A market-maid to Rome; and have prevented Oct. Good my lord, To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did it Cas. Which soon he granted, Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him.6 Cas. I have eyes upon him, And his affairs come to me on the wind. Oct. My lord, in Athens. Cas. No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire Up to a whore; who now are levying The kings o'the earth for war: He hath assembled Of Cappadocia ; Philadelphos, king Of Paphlagonia; the Tracian king, Adallas; Of Comagene; Polemon and Amintas, Oct. Ah me, most wretched, That have my heart parted betwixt two friends, Cas. Welcome hither: Your letters did withhold our breaking forth; Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome : Beyond the mark of thought: and the high gods, [6] That is, his wife being an obstruction, a bar to the prosecution of his wanton pleasures with Cleopatra. WARB. To do you justice, make them ministers Of us, and those that love you. Mec. Welcome, dear madam. Best of comfort; Each heart in Rome does love and pity you: And gives his potent regiment to a trull, Oct. Is it so, sir? 6 Cas. Most certain. Sister, welcome: Pray you, Be ever known to patience: My dearest sister! [Exeunt. SCENE VII. ANTONY'S Camp, near the Promontory of Actium. Enter CLE- Cleo. I will be even with thee, doubt it not. Cleo. Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars ;7 And say'st, it is not fit. Eno. Well, is it? is it? Cleo. Is't not? Denounce against us, why should not we Be there in person? 8 Eno. [Aside.] Well, I could reply : If we should serve with horse and mares together, Cleo. What is't you say? [6] Regiment-is government, authority; he puts his power and his empire into the hands of a false woman. It may be observed, trull was not, in our author's time, a term of mere infamy, but a word of slight contempt, as wench is now. JOHNS. [7] To forspeak, is to contradict, to speak against, as forbid is to order negatively. JOHNSON. [8] Cleopatra means to say, "Is not the war denounced against us? Why should we not then attend in person?" She says, a little lower, "A charge we bear i' the war, And, as the president of my kingdom, will Appear there for a man. " She speaks of herself in the plural number, according to the usual style of sovereigns. M. MASON.-—I read with the old copy, introducing only the change of a single letter,-denounc't instead of denounc'd. There is, however, in the folio, a comma after the word not, and no point of interrogation at the end of the sentence. MAL.--Surely no valid inference can be drawn from such uncertain premises as the punctuation of the old copy, which (to use the words of Rosalind and Touchstone in As you like it) is "as fortune will, or as the destines decree." STEEV. Eno. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony; Take from his heart, take from his brain, from his time, What should not then be spar'd. He is already Traduc'd for levity; and 'tis said in Rome, That Photinus an eunuch, and your maids, Manage this war. Cleo. Sink Rome; and their tongues rot, That speak against us! A charge we hear i'the war, Appear there for a man. Speak not against it ; Eno. Nay, I have done : Here comes the emperor. Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS. Ant. Is't not strange, Canidius, That from Tarentum, and Brundusium, And take in Toryne ?-You have heard on't, sweet? Than by the negligent. Ant. A good rebuke, Which might have well becom'd the best of men, Will fight with him by sea. Cleo. By sea! what else? Can. Why will my lord do so? Ant. For he dares us to't. Eno. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight. Can. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia, Where Cæsar fought with Pompey But these offers, Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off; And so should you. Eno. Your ships are not well-mann'd : Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people Are those, that often have 'gainst Pompey fought : Being prepar'd for land. Ant. By sea, by sea. Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away The absolute soldiership you have by land; Distract your army, which doth most consist [9] rare generally signifies dextrous, manageable. STEEV. Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted Ant. I'll fight at sea. Cleo. I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better. Ant. Our overplus of shipping will we burn ; And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium We then can do't at land.-Thy business? Mes. The news is true, my lord; he is descried; Cæsar has taken Toryne. Ant. Can he be there in person ? 'tis impossible; Away, my Thetis !-How now, worthy soldier ? Have used to conquer, standing on the earth, And fighting foot to foot. Ant. Well, well, away. [Exe. ANT. CLEO. and ENO. Sold. By Hercules, I think, I am i'the right. Can. Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows Not in the power on't: So our leader's led, And we are women's men. Sold. You keep by land The legions and the horse whole, do you not ? Can. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius, Publicola, and Cælius, are for sea : But we keep whole by land. This speed of Cæsar's Sold. While he was yet in Rome, His power went out in such distractions, 3 as [1] That is, his whole conduct becomes ungoverned by the right or by reason. JOHNS.-Canidius means to say, His whole conduct in the war is not founded upon that which is his greatest strength, (namely, his land force,) but on the caprice of a woman, who wishes that he should fight by sea. MAL. [2] Perhaps this phrase is from archery. TEEV [3] Distractions-detachments, separate bodies. JOHNS. Beguil'd all spies. Can. Who's his lieutenant, hear you? Can. Well I know the man. Enter a Messenger. Mes. The emperor calls for Canidius. Can.With news the time's with labour,and throes forth, Each minute, some. [Exeunt. SCENE VIII. `A Plain near Actium. Enter CESAR, TAURUS, Officers, and Cas. Strike not by land; keep whole : Provoke not battle, till we have done at sea. Do not exceed the prescript of this scroll: Our fortune lies upon this jump.4 Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS. [Exeunt. Ant. Set we our squadrons on yon' side o'the hill, [Exeunt. Enter CANIDIUS, marching with his land army one way over the stage and TAURUS, the lieutenant of CESAR, the other way. After their going in, is heard the noise of a sea-fight. Alarum. Re-enter ENOBARBUS. Eno. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer: The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,5 With all their sixty, fly, and turn the rudder; Enter SCARUS. Scar. Gods, and goddesses, All the whole synod of them! Eno. What's thy passion? [4] Jump-hazard. So, in Macbeth: " We'd jump the life to come." STEEV. [5] The Antoniad-which Plutarch says, was the name of Cleopatra's ship. POPE. |