The SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne;
In thy vats our cares be drown'd:
With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd!
Cup us, till the world go round;

Cup us, till the world go round.

Cef. What would you more? Pompey, good night.
Good brother,

Let me request you off: our graver business
Frowns at this levity.-Gentle lords, let's part;
You fee, we have burnt our cheeks. Strong Enobarbus
Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue
Splits what it fpeaks: the wild disguise hath almost
Antickt us all. What needs more words? Good night,
Good Antony, your hand.

Pomp. I'll try you on the fhore.

Ant. And fhall, fir. Give's your hand.

Pomp. 5 Oh, Antony, you have my father's houfe,

But

the Holding. But how were they to beat this with their fides? I am perfuaded, the poet wrote,

The bolding ev'ry man fhall bear, as loud

As his ftrong fides can volly.

The breast and fides are immediately concerned in straining to fing as loud and forcibly as a man can. THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald's emendation is very plaufible; and yet beat I believe to have been the poet's word, however harsh it may ap pear at prefent. In Hen. VIII. we find a fimilar expreffion,

-let the mufic KNOCK it.

STEEVENS.

The holding every man shall beat,-] Every man fhall accompany the chorus by drumming on his fides, in token of concur rence and applaufe. - JOHNSON.

5 Ob, Antony, you have my father's house.] The hiftorian Paterculus fays, Cum Pompeia quoque circa Misenum pax inita: Qui haud abfurdè cum in navi Cafaremque et Antonium cæna exciperet, dixit:

But, what! we're friends; come down into the boat.
Eno. Take heed you fall not, Menas :
I'll not on fhore.

Men. No, to my cabin.-Thefe

Drums!-Thefe trumpets, flutes! what!
Let Neptune hear, we bid a loud farewell

To thefe great fellows. Sound, and be hang'd, found [Sound a flourish, with drums.

out.

Eno. Hoo, fays 'a! There's my cap.
Men. Ho!-noble captain! come!

[Exeunt.

ACT III. SCENE I.

A Plain in Syria.

Enter Ventidius, as after conqueft; with Silius and other Romans, and the dead body of Pacorus borne before him.

VENTIDIUS.

TOW, darting Parthia, art thou 'ftruck; and

Now,

now

Pleas'd Fortune does of Marcus Craffus' death
Make me revenger. Bear the king's fon's body
Before our army: Thy Pacorus, Orodes!
Pays this for Marcus Craffus.

Sil. Noble Ventidius,

In Carinis fuis fe cœnam dare: referens hoc dictum ad loci nomen, in quo paterna domus ab Antonio poffidebatur. Our author, though he loft the joke, yet seems willing to commemorate the story.

WARBURTON.

"Struck alludes to darting. Thou whofe darts have so often ftruck others, art ftruck now thyself.

JOHNSON.

Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy fword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow: Spur through Media,
Mefopotamia, and the fhelters whither

The routed fly:-So thy grand captain Antony
Shall fet thee on triumphant chariots, and
Put garlands on thy head.

Ven. Oh, Silius, Silius,

I have done enough: A lower place, note well, May make too great an aft: For learn this, Silius, Better to leave undone, than by our deed

Acquire too high a fame, when he, we ferve, 's away. Cæfar, and Antony, have ever won

More in their officer, than perfon.

Soffius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he atchiev'd by the minute, loft his favour.
Who does i' the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain and ambition,
The foldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,

But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perifh.

Sil. Thou haft, Ventidius, 7 that, without the which A foldier and his fword grant fcarce diftinction: Thou wilt write to Antony?

Ven. I'll humbly fignify what in his name, That magical word of war, we have effected; How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks,

A foldier and his fword grant fearce diftin&ion:] Grant, for afford. It is badly and obfcurely expreffed; but the fenfe is this, Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there would be no diftinction between thee and thy fword. You would be both equally cutting and fenfels. This was wifdom or knowledge of the world. Ventidius had told him the reafons why he did not pursue his advantages: and his friend, by this compliment, acknowledges them to be of weight. WARBURTON.

The

The ne'er-yet-beaten horfe of Parthia
We have jaded out o' the field.

Sil. Where is he now?

Ven. He purpoftth to Athens. Whither with what hafte

The weight we must convey with us will permit, We fhall appear before him. On there;-pafs along. [Exeunt.

SCENE IL

ROME.

Enter Agrippa at one dcor, Enobarbus at another.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted?

Eno. They have difpatch'd with Pompey; he is

gone.

The other three are fealing. Octavia weeps,

Το

part from Rome: Cæfar is fad; and Lepidus, Since Pompey's feaft, as Menas fays, is troubled With the green fickness,

Agr. 'Tis a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one: oh, how he loves Cæfar!
Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!
Eno. Cæfar? why he's the Jupiter of men.
Agr. What's Antony? the God of Jupiter..
Eno. Speak you of Cæfar? how? the nonpareil!
Agr. Oh Antony! oh thou Arabian bird!
Eno. Would you praife Cæfar, fay,-Cæfar; go
no further.

Agr. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.

Eno. But he loves Cæfar beft;-yet he loves Antony:

-Arabian bird!] The phoenix.

JOHNSON.

Ho!

Ho! hearts, tongues, figure, fcribes, bards, poets,

cannot

Think, fpeak, caft, write, fing, number, ho! his love To Antony. But as for Cæfar, kneel,

Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.

Agr. Both he loves.

Eno. They are his fhards, and he their beetle. SoThis is to horfe.-Adieu, noble Agrippa. [Trumpets. Agr. Good fortune, worthy foldier; and farewell.

Enter Cafar, Antony, Lepidus, and Octavià.
Ant. No further, fir.

Caf. You take from me a great part of myself: Ufe me well in it.-Sifter, prove fuch a wife

୨

As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest bond
Shall pass on thy approof.-Most noble Antony,
Let not the piece of virtue, which is fet
Betwixt us, as the cement of our love,
To keep it builded, be the ram to batter
The fortress of it: for better might we

Have lov'd without this mean, if on both parts
This be not cherish'd.

Ant. Make me not offended

In your distrust.

Caf. I have faid.

Ant. You fhall not find,

Though you be therein curious, the least cause

9-bards, poets,-] Not only the tautology of bards and poets, but the want of a correfpondent action for the poet, whose business in the next line is only to number, makes me fufpect fome fault in this paffage, which I know not how to mend. JOHNSON.

I fufpect no fault Verfes are often called numbers, and to number, a verb (in this fenfe) of Shakespeare's coining, is to make verfes. STEEVENS.

1

as my furtheft bond] As I will venture the greatest pledge of fecurity, on the trial of thy conduct.

JOHNSON.