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; fay, this becomes him ;, (As his compofure 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 lightwefs. If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuousness;
Full furfeits, and the drynefs of his bones,
Call on him for't. But to confound fuch time,
That drums him from his fport, and fpeaks as loud
As his own ftate, and ours; 'tis to be chid:
As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge,.
Pawn their experience to their prefent pleasure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Lep. Here's more news.

M. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Moft noble Cefar, fhalt thou have report

How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at Sea,
And it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cæfar: to the Ports
The difcontents repair, and mens reports
Give him much wrong'd.

Caf. I fhould have known no lefs;

It hath been taught us from the primal state, (11)
(11) It bath been taught us from the primal ftate,
That he, which is, was wish'd until he were:

And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love,
Comes fear'd, by being lack'd]

"The earliest hif

Let us examine the fenfe of this in plain profe. "tories 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 feen 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 that occasion'd this reflection.

Mr. Warburton..

That

That he, which is, was wish'd, until he were:
And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love,
Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the ftream,

Goes to, and back, lacquying the varying tide, (12)
To rot it felf with motion.

Mef. Cafar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,

Make the fea ferve them; which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind. Many hot inrodes
They make in Italy, the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt:
No veffel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon
Taken as feen: for Pompey's name ftrikes more,
Than could his war refifted.

Caf. Antony,

Leave thy lafcivious waffails;-When thou once
Wert beaten from Mutina, where thou flew'ft
Hirtius and Parfa Confuls, at thy heel

Did Famine follow, whom thou fought'ft againft
(Though daintily brought up) with patience more
Than Savages could fuffer. Thou didst drink
The ftale of horfes, and the gilded puddle

[deign
Which beafts would cough at. Thy palate then did
The rougheft berry on the rudeft hedge:
Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsed'ft. On the Alps,
It is reported, thou didst eat ftrange flesh,
Which fome did die to look on; and all this,

(12) Goes to, and back, lashing the varying tide,

To rot itfelf with motion.]

How can a flag, or rufh, floating upon a ftream, and that has no mo» tion but what the fluctuation of the water gives it, be faid to lap 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.

-Lackying the varying tide;

i e. floating backwards and forwards with the variation of the tide, like a page, or lacquey, at his master's heels.

E 5

(It wounds thine honour, that I speak it now) Was borne fo like a foldier, that thy cheek So much as lank'd not.

Lep. 'Tis pity of him.

Caf. Let his fhames quickly

Drive him to Rome; time is it, that we twain
Did fhew our selves i'th' field; and to that end
Affemble we immediate council; Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To-morrow, Cæfar,

I fhall be furnish'd to inform you rightly,
Both what by fea and land I can be able,
To front this prefent time.

Caf. "Till which encounter,

It is my bufinefs too. Farewel.

Lep. Farewel, my lord:

What you shall know mean time of stirs abroad,
I fhall beseech you, let me be partaker.

Caf. Doubt it not, Sir; I knew it for my bond.

Farewel.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Palace in Alexandria.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian.

Cleo.

Harmian,
Char. Madam?

Char

Cleo. Ha, ha

-give me to drink Mandragoras.

Char. Why, madam?

Cleo. That I might fleep out this great gap of time,

My Antony is away.

Char. You think of him too much.

Cleo. O, 'tis treason.

Char. Madam, I truft not fo.

Cleo. Thou, eunuch, Mardian,

Mar. What's your Highnefs' pleasure ?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee fing. I take no pleafüre In aught an eunuch has; 'tis well for thee, That, being unfeminar'd, thy freer thoughts

May not fly forth of Egypt. Haft thou affections?

Mar

Mar. Not in deed, Madam; for I can do nothing. But what indeed is honeft to be done:

Yet have I fierce affections, and think

What Venus did with Mars.

Cleo. Oh, Charmian!

Where think'st thou he is now? ftands he, or fits he? Or does he walk? or is he on his horfe?

Oh happy horse, to bear the weight of Antovy!

Do bravely, horfe; for, wot'ft thou, whom thou mov'st? The demy Atlas of this earth, the arm

And burgonet of man. He's fpeaking now,

Or murmuring, "where's my ferpent of old Nile ?"-
(For fo he calls me ;) Now I feed my self
With most delicious poifon. Think on me,
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time. Broad-fronted Cafir,
When thou waft here above the ground, I was
A morfel for a monarch; and great Pompey
Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow;
There would he anchor his afpect, and die
With looking on his life..

Enter Alexas.

Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, hail!

Cleo. How much art thou unlike Mark Antony ? Yet coming from him, that great med'cine hath With his tinct gilded thee.

How goes it with my

brave Mark Antony?

Alex. Laft thing he did, dear Queen,

He kift, the last of many doubled kisses,

This orient pearl. -His fpeech fticks in my heart..
Cleo. Mine ear must pluck it thence.

Alex. Good friend, quoth he,

Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt fends

This treasure of an oyfter; at whofe foot, (13)

To mend the petty prefent, I will piece

Her opulent throne with kingdoms.]

To

At whofe foot has relation neither to Cleopatra, nor her throne: but

E. 6

means,

To mend the petty prefent, I will piece

Her opulent throne with kingdoms. All the eaft,
Say thou, fhall call her mistrefs. So, he nodded;
And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed,

Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have spoke, (14)
Was beaftly dumb'd by him.

Cleo. What, was he fad or merry?

[treams

Alex. Like to the time o'th' year, between th' exOf hot and cold, he was nor fad, nor merry.

Cleo. Oh well-divided difpofition!

Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note him
He was not fad, for he would fhine on thofe

'That make their looks by his: He was not merry,
Which feem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy; but between both.
Oh heav'nly mingle! be'ft thou fad, or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes,

So does it no man elfe. Met'ft thou my posts?
Alex. Ay, Madam, twenty feveral meffengers..
Why do
you fend fo thick?

Cleo. Who's born that day,

When I forget to fend to Antony,

Shall die a beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.
Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I, Charmian,

Ever love Cæfar so?

Char. Oh that brave Cafar!

means, that in fequel of the prefent fent, he would fecond it with a richer. We have a fimilar expreffion in the next A.

-I muft thank him only,

Left my remembrance futfer ill report;

At beel of that defy him.

(14) Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke Was beafty dumb by him.]

Alexas means, the horse made fuch a neighing, that if he had spoke, he cou'd not have been heard. I fufpect, the poet wrote;

Was leaftly dumb'd by him.

i. e. put to filence, It is very ufual, as I have obferv'd, with Skakefpeare, to coin verbs out of adjectives. So in Pericles, a play attributed to our author,

Deep clerks fhe dumbs.

In like manner, in K. Richard II.

My death's fad tale may yet undeaf his ear.