Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, Agr. O, rare for Antony ! 27 To attend or to do service in one's eye or eyes is an old phrase for what we call personal attendance, or for serving in presence. So Milton, in one of his Sonnets, speaks of so using his time, "As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye." See, also, Hamlet, page 174, note 2. 28 A troublesome passage, and the meaning of it is much in question. I give Mr. Crosby's explanation, which seems to me better than any hitherto offered. Bend, in reference to the eyes and other features, is often used by Shakespeare for look. So in Julius Caesar, i. 2: And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world." Also in Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5: Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth, but gives all gaze and bent of amorous view on the fair Cressid." And in Cymbeline, i. 1: “Although they wear their faces to the bent of the King's looks." In view of these and several other like instances, Mr. Crosby comments as follows: "I conceive that the sentence is only a rather grandiloquent way of saying that the Queen's young lady attendants watched and waited upon her every gesture, directed their eyes to every motion, regarded her with such attention and veneration, as to reflect beauty on her; really making her more beautiful by their watchful and graceful looks. According to the Poet's inclusive manner, 'tended her i' the eyes' very probably means both waited upon her with their eyes, that is, watched for every movement she might make, and looked very closely into her eyes, to anticipate every wish." He also quotes from The Psalter, 123d Psalm : As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress," &c. And the 145th Psalm: "The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord." See Critical Notes. " 29 Yarely frame is nimbly or dexterously perform. So yare and its cognates were often used. See The Tempest, page 44, note 2. A strange invisible pèrfume hits the sense And made a gap in nature. Agr. Rare Egyptian ! Eno. Upon her landing, Antony sent to her, It should be better he became her guest; For what his eyes eat only. Agr. Royal wench! She made great Cæsar lay his sword to bed. Eno. I saw her once Hop forty paces through the public street; And, having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted, That she did make defect perfection, And, breathless, power breathe forth. Mec. Now Antony must leave her utterly. Eno. Never; he will not: Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety: other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry 80 But that I would have made a vacuum. The Poet probably had in mind the old philosophic axiom, that "Nature abhors a vacuum." This axiom was a standing commonplace in the Poet's time. 31 Ordinary, of course, is dinner or meal. Where most she satisfies; for vilest things Become themselves in her.32 Mec. If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle The heart of Antony, Octavia is A blessed lottery 33 to him. Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest Eno. Humbly, sir, I thank you. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The Same. A Room in CÆSAR'S House. Enter ANTONY, CÆSAR, OCTAVIA between them; and Attend ants. Ant. The world and my great office will sometimes Divide me from your bosom. Octa. All which time Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers To them for you. Ant. Good night, sir. — My Octavia, Read not my blemishes in the world's report: 32 From Plutarch again: "Her beauty was not so passing as to be unmatchable of other women, nor yet such as, upon present view, did enamour men with her; but so sweet was her company and conversation, that a man could not possibly but be taken. And, besides her beauty, the good grace she had in talk and discourse, her courteous nature, that tempered her words and deeds, was a spur that pricked to the quick. Furthermore, her voice and words were marvellous pleasant; for her tongue was an instrument of music to divers sports and pastimes, the which she easily turned into any language that pleased her. She spake unto few barbarous people by interpreter, but made them answer herself, or at the least the most part of them." 33 Lottery for allotment, or that which is allotted. I have not kept my square; but that to come Shall all be done by th' rule. Good night, dear lady. Octa. Good night, sir. Cas. Good night. [Exeunt CESAR and OCTAVIA. Enter the Soothsayer. Ant. Now, sirrah, you do wish yourself in Egypt? Sooth. Would I had never come from thence, nor you hither! Ant. If you can, your reason? Sooth. I see it in my notion,1 have it not in my tongue : but yet hie you to Egypt again. Ant. Say to me Whose fortunes shall rise higher, Cæsar's or mine? Sooth. Cæsar's. Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side: Thy demon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is Where Cæsar's is not; but, near him, thy angel Ant. Speak this no more. Sooth. To none but thee; no more, but when to thee. If thou dost play with him at any game, Thou'rt sure to lose; and, of that natural luck, He beats thee 'gainst the odds: thy lustre thickens,3 1 As Hamlet says, "in my mind's eye." Shakespeare repeatedly uses notion for understanding, judgment, or mind. 2 A fear sometimes meant that which fears or is cowed, sometimes that which scares or affrights. Here it evidently has the former sense. 8 That is, grows dim, or becomes dark. So, in Macbeth, iii. 2, we have “Light thickens." — Plutarch furnished the matter of this choice bit of dialogue: "With Antonius there was a soothsayer or astronomer of Egypt, When he shines by. I say again, thy spirit But, he away, 'tis noble. Say to Ventidius I would speak with him: Be it art or hap, [Exit Soothsayer. He hath spoken true: the very dice obey him; When it is all to nought; and his quails ever 4 Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds. I will to Egypt: that could cast a figure, and judge of men's nativities, to tell them what should happen to them. He, either to please Cleopatra, or else for that he found it so by his art, told Antonius plainly, that his fortune-which of itself was excellent-good and very great-was altogether blemished and obscured by Cæsar's fortune; and therefore he counselled him utterly to leave his company, and to get him as far from him as he could. 'For thy demon,' said he, 'that is to say, the good angel and spirit that keepeth thee, is afraid of his; and, being courageous and high when he is alone, becometh fearful and timorous when he cometh near unto the other.' Howsoever it was, the ensuing events proved the Egyptian's words true; for it is said that, as often as they two drew cuts for pastime, who should have any thing, or whether they played at dice, Antonius always lost. Oftentimes, when they were disposed to see cock-fight, or quails, that were taught to fight one with another, Cæsar's cocks or quails did ever overcome. The which spited Antonius in his mind, although he made no outward show of it; and therefore he believed the Egyptian the better." 4 The ancients used to match quails as we match cocks. Julius Pollux relates that a circle was made in which the birds were placed, and he whose quail was first driven out of this circle lost the stake. We are told by Mr. Marsden that the Sumatrans practise these quail-combats. The Chinese have always been extremely fond of quail-fighting. Douce has given a print, from an elegant Chinese miniature painting, which represents some ladies engaged at this amusement, where the quails are actually inhooped. |