But let it be. I am quickly ill, and well,

So Antony loves'.

Ant.

My precious queen, forbear;

And give true credence to his love, which stands.

An honourable trial.

Cleo.

So Fulvia told me.

I pr'ythee, turn aside, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and say, the tears
Belong to Egypt: good now, play one scene
Of excellent dissembling; and let it look
Like perfect honour.

Ant.

You'll heat my blood: no more.
Cleo. You can do better yet, but this is meetly.
Ant. Now, by my sword,—

Cleo.

And target. Still he mends;

But this is not the best. Look, pr'ythee, Charmian,
How this Herculean Roman does become

The carriage of his chafe.

Ant. I'll leave you, lady.

Courteous lord, one word.

Cleo.
Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it:
Sir, you and I have lov'd,-but there's not it;
That you know well: something it is I would,-
Oh! my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all forgotten.

Ant.

But that your royalty

Holds idleness your subject, I should take you
For idleness itself.

To bear such idleness so near the heart,

As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not

♦ I am quickly ill, and well,

So Antony loves.] i. e. Probably, "I am quickly ill or well, according as Antony loves me." First Cleopatra tells Charmian to cut her lace, then to "let it be," the necessity being at an end, in consequence, perhaps, of receiving some indication of love from Antony.

5 And give true CREDENCE to his love,] There can be no hesitation in adopting here the excellent emendation of the corr. fo. 1632, viz. "credence" for evidence it suits both measure and meaning admirably; but the folios have evidence, and that has hitherto been the text, although it was necessary, for the sake of the verse, to pronounce "evidence" ev'dence. Cleopatra was not to give evidence, but belief, to the affection of Antony.

Now, by My sword,] "My" is omitted in the folio, 1623, but added in the folio, 1632.

VOL. VI.

L

Eye well to you. Your honour calls you hence;
Therefore, be deaf to my unpitied folly,

And all the gods go with you! upon your sword
Sit laurel'd victory', and smooth success

Be strew'd before your feet!

Ant.

Let us go.-Come;
Our separation so abides, and flies,

That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Rome. An Apartment in CAESAR'S House.

Enter OCTAVIUS CESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants.

Caes. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate

Our great competitor. From Alexandria

This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy

More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: you shall find there
A man, who is the abstract of all faults

That all men follow.

Lep.

I must not think, there are
Evils enow to darken all his goodness:

His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.

Cæs. You are too indulgent. Let us grant, it is not

7 Sit LAUREL'D victory,] "Laurel'd victory" is the emendation of the folio, 1632 that of 1623 has “laurel victory." In all probability the letter d had dropped out in the press.

:

8 OUR great competitor.] It is " One great competitor" in the early editions: ; but Johnson proposed to amend One to "Our," and he was right, as is shown by the corr. fo. 1632.

9 VOUCHSAF'D to think] Vouchsafe in the folio, 1623, which the folio, 1632, unsatisfactorily altered to "did vouchsafe."

Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;

To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit

And keep the turn of tippling with a slave;

To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet

With knaves that smell of sweat: say, this becomes him, (As his composure must be rare indeed,

Whom these things cannot blemish) yet must Antony

No

way excuse his foils', when we do bear

So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,

Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones,

Fall on him for't'; but, to confound such time,
That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud
As his own state, and our's,-'tis to be chid
As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And so rebel to judgment.

Lep.

Enter a Messenger.

Here's
́s more news.

Mess. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour,
Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
And it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports3
The discontents repair, and men's reports
Give him much wrong'd.
Cæs.

3

I should have known no less.

1 No way excuse his FOILS,] Our reading is that of the folio, 1623, and of all the subsequent editions in that form. Malone and modern editors have altered “foils " to soils, without sufficient necessity: the "foils" of Antony are his vices, his foibles (possibly Shakespeare's word, though, according to our dictionaries, not so old), which foil, or defeat, the exercise of his virtues.

2 Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones,

FALL on him for't;] Here Mr. Singer, with some apparent unscrupulousness, adopts the emendation of the corr. fo. 1632 ("Notes and Emendations," p. 487), viz. "Fall" for Call. The alteration is trifling, but it never, that we are aware of, was hinted at before 1853, and all editors, until Mr. Singer's time, printed "Call on him for't." He was quite right to use " Fall," but surely not right to leave it to be supposed that it was his own unprompted emendation.

3 to the PORTS] "To the fleets" in the corr. fo. 1632, with some plausibility; but though we may believe "ports" to have been caught from the line below, we refrain from alteration, inasmuch as "ports" may be right. We are previously told that " Pompey is strong at sea," and to say that the "discontents" repair" to the fleets," is what might have been expected.

It hath been taught us, from the primal state,
That he, which is, was wish'd, until he were ;

And the ebb'd man ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth love,
Comes lov'd by being lack'd'. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion.

Mess.

Cæsar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,

6

Make the sea serve them; which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind: many hot inroads

They make in Italy; the borders maritime

Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt:
No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon

Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more,
Than could his war resisted.

Leave thy lascivious wassails". When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer: thou didst drink
The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle,

Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;

Yea, like the stag when snow the pasture sheets,

The barks of trees thou browsed'st: on the Alps

Comes Lov'D by being lack'd.] The old reading is "fear'd by being lack'd,” which must be wrong; and we accept the emendation of the corr. fo. 1632 with confidence, not lessened by the Shakespearian alliteration thus afforded. The meaning is too plain to need explanation.

5 Goes to, and back, LACKEYING the varying tide,] "Lackeying" was Theobald's change, for lacking of the old copies, and not for lashing, as he erroneously asserts: no folio has lashing. The corruption of lacking for "lackeying" was very easy. Southern, in his folio, 1685, altered lacking to backing; but we much prefer Theobald's emendation.

6

which they EAR] i. e. They plough, used metaphorically. See p. 139.

7 Leave thy lascivious WASSAILS.] The question here is, whether vassailes, as the word is printed in the folios, 1623 and 1632, be meant for "wassails," or merely for vassals. Either reading may be right; but vassal was not usually, though sometimes, spelt rassaile, and nothing is more likely than that the old compositor should use v for w. Cæsar has previously accused Antony of “tippling with a slave," and "reeling the streets at noon," which countenances "wassails as an old drinking term; and, in addition, we may state that vassailes is amended to "wassails" in the corr. fo. 1632.

It is reported, thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on; and all this
(It wounds thine honour that I speak it now)
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

Cæs. Let his shames quickly

Drive him to Rome. 'Tis time we twain

Did show ourselves i' the field; and, to that end,
Assemble we immediate council: Pompey

Thrives in our idleness.

Lep.

To-morrow, Cæsar,

I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able,
To front this present time.

Cæs.

Till which encounter,

It is my business too. Farewell.

Lep. Farewell, my lord. What you shall know, meantime, Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN.

Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of time,

My Antony is away.

Char.

You think of him too much.

Cleo. Oh, 'tis treason!

8 Assemble we immediate council:] The first folio misprints me for " an error corrected by the second folio.

we;"

9 Give me to drink MANDRAGORA.] A strong opiate. See "not poppy nor mandragora" in "Othello," this Vol. p. 74.