Mec.

This in the public eye?

Cæs. I' the common show-place, where they exercise.
His sons he there proclaim'd, the kings of kings':
Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia,

He gave to Alexander; to Ptolemy he assign'd
Syria, Cilicia, and Phoenicia. She

In the habiliments of the goddess Isis

That day appear'd; and oft before gave audience,
As 'tis reported, so.

Mec. Inform❜d.

Let Rome be thus

Agr. Who, queasy with his insolence Already, will their good thoughts call from him. Cæs. The people know it; and have now receiv'd His accusations.

Agr.

Whom does he accuse ?

Cæs. Cæsar; and that, having in Sicily

Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him
His part o' the isle: then, does he say, he lent me
Some shipping unrestor'd: lastly, he frets,

That Lepidus of the triumvirate

Should be depos'd; and, being that, we detain

All his revenue.

Agr.

Sir, this should be answer'd.

Caes. "Tis done already, and the messenger gone. I have told him, Lepidus was grown too cruel;

That he his high authority abus'd,

And did deserve his change: for what I have conquer'd,

I grant him part; but then, in his Armenia,

And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I

Demand the like.

Mec.

He'll never yield to that.

Cæs. Nor must not, then, be yielded to in this.

5 His sons HE THERE proclaim'd, the KINGS of kings:] The old copies have hither for "he there," and king for “kings.” "Secondly (says Plutarch, according to North, p. 995), he called the sonnes he had by her the kings of kings, and gave Alexander for his portion Armenia, Media, and Parthia, when he had conquered the country: and unto Ptolemy for his portion, Phenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. And therewithall he brought out Alexander in a long gowne after the facion of the Medes, with a high copped tanke hat on his head, narrow in the toppe, as the kings of the Medes and Armenians doe use to weare them," &c. This passage will also serve as a useful note upon the "copetain hat," mentioned in "The Taming of the Shrew," A. v. sc. 1, Vol. ii. p. 517.

Enter OCTAVIA, with her train o.

Oct. Hail, Cæsar, and my lord! hail, most dear Cæsar! Cæs. That ever I should call thee cast-away!

Oct. You have not call'd me so, nor have you cause.

Cæs. Why have you stol'n upon us thus?

You come not

Like Cæsar's sister: the wife of Antony
Should have an army for an usher, and
The neighs of horse to tell of her approach,
Long ere she did appear; the trees by the way,
Should have borne men, and expectation fainted,
Longing for what it had not; nay, the dust
Should have ascended to the roof of heaven,
Rais'd by your populous troops. But you are come
A market-maid to Rome, and have prevented
The ostentation of our love, which, left unshown
Is often left unlov'd': we should have met you
By sea and land, supplying every stage
With an augmented greeting.

Oct.

Good my lord,

To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did it
On my free-will. My lord, Mark Antony,
Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted
My grieved ear withal; whereon, I begg'd
His pardon for return.

Cæs.

Which soon he granted,

Being an obstruct' 'tween his lust and him.

Oct. Do not say so, my lord.

Cæs.

I have eyes upon him,

And his affairs come to me on the wind.

Where is he now ?

Oct.

My lord, in Athens.

Cæs. No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra Hath nodded him to her: he hath given his empire

6

with her train.] So say the old copies, and there can be no possible reason for following the example of modern editors by omitting the words. It must have been a small train; she had not "an army for an usher," as appears by what follows, but she was not wholly unattended.

Is often LEFT unlov'd:] "Is often held unlov'd," says the corr. fo. 1632; but with doubtful fitness.

8 Being an OBSTRUCT] The folio, 1623, and the other folios, have abstracta mere misprint, which is set right in the corr. fo. 1632.

Up to a whore; who now are levying'

The kings o' the earth for war. He hath assembled
Bocchus, the king of Lybia; Archelaus,

Of Cappadocia; Philadelphos, king

Of Paphlagonia; the Thracian king, Adallas:
King Malchus of Arabia; king of Pont;
Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king
Of Comagene; Polemon and Amintas,
The kings of Mede, and Lycaonia,
With a more larger list of sceptres.
Oct.
That have my heart parted betwixt two friends,
That do afflict each other.

Ah me, most wretched!

Cæs.
Welcome hither.
Your letters did withhold our breaking forth,
Till we perceived, both how you were wronged',
And we in negligent danger. Cheer your heart:
Be you not troubled with the time, which drives
O'er your content these strong necessities;
But let determin'd things to destiny

Hold unbewail'd their way.

Welcome to Rome;
Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd
Beyond the mark of thought; and the high gods,
To do you justice, make them ministers 2

Of us and those that love you. Best of comfort;
And ever welcome to us.

9 WHO NOW ARE levying] The grammatical construction is not quite regular, and the corr. fo. 1632 instructs us to put it, "they are now levying," but it is hardly necessary, and the probability is that Shakespeare wrote what appears in the old copies.

1 Till we perceived, both how you were wRONGED,] Here again Mr. Singer avails himself of an emendation in the corr. fo. 1632, and treats it merely as if it were his own his words are, "The old copy misprints wrong led for 'wronged.'" This is true; but the text has hitherto been wrong led, and nobody in modern times ever suggested that the true word was "wronged," until it appeared in our Vol. of "Notes and Emendations," p. 495. All editors (see also our first edit.) have been content, one after another (Capel excepted, who has wrong'd), to print nonsense, and when the mistake is pointed out, Mr. Singer, though he remedies the blunder, does not say one syllable as to the source of his correction.

2

make THEM ministers] Such is Malone's emendation: it is "makes his ministers" in the folio, 1623, and we were disposed formerly to retain his upon the supposition that it might agree with justice. We now think that Mr. Singer is warranted in the blame he imputes to us for so doing, and we amend the text, although not exactly in his way. It seems not impossible that originally "gods" was in the singular, and in that case makes and his would be correct.

Mec. Welcome, dear madam.

Each heart in Rome does love and pity you:
Only the adulterous Antony, most large
In his abominations, turns you off,

3

And gives his potent regiment to a trull,
That noises it against us.

Oct.

Is it so, sir?

Cæs. 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 CLEOPATRA and ENOBARBUS.

Cleo. I will be even with thee, doubt it not.
Eno. But why, why, why?

Cleo. Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars,
And say'st, it is not fit.

Eno.

Well, is it, is it?

Cleo. If not denounc'd against us, why should not we Be there in person?

Eno. [Aside.] Well, I could reply:

If we should serve with horse and mares together,
The horse were merely lost; the mares would bear
A soldier, and his horse.

Cleo.

What is't you say?

Eno. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony; Take from his heart, take from his brain, from's time, What should not then be spar'd. He is already Traduc'd for levity; and 'tis said in Rome,

- his potent REGIMENT] In the time of Shakespeare, “regiment was most frequently used in the sense of government or rule. When, in "Richard III." Richmond says, "The Earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment" (Vol. iv. p. 339), he means his command generally, and not that the Earl was the colonel of a certain number of men, now called "a regiment." The same remark will apply to Richmond's direction (p 341), "Good lords, conduct him to his regiment," speaking of Lord Stanley. See also Drant's Sermon on Queen Elizabeth, 1584.

4 Thou hast FORSPOKE] i. e. Thou hast spoken against, or forbidden; a not unusual sense of the word, but it also means to bewitch or enchant, as in G. Harvey's "Pierce's Supererogation," 1593, p. 198. Heywood, in his "Fair Maid of the West," Repr. p. 99, uses "forspeak" in the sense of prejudge.

VOL. VI.

That Photinus, an eunuch, and your maids,
Manage this war.

Cleo.

Sink Rome; and their tongues rot,
That speak against us! A charge we bear i' the war,
And, as the president of my kingdom, will

Appear there for a man. Speak not against it;
I will not stay behind.

Eno.

Here comes the emperor.

Ant.

Nay, I have done.

Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS.

Is't not strange, Canidius,

That from Tarentum, and Brundusium,

He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea,

And take in Toryne'?-You have heard on't, sweet?
Cleo. Celerity is never more admir'd,

Than by the negligent.

Which might have well become the best of men,

To taunt at slackness.-Canidius, we

Will fight with him by sea.

Cleo.

By sea!

What else?

For that he dares us to't.

Can. Why will my lord do so?
Ant.

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 muliters, reapers, people
Ingross'd by swift impress: in Cæsar's fleet

Are those that often have 'gainst Pompey fought.
Their ships are yare', your's, heavy: no disgrace

5 And TAKE IN Toryne?] i. e. Conquer or seize upon: see this play, p. 134, and "Coriolanus," A. i. sc. 2, Vol. iv. p. 611.

6 Your mariners are MULITERS, reapers, &c.] The oldest copy has militers: the correction was made in the second folio, and it is confirmed by the translation of Plutarch, by Sir T. North, 1579, where it is said that Antony's sailors were "muliters, reapers, harvest-men." 'Muliter" was the old form of muliteer, as "mutiner" of mutineer, “enginer" of engineer, &c.

66

7 Their ships are YARE,] i. e. Nimble and light-easy to be managed. We have already had "yarely" on p. 162, and "yare" occurs again towards the close of the present act. In North's "Plutarch," 1579, p. 1001, we meet with the sub