Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of Mar. What's your highness' pleasure? Cleo. Not now to hear thee sing; I take no pleasure In aught an eunuch has: 'Tis well for thee, Cleo. Indeed? Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing But what in deed is honest to be done: Yet I have fierce affections, and think, Cleo. O Charmian, Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he? Or does he walk? or is he on his horse? O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony! Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st? The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm And burgonet of men.8-He's speaking now, 9 And burgonet of men.] A burgonet is a kind of helmet. A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey With looking on his life. Alex. Enter ALEXAS. Sovereign of Egypt, hail! Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony! Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee.' How goes it with my brave Mark Antony? He kiss'd, the last of many doubled kisses,- Alex. Her opulent throne with kingdoms; All the east, Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke Cleo. What, was he sad, or merry? Alex. Like to the time o' the year between the extremes Of heat and cold; he was nor sad nor merry. 1 that great medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee.] Alluding to the philosopher's stone, which, by its touch, converts base metal into gold. The alchemists call the matter, whatever it be, by which they performa transmutation, a medicine. JOHNSON. 2 termagant steed,] Termagant means furious. He was not sad; for he would shine on those So does it no man else.-Met'st thou my posts? Cleo. Who's born that day When I forget to send to Antony, Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Charmian.Welcome, my good Alexas.-Did I, Charmian, Ever love Cæsar so? Char. O that brave Cæsar! Cleo. Be chok'd with such another emphasis! Say, the brave Antony. Char. The valiant Cæsar! Cleo. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæsar paragon again My man of men. Char. I sing but after you. Cleo. By your most gracious pardon, My sallad days; When I was green in judgment:-Cold in blood, 8 so thick?] i. e. in such quick succession. unpeople Egypt.] By sending out messengers. ACT II. SCENE I. Messina. A Room in Pompey's House. Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS. Pom. If the great gods be just, they shall assist The deeds of justest men. Mene. Know, worthy Pompey, That what they do delay, they not deny. Pom. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays The thing we sue for. Mene. We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good; so find we profit, By losing of our prayers. Pom. No wars without doors: Cæsar gets money, where Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves, Nor either cares for him. Men. Cæsar and Lepidus Are in the field; a mighty strength they carry. Men. From Silvius, sir. Pom. He dreams; I know, they are in Rome together, Looking for Antony: But all charms of love 5 --thy wan'd lip!] Shakspeare's orthography [or that of his ignorant publishers] often adds a d at the end of a word. Thus, Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both! Enter VARRIUS. Var. This is most certain that I shall deliver: Expected; since he went from Egypt, 'tis Pom. I could have given less matter A better ear.-Menas, I did not think, This amorous surfeiter would have don'd his helm Is twice the other twain: But let us rear Men. I cannot hope,' vile is (in the old editions) every where spelt vild. Laund is given instead of lawn; why not therefore wan'd for wan here. If this however should not be accepted, suppose we read with the addition only of an apostrophe, wan'd; i. e. waned, declined, gone off from its perfection; comparing Cleopatra's beauty to the moon past the full. PERCY. • That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour, Even till a Lethe'd dulness.] i. e. to a Lethe'd dulness. Till was sometimes used instead of to. To prorogue his honour, &c. means, to delay his sense of honour from exerting itself till he is become habitually sluggish. 7 since he went from Egypt, 'tis A space for further travel.] i. e. since he quitted Egypt, a space of time has elapsed in which a longer journey might have been performed than from Egypt to Rome. 8 9 don'd his helm-] To don is to do on, to put on. Egypt's widow-] Julius Cæsar had married her to young Ptolemy, who was afterwards drowned. I cannot hope, &c.] To hope, means to expect. |