'Would, she had never given you leave to come! Cleo. O never was there Queen Ant. Cleopatra, Cleo. Why fhould I think, you can be mine, and true, Though you with fwearing shake the throned Gods, Ant. Moft fweet Queen, Cleo Nay, pray you, feek no colour for your going, Blifs in our Brows' bent, none our parts fo poor, Art turn'd the greatest liar. Ant. How now, lady? Cleo. I would I had thy inches, thou should'st know, There were a heart in Egypt. Ant. Hear me, Queen; The strong neceffity of time commands Our services a-while; but my full heart (2) Remains in ufe with you. Our Italy Shines o'er with civil fwords; Sextus Pompeius Breeds fcrupulous faction; the hated, grown to strength, . (1) heaven. a race of heav'n] i. e. had a fmack or flavour of WARBURTON. This word is well explained by Dr. Warburton; the race of wine is the taste of the foil. Sir T. Hanmer, not understanding the word, reads, ray. (2) Remains in ufe -] The poet feems to allude to the legal diftinction between the use and absolute possession. Are Are newly grown to love; the condemn'd Pompey, Is Fulvia's death. Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom, It does from childishness. Can Fulvia die ? Look here, and at thy fovereign leifure read Cleo. (4) O moft falfe love! Where be the facred vials thou shouldft fill (3) -My more particular, And that which most with you should fave my going, Is Fulvia's death.] Thus all the more modern editions; the first and fecond folio's read, fafe: All corruptedly. Antony is giving several reafons to Cleopatra, which make his departure from Egypt neceffary; most of them, reafons of state; but the death of Fulvia, his wife, was a particular and private call. Cleopatra is jealous of Antony, and fufpicious that he is feeking colours for his going. Antony replies to her doubts, with the reafons that obliged him to be abfent for a time; and tells her that, as his wife Fulvia is dead, and fo the has no rival to be jealous of, that circumftance should be his best plea and excuse, and have the greatest weight with her for his going. Who does not fee now, that it ought to be read, -fhould falve my going. Mr. Upton reads, I think rightly? fafe my going. (4) -O most falfe love! THEOBALD. Where be the facred vials thou shouldft fill With forrowful water ? Alluding to the lachrymatory vials, or bottles of tears, which the Romans fometimes put into the urn of a friend. That That quickens Nilus' flime, I go from hence Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come. -I'm quickly ill, and well. -So, Antony loves. Ant. My precious Queen, forbear, And give true evidence to his love, which ftands Cleo. So Fulvia told me. I pr'ythee, turn afide, and weep for her; Ant. You'll heat my blood. No more. Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. Cleo. And target-Still he mends: But this is not the beft. Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, How this Herculean Roman does become (5)-to Egypt. -] To me, the queen of Egypt. Ant. Now by my fword-] An expreffion ufed by Shakespeare, Winter Night's Tale, act ii. fc. laft. Leontes to Antigonus. Leo." Swear by thy fword, "Thou wilt perform my bidding." See act iii. fc. ii. And in allufion to the Danifb cuftoms, Hamlet, act i. fc. ix. See Titus Andronicus, act iv. fc. i. Spencer obferves (in his View of the State of Ireland, Works, 12mo, 1564) from Lucian's Dialogue, intitled Toxaris, "That the common oath of the Scythians was by the fword, and by "the wind; and that the Irish ufed commonly to fwear by their "fwords: and that they do at this day, when they go out to "battle, fay certain prayers, and charms to their fwords, making •6 a crofs therewith on the earth, and thrusting the points of "their blades into the ground, thinking thereby to have better "fuccefs in the fight." To this cuftom Spencer alludes in other places, "So fuff'ring him to rife, he made him fwear, Fairy Queen, book 6. canto 1-53. Dr. GRAY. This note, which is referred to this place by its authour, may deferve more confideration to the reader of Hamlet, where the friends of Hamlet are required to fwear upon his fword. The The carriage of his chafe. Ant. I'll leave you, lady. Cleo. Courteous Lord, one word. Sir, you and I muft part; (but that's not it,) Ant. (7) But that your royalty Holds Idleness your fubject, I fhould take you (6) Oh, my oblivion is a very Antony, And I am all forgotten.] The plain meaning is, My forgetfulness makes me forget myself. But the expreffes it by calling forgetfulness, Antony, becaule forgetfulness had forgot her, as Antony had done. For want of apprehending this quaintnefs of expreffion, the Oxford Editor is forced to tell us news, That all forgotten is an old way of Speaking, for apt to forget every thing. WARBURTON. I cannot understand the learned critick's explanation. It appears to me, that the fhould rather have faid, Ο my remembrance is a very Antony It was her memory, not her oblivion, that, like Antony, was forgetting and deferting her. I think a flight change will reftore the paffage. The Queen, having fomething to fay, which the is not able, or would feem not able to recollect, cries out, 0 my oblivion!-'Tis a very Antony. The thought of which I was in queft is a very Antony, is treache rous and fugitive, and has irrevocably left me. And I am all forgotten. If this reading ftand, I think the explanation of Hanmer must be received. But I will venture another change, by reading, And I am all forgone. I am all deferted and undone. If any regard can be had to exactnefs of verfification, the mea fure authorifes my reading. (7) But that your royalty Holds Idlenefs your fubject, I should take you For Idleness itself.] i. e. But that your charms bald me, who am the greateft fool on earth in chains, I bould have adjudged you to be the greatest. That this is the fenfe, is fhewn by her answer, Tis fweating labour To bear fuch Idlenefs fo near the heart, WARBURTON. Cleo. Cleo. "Tis fweating labour, To bear fuch idlenefs fo near the heart, Ant. Let us go; come, Our feparation fo abides and flies, fword That thou, refiding here, goeft yet with me, [Exeunt. Enter Octavius Cæfar reading a Letter, Lepidus, and Caf. attendants. YOU may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know, YOU (8) One great competitor. From Alexandria Hardly gave audience, or vouchfaf'd to think They're evils enough to darken all his goodness; (8) One great competitor. More -] Perhaps, Our great competitor. (9)- as the fpots of heav'n, More fiery by night's blacknefs ;] If by spots are meant ftars, as night has no other fiery fpots, the comparison is forced and harsh, stars having been always fuppo fed |