IRAS. Royal queen!

CHAR. O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen L

barred; but yet there were fome cranews through the which her voyce
might be beard, and fo they without understood that Cleopatra de-
maunded the kingdome of Egypt for her fonnes: and that Procu
leius aunfwered her, that the fhould be of good cheere and not be
affrayed to refer all unto Cæfar. After he had viewed the place
very well, he came and reported her aunfwere unto Cæfar: who
immediately fent Gallus to speak once againe with her, and bad
him purpofely hold her with talk, whilft Proculeius did fet up a ladder
against that high windowe by the which Antonius was trefed up, and
came down into the monument with two of his men hard by the gate,
where Cleopatra ftood to hear what Gallus faid unto her. One of
her women which was fhut in her monument with her, fawe Pro-
culeius by chaunce, as he came downe, and threeked out, O,
poore Cleopatra, thou art taken.
Then when fhe fawe Proculeius
behind her as the came from the gate, fhe thought to have ftabbed
herself with a short dagger fhe wore of purpose by her fide. But
Proculeius came fodainly upon her, and taking her by both the
hands, fayd unto her, Cleopatra, firft thou fhalt doe thy felfe
great wrong, and fecondly unto Cæfar, to deprive him of the oc-
cafion and opportunitie openlie to fhew his vauntage and mercie,
and to give his enemies cause to accuse the most courteous and
noble prince that ever was, and to appeache him as though he were
a cruel and mercileffe man, that were not to be trufted. So, even
as he fpake the word, he tooke her dagger from her, and thooke
her clothes for feare of any poyfon hidden about her. MALONE.

6 Gal. You fee bow eafily fhe may be furpriz'd;Guard her till Cæfar come.] [Mr. Rowe (and Mr. Pope followed him) allotted this fpeech to Charmian.] This blunder was for want of knowing, or obferving, the historical fact. When Cæfar fent Proculeius to the queen, he fent Gallus after him with new inftructions: and while one amufed Cleopatra with propofitions. from Cæfar, through the crannies of the monument, the other fcaled it by a ladder, entered it at a window backward, and made Cleopatra, and thofe with her, prifoners. I have reformed the paffage therefore, (as, I am perfuaded, the author defigned it;) from the authority of Plutarch. [Mr. Theobald gives-You fee how easily &c. to Gallus; and Guard her &c. to Proculeius.]

THEOBALD.

This line in the first edition is given to Proculeius; and to him it certainly belongs, though perhaps mifplaced. I would put it at the end of his foregoing fpeech:

1

( PRO.

CLEO. Quick, quick, good hands.

[drawing a dagger.

Hold, worthy lady, hold:

[Jeizes and difarms her.

What, of death too,

Cleopatra,

Do not yourself fuch wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

CLEO.

That rids our dogs of languish?

PRO.

Do not abuse my mafter's bounty, by
The undoing of yourfelf: let the world fee

Where be for grace is kneel'd to.

[Afide to Gallus.] You fee, how eafily she may be furpriz❜d. Then while Cleopatra makes a formal anfwer, Gallus, upon the hint given, feizes her, and Proculeius, interrupting the civility of his answer:

your plight is pity'd Of him that caus'd it.

cries out:

Guard her till Cæfar come. JOHNSON.

To this fpeech, as well as the preceding, Pro. [i. e. Proculeius] is prefixed in the old copy. It is clear from the paffage quoted from Plutarch in the following note that this was an error of the compofitor's at the prefs, and that it belongs to Gallus; who, after Proculeius hath, according to his fuggeftion, afcended the monument, goes out to inform Cæfar that Cleopatra is taken. That Cæfar was informed immediately of Cleopatra's being taken, appears from Dolabella's firft fpeech to Proculeius on his entry. See P. 660:

"Proculeius,

"What thou haft done, thy mafter Cæfar knows," &c. This information, it is to be prefumed, Cæfar obtained from Gallus. The ftage-directions being very imperfect in this scene in the old copy, no exit is here marked; but as Gallus afterwards enters along with Cæfar, it was undoubtedly the author's intention that he fhould here go out. In the modern editions this as well as the preceding speech is given to Proculeius, though the error in the old copy clearly shows that two speakers were intended. MALONE. 7 languifh? So, in Romeo and Juliet, A&t I. fc. ii: "One defperate grief cure with another's languish."

STEEVENS,

His nobleness well acted, which your death
Will never let come forth.

CLEO.
Where art thou, death?
Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen
Worth many babes and beggars!'

PRO.

O, temperance, lady!

CLEO. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, fir; If idle talk will once be neceffary, I'll not fleep neither: This mortal house I'll ruin,

7 Worth many babes and beggars!] Why, death, wilt thou not rather feize a queen, than employ thy force upon babes and beggars. JOHNSON.

8 If idle talk will once be necessary,

I'll not fleep neither:] I will not eat, and if it will be neceflary now for once to waste a moment in idle talk of my purpose, I will not fleep neither. In common converfation we often ufe will be, with as little relation to futurity. As, Now I am going, it will be fit for me to dine firft. JOHNSON.

Once may mean fometimes. Of this ufe of the word I have already given inftances, both in The Merry Wives of Windfor, and King Henry VIII. The meaning of Cleopatra feems to be this. If idle talking be fometimes neceffary to the prolongation of life, why I will not fleep for fear of talking idly in my fleep.

The fenfe defigned, however, may be-If it be neceffary, for once, to talk of performing impoffibilities, why, I'll not fleep neither. I have little confidence, however, in thefe attempts to produce a meaning from the words under confideration. STEEVENS.

The explications above given appear to me fo unfatisfactory, and fo little deducible from the words, that I have no doubt that a line has been loft after the word neceffary, in which Cleopatra threatened to obferve an obftinate filence. The line probably began with the words I'll, and the compofitor's eye glancing on the fame words in the line beneath, all that intervened was loft. See p. 539, n. 5, and p. 647, n. 7.

So, in Othello, quarto, 1622, Act III. fc. i:

"And needs no other fuitor but his likings,
"To take the fafeft occafion by the front,
"To bring you in."

In the folio the fecond line is omitted, by the compofitor's eye, after the first word of it was compofed, glancing on the fame word immediately under it in the fubfequent line, and then proceeding with that line inftead of the other. This happens frequently at the

Do Cæfar what he can. Know, fir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;
Nor once be cháftis'd with the fober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoift me up,
And show me to the fhouting varletry

Of cenfuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
Be gentle grave to me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

prefs. The omitted line in the paffage which has given rife to the prefent note, might have been of this import:

Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, fir;

If idle talk will once be neceffary,

I'LL not fo much as fyllable a word;

I'LL not fleep neither: This mortal houfe I'll ruin, &c. The words I'll not fleep neither, contain a new and distinct menace. I once thought that Shakspeare might have written—I'll not speak neither; but in p. 671, Cæfar comforting Cleopatra, fays, feed, and fleep" which shows that fleep in the paffage before us is the true reading. MALONE.

I agree that a line is loft, which I fhall attempt to supply:
Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, fir;

If idle talk will once be neceffary,

[I will not speak; if fleep be neceffary,]
I'll not fleep neither.

The repetition of the word neceffary may have occafioned the omiffion. RITSON.

9 My country's high pyramides my gibbet,] The poet defigned we fhould read-pyramides, Lat. inftead of pyramids, and fo the folio reads. The verfe will otherwise be defective. Thus, in Dr, Fauftus, 1604

"Befides the gates and high pyramides

"That Julius Cæfar brought from Africa."

Again, in Tamburlaine, 1590:

"Like to the fhadows of pyramides.”

Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602. B. XII. c. lxxiii: "The theaters, pyramides, the hills of half a mile."

Mr. Tollet obferves, "that Sandys in his Travels, as well as Drayton in the 26th fong of his Polyolbion, ufes pyramides as a quadrifyllable. STEEVENS,

PRO.

You do extend

These thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find caufe in Cæfar.

DoL.

Enter DOLABELLA.

Proculeius,

8

What thou haft done thy mafter Cæfar knows,
And he hath fent for thee; as for the queen,
I'll take her to my guard.

PRO.

So, Dolabella,
It fhall content me beft: be gentle to her.-
To Cæfar I will speak what you shall please,

If you'll employ me to him.

CLEO.

[to CLEOPATRA.

Say, I would die.

[Exeunt PROCULEIUS, and Soldiers.

DOL. Most noble emprefs, you have heard of me? CLEO. I cannot tell.

DOL.

Affuredly, you know me.

CLEO. No matter, fir, what I have heard, or

known.

You laugh, when boys, or women, tell their dreams; Is't not your trick?

DOL.

I understand not, madam.

CLEO. I dream'd, there was an emperor An

tony ;

O, fuch another fleep, that I might fee

But fuch another man!

8

DOL.

If it might please you,-.

CLEO. His face was as the heavens; and therein

as

ftuck

-] This conjunction is wanting in the first, but

is fupplied by the fecond folio. STEEVENS.