Cleo. No, I will not: As that which makes it.-How now? is he dead? Enter ANTONY, borne by the Guard. Cleo, O, thou sun, Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in!-darkling stand The varying shore o' the world. O, Antony, Antony, Antony! Help, Charmian; help, Iras, help: help, friends Below, let's draw him hither. Ant. Peace: Not Cæsar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself. Cleo. So it should be, that none but Antony Should conquer Antony; but wo 'tis so! Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying; only Cleo. show Be brooch'd' with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe: 4 Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes, Ant. O, quick, or I am gone. Cleo. Here's sport, indeed ?—how heavy weighs my lord! Our strength is all gone into heaviness, A heavy sight! Cleo. No, let me speak; and let me rail so high, That the false housewife Fortune break her wheel,* Provok'd by my offence. Ant. Gentie, hear me: None about Cæsar trust, but Proculeius. Ant. The miserable change now at my end, Cleo. Noblest of men, woo't die? The soldier's pole is fallen; young boys and girls, [She faints. O, quietness, lady! Iras. She is dead, too, our sovereign. Char. Iras. Lady,Madam, Royal Egypt! Char. O madam, madam, madam! Iras. manded By such poor passion as the maid that milks My noble girls!--Ab, women, women! look, And make death proud to take us. Come away: Ant. 1 It should be remembered that, according to the old philosophy, the sun was accounted a planet, and thought to be whirled round the earth by the motion of a solid sphere in which it was fixed. Supposing this consumed, the sun must wander in endless space, and the earth be involved in endless night. 2 Cleopatra means that she dare not come down out of the monument to Antony. Ritson proposed to read: There's nothing serious in mortality : All is but toys; renown and grace is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag on.' Macbeth. (Dear my lord, pardon) I dare not come down,' 10 Iras has just said, 'Royal Egypt, Empress !' Cleo3 Brooch'd here must mean ornamented, adorned. patra completes the sentence, (without taking notice of Any ornamental jewel was called a brooch: Ho-the intervening words of Charmian,) Empress 'no more; nour's a good brooch to wear in a man's hat at all times.'- Ben Jonson's Poetaster. but e'en a woman,' now on a level with the meanest of my sex. The old copy reads 'but in a woman.' Dr. Johnson made the correction. 11 i. e. task-work. She, like a good wife, is teaching her servants sundry chares.'-Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613. And at my crummed messe of milke, each night from maid or dame To do their chares as they supposed,' &c. Appear thus to us ?2 I yield thee up my life. make A greater crack: The round world should have shook And citizens to their dens :-The death of Antony He is dead, Cæsar; Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand, Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce The business of this man looks out of him, mistress, Confin'd in all she has, her monument, Cas. Bid her have good heart; [Exil Mess. So the gods preserve thee! Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, And, with your speediest, bring us what she says, I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd With his most noble blood. And how you find of her. Pro. Cæsar, I shall. [Exit PROCULEIUS. Cas. Gallus, you go along.-Where's Dolabella, To second Proculeius? Agr. Mec. [Exit GALLUS. Dolabella! Caes. Let him alone, for I remember now 12 [Exeunt. SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. Cleo. My desolation does begin to make A better life: "Tis paltry to be Cæsar; 4 May the gods rebuke me if this be not tidings to 1 Frustrate for frustrated was the language of Shak-make kings weep. But again in its exceptive sense. speare's time; and we find contaminate for contami nated, consummate for consummated, &c. Thus in The Tempest : and the sea mocks Our frustrate search by land. 2 i. e. with a drawn and bloody sword in thy hand. Should have shook lions into civil streets, 5 Waged here must mean to be opposed, as equal stakes in a wager; unless we suppose that weighed is meant. The second folio reads way. 6 Launch, the word in the old copy, is only the ob solete spelling of lance. 7 His for its. 8 That is, should have made us, in our equality of fortune, disagree to a pitch like this, that one of us must die. 9 i. e. yet an Egyptian, or subject of the queen of “ Egypt, though soon to become a subject of Rome.' 10 I have before observed that the termination ble was anciently often used for bly. This Malone calls using adjectives adverbially, or using substantives adjec tively, as the case may be. I doubt whether it be any thing more than the laxity of old orthography. We have honourable for honourably again in Julius Cæsar:- Young man, thou could'st not die more honourable. 11 If I send her in triumph, to Rome, her memory and my glory will be eternal. Thus in The Scourge Venus, 1614 :- The second line is evidently defective, some word or A greater crack than this: The ruin'd world,' &c. $04 Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave,' Enter, to the Gates of the Monument, PROCULEIUS, Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of Egypt; Pro. My name is Proculeius. Cleo. [Within.] What's thy name? Antony Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but That have no use for trusting. If your master No less beg than a kingdom: if he please Be of good cheer; Cleo. [Within.] Pray you, tell him Pro. This I'll report, dear lady. Gal. You see how easily she may besurpris'd; Guard her till Cæsar come. [To PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit Iras. Royal queen! 1 Servant. 2 Voluntary death (says Cleopatra) is an act which bolts up change; it produces a state Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung, The beggar's nurse and Caesar's.' Do not abuse my master's bounty, by Cleo. Pro. O, temperance, lady! You do extend Dol. Enter DOLABELLA, shall What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows, Pro. So, Dolabella, If you'll employ me to him. [To CLEOPATRA.' Say, I would die. reported her auns were unto Cesar: who immediately sent Gallus to speak once againe with her, and bad him purposely hold her with talk, whilst Proculeius did sel up a ladder against that high windowe, by the which Antonius was tressed up, and came down into the ma Which has no longer need of the gross and terrene sus-nument with two of his men, hard by the gate, where tenance, in the use of which Cæsar and the beggar are on a level. It has been already said in this play, that ་ — our dungy earth Feeds man as beast.' The Ethiopian king (in Herodotus, b. iii.) upon hearing a description of the nature of wheat, replied, that he was not at all surprised if men, who eat nothing but dung, did not attain a longer life.'" Cleopatra stood to hear what Gallus said unto her. One of her women shrieked out, O poore Cleopatra, thou art taken. Then when she sawe Proculeius behind her, as she came from the gate, she thought to have stabbed herself with a short dagger she wore of purpose by her But Proculeius came sodainly upon her, and side. taking her by both the hands, sayd unto her, Cleopatra, first thou shalt doe thyselfe greate wrong, and secondly. unto Cæsar, to deprive him of the occasion and oppor tunitie openlie to shew his vauntage and mercie, and to give his enemies cause to accuse the most courteous 4 Praying in aid is a term used for a petition made and noble prince that ever was, and to appeach him as in a court of justice for the calling in of help from an-though he were a cruel and mercilesse man that were not to be trusted. So even as he spake the word he other that hath an interest in the cause in question. 5 By these words Cleopatra means-In yielding to tooke her dagger from her, and shooke her clothes for him I only give him that honour which he himself fear of any poison hid aboute her.' The speech given achieved. A kindred idea seems to occur in The Tem-to Gallus here is given by mistake to Proculeius in the pest : 3 Mason would change as I, to and I; but I have shown in another place that as was used by Shakspeare and his contemporaries for that. Then as my gift, and thy own acquisi old copy. 7 It should be remembered that once is used as once for all by Shakspeare. I take the meaning of this line, which is evidently parenthetical, to be, 'Once for all, if idle talk be necessary about my purposes.' Johnson has shown that will be is often used in conversation, without relation to the future. I have placed this line in a parenthesis, by which the sense of the passage is now rendered sufficiently clear, without having recourse to supplementary words, as Malone and Ritson i proposed. 6 There is no stage direction in the old copy, that which is now inserted is formed on the old translation of Plutarch: Proculeius came to the gates, that were very thicke and strong, and surely barred; but yet there were some cranews through the which her voyce might he heard, and so they without understood that Cleopatra demaunded the kingdome of Egypt for her sonnes; and that Proculeius aunswered her, that she should be of 8 Pyramides is so written and used as a quadrisyllagood cheere, and not be affrayed to refer all unto Cæsar. After he had viewed the place very well, he came and 1 ble by Sandys and by Drayton. The little Ö, the earth.1 Dol. Most sovereign creature,Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean:2 his rear'd arm Crested the world: his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty, There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas, That grew the more by reaping: His delights Were dolphin-like they show'd his back above The element they liv'd in: In his livery Walk'd crowns, and crownets; realms and islands Gentle madam, no. Dol. It's past the size of dreaming: Nature wants stuff Dol. Hear me, good madam : Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it As answering to the weight: 'Would, I might never O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots My very heart at root. Cleo. I thank you, sir. Know you, what Cæsar means to do with me? Dol. I am loath to tell you what I would you knew. Cleo. Nay, pray you, sir,— Dol. Though he be honourable,Cleo. He'll lead me then in triumph? Dol. I know it. Madam, he will; Cleo. Sir, the gods Will have it thus; my master and my lord Cæs. Your 'scutcheons, and your signs of conquest, shall Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. Cæs. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra." Cleo. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels, I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued; Cleo. This is my treasurer; let him speak, my lord, Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus. I had rather seel my lips, than, to my peril, Cleo. known. Cas. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra! I approve Your wisdom in the deed. Cleo. See, Cæsar! O, behold' How pomp is follow'd! mine will now be yours; And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine.The ingratitude of this Seleucus does Even make me wild :-O, slave, of no more trust' Than love that's hir'd!--What, goest thou back; thou shalt Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes Though they had wings: Slave, soulless villam, dog! O, rarely base !9 Cas. To one so meek, that mine own servant should Steevene should have expunged a note that appeared in his edition of 1778, in which he cites the following 1 Shakspeare uses O for an orb or circle. Thus in beautiful passage from Ben Jonson's New Inn, on the 3 Dr. Percy thinks that this is an allusion to some of the old crests in heraldry, where a raised arm on a wreath was mounted on the helmet. To crest is to surmount. 4 Plates means silver money :- In heraldry, the roundlets in an escutcheon, if or, or yellow, are called besunts; if argent, or white, plates, which are round flat pieces of silver money, perhaps without any stamp or impress. It is remarkable after all that the commentators have said against Ben Jonson, subject of liberality :- 'He gave me firs my breeding, I acknowledge: Then shower'd his bounties on me, like the hours That open-handed sit upon the clouds, And press the liberality of heaven Down to the laps of thankful men.'' 5 To vie here has its metaphorical sense of to contend in rivalry. 6 To project is to delineate, to shape, to form. So in Look About You, a Comedy, 1600: 'But quite dislike the project of your sute. 7 Cæsar afterwards says: For we intend so to dispose you, as 8 Close up my lips as effectually as the eyes of a hawk are closed. To seel hawks was the technical term for sewing up their eyes. 9 i. e. base in an uncommon degree. Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar, As we greet modern2 friends withal: and say, For we intend so to dispose you, as Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed, and sleep: should not Not so: Adieu. Be noble to myself: but hark thee, Charmian. Cleo. Hie thee again : I have spoke already, and it is provided; Go, put it to the haste. Char. Madam, I will. Re-enter DOLABELLA. Dol. Where is the queen? Behold, sir. Cleo. Dolabella, I shall remain your debtor. Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shall be shown The gods forbid Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness I' the posture of a whore. Iras. O, the good gods! Cleo. Nay, that is certain. Iras. I'll never see it; for, I am sure, my nails Are stronger than mine eyes. Cleo. Why, that's the way To fool their preparation, and to conquer Their most absurd intents.-Now, Charmian ?Enter CHARMIAN. To play till doomsday.-Bring our crown and all: Wherefore's this noise? Guard. [Exit IRAS. A Noise within. Enter one of the Guard. Here is a rural fellow, May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty. No planet is of mine. [Exit CHARMIAN. Dolabella? Cleo. Dol. Madam, as thereto sworn by your command, Which my love makes religion to obey, I tell you this: Caesar through Syria Intends his journey; and, within three days, You with your children will he send before: Make your best use of this: I have perform'd Your pleasure, and my promise. 1 That this fellow should add one more parcel or Item to the sum of my disgraces, namely, his own malice.' 2 i. e. common, ordinary. 3 With is here used with the power of by. 4 i. e. fortune. 'Begone, or I shall exert that royal spirit which I had in my prosperity, in spite of the imbecility of my present weak condition.' Chaucer has a similar image in his Canterbury Tales, v. 3180:- Yet in our ashen cold is fire yreken.' 5 i. e. we answer for that which others have merited by their transgressions. 6 Be not a prisoner in imagination, when in reality you are free.' 7 i. e. the lively or quick-witted comedians. 8 It has been already observed that the parts of females were played by boys on our ancient stage. Nash, in his Pierce Pennilesse, makes it a subject of exultation that our players are not as the players beyond sea, that have whores and common courtesans to play women's parts. To obviate the impropriety of men representing women, T. Goff, in his Tragedy of the Raging Turk, 1631, has no female character. 9 Absurd here means unmeet, unfitting, unreasonable. IC Sirrah was not anciently an appellation either Re-enter Guard, with a Clown, bringing a Basket. Clown. Truly I have him; but I would not be the party that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal; those, that do die of it, do seldom or never recover. reproachful or injurious; being applied, with a sort of playful kindness, to children, friends, and servants, and what may seem more extraordinary, as in the present case, to women. It is nothing more than the exclamation, Sir ha! and we sometimes find it in its primitive form, A syr a, there said you wel.'-Confutation of Nicholas Sharton, 1546. The Heus tu of Plautus is rendered by an old translator, Ha Sirra. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of Malta, one gentlewoman says to another, Sirrah, why dost thou not marry?' 11 The first folio has What poor an instrument.' 12 Fleeting, or flitting, is changeable, inconstant:'More variant than is the flitting lune. Walter's Guistard and Sismond, 1597. I am now (says Cleopatra) whole as the marble, founded as the rock,' and no longer inconstant and changeable, as woman often is. 13 Worm is used by our old writers to signify a serpent. The word is pure Saxon, and is still used in the north in the same sense. We have it still in the blind-worm and slow-worm. Shakspeare uses it several times.The notion of a serpent that caused death without pain was an ancient fable, and is here adopted with propriety. The worm of Nile was the asp of the ancients, which Dr. Shaw says is wholly unknown to us. |