Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, With all respect and rites of burial. been strongly agitated in perusing it; and I think it somewhat cold and unaffecting compared wich Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, [Exeunt, been strongly agitated in perusing it; and I think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with some other of Shakspeare's plays: his adherence to the real story, and to Roman nanners, seem to have impeded the tatura vigour of his genius. JOHNSON. Gildon has justly observed that this tragedy ought to have been called Marcus Brutus, Cæsar being a very inconsiderable personage in the scene, and being killed OF this tragedy many particular passages deserve re-in the third act." In whom so mix'd the elements all lay, He of a temper was so absolute, As that it seem'd when nature him began, As all did govern, yet did all obey; That seem'd, when heaven his modell first began, He afterwards revised the poem, which was, I believe, first published, under the title of the Barons' Wars, in 1603; and the stanza is thus exhibited in that edition-the Second, with England's Heroicall Epistles, by Mi 'Such one he was (of him we boldly say,) In whose rich soule all soveraigne powers did sute; chaell Drayton. At London, printed by J. R. for N Ling, 1603.) So that, if Malone be right in placing the date of composition of Julius Cæsar in 1607, Shakspeare imitated Drayton. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. AF FTER a perusal of this play, the reader will, I Warburton has observed that Antony was Shak doubt not, be surprised when he sees what John-speare's hero; and the defects of his character, a son has asserted :-That its power of delighting is lavish and luxurious spirit, seem almost virtues when derived principally from the frequent changes of the opposed to the heartless and narrow-minded littleness scene ;-and that no character is very strongly dis- of Octavius Cæsar. But the ancient historians, his criminated.' If our great poet has one superemi- flatterers, had delivered the latter down ready cut and nent dramatic quality in perfection, it is that of being dried for a hero; and Shakspeare has extricated him able to go out of himself at pleasure to inform and self with great address from the dilemma. He has animate other existences.' It is true, that in the number admitted all those great strokes of his character as he of characters many persons of historical importance found them, and yet has made him a very unamiable are merely introduced as passing shadows in the character, deceitful, mean-spirited, proud, and rescene; but the principal personages are most empha- vengeful. tically distinguished by lineament and colouring, and powerfully arrest the imagination.' The character of Cleopatra is indeed a masterpiece: though Johnson pronounces that she is only distinguished by feminine arts, some of which are too low.' It is true that her seductive arts are in no respect veiled over; but she is still the gorgeous Eastern Queen, remarkable for the fascination of her manner, if not for the beauty of her son; and though she is vain, ostentatious, fickle, and luxurious, there is that heroic regal dignity about her, which makes us, like Antony, forget her defects: Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy Th' appetites they feed; but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies.' 6 The mutual passion of herself and Antony is without moral dignity, yet it excites our sympathy:-they seem formed for each other. Cleopatra is no less remarkable for her seductive charms, than Antony for the splendour of his martial achievements. Her death, too, redeems one part of her character, and obliterates all faults. 51 Schlegel attributes this to the penetration of Shakspeare, who was not to be led astray by the false glitter of historic fame, but saw through the disguise thrown around him by his successful fortunes, and distinguished in Augustus a man of little mind. Malone places the composition of this play in 1608. No previous edition to that of the folio of 1623 has been hitherto discovered; but there is an entry of A Booke called Antony and Cleopatra,' to Edward Blount, in 1608, on the Stationers' books. Shakspeare followed Plutarch, and appears to have been anxious to introduce every incident and every personage he met with in his historian. Plutarch mentions Lamprias his grandfather, as authority for some of the stories he relates of the profuseness and luxury of Antony's entertainments at Alexandria. In the stage-direction of Scene 2, Act i. in the old copy, Lamprius, Ramnus, and Lucilius are made to enter with the rest; but they have no part in the dialogue, nor do their names appear in the list of Dramatis Personæ. SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's NAY, but this dotage of our general's Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.4 Enter an Attendant. Ant. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates me :-The sum." Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry; Or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent His powerful mandate to you, Do this, or this: Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that; Perform't, or else we damn thee. i. e. renounces. The metre would be improved by reading reneyes, or reneies, a word used by Chaucer and other of our elder writers: but we have in King Lear, renege, affirm, &c. Stanyhurst, in his version of the second book of the Æneid, has the word :— To live now longer, Troy burnt, he flatly reneageth. 2 Triple is here used for third, or one of three; one of the Triumvirs, one of the three masters of the world. To sustain the pillars of the earth is a scriptural phrase. Triple is used for third in All's Well that Ends Well: Which, as the dearest issue of his practice; 3 So in Romeo and Juliet : They are but beggars that can count their worth. And in Much Ado about Nothing: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.' 'Basia pauca cupit, qui numerare potest.' Martial, vi. 36. 4 Then must you set the boundary at a distance greater than the present visible universe affords.' 5 Be brief, sum thy business in a few words." 6. e. the news; which was considered plural in Shakespeare's time. See King Richard III. Act. iv. Sc. 4. 7 Take in, it has before been observed, signifies subdue, conquer MENAS, MENECRATES, Friends of Pompey. TAURUS, Lieutenant-General to Cæsar. EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from Antony ta ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES, A Soothsayer. A Clown. CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt. OCTAVIA, Sister to Cæsar, and Wife to Antony. ants. SCENE, dispersed in several Parts of the Roman Empire. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair, Cleo. Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra.Now, for the love of Love,12 and her soft hours, Let's not confound' the time with conference harsh There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now: What sport to-night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes,' to chide, to laugh, Το weepi whose's every passion fully strives To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd! No messenger; but thine and all alone, To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and note ⚫ 11 I think that Johnson has entirely mistaken the meaning of this passage, and believe Mason's explana tion nearly correct. Cleopatra means to say that Antony will act like himself,' (i. e. nobly,) without regard to the mandates of Cæsar or the anger of Fulvia. To which he replies, But stirr'd by Cleopatra,' i. e. ‘Add, if moved to it by Cleopatra.' This is a compliment ta her. Johnson was wrong in supposing but to be used here in its exceptive sense. 12 That is, for the sake of the Queen of Love.' 13 To confound the time, is to consume it, to lose it 14 Quicquid enim dicit, seu facit, omne decet.' Marellus, lib. 1. See Shakspeare's 150th Sonnet. 15 The folio reads, who, every, &c.: corrected by Rowe. The qualities of people.' Come, my queen; [Exeunt ANT. and CLEO. with their Train. Dem. I'm full sorry, That he approves the common liar, who Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. Another Room. Enter CHARM AN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? O, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with garlands !3 Alex. Soothsayer. Sooth. Your will? Char. Is this the man?-Is't you, sir, that know things? Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy, A little I can read. Alex. Show him your hand. Enter ENOBARBUS. Alex. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be-drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot sooth say. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prog nostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.-Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend!Alexas,-come, his fortune, his fortune.-O, let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die, too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Sooth. I make not, but foresee. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all: let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches must I have! Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile every wish, a million. Char. Out, fool; I forgive thee for a witch." Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy o your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. 1 Sometime also when he would goe up and down the city disguised like a slave in the night, and would peere into poor mens windows and their shops, and scold and brawl with them within the house; Cleopatra would be also in a chambermaid's array, and amble up and down the streets with him.' Life of Antonius in North's Plutarch. 2 That he proves the common liar, Fame, in his case to be a true reporter.' Shakspeare usually uses approve and approof for proof. prove, 3 The old copy reads, change his horns,' &c similar error of change for charge is also found in riolanus. for handsome man loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded: Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen. Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but they'd do't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Not he, the queen. Thy issue blurr'd with nameless bastardy." And Launce, in the third act of The Two Gentlemen of Verona: That's as much as to say bustard virtues, that indeed know not their fathers, an'l therefore have Co-no names. A fairer fortune means a more serene or more prosperous fortune. A 4 The liver being considered the seat of love, Charmian says she would rather heat her liver with drinking than with love's fire. A heated liver was supposed to make a pimpled face. 5 This (says Johnson) is one of Shakspeare's natural touches. Few circumstances are more flattering to the fair sex, than breeding at an advanced period of life. Charmian wishes for a son too who may arrive 7 The old copy reads, foretel. Warburton has the merit of the emendation. 8 This has allusion to the common proverbial saying, 'You'll never be burnt for a witch,' spoken to a silly person, who is indeed no conjuror. 9 This prognostic is alluded to in Othello :This hand is moist, my lady:This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.' |