ANT. I am not married, Cæsar: let me hear Agrippa further speak.

AGR. To hold you in perpetual amity,
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unslipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife: whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men ;
Whose virtue, and whose general graces, speak
That which none else can utter. By this marriage,
All little jealousies, which now seem great,
And all great fears, which now import their dan-
gers,

Would then be nothing: truths would be but tales,
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both,
Would, each to other, and all loves to both,
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke;
For 'tis a studied, not a present thought,
By duty ruminated.

ANT.

Will Cæsar speak?

CES. Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd With what is spoke already."

ANT.

If I would say, Agrippa, be it so,
To make this good?

CES.

8

What power is in Agrippa,

The power of Cæsar, and

scene of this play, we find in the first copy-mine nightingale, instead of my nightingale; in Coriolanus, news is coming, for news is come in; in the same play, higher for hire, &c. &c.

MALONE.

but tales,] The conjunction-but, was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to perfect the metre. We might read, I think, with less alliteration-as tales. STEEVENS.

9 already.] This adverb may be fairly considered as an interpolation. Without enforcing the sense, it violates the measure. STEEVENS.

His power unto Octavia.

ANT.

May I never To this good purpose, that so fairly shows, Dream of impediment!-Let me have thy hand: Further this act of grace; and, from this hour, The heart of brothers govern in our loves,

And sway our great designs!

CES.

There is my hand.

A sister I bequeath you, whom no brother
Did ever love so dearly: Let her live

To join our kingdoms, and our hearts; and never
Fly off our loves again!

LEP.

Happily, amen!

ANT. I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst

Pompey;

For he hath laid strange courtesies, and great,
Of late upon me: I must thank him only,
Lest my remembrance suffer ill report;

At heel of that, defy him.

LEP.

2

Of us must Pompey presently be sought,

Or else he seeks out us.

ANT.

Time calls upon us:

And where lies he?

What's his strength

CES. About the mount Misenum.

ANT.

By land?

CES.

Great, and increasing: but by sea

Lest my remembrance suffer ill report;] Lest I be thought too willing to forget benefits, I must barely return him thanks, and then I will defy him. JOHNSON.

Of us &c.] In the language of Shakspeare's time, means→→→→ by us. MALONE.

And where-] And was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, for the sake of metre. STEEVENS.

He is an absolute master.

So is the fame.

ANT.
'Would, we had spoke together! Haste we for it:
Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, despatch we
The business we have talk'd of.

CES.
And do invite you to my sister's view,
Whither straight I will lead

ANT.

Not lack your company.

LEP.

With most gladness;*

you.

Let us, Lepidus,

Noble Antony,

Not sickness should detain me.

[Flourish. Exeunt CESAR, ANTONY, and LEPIDUS.

MEC. Welcome from Egypt, sir.

ENO. Half the heart of Cæsar, worthy Mecænas!-my honourable friend, Agrippa!— AGR. Good Enobarbus!

MEC. We have cause to be glad, that matters are so well digested. You staied well by it in Egypt. ...ENO. Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance, and made the night light with drinking.

MEC, Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve persons there; Is this true?

ENO. This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had much more monstrous matter of feast, which worthily deserved noting.

MEC. She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square to her.5

Part I:

most gladness;] i. e. greatest. So, in King Henry VI. “But always resolute in most extremes." STEEVENS. ――be square to her.] i. e. if report quadrates with her, or suits with her merits. STEEVENS.

ENO. When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus." AGR. There she appeared indeed; or my reporter devised well for her.

ENO. I will tell you:

The barge she sat in,' like a burnish'd throne,

6

When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus.] This passage is a strange instance of negligence and inattention in Shakspeare. Enobarbus is made to say that Cleopatra gained Antony's heart on the river Cydnus; but it appears from the conclusion of his own description, that Antony had never seen her there; that, whilst she was on the river, Antony was sitting alone, enthroned in the market-place, whistling to the air, all the people having left him to gaze upon her and that, when she landed, he sent to her to invite her to supper. M. MASON.

The barge she sat in, &c.] The reader may not be displeased with the present opportunity of comparing our author's description with that of Dryden:

"Her galley down the silver Cydnus row'd,

"The tackling, silk, the streamers wav'd with gold,
"The gentle winds were lodg'd in purple sails:

"Her nymphs, like Nereids, round her couch were
plac'd,

"Where she, another sea-born Venus, lay.

"She lay, and leant her cheek upon her hand,
"And cast a look so languishingly sweet,

"As if, secure of all beholders' hearts,

"Neglecting she could take 'em: Boys, like Cupids,
"Stood fanning with their painted wings the winds
"That play'd about her face: But if she smil'd,

"A darting glory seem'd to blaze abroad;
"That man's desiring eyes were never wearied,

"But hung upon the object: To soft flutes

"The silver oars kept time; and while they play'd,

"The hearing gave new pleasure to the sight,

"And both to thought. 'Twas heaven, or somewhat

more;

"For she so charm'd all hearts, that gazing crouds

"Stood panting on the shore, and wanted breath
"To give their welcome voice." REED.

8

Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold; Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that

The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were silver;

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water, which they beat, to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggar'd all description: she did lie

In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,)
O'er-picturing that Venus, where we see

The fancy out-work nature: on each side her,
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With diverse-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid, did.'

AGR.

O, rare for Antony! ENO. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,2

like a burnish'd throne,

Burn'd on the water:] The same idea occurs in Chapman's translation of the tenth Book of the Odyssey:

In a throne she plac'd

"My welcome person. Of a curious frame
""Twas, and so bright, I sat as in a flame."

STEEVENS.

• O'er-picturing that Venus, where we see, &c.] Meaning the Venus of Protogenes, mentioned by Pliny, L. XXXV. c. x. WARBURTON.

1 And what they undid, did.] It might be read less harshly: And what they did, undid. JOHNSON.

The reading of the old copy is, I believe, right. The wind of the fans seemed to give a new colour to Cleopatra's cheeks, which they were employed to cool; and what they undid, i. e. that warmth which they were intended to diminish or allay, they did, i. e. they seemed to produce. MALONE.