Alexandria. Trumpets found. Enter ANTONY and EROS; a Soldier meeting them. SOLD. The gods make this a happy day to Antony ! 8 ANT. 'Would, thou and those thy fcars had once SOLD. Had'st thou done fo, The kings that have revolted, and the foldier That has this morning left thee, would have still Follow'd thy heels. ANT. SOLD. Who's gone this morning? Who? One ever near thee: Call for Enobarbus, ANT. What fay'ft thou? Sir, 8 Sold. The gods make this a happy day to Antony!] "Tis evident, as Dr. Thirlby likewife conjectured, by what Antony immediately replies, that this line fhould not be placed to Eros, but to the foldier, who, before the battle of Actium, advised Antony to try his fate at land. THEOBALD. The fame mistake has, I think, happened in the next two fpeeches addreffed to Antony, which are alfo given in the old copy to Eros. I have given them to the foldier, who would naturally reply to what Antony faid. Antony's words, "What fayft thou ?" compared with what follows, thew that the fpeech beginning, "Who? One ever near thee:" &c. belongs to the foldier. This regulation was made by Mr. Capell. MALONE. ANT. GO, Eros, fend his treasure after; do it; Detain no jot, I charge thee: write to him (I will fubfcribe) gentle adieus, and greetings: Say, that I wish he never find more caufe To change a master.-O, my fortunes have Corrupted honeft men:-Eros, despatch." [Exeunt. 9 Eros, defpatch.] Thus the fecond folio; except that thefe two words are here, for the fake of metre, tranfpofed. The first folio has Difpatch Enobarbus. Dr. Johnfon would read: Defpatch! To Enobarbus; And Mr. Holt White fuppofes that "Antony, being aftonished at the news of the desertion of Enobarbus, merely repeats his name in a tone of furprize." In my opinion, Antony was defigned only to enforce the order he had already given to Eros. I have therefore followed the fecond folio. STEEVENS. It will be evident to any person who confults the fecond folio with attention and candour, that many of the alterations must have been furnished by fome corrected copy of the first folio, or an authority of equal weight, being fuch as no perfon, much lefs one fo ignorant and capricious as the editor has been reprefented, could have poffibly hit upon, without that fort of information. Among thefe valuable emendations is the prefent, which affords a ftriking improvement both of the fenfe and of the metre, and should of course be inserted in the text, thus: Corrupted honeft men. Eros, defpatch. The fame tranfpofition, which is a mere though frequent inadvertence of the prefs, has happened in a subsequent scene: "Unarm, Eros; the long days task is done:" Where the meafure plainly requires, as the author must have written,—Eres, unarm. RITSON. SCENE VI. Cæfar's Camp before Alexandria. Flourish. Enter CÆSAR, with AGRIPPA, ENOBARBUS, and Others. CES. Go forth, Agrippa, and begin the fight: Our will is, Antony be took alive; Make it fo known. AGR. Cæfar, I fhall. 2 [Exit AGRIPPA. CAS. The time of univerfal peace is near: Prove this a profperous day, the three-nook'd world Shall bear the olive freely,' 2 Our vill is, Antony be took alive;] It is obfervable with what judgment Shakspeare draws the character of Octavius. Antony was his hero; fo the other was not to fhine: yet being an historical character, there was a neceffity to draw him like. But the ancient hiftorians, his flatterers, had delivered him down fo fair, that he feems ready cut and dried for a hero. Amidft thefe difficulties Shakspeare has extricated himself with great addrefs. He has admitted all those great strokes of his character as he found them, and yet has made him a very unamiable character, deceitful, meanfpirited, narrow-minded, proud, and revengeful. WARBURTON. the three-nook'd world 3 -- Shall bear the olive freely.] So, in King John: "Now these her princes are come home again, So Lyly in Euphues and his England, 1580: "The island is in fashion three-corner'd," &c. MALONE. Shall bear the olive freely.] i. e. fhall fpring up every where fpontaneously and without culture. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton mistakes the sense of the paffage. To bear does not mean to produce, but to carry; and the meaning is, that the MES. Enter a Meffenger. Is come into the field. CES. Antony Go, charge Agrippa Plant thofe that have revolted in the van, That Antony may seem to spend his fury Upon himself. [Exeunt CESAR and his Train. ENO. Alexas did revolt; and went to Jewry, On affairs of Antony; there did perfuade Great Herod to incline himself to Cæfar, And leave his master Antony: for this pains, Cæfar hath hang'd him. Canidius, and the reft That fell away, have entertainment, but No honourable truft. I have done ill; Of which I do accufe myself so forely, That I will joy no more. world fhall then enjoy the bleffings of peace, of which olive branches were the emblem. The fuccefs of Auguftus could not fo change the nature of things, as to make the olive-tree grow without culture in all climates, but it shut the gates of the temple of Janus. M. MASON. I doubt whether Mr. M. Mafon's explication of the word bear be juft. The poet certainly did not intend to speak literally; and might only mean, that, fhould this prove a profperous day, there would be no occafion to labour to effect a peace throughout the world; it would take place without any effort or negotiation. MALONE. -perfuade-] The old copy has diffuade, perhaps rightly. JOHNSON. It is undoubtedly corrupt. The words in the old tranflation of Plutarch are:-" for where he fhould have kept Herodes from revolting from him, he perfuaded him to turne to Cæfar." MALONE. SOLD. Enter a foldier of Cæfar's. Enobarbus, Antony Hath after thee fent all thy treasure," with His bounty overplus: The meffenger Came on my guard; and at thy tent is now, ENO. I give it you. SOLD. Mock me not," Enobarbus. 8 I tell you true: Beft that you faf'd the bringer [Exit Soldier. ENO. I am alone the villain of the earth, And feel I am fo moft." O Antony, Thou mine of bounty, how would'ft thou have paid My better service, when my turpitude 6 Hath after thee fent all thy treasure, &c.] So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch: "Furthermore, he delt very friendly and courteously with Domitius, and against Cleopatraes mynde. For, he being ficke of an agewe when he went, and tooke a little boate to go to Cæfar's campe, Antonius was very fory for it, but yet he fent after him all his caryage, trayne, and men and the fame Domitius, as though he gaue him to vnderftand that he repented his open treafon, he died immediately after." STEEVENS. 7 Mock me not,] Me was fupplied by Mr. Theobald. STEEVENS. For the infertion of the pronoun-that, to affift the metre, I am anfwerable. 9 And feel I am fo moft.] That is, and feel I am fo, more than any one else thinks it. M. MASON. Surely, this explanation cannot be right. I am alone the villain of the earth, means, I am pre-eminently the firft, the greatest villain of the earth. To ftand alone, is ftill used in that fenfe, where any one towers above his competitors. And feel I am fo moft, muft figmify, I feel or know it myself, more than any other person can or does feel it. REED. |