Cas. Possess it, I'll make answer: but I had rather fast From all, four days, than drink so much in one. Eno. Ha, my brave emperor! Pom. [TO ANT. Let 's ha 't, good soldier. Ant. Come, let us all take hands;5 Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense In soft and delicate Lethe. Eno. All take hands. Make battery to our ears with the loud musick :The while, I'll place you: Then the boy shall sing; The holding every man shall bear, as loud 4 I'll make answer:] The word-make, only serves to clog the metre. Steevens. 5 Come, let us all take hands;] As half a line in this place may have been omitted, the deficiency might be supplied with words resembling those in Milton's Comus: "Come, let us all take hands, and beat the ground, 6 Make battery to our ears] So, in King John: The holding every man shall bear,] In old editions: The holding every man shall beat, The company were to join in the burden, which the poet styles, the holding. But how were they to beat this with their sides? Í am persuaded, the poet wrote: The holding every man shall bear, as loud As his strong sides can volley. The breast and sides are immediately concerned in straining to sing as loud and forcibly as a man can. Theobald. Mr. Theobald's emendation is very plausible; and yet beat might have been the poet's word, however harsh it may appear at present. In Henry VIII, we find a similar expression: 66 let the musick knock it." Steevens. The holding every man shall beat,] Every man shall accompany the chorus by drumming on his sides, in token of concurrence and applause. Johnson. I have no doubt but bear is the right reading. To bear the bur. den, or, as it is here called, the holding of a song, is the phrase at this day. The passage quoted by Mr. Steevens from King Henry VIII, relates to instrumental musick, not to vocal. Loud as his sides can volley, means, with the utmost exertion of his voice. So we say, he laughed till he split his sides. M. Mason. Theobald's emendation appears to me so plausible, and the As his strong sides can volley. [Musick plays. ENO. places them hand in hand. Come, thou monarch of the vine, Cup us, till the world go round! Cas. What would you more?-Pompey, good night, Let me request you off: our graver business Pom. I'll try you o' the shore. Ant. And shall, sir: give 's your hand. Pom. O, Antony, You have my father's house,But what? we are friends: change is so small, that I have given it a place in the text, as did Mr. Steevens, in his edition. The meaning of the holding is ascertained by a passage in an old pamphlet called The Serving-Man's Comfort, 4to. 1598: where a song is to be sung the under-song or holding whereof is, It is merrie in haul where beards wag all." Malone. 8 with pink eyne:] Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says a pink eye is a small eye, and quotes this passage for his authority. Pink eyne, however, may be red eyes: eyes inflamed with drinking, are very well appropriated to Bacchus. So, in Julius Cæsar: such ferret and such fiery eyes." -like a 66 So, Greene, in his Defence of Coney-Catching, 1592: “ pink-ey'd ferret." Again, in a song sung by a drunken Clown in Marius and Sylla, 1594: "Thou makest some to stumble, and many mo to fumble, "And me have pinky eyne, most brave and jolly wine!" Steevens. It should be observed, however, that from the following passage in P. Holland's translation of the 11th Book of Pliny's Natural History, it appears that pink-eyed signified the smallness of eyes: also them that were pinke-eyed and had verie small eies, they termed ocellæ." Steevens. 9 O, Antony, You have my father's house,] The historian Paterculus says: Come, down into the boat. Eno. Take heed you fall not.[Exeunt Poм. CES. ANT. and Attendants. Menas, I'll not on shore. Men. No, to my cabin.— These drums!-these trumpets, flutes! what!- To these great fellows: Sound, and be hang'd, sound out. [A Flourish of Trumpets, with Drums. Eno. Ho, says 'a!-There 's my cap. Men. Ho!-noble captain! Come. [Exeunt. ACT III..... SCENE I. A Plain in Syria. Enter VENTIDIUS, as after Conquest, with SILIUS, and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead Body of Pacorus borne before him. Ven. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck ;1 and now Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death Måke me revenger.-Bear the king's son's body Sil. Noble Ventidius, Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm, The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony -cum Pompeio quoque circa Misenum pax inita: Qui haud absurdè, cum in navi Cæsaremque et Antonium cœna exciperet, dixit: In carinis suis se cœnam dare; referens hoc dictum ad loci nomen, in quo paterna domus ab Antonio possidebatur." Our author, though he lost the joke, yet seems willing to commemorate the story. Warburton. The joke of which the learned editor seems to lament the loss, could not be found in the old translation of Plutarch, and Shakspeare looked no further. See p. 266, n. 7. Steevens. 1 struck;] alludes to darting. Thou whose darts have so often struck others, art struck now thyself. Johnson. 2 Thy Pacorus, Orodes,] Pacorus was the son of Orodes, King of Parthia. Steevens. Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and Ven. More in their officer, than person: Sossius, Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour. I could do more to do Antonius good, But 'twould offend him; and in his offence Sil. Thou hast, Ventidius, That without which5 a soldier, and his sword, 3 Better leave undone, &c.] Old copies, unmetrically (because the players were unacquainted with the most common ellipsis): Better to leave undone, &c. Steevens. 4 when him we serve 's away.] Thus the old copy, and such certainly was our author's phraseology. So, in The Winter's Tale: "I am appointed him to murder you." See also Coriolanus, Vol. XIII, p. 177, n. 2. The modern editors, however, all read, more grammatically, when he we serve, &c. Malone. 5 That without which] Here again, regardless of metre, the old copy reads: 6 That without which a soldier, and his sword, Grants scarce distinction.] Grant, for afford. It is badly and obscurely expressed: but the sense is this: Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there would be no distinction between thee and thy sword. You would be both equally cutting and senseless. This was wisdom or knowledge of the world. Ventidius had told him the reasons why he did not pursue his advantages: and his friend, by this compliment, acknowledges them to be of weight. Warburton. We have somewhat of the same idea in Coriolanus: "Who, sensible, outdares his senseless sword." Steevens Ven. I'll humbly signify what in his name, That magical word of war, we have effected; How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks, The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia We have jaded out o' the field. Sil. Where is he now? Ven. He proposeth to Athens: whither with what haste The weight we must convey with us will permit, We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass along. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Rome. An Ante-Chamber in Cæsar's House. Enter AGRIPPA, and ENOBARBUS, meeting. Agr. What, are the brothers parted? Eno. They have despatch'd with Pompey, he is gone; The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps To part from Rome: Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus, Agr. 'Tis a noble Lepidus. Eno. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar! Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How?7 the nonpareil! Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say,-Cæsar;-go no further.9 7 How?] I believe, was here, as in another place in this play printed by mistake, for ho. See also Vol. IV, p. 421, n. 1. I perceive no need of alteration. Steevens. Of Antony? O, thou Arabian bird! Malone Speak you of Cæsar, he is the nonpareil; speak you of Antony, he is the Arabian bird. M. Mason. 8 Arabian bird!] The phoenix. Johnson. So, again, in Cymbeline: "She is alone the Arabian bird, and I "Have lost my wager." Steevens. Cesar;-go no further.] I suspect that this line was de |