Enter Antony, borne by the guard. Cleo. 9 O fun, Burn the great fphere thou mov'ft in!-darkling ftand The varying fhore o' the world! O Antony! Help, Charmian, help; Iras, help; help, friends, Ant. Peace. Not Cæfar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, Cleo. So it fhould be, that none but Antony Cleo. I dare not. 90 fun Dear BURN the great fphere theu mov'ft in !-darkling fand The varying bore o' th' world! The varying fhore o' th' world! i. e. of the earth, where light and darkness make an inceffant variation. But then, if the fun fhould fet on fire the whole fphere, in which he was fuppofed to move, how could the earth and darkling? On the contrary, it would be in perpetual light. Therefore, if we will allow Cleopatra not to be quite mad, we muft believe she said, TURN FROM th' great sphere i. e. forfake it, fly off from it: and then indeed the confequence would be, that the varying shore would become invariably dark. WARBURTON. She defires the fun to burn his own orb, the vehicle of light, and then the earth will be dark. JOHNSON. I here importune death. -] I folicit death to delay; or, I arouble death by keeping him waiting. I here importune death a while, until Cleo. Dear, dear, my lord, pardon, I dare not, Be brooch'd with me*; if knife, drugs, serpents, havę Your wife Octavia, with her modeft eyes And still conclufion, fhall acquire no honour Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony.— Help me, my women;-We muft draw thee up ;Affift, good friends. Ant. Oh, quick, or I am gone, Cleo. Here's fport, indeed!-How heavy weighs my lord! Cleo. I dare not, Dear, dear, my lord, your pardon; that I dare not, What curious hobbling verfification do we encounter here in the laft line but one? Befides, how inconfiftently is the lady made to reply Antony fays, he only holds life, till he can give her one laft kifs: and the cries, fhe dares not: What dares fhe not do? kifs Antony? But how should she she was above, lock'd in her monument; and he below, on the outfide of it. With a very flight addition, I think, I can cure the whole; and have a warrant from Plutarch for it into the bargain. Now Plutarch fays, that "Antony was carried in his men's "arms into the entry of the monument: Notwithstanding Cleopa"tra would not open the gates, but came to the high windows, and "caft out certain chains and ropes, &c."-So that Antony might very reasonably defire her to come down, and fhe as reasonably excufe herself, for fear of being infnared by Cæfar. THEOB. Mr. Theobald's emendation is received by the fucceeding editors; but it seems not neceffary that a dialogue fo diftressful fhould be nicely regular. I have therefore preferved the original reading in the text, and the emendation below. JOHNS. * Be brooch'd with me.] Be brooch'd, i. e. adorn'd. A brooch was an ornament formerly worn in the hair. 2 STEEVENS. ftill conclufion, -] Sedate determination; filent coolness of resolution. JOHNSON. 3 Here's Sport, indeed!] I fuppofe the meaning of thefe ftrange words is, here's trifling, you do not work in earnest. JOHNSON. Our Our strength is all gone into heaviness, That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power, The strong-wing'd Mercury fhould fetch thee up, And fet thee by Jove's fide. Yet come a little,Withers were ever fools:-Oh come, come, come;[They draw Antony up to Cleopatra. And welcome, welcome! Die, where thou haft liv'd: *Quicken with kiffing :-Had my lips that power, Thus would I wear them out. All. A heavy fight! Ant. I am dying, Ægypt, dying. Give me fome wine, and let me speak a little.5 Cleo. No, let me fpeak; and let me rail fo high, That the falfe' hufwife Fortune break her wheel, Provok'd by my offence. Ant. One word, fweet queen. Of Cæfar feek your honour with your fafety.-Oh!Cleo. They do not go together. Ant. Gentle, hear me : None about Cæfar truft, but Proculeius. Cleo. My refolution and my hands I'll trust; None about Cæfar. Ant. The miferable change, now at my end," 4 Quicken with kiffing. Lament That is, Revive by my kifs. JOHNSON. 5 Give me fome wine, &c.] This circumftance, like almost every other, Shakespeare adopted from Plutarch. Sir Tho. North, in his tranflation, fays, Antony made her ceafe from lamenting, "and called for wine, either because he was athirst, or else for "that thereby to haften his death."— STEEVENS. 6-bufwife Fortune-] This defpicable line has occurred beJOHNSON. fore. The miferable change, &c.] This fpeech ftands thus in fir Tho. North's tranflation of Plutarch." As for himself, the fhould not "lament nor forrow for the miferable change of his fortune at "the end of his days; but rather, that she should think him the "more fortunate, for the former triumphs and honours he had re"ceived, confidering that while he lived, he was the noblest and "greatest Lament nor forrow at: but please your thoughts I can no more.. Cleo. Nobleft of men, woo't die? Haft thou no care of me? fhall I abide [Antony dies In this dull world, which in thy absence is 8 The foldier's pole is fallen; young boys and girls Are level now with men: the odds is gone; And there is nothing left remarkable, Beneath the vifiting moon. Char. Oh, quietnefs, lady! Iras. She is dead too, our fovereign. Char. Lady! Iras. Madam! [She faints. Char. Oh madam, madam, madam, Iras. Royal Ægypt! emprefs! Char. Peace, peace, Iras. Cleo. No more-but e'en a woman, and commanded By greatest prince of the world, and that now he was overcome, not cowardly, but valiantly, a Roman, by another Roman." STEEVENS. Cleopatra is fallen into a fwoon; her maids endeavour to recover her by invoking her by her feveral titles. At length, Charmian fays to the other, Peace, peace, Iras; on which Cleopatra comes to herself, and replies to thefe laft words, No, you are mistaken. By fuch poor paffions as the maid that milks, To I am a mere woman like yourself. Thus ftands this fenfelefs dialogue. But Shakespeare never wrote it fo: we must observe then, that the two women call her by feveral titles, to fee which beft pleased her; and this was highly in character: the ancients thought that not only men, but Gods too, had fome names, which above others they much delighted in, and would foonest answer to; as we may fee by the hymns of Orpheus, Homer, and Callimachus. The poet, conforming to this notion, makes the maids fay, Sovereign lady, madam, royal Egypt, emprefs. And now we come to the place in queftion: Charmian, when fhe faw none of these titles had their effect, invokes her by a ftill more flattering one ; Peace, peace, Isis ! for fo it should be read and pointed: i. e. Peace, we can never move her by thefe titles: let us give her her favourite name of the Goddefs Isis. And now Cleopatra's anfwer becomes pertinent and fine: No more but a mere woman; and commanded i. e. I now fee the folly of affuming to myfelf thefe flattering titles of divinity. My misfortunes, and my impotence in bearing them, convince me I am a mere woman, and fubject to all the paffions of the meanest of my species. Here the poet has followed hiftory exactly, and, what is more, his author Plutarch in Antonio; who fays that Cleopatra affumed the habit and attributes of that Goddefs, and gave judgments or rather oracles to her people under the quality of the NEW ISIS. Κλεοπάτρα μὲν γὰς καὶ τότε καὶ τὸν ἄλλον χρόνον εἰς πλήθω. ἐξιῦσα, στολὴν ἑτέραν ἱερὰν ΙΣΙΔΟΣ ἐλάμβανε, καὶ ΝΕΑ ΙΣΙΣ ἐχρημάτιζε. WARBURTON. Of this note it may be truly faid, that it at least deserves to be right, nor can he, that fhall queftion the juftnefs of the emendation, refufe his esteem to the ingenuity and learning with which it is propofed. Hanmer had propofed another emendation, not injudiciously. He reads thus, Iras. Royal Egypt! empress! Cleo. Peace, peace, 1 as. No more but a mere w man, &c. That is, no more an emprefs, but a mere woman. VOL. VIII. R It |