Cleo. 'Tis fweating labour, To bear fuch idlenefs fo near the heart, And all the Gods go with you! Upon your sword Ant. Let us go. Come; Our feparation fo abides, and flies, That thou, refiding here, go'st yet with me, Away. [Exeunt. Cafar's palace in Rome. Enter Octavius Cæfar, Lepidus, and Attendants. Caf. You may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate One great competitor. From Alexandria This is the news; he fifhes, drinks, and wastes Hardly gave audience, or Vouchfaf'd to think he had partners. You shall find there A man, who is the abftract of all faults That all men follow. 'Tis fweating labour, To bear fuch idleness fo near the heart, As Cleopatra, this. WARBURTON. › One great competitor.-] Perhaps, Our great competitor. JOHNSON. Lep. Lep. I must not think there are Evils enough to darken all his goodness; Caf. You are too indulgent. Let us grant, it is not Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy; To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit And keep the turn of tipling with a slave; To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet With knaves that smell of fweat: 3 fay, this becomes him, (As his composure must be rare, indeed, Whom these things cannot blemish) yet muft Antony No way excufe his foils, when we do bear + So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd His vacancy with his voluptuoufnefs, Full furfeits, and the drynefs of his bones, as the spots of heav'n, More fiery by night's blackness ;] If by fpots are meant ftars, as night has no other fiery fpots, the comparifon is forced and harsh, ftars having been always fuppofed to beautify the night; nor do I comprehend what there is in the counter-part of this fimile, which answers to night's blackness. Hanmer reads, 2 3 Spots on ermine, Or fires, by night's blackness. JOHNSON. JOHNSON. -purchas'd;-] Procured by his own fault or endeavour. fay, this becomes him; As his compofure must be rare, indeed, Whom these things cannot blemish ;-] This feems inconfequent. I read And his comfofure, &c. JOHNSON. Grant that this becomes him, and if it can become him, he must have in him fomething very uncommon; yet, &c. 4 So great weight in his lightness. of Shakespeare's favourite play-things. levity throws fo much burden upon us. -] The word light is one 'Call on him for't: but to confound fuch time,- As we rate boys; who being mature in knowledge, Enter a Meffenger. Lep. Here's more news? Mf. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Most noble Cæfar, fhalt thou have report How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at fea; Caf. I thould have known no less: It hath been taught us from the primal state, Like "Call on him for't.] Call on him, is, vifit bim. Says Cæfar, If Antony followed his debaucheries at a time of leifure, I bould leave him to be punished by their natural confequences, by furJOHNSON. feits and dry bones. 6 -boys; who, being mature in knowledge,] For this Hanmer, who thought the maturity of a boy an inconfiftent idea, has put, who, immature in knowledge, but the words experience and judgment require that we read mature: though Dr. Warburton has received the emendation. By boys mature in knowledge, are meant, boys old enough to know their duty. JOHNSON. 7 That only have fear'd Cafar:] Thofe whom not love but fear made adherents to Cæfar, now fhew their affection for Pompey. JOHNSON. -ke, which is, was wish'd, until he were: And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth love, K in Like to a vagabond flag, upon the stream, Mef. Cæfar, I bring thee word, 2 Make the fea ferve them; which they ear and wound 3 Lack blood to think on't, and flufh youth revolt: No veffel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon in plain profe. The earliest hiftories inform us, that the man in fupreme command was always wifh'd to gain that command, till he had obtain'd it. And he, whom the multitude has contentedly seen in a low condition, when he begins to be wanted by them, becomes to be fear'd by them. But do the multitude fear a man, because they want him? Certainly, we must read, Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. i. e. endear'd, a favourite to them. Befides, the context requires this reading; for it was not fear, but love, that made the people flock to young Pompey, and what occafion'd this reflection. So in Coriolanus, I fhall be lov'd, when I am lack'd. Goes to, and back, lashing the varying tide, WARE. To rot itself with motion. ] How can a flag, or rufh, floating upon a ftream, and that has no motion but what the fluctuation of the water gives it, be faid to lafh the tide ? This is making a scourge of a weak ineffective thing, and giving it an active violence in its own power. All the old editions read lacking. 'Tis true, there is no fenfe in that reading; but the addition of a fingle letter will not only give us good fenfe, but the genuine word of our author into the bargain. -Lacquing the varying tide, i.e. floating backwards and forwards with the variation of the tide, like a page, or lacquey, at his mafter's heels. THEOB. Perhaps another messenger should be noted here, as entering with fresh news. STEEVENS. 2 — which they ear- -] To ear, is to plow; a common metaphor. 3 Lack blood to think on't,-] Turn pale at the thought of it. JOHNSON. JOHNSON. 4-and flush youth-] Flufh youth is youth ripened to manhood; youth whofe blood is at the flow. STEEVENS. Taken Taken as feen; for Pompey's name ftrikes more, Than could his war refifted. Cef. Antony, Leave thy lafcivious waffails. When thou once Did famine follow; whom thou fought'ft againft, The rougheft berry on the rudeft hedge; Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the pafture fheets, Which fome did die to look on: And all this Lep. It is pity of him. Caf. Let his fhames quickly Drive him to Rome: Time is it, that we twain Lep. To-morrow, Cæfar, I fhall be furnish'd to inform you rightly, To 'front this present time. Caf. Till which encounter, It is my bufinefs too. Farewell. Lep. Farewell, my lord. What you fhall know mean time of stirs abroad, Ifhall befeech you, let me be partaker. Caf. Doubt it not, fir; I knew it for K 2 my bond. [Exeunt. SCENE |