Enter a Messenger. Mef. The emperor calls Canidius. Can. With news the time's in labour, and throes Caf. Strike not by land. Keep whole, provoke not battle, Till we have done at fea. Do not exceed The prefcript of this fcrowl: our fortune lies Upon this jump. Enter Antony and Enobarbus. [Exeunt. Ant. Set we our fquadrons on yon' fide o' the hill, In the eye of Cæfar's battle; from which place the number of the ships behold, We may And fo proceed accordingly. [Exeunt. Enter Canidius, marching with his land-army one way over the ftage; and Taurus, the lieutenant of Cafar, the other way. After their going in, is beard the noife of a fea-fight. Alarm. Enter Enobarbus. Eno. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer: 3 The Antoniad, the Ægyptian admiral, 3 The Antoniad, &c.] Which Plutarch fays, was the name of Cleopatra's fhip. РОРЕ. With all their fixty, fly, and turn the rudder; Enter Scarus. Scar. Gods and Goddeffes, All the whole fynod of them! Scar. The greater cantle of the world is loft Eno. How appears the fight? 5 Scar. On our fide like the token'd peftilence, Where death is fure. Yon'' ribauld nag of Ægypt, 7 Whom leprofy o'ertake! i' the midft o' the fight, When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd The greater cantle-] A piece or lump. РОРЕ. Cantle is rather a corner. Cæfar in this play mentions the threenook'd world. Of this triangular world every triumvir had a cor The word is in the old edition ribaudred, which I do not underftand, but mention it, in hopes others may raise some happy conjecture. JOHNSON. -Yon ribauld nag of Egypt,] I believe we should read, bag. What follows feems to prove it: -She once being looft, The noble ruin of her magic, Antony, Obfervations and Conjectures, printed at Oxford, 1766. The brieze, or cftrum, the fly that ftings cattle, proves that nag is the right word. JOHNSON. 7 Whom leprofy o'ertake !] Leprofy, an epidemical distemper of the Egyptians; to which Horace probably alludes in the controverted line. Both as the fame, or rather ours the elder; Eno. That I beheld: Mine eyes did ficken at the fight, and could not Scar. She once being looft, The noble ruin of her magic, Antony, Claps on his fea-wing, and like a doating mallard, I never faw an action of fuch fhame; Eno. Alack, alack! Enter Canidius. .Can. Our fortune on the fea is out of breath, Eno. Ay, are you thereabouts? why then, good night Indeed. Can. Towards Peloponnefus are they fled. And there I will attend what further comes. My legions, and my horfe; fix kings already Shew me the way of yielding. Eno. I'll yet follow being looft,] To loof is to bring a fhip close to the wind. STEEVENS. The The wounded chance of Antony, though my reafon Sits in the wind against me. [Exeunt, feverally. SCENE IX. The palace in Alexandria. Enter Antony, with Eros and other attendants. Ant. Hark, the land bids me tread no more upon't, Have loft my way for ever:-I have a fhip Omnes. Fly! not we. Ant. I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards To run, and fhew their fhoulders.-Friends, be gone: I have myself refolv'd upon a course, Which has no need of you. Be gone, My treasure's in the harbour:-Take it.-Oh, 'The wounded chance of Antony,-] I know not whether the author, who loves to draw his images from the fports of the field, might not have written, The wounded chafe of Antony, The allufion is to a deer wounded and chafed, whom all other deer avoid. I will, fays Enobarbus, follow Antony, though chafed and wounded. The common reading, however, may very well stand. JOHNS. -fo lated in the world,-] Alluding to a benighted traveller. O 2 JOHNSON. Which leaves itself.-To the fea-fide. Straightway Enter Cleopatra, led by Charmian and Iras. Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him:-Comfort him. Iras. Do, moft dear queen. Char. Do! why, what elfe? Cleo. Let me fit down: oh Juno! Ant. No, no, no, no, no. Eros. See you here, fir! Ant. Oh fy, fy, fy. Char. Madam, Iras. Madam, oh good emprefs! Ant. Yes, my lord, yes ;-4 He at Philippi kept 6 Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had 3 -I've loft command,] I am not master of my own emotions. 4 -He at Philippi kept JOHNSON. His word e'en like a dancer,-] In the Morifco, and perhaps anciently in the Pyrrhick dance, the dancers held fwords in their hands with the points upward. JOHNSON. and 'twas I, That the mad Brutus ended: --] Nothing can be more in character, than for an infamous debauched tyrant to call the heroic love of one's country and public liberty, madness. WARBURTON. 6 -be alone Dealt on lieutenantry,] I know not whether the meaning is, that Cæfar acted only as lieutenant at Philippi, or that he made his attempts only on lieutenants, and left the generals to Antony. JOHNSON. Dealt on lieutenantry, I believe, means only,-fought by proxy, made war by his lieutenants. STEEVENS. |