And blemish Caesar's triumph. Let him take thee, [Exit CLEOPATRA. "Tis well thou'rt gone, If it be well to live; but better 'twere Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon ; [Exit. SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN. Cleo. Help me, my women! Oh! he is more mad Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss'd'. Char. To the monument! There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.— Than greatness going off. 1 For poor'st diminutives, for DOITS;] The old copy has dolts, which was most likely a misprint for "doits:" the error would be a very easy one for a compositor to make, and the change much smaller than to suppose, with Tyrwhitt, that "for" was a printer's blunder for to; or with Malone, that "for," in both places, ought to be fore. Of course Shakespeare never paused to consider whether doit was an ancient Roman coin; and Warburton sub-tituted "doits" for dolts, which makes the sense of the passage evident. "Doits" is a word of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare: we have it three times in " Coriolanus." 2 Thou fell'st UNDER my fury,] "Into my fury" in the folios, but amended to "under" in the corr. fo. 1632. 3 Was never so EMBOSS'D.] For an explanation of this hunting term, which means foaming at the mouth, see Vol. ii. pp. 444. 590, &c. VOL. VI. To the monument! Cleo. Mardian, and bring me how he takes my death.— [Exeunt. SCENE XII. The Same. Another Room. Enter ANTONY and EROS. Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me? Eros. Ay, noble lord. Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish, A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion, A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock, A forked mountain, or blue promontory, With trees upon't that nod unto the world, And mock our eyes with air: thou hast seen these signs; Eros. Ay, my lord. Ant. That, which is now a horse, even with a thought, The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct As water is in water. Eros. It does, my lord. Ant. My good knave, Eros, now thy captain is Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave. Whose heart, I thought, I had, for she had mine, A million more, now lost: she, Eros, has Pack'd cards with Cæsar', and false play'd my glory Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us Ourselves to end ourselves.-Oh, thy vile lady! 4 Pack'd cards with CESAR,] The reading of the early editions is "pack'd cards with Caesar's," i. e. with Cæsar's cards; but we think it probable that the Rev. Mr. Dyce is right when he recommends (" Remarks," p. 248) that Cæsar's should be printed "Cæsar." The point is hardly worth dispute. Enter MARDIAN. No, Antony; She has robb'd me of my sword. Mar. My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled Ant. Hence, saucy eunuch: peace! She hath betray'd me, and shall die the death. Mar. Death of one person can be paid but once, And that she has discharg'd. What thou wouldst do, Was, Antony! most noble Antony! Then, in the midst a tearing groan did break The name of Antony; it was divided Between her heart and lips. Thy name so buried in her. Ant. Mar. She render'd life, Dead, then? Dead. Ant. Unarm, Eros: the long day's task is done, And we must sleep.-That thou depart'st hence safe, Does pay thy labour richly; go.-[Exit MARDIAN.] Off, pluck off: The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep The battery from my heart. Oh, cleave, my sides! You have been nobly borne.-From me a while.— [Exit EROS. I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and 64 5 Unarm, Eros:] In the folios this is printed "Unarme Eros," and the old corrector of that of 1632 puts it Unarm me, Eros," which we cannot believe to be right, because the measure is thus unnecessarily disturbed. Steevens, almost wantonly, read "Eros, unarm." Dido and her Æneas shall want troops, And all the haunt be our's.-Come, Eros! Eros! Re-enter EROS. Eros. What would my lord? Ant. Since Cleopatra died I have liv'd in such dishonour, that the gods Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword Disgrace and horror, that on my command Thou then wouldst kill me: do't; the time is come. Thou strik'st not me, 'tis Cæsar thou defeatest. Put colour in thy cheek. Eros. The gods withhold me! Eros, Shall I do that, which all the Parthian darts, Ant. To penetrative shame, whilst the wheel'd seat Eros. I would not see't. Ant. Come, then; for with a wound I must be cur'd. Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn Most useful for thy country. Eros. Oh, sir! pardon me. Ant. When I did make thee free, swor'st thou not then To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once, -- 6 with PLEACH'D arms,] "Pleach'd" is interwoven or folded. In Vol. ii. p. 18, we have had "thick-pleached," and in Vol. iii. p. 632, "even-pleached," in a similar sense. 7 To do this when I bade thee?] One of the incidents taken from Plutarch; and Shakespeare follows his original in this scene with almost verbal accuracy. The following is a specimen :-"Now he had a man of his called Eros, Or thy precedent services are all But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come. Eros. Turn from me, then, that noble countenance, Wherein the worship of the whole world lies. Ant. Lo thee! Eros. My sword is drawn. The thing why thou hast drawn it. Eros. [Turning from him. Then, let it do at once My dear master, My captain, and my emperor, let me say, Ant. 'Tis said, man; and farewell. Eros. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? Now, Eros. Eros. Why, there then :-[Falling on his sword.] Thus do I escape the sorrow Of Antony's death. Ant. Thrice nobler than myself! Thou teachest me, oh valiant Eros! what I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros A nobleness in record: but I will be A bridegroom in my death, and run into't As to a lover's bed. Come then; and, Eros, [Dies. I learn'd of thee. [Falling on his sword.]-How! not dead? not dead? The guard!-how ?-Oh, dispatch me ! Enter DERCETAS and Guard. 1 Guard. What's the noise? Ant. I have done my work ill, friends: oh! make an end whom he loved and trusted much, and whom he had long before caused to sweare unto him, that he should kill him, when he did commaunde him; and then he willed him to keepe his promise. His man drawing his sworde, lift it up as though he had ment to have striken his maister; but turning his head at one side, he thrust his sword into him selfe, and fell downe dead at his maister's foote. Then said Antonius, O noble Eros, I thanke thee for this, and it is valliantly done of thee to shew me what I should doe to my selfe, which thou couldest not doe for me."-North's Transl. 1579, p. 1006. The guard! -How?-Oh, dispatch me!] Modern editors have usually printed ho! for "how?" of the folios-" The guard, ho!" as if Antony had called it; as Diomedes does, not long afterwards, "The guard, what ho!" and then it enters. "How?" in Antony's mouth is equivalent to "What shall I do?" |