Scar. 'Tis easy to't; and there I will attend

What further comes.

Can.

To Cæsar will I render

My legions, and my horse; six kings already
Show me the way of yielding.

Eno.

I'll yet follow

The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason
Sits in the wind against me.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IX.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter ANTONY and Attendants.

Ant. Hark, the land bids me tread no more upon't,
It is asham'd to bear me !-Friends, come hither,
I am so lated in the world', that I

Have lost my way for ever:-I have a ship
Laden with gold; take that, divide it; fly,
And make your peace with Cæsar.

Att.

Fly! not we.

Ant. I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards To run, and show their shoulders.-Friends, be gone; I have myself resolv'd upon a course,

Which has no need of you; be gone:

My treasure's in the harbour, take it.-0,
I follow'd that I blush to look upon:
My very hairs do mutiny; for the white
Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them
For fear and doting.-Friends, be gone; you shall
Have letters from me to some friends, that will
Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad,
Nor make replies of loathness: take the hint

The wounded chance of Antony,] i. e. the broken fortunes of Antony.

7 - so lated in the world,] Alluding to a benighted traveller.

Which my despair proclaims; let that be left
Which leaves itself: to the sea-side straightway:
I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a little: 'pray you now :-
Nay, do so; for, indeed, I have lost command',
Therefore I pray you :-I'll see you by and by.

[Sits down.

Enter EROS and CLEOPATRA, led by CHARMIAN and

IRAS.

Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him :-Comfort him. Iras. Do, most dear queen.

Char. Do! Why, what else?

Cleo. Let me sit down. O Juno!

Ant. No, no, no, no, no.

Eros. See you here, sir?

Ant. O fye, fye, fye.

Char. Madam,

Iras. Madam; O good empress !-
Eros. Sir, sir,-

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes ;-He, at Philippi, kept
His sword even like a dancer'; while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus ended: he alone

Dealt on lieutenantry', and no practice had

In the brave squares of war: Yet now-No matter.
Cleo. Ah, stand by.

8

Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen.

I have lost command,] i. e. I entreat you to leave me, because I have lost all power to command your absence.

9 He, at Philippi, kept

His sword even like a dancer; i. e. Cæsar never offered to draw his sword, but kept it in the scabbard, like one who dances with a sword on, which was formerly the custom in England.

Dealt on lieutenantry,] i. e. fought by proxy, made war by his lieutenants, or on the strength of his lieutenants.

Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him;

2

He is unqualitied with very shame.

Cleo. Well then,-Sustain me:-0!

Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches; Her head's declined, and death will seize her; but3 Your comfort makes the rescue.

Ant. I have offended reputation;

A most unnoble swerving.

Eros.

Sir, the queen.

Ant. O whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See,
How I convey my shame' out of thine eyes
By looking back on what I have left behind
'Stroy'd in dishonour.

Cleo.

O my lord, my lord!
Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought,
You would have follow'd.

Ant.
My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings",
And thou should'st tow me after: O'er my spirit
Thy full supremacy thou knew'st; and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

Egypt, thou knew'st too well,

Cleo.

Ant.

O, my pardon.

Now I must

To the young man send humble treaties, dodge
And palter in the shifts of lowness; who
With half the bulk o'the world play'd as I pleas'd,
Making, and marring fortunes. You did know,
How much you were my conqueror; and that
My sword, made weak by my affection, would
Obey it on all cause.

He is unqualitied] Perhaps, unqualitied signifies unmanned in general, disarmed of his usual faculties.

3

death will seize her; but ] But has here, as once before in this play, the force of except, or unless.

4 How I convey my shame-] How, by looking another way, I withdraw my ignominy from your sight.

5 lied by the strings,] That is, by the heart-string.

Cleo.

O pardon, pardon.

Ant. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates All that is won and lost: Give me a kiss ; Even this repays me.-We sent our schoolmaster, Is he come back ?-Love, I am full of lead :— Some wine, within there, and our viands:-Fortune

knows,

:

We scorn her most, when most she offers blows.

[Exeunt.

SCENE X.

Cæsar's Camp in Egypt.

Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and Others.

Cæs. Let him appear that's come from Antony.— Know you him?

Dol.

Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster":
An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He sends so poor a pinion of his wing,

Which had superfluous kings for messengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Cæs.

Enter EUPHRONIUS.

Approach, and speak.

Eup. Such as I am, I come from Antony:

I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To his grand sea'.

6

his schoolmaster:] The name of this person was Euphronius.

He was schoolmaster to Antony's children by Cleopatra.

7

as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To his grand sea.] His grand sea may mean his full tide of prosperity; or it may mean the sea from which the dew-drop is exhaled. Shakspeare might have considered the sea as the source of dews as well as rain. His is used instead of its.

Cæs.

Be it so; Declare thine office. Eup. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted, He lessens his requests; and to thee sues To let him breathe between the heavens and earth, A private man in Athens: This for him. Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness; Submits her to thy might; and of thee craves The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs, Now hazarded to thy grace.

Cæs.

8

I have no ears to his request.

For Antony,

The queen
Of audience, nor desire, shall fail; so she
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend',
Or take his life there: This if she perform,
She shall not sue unheard. So to them both.
Eup. Fortune pursue thee!
Cæs.

Bring him through the bands.
[Exit EUPHRONIUS.

To try thyeloquence, now 'tis time: Despatch;
From Antony win Cleopatra: promise, [to THYREUS.
And in our name, what she requires; add more,
From thine invention, offers: women are not,

In their best fortunes, strong: but want will perjure
The ne'er-touch'd vestal: Try thy cunning, Thyreus ;
Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we
Will answer as a law.

Cæs. Observe how Antony becomes his flaw '; And what thou think'st his very action speaks In every power that moves.

8

Thyr.

royalty.

9

circle of the Ptolemies] The diadem; the ensign of

-friend,] i. e. paramour.

1 how Antony becomes his flaw;] That is, how Antony conforms himself to this breach of his fortune.