Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

CLEO. I'll give thee, friend, An armour all of gold; it was a king's.2

ANT. He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled Like holy Phoebus' car.-Give me thy hand; Through Alexandria make a jolly march; Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe

them :3

Had our great palace the capacity

To camp this host, we all would sup together;
And drink carouses to the next day's fate,
Which promises royal peril.-Trumpeters,
With brazen din blast you the city's ear;
Make mingle with our rattling tabourines ;
That heaven and earth may strike their sounds to-
gether,

Applauding our approach.

[Exeunt.

it was a king's.] So, in Sir T. North's translation of Plutarch: "Then came Antony again to the palace greatly boasting of this victory, and sweetly kissed Cleopatra, armed as he was when he came from the fight, recommending one of his men of arms unto her, that had valiantly fought in this skirmish. Cleopatra, to reward his manliness, gave him an armour and head-piece of clean gold." STEEVENS.

3 3 Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them:] i. e. hack'd as much as the men to whom they belong.

WARBURTON. Why not rather, Bear our hack'd targets with spirit and exultation, such as becomes the brave warriors that own them?

JOHNSON.

tabourines;] A tabourin was a small drum. It is often mentioned in our ancient romances. So, in The History of Helyas Knight of the Swanne, bl. 1. no date: "Trumpetes, clerons, tabourins, and other minstrelsy." STEEvens.

SCENE IX.

Cæsar's Camp.

Sentinels on their Post. Enter ENOBARBUs.

1 SOLD. If we be not reliev'd within this hour, We must return to the court of guard :5 The night Is shiny; and, they say, we shall embattle

By the second hour i' the morn.

2 SOLD.

A shrewd one to us.

ENO.

This last day was

O, bear me witness, night,—

3 SOLD. What man is this?

2 SOLD.

Stand close, and list to him."

ENO. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, When men revolted shall upon record

Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did

Before thy face repent!

1 SOLD.

3 SOLD.

Hark further.

Enobarbus!

Peace;

ENO. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me;"

[ocr errors]

the court of guard:] i. e. the guard-room, the place where the guard musters. The same expression occurs again in

Othello.

6

STEEVENS.

list to him.]

I am answerable for the insertion of the preposition-to. Thus, in King Henry IV. P. I: "Pr'ythee, let her alone, and list to me." STEEVENS.

7

disponge upon me;] i. e. discharge, as a sponge, when squeezed, discharges the moisture it had imbibed. So, in Hamlet: "it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, yous hall be dry again." This word is not found in Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. STEEVENS.

« ZurückWeiter »