Tell them your feats; whilst they with joyful tears Enter CLEOPATRA, attended. To this great fairy I'll 'commend thy acts, Make her thanks bless thee.-O thou day o' the world, 5 Chain mine arm'd neck; leap thou, attire and all, Through proof of harness to my heart, and there Ride on the pants triumphing. Cleo. Lord of lords! O infinite virtue! com'st thou smiling from The world's great snare uncaught? Ant. My nightingale, We have beat them to their beds. What, girl? though grey Do something mingle with our brown; yet have we Cleo. Ant. He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled Like holy Phoebus' car.-Give me thy hand; To this great fairy-] Mr. Upton has well observed, that fairy, which Dr. Warburton and Sir T. Hanmer explain by Inchantress, comprises the idea of power and beauty. JOHNSON. proof of harness-] i. e. armour of proof. Harnois, Fr. Arnese, Ital. The world's great snare-] i. e. the war. 7 Get goal for goal of youth.] At all plays of barriers, the boundary is called a goal; to win a goal, is to be a superior in a contest of activity. Through Alexandria make a jolly march; To camp this host, we all would sup together; Applauding our approach. [Exeunt. SCENE IX. Cæsar's Camp. Sentinels on their Post. Enter ENOBARBUS. 1 Sold. If we be not reliev'd within this hour, We must return to the court of guard:' The night Is shiny; and, they say, we shall embattle By the second hour i' the morn. 2 Sold. A shrewd one to us. Eno. This last day was O, bear me witness, night,— 3 Sold. What man is this? 2 Sold. Stand close, and list to him. Eno. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, When men reyolted shall upon record * Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them:] i. c. hack'd as much as the men to whom they belong; or perhaps, Bear our hack'd targets with spirit and exultation, such as becomes the brave warriors that own them. 9 tabourines;] A tabourin was a small drum. It is often mentioned in our ancient romances. 1 the court of guard:] i. e. the guard-room, the place where the guard musters. The same expression occurs again in Othello. Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did 1 Sold. 3 Sold. Hark further. Enobarbus! Peace; Eno. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me;" That life, a very rebel to my will, May hang no longer on me: Throw my heart3 O Antony ! O Antony ! 2 Sold. To him. Let's speak [Dies. 1 Sold. Let's hear him, for the things he speaks May concern Cæsar. 3 Sold. Let's do so. But he sleeps. 1 Sold. Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his Was never yet for sleeping. 2 2 Sold 3 Sold. Awake, awake, sir; 2 Sold. Go we to him. 1 Sold. The hand of death Hark, the drums speak to us. Hear you, sir? hath raught him.* [Drums afar off. disponge upon me;] i, e. discharge, as a sponge, when squeezed, discharges the moisture it had imbibed. STEEVENS. 3 Throw my heart-] The pathetick of Shakspeare too often ends in the ridiculous. It is painful to find the gloomy dignity of this noble scene destroyed by the intrusion of a conceit so farfetched and unaffecting. JOHNSON. 4 The hand of death hath raught him.] Raught is the ancient preterite of the verb to reach. Demurely wake the sleepers. Let us bear him Enter ANTONY and SCARUS, with Forces, marching. Ant. Their preparation is to-day by sea; We please them not by land. Scar. For both, my lord. Ant. I would, they'd fight i' the fire, or in the air; We'd fight there too. But this it is; Our foot Upon the hills adjoining to the city, Shall stay with us: order for sea is given; [Exeunt. Enter CESAR, and his Forces, marching. Ces. But being charg'd, we will be still by land, Which, as I take't, we shall;" for his best force Is forth to man his gallies. To the vales, And hold our best advantage. 5 Hark, the drums Demurely-] Demurely for solemnly. • Where their appointment we may best discover, [Exeunt, And look on their endeavour.] i. e. where we may best dis◄ cover their numbers, and see their motions. 7 But being charg'd, we will be still by land, Which, as I take't, we shall ;] i. e. unless we be charg'd we will remain quiet at land, which quiet I suppose we shall keep. But being charg'd was a phrase of that time, equivalent to unless we be. Re-enter ANTONY and SCArus. Ant. Yet they're not join'd: Where yonder pine does stand, Í shall discover all: I'll bring thee word Scar. [Exit. Swallows have built In Cleopatra's sails their nests: the augurers Say, they know not, they cannot tell;-look grimly, His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, Ant. Alarum afar off, as at a Sea Fight. Re-enter ANTONY. All is lost; This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me: My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder thou Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart [Exit SCARUS. O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more: gave 8 Triple-turn'd whore !] She first belonged to Julius Cæsar, then to Antony, and now, as he supposes to Augustus. It is not likely that in recollecting her turnings, Antony should not have that in contemplation which gave him most offence. |