ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. No edition of this tragedy, previous to that in the folio of 1623, is now known; although, from the fact of its having been entered on the Stationers' Registers by Edward Blount, one of the publishers of the folio, in May, 1608, there is a bare possibility that an earlier impression may some day come to light. It was probably written at the latter end of the year 1607, but we have no evidence to prove when it was first acted, or, indeed, that it was acted at all. There were two preceding dramas on the subject; the "Cleopatra" of Samuel Daniel, 1594; and "The Trajedie of Antonie," a translation from the French by Lady Pembroke, 1595, to neither of which, however, was Shakespeare under any obligation, his story and incidents being evidently borrowed directly from the Life of Antonius in North's Plutarch, which he has followed, even to the minutest circumstances, with scrupulous fidelity. The action comprehends the events of ten years; beginning with the death of Fulvia, B.C. 40, and terminating with the overthrow of the Ptolemean dynasty, B.C. 30. ANT. But stirr'd by Cleopatra. Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours, Let's not confound the time with conference harsh: There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now-what sport tonight? CLEO. Hear the ambassadors. ANT. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom everything becomes,-to chide, to laugh, To weep; whose every passion fully strives To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd! No messenger but thine; and all alone, To-night we'll wander through the streets, and note and Alexas." And Steevens thought it possible that "Lamprius, Rannius, Lucillius," &c. might have been speakers in the scene as it was originally written by the poet, who afterwards, when omitting the speeches, forgot to erase the names. f change his horns with garlands!) So the old text; to "change his horns," may mean to var or garnish them. The modern reading, however, of charge, suggested by Southern and Warburton, is certainly very plausible. |