CES. I wrote to you, When rioting in Alexandria; you He fell upon me, ere admitted; then Sir, Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want ANT. No, Lepidus, let him speak; The honour's sacred' which he talks on now, I told him of myself;] i. e. told him the condition I was in, when he had his last audience. WARBUrton. 6 • The honour's sacred-] Sacred, for unbroken, unviolated. WARBURTON, Dr. Warburton seems to understand this passage thus; The honour which he talks of me as lacking, is unviolated. I never lacked it. This, perhaps, may be the true meaning; but, before I read the note, I understood it thus: Lepidus interrupts Cæsar, on the supposition that what he is about to say will be too harsh to be endured by Antony; to which Antony replies-No, Lepidus, let him speak; the security of honour on which he now speaks, on which this conference is held now, is sacred, even supposing that I lacked honour before. JOHNSON. Antony, in my opinion, means to say-The theme of honour which he now speaks of, namely, the religion of an oath, for which he supposes me not to have a due regard, is sacred; it is a tender point, and touches my character nearly. Let him therefore urge his charge, that I may vindicate myself. MALONE. Supposing that I lack'd it: But on, Cæsar; CES. To lend me arms, and aid, when I requir'd them; The which you both denied. ANT. Neglected, rather; And then, when poison'd hours had bound me up From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may, I'll play the penitent to you: but mine honesty Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power Work without it: Truth is, that Fulvia, To have me out of Egypt, made wars here; For which myself, the ignorant motive, do So far ask pardon, as befits mine honour To stoop in such a case. LEP. 'Tis nobly spoken.* MEC. If it might please you, to enforce no fur ther I do not think that either Johnson's or Malone's explanation of this passage is satisfactory. The true meaning of it appears to be this:-"Cæsar accuses Antony of a breach of honour in denying to send him aid when he required it, which was contrary to his oath. Antony says, in his defence, that he did not deny his aid, but, in the midst of dissipation, neglected to send it: that having now brought his forces to join him against Pompey, he had redeemed that error; and that therefore the honour which Cæsar talked of, was now sacred and inviolate, supposing that he had been somewhat deficient before, in the performance of that engagement."-The adverb now refers to is, not to talks on; and the line should be pointed thus: The honour's sacred that he talks on, now, Supposing that I lack'd it. M. MASON. 7 — nor my power Work without it:] Nor my greatness work without mine honesty. MAlone. 'Tis nobly spoken.] Thus the second folio. The firstnoble. STEEVENS. The griefs' between ye: to forget them quite, LEP. Worthily spoke, Mecanas. ENO. Or, if you borrow one another's love for the instant, you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey, return it again: you shall have time to wrangle in, when you have nothing else to do. ANT. Thou art a soldier only; speak no more. ENO. That truth should be silent,2 I had almost forgot. ANT. You wrong this presence, therefore speak no more. ENO. Go to then; your considerate stone.3 9. The griefs-] i. e. grievances. See Vol. XI. p. 392, n. 2. 1 MALONE. to atone you.] i. e. reconcile you. See Cymbeline, Vol. XVIII. Act I. sc. v. STEEVENS. • That truth should be silent,] We find a similar sentiment in King Lear: "Truth's a dog that must to kennel,—.” 3 STEEVENS. your considerate stone.] This line is passed by all the editors, as if they understood it, and believed it universally intelligible. I cannot find in it any very obvious, and hardly any possible, meaning. I would therefore read: Go to then, you considerate ones. You who dislike my frankness and temerity of speech, and are so considerate and discreet, go to, do your own business. JOHNSON. I believe, Go to then; your considerate stone, means only this: If I must be chidden, henceforward I will be mute as a marble statue, which seems to think, though it can say nothing. As silent as a stone, however, might have been once a common phrase. So, in the interlude of Jacob and Esau, 1598: "Bring thou in thine, Mido, and see thou be a stone. CES. I do not much dislike the matter, but The manner of his speech: for it cannot be, We shall remain in friendship, our conditions Again, in the old metrical romance of Syr Guy of Warwick, bl. 1. no date: "Guy let it passe as still as stone, "And to the steward word spake none." Again, in Titus Andronicus, Act III. sc. i: "A stone is silent and offendeth not." Again, Chaucer: "To riden by the way, dombe as a stone." In Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Part I. Sect. 2, Memb. 3, Subs. 15, is the following quotation from Horace: 66 statua taciturnior exit, Plerumque et risum populi quatit." The same idea, perhaps, in a more dilated form, will be found in our author's King Henry VIII: 66 If we shall stand still, "In fear our motion should be mock'd or carp'd at, "State statues only." Mr. Tollet explains the passage in question thus: "I will henceforth seem senseless as a stone, however I may observe and consider your words and actions." STEEVENS. The metre of this line is deficient. It will be perfect, and the sense rather clearer, if we read (without altering a letter): your consideratest one. I doubt, indeed, whether this adjective is ever used in the superlative degree; but in the mouth of Enobarbus it might be pardoned. BLACKSTONE. Your, like hour, &c. is used as a dissyllable; the metre, therefore, is not defective. MALone. That the metre is completed by reading your as a dissyllable, my ear, at least, is unconvinced. STEEVENS. As Enobarbus, to whom this line belongs, generally speaks in plain prose, there is no occasion for any further attempt to harmonize it. RITSON. ♦ I do not much dislike the matter, but The manner of his speech:] I do not, says Cæsar, think the man wrong, but too free of his interposition; for it cannot be, we shall remain in friendship: yet if it were possible, I would endeavour it. JOHNSON. So differing in their acts. Yet, if I knew What hoop should hold us staunch,5 from edge to edge O' the world I would pursue it. AGR. CES. Speak, Agrippa. Give me leave, Cæsar, AGR. Thou hast a sister by the mother's side, Admir'd Octavia: great Mark Antony Is now a widower. CES. Say not so, Agrippa ;6 If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof Were well deserv'd' of rashness. What hoop should hold us staunch,] So, in King Henry IV. Part II: 6 "A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in-." STEEVENS. Say not so, Agrippa;] The old copy has-Say not say. Mr. Rowe made this necessary correction. MALONE. 7 -your reproof Were well deserv'd-] In the old edition: your proof Were well deserved— which Mr. Theobald, with his usual triumph, changes to approof, which he explains, allowance. Dr. Warburton inserted reproof very properly into Hanmer's edition, but forgot it in his own. JOHNSON. Your reproof &c.] That is, you might be reproved for your rashness, and would well deserve it. Your reproof, means, the reproof you would undergo. The expression is rather licentious; but one of a similar nature occurs in The Custom of the Country, where Arnoldo, speaking to the Physician, says: 66 And by your success "In all your undertakings, propagate Here, your opinion means, the opinion conceived of you. M. MASON. Dr. Warburton's emendation is certainly right. The error was one of many which are found in the old copy, in conse quence of the transcriber's ear deceiving him. So, in another |