From my cold heart let heaven ingender hail,
And poison it in the fource; and the first stone
Drop in my neck: as it determines, fo
Diffolve my life! The next Cæfarion 1 smite!
"Till, by degrees, the memory of my womb,
Together with my brave Ægyptians all,
By the difcandying of this pelleted ftorm,
Lie gravelefs; 'till the flies and gnats of Nile
Have buried them for prey!

Ant. I am fatisfy'd:

Cæfar fits down in Alexandria; where

[like.

I will oppofe his fate. Our force by land
Hath nobly held; our fever'd navy too
Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-
Where haft thou been, my heart?-Doit thou 15
hear, lady?

If from the field I should return once more
To kifs thefe lips, I will appear in blood;
I and my fword will earn my chronicle;
There is hope in it yet.

Cleo. That's my brave lord!

Ant. I will be treble-finew'd, hearted, breath'd,
And fight maliciously: for when mine hours
Were nice 3 and lucky, men did ranfom lives
Of me for jefts; but now, I'll fet my teeth,

Is to be frighted out of fear: and in that mood,
20 The dove will peck the eftridge; and I fee ftill,
A diminution in our captain's brain
Reftores his heart: When valour preys on reafon,
It eats the fword it fights with. I will feek
Some way to leave him.

[Exit.

Ant. Why fhould he not?

SCENE I.

Cafar's Camp at Alexandria.

Enter Car, reading a Letter; Agrippa, Mecenas, 35

Caf.

&c.

To beat me out of Egypt: my messenger [combat,
He hath whipp'd with rods; dares me to perfonal 40
Cæfar to Antony: Let the old ruffian know,
I have many other ways to die; mean time,
Laugh at his challenge.

Mec. Cæfar must think,

When one fo great begins to rage, he's hunted
Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now
Make boot 5 of his diftraction: Never anger
Made good guard for itself.

Caf. Let our best heads

[fortune,

Eno. He thinks, being twenty times of better He is twenty men to one.

Ant. To-morrow, foldier,

By fea and land I'll fight: or I will live,
Or bathe my dying honour in the blood
Shall make it live again. Woo't thou fight well?
Eno. I'll ftrike; and cry, Take all.
Ant. Well faid; come on.-

Call forth my houfhold fervants; let's to night
Enter Servants.

45 Be bounteous at our meal.---Give me thy hand,
Thou haft been rightly honeft;---so hast thou ;---
And thou;---and thou;---and thou:---you have
ferv'd me well,

1501

1 Cæfarion was Cleopatra's fon by Julius Cæfar,

And kings have been your fellows.

Clec. What means this?

Eno. [Afide.] "Tis one of thofe odd tricks, which forrow fhoots

Out of the mind.

Ant. And thou art honest too.

551 with, I could be made fo many men;
And all of you clapt up together in

60

An Antony; that I might do you fervice,
So good as you have done.

Omnes. The gods forbid !

[night:

Ant. Well, my good fellows, wait on me toScant not my cups; and make as much of me,

2 Fleet is the old word for float. - 3 Nice here

means ifling. This epithet is ftill bestowed on feast-days in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge.

For I spake to you for your comfort; did defire you
To burn this night with torches: Know, my hearts, 25
I hope wel! of to-morrow; and will lead you,
Where rather I'll expect victorious life,

Than death and honour 4. Let's to fupper; come,
And drown confideration.

2 i. e. reward you. 3 i. e. I have my eyes as full of tears

4 That is, an honourable death.

A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can
Get goal for goal of youth 4. Behold this man;
Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand ;-
Kiss it, my warriour:-He hath fought to-day.
As if a god, in hate of mankind, had
Destroy'd in fuch a shape.

Cleo. I'll give thee, friend,

An armour all of gold; it was a king's.

Ant. He has deferv'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:
Had our great palace the capacity

To camp this hoft, we would all fup together;
And drink carouses to the next day's fate,
Which promifes 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 founds to-
gether,

Applauding our approach.

SCENE

Cafar's Camp.

IX.

Enter a Centinel, and his company. Enobarbus follows.
Cent. If we be not reliev'd within this hour,
We must return to the court of guard 7: The night
Is fhiny; and, they fay, we shall embattle
By the fecond hour i' the morn.

1 Sold. This laft day was a fhrewd one to us.
Eno. O, bear me witnefs, night!-

2 Sold. What man is this?

I Sold. Stand close, and lift him.

Ene. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon,
When men revolted shall upon record
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
Before thy face repent!

Cent. Enobarbus!

3 Sold. Peace; hark further.

20

A mafter-leaver, and a fugitive:

O Antony! O Antony!

1 Sold. Let's fpeak to him.

[Dies.

Cent. Let's hear him, for the things he speaks May concern Cæfar.

2 Sold. Let's do fo. But he fleeps.

Cent. Swoons rather; for fo bad a prayer as his Was never yet for fleep.

1 Sold. Go we to him.

2 Sold. Awake, fir, awake; speak to us.
1 Sold. Hear you, fir?

Cent. The hand of death hath raught him.
[Drums afar off

25 Hark, how the drums demurely wake the fleepers :
Let's bear him to the court of guard; he is

30

Of note, our hour is fully out.

2 Sol. Come on then:

He may recover yet.

SCENE

[Exeunt with the body.

X.

And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony

1 i. e. embrace. 2 Fairy comprises the idea of power and beauty. 3 i. e. armour of proof. 4 At all plays of barriers, the boundary is called a goal; to win a goal, is to be a fuperior in a contest of activity. 5 i. s. own them. 6 A tabourin was a small drum.

place where the guard mufters.

8 i. e. reached him.

we may best discover their numbers, and fee their motions.

7 i. e. the guard-room, the 9 Demurely for folemnly. 10 i. e. where 11 But here fignifies without, in which sense

it is often used in the North.

My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder
They caft their caps up, and caroufe together
Like friends long loft.-Triple-turn'd whore 10
'tis thou

Haft fold me to this novice; and my heart
Makes only wars on thee.-Bid them all fly;
For when I am reveng'd upon my charm,
I have done all :-Bid them all fly, be gone.
O fun, thy uprise fhall I fee no more:
Fortune and Antony part here; even here
Do we shake hands.-All come to this?-The

hearts

15

20

That fpaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do difcandy, melt their sweets
On bloffoming Cæfar; and this pine is bark'd,
That over-topp'd them all. Betray'd I am :
O this falfe foul of Ægypt! this grave charm 2,-
Whofe eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them [25]
home;

Whose bofom was my crownet 3, my chief end,-
Like a right gipsy 4, hath, at saft and loose,

Beguil'd me to the very heart of lofs 5.

There lock yourself, and fend him word you are

The foul and body rive not more at parting,
Than greatnefs going off.

Cleo. To the monument:

Mardian, go tell him I have flain myself;
Say, that the laft I spoke was, Antony,

And word it, pr'ythee, piteously: Hence, Mardian,
And bring me how he takes my death.-To the
[Exeunt

monument.

SCENE
The fame.

XII.

Enter Antony, and Eros.

Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'ft me?
Eros. Ay, noble lord.

Ant. Sometime, we fee a cloud that's dragonifh;
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 haft feen
thefe figns;

40 They are black vefper's pageants.

Eros. Ay, my lord.

[thought,

Ant. That, which is now a horse, even with a
The rack diflimns 10; and makes it indistinct,
As water is in water.

145

Eros. It does, my lord.

[is

Ant. My good knave 11, Eros, now thy captain Even fuch a body: here I am Antony;

She was first for Julius Cæfar, then for Pompey the great, and afterwards for Antony. * i. e. “ this fublime, this majestic beauty," according to Dr. Jolinson; but according to Mr. Steevens, "this deadly or destructive piece of witchcraft." 3 Dr. Johnson fuppofes that crownet means laft purpofe, probably from finis coronat opus. 4 Sir John Hawkins obferves, that there is a kind of pun in this paffage, arifing from the corruption of the word Egyptian into giffey. The old law-books term fuch perfons as rainble about the country, and pretend skill in palmistry and fortune-telling, Egyptians. Faft and lonfe is a term to fignify a cheating game, of which the following is a defcription: A leathern belt is made up into a number of intricate folds, and placed edgewife upon a table. One of the folds is made to resemble the middle of the girdle, so that whoever should thrust a skewer into it would think he held it fast to the table; whereas, when he has fo done, the perfon with whom he plays may take hold of both ends and draw it away. This trick is now known to the common people, by the name of pricking at the belt or girdle, and perhaps was practised by the Gypfies in the time of Shakspeare. 5. e. to the utmost lofs poffible. 6. e. with nails which the fuffered to grow for this purpose. 7 The meaning is, Let me do fomething in my rage, becoming the fucceffor of Hercules. i. e. than Ajax Telama for the armour of Achilles, the most valuable part of which was the thield. The bear of Theffaly was the boar killed by Meleager. 9 A hunting term: when a deer is hard run, and forms at the mouth, he is faid to be imbost. 10 i. e. the fleeting away of the clouds deftroys the picture. 11 Knavs is fervant.

Yet