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Than was his loss, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

CLEO.

Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRonius.

ANT. Is this his answer?

EUP. Ay, my lord.

ANT. The queen shall then have courtesy, so she

Will yield us up.

EUP. He says so.

ANT.

Let her know it".

To the boy Cæsar send this grizled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim

With principalities.

CLEO.

That head, my lord?

ANT. To him again; Tell him, he wears the

rose

Of youth upon him; from which, the world should

note

Something particular: his coin, ships, legions,
May be a coward's; whose ministers would prevail
Under the service of a child, as soon

As i' the command of Cæsar: I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,

And answer me declin'd', sword against sword,

meered question might mean, the only cause of the dispute—the only subject of the quarrel. M. MASON.

Let her know it.] To complete the verse, we might addLet her know it then. STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens's arrangement is this

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The queen

"Shall then have courtesy, so she will yield
"Us up," &c. BOSWELL.

his gay COMPARISONS apart,

And answer me DECLIN'D,] I require of Cæsar not to depend on that superiority which the comparison of our different fortunes may exhibit to him, but to answer me man to man, in this decline of my age or power. JOHNSON.

I have sometimes thought that Shakspeare wrote

Ourselves alone: I'll write it; follow me.

[Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONius. ENO. Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show

"his gay caparisons."

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,

Let him "unstate his happiness," let him divest himself of the splendid trappings of power, his coin, ships, legions, &c. and meet me in single combat.

Caparison is frequently used by our author and his contemporaries, for an ornamental dress. So, in As You Like It, Act III. Sc. II. :

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though I am caparison'd like a man

Again, in The Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. II. :

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"With die and drab I purchas'd this caparison." The old reading however is supported by a passage in Macbeth:

"Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
"Confronted him with self-comparisons,

"Point against point, rebellious."

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His gay comparisons may mean, those circumstances of splendour and power in which he, when compared with me, so much exceeds me.

Dr. Johnson's explanation of declin'd is certainly right. So, in Timon of Athens:

"Not one accompanying his declining foot."

Again, in Troilus and Cressida:

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"He shall as soon read in the eyes of others,
"As feel in his own fall."

Again, in Daniel's Cleopatra, 1594:

"Before she had declining fortune prov'd." MALONE.

The word gay seems rather to favour Malone's conjecture, that we should read caparisons. On the other hand, the following passage in the next speech, appears to countenance the present reading:

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1631:

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that he should dream,

Knowing all measures, the full Cæsar will "Answer his emptiness!" M. MASON.

be STAG'D to the show,] So, Goff, in his Raging Turk,

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Be stag'd to show,—that is, 'exhibited, like conflicting gladiators, to the publick gaze.' HENLEY.

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Against a sworder.-I see, men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes'; and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,

To suffer all alike. That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Cæsar will
Answer his emptiness!-Cæsar, thou hast subdu'd
His judgment too.

ATT.

Enter an Attendant.

A messenger from Cæsar.

CLEO. What, no more ceremony ?-See, my women!

Against the blown rose may they stop their nose, That kneel'd unto the buds.-Admit him, sir. ENO. Mine honesty, and I, begin to square'.

[Aside.

The loyalty, well held to fools 2, does make
Our faith mere folly :-Yet, he, that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fallen lord,

Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i' the story.

9 -are

say at pre

A PARCEL of their fortunes ;] i. e. as we should sent, are of a piece with them. STEEVENS. Ito SQUARE.] i. e. to quarrel. See a Midsummer-Night's Dream, vol. v. p. 202, n. 3. STEEVENS.

2 The loyalty, well held to fools, &c.] After Enobarbus has said, that his honesty and he begin to quarrel, he immediately falls into this generous reflection: "Though loyalty, stubbornly preserved to a master in his declined fortunes, seems folly in the eyes of fools; yet he, who can be so obstinately loyal, will make as great a figure on record, as the conqueror." I therefore read: Though loyalty, well held to fools, does make

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"Our faith mere folly- -." THEOBALD.

I have preserved the old reading: Enobarbus is deliberating upon desertion, and finding it is more prudent to forsake a fool, and more reputable to be faithful to him, makes no positive conclusion. Sir T. Hanmer follows Theobald. Dr. Warburton retains the old reading. JOHNSON.

CLEO.

Enter THYREUS.

THYR. Hear it apart.

CLEO.

Cæsar's will?

None but friends"; say boldly.

THYR. So, haply, are they friends to Antony. ENO. He needs as many, sir, as Cæsar has; Or needs not us. If Cæsar please, our master Will leap to be his friend: For us, you know, Whose he is, we are; and that's, Cæsar's.

THYR.

So.

Thus then, thou most renown'd; Cæsar entreats, Not to consider in what case thou stand'st, Further than he is Cæsar's 1.

3 None but friends ;] I suppose, for the sake of measure, we ought to read in this place with Sir Thomas Hanmer :

4

"None here but friends." STEEVENS.

CESAR entreats,

Not to consider in what case thou stand'st,

Further than he is CESAR.] Thus the second folio; and on this reading the subsequent explanation by Dr. Warburton is founded.

The first folio, which brings obscurity with it, has

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than he is Cæsar's."

See Mr. Malone's note. STEEVENS.

i. e. Cæsar intreats, that at the same time you consider your desperate fortunes, you would consider he is Cæsar: That is, generous and forgiving, able and willing to restore them.

are;

WARBURTON.

It has been just said, that whatever Antony is, all his followers "that is, Cæsar's." Thyreus now informs Cleopatra that Cæsar entreats her not to consider herself in a state of subjection, further than as she is connected with Antony, who is Caesar's: intimating to her, (according to the instructions he had received from Cæsar, to detach Cleopatra from Antony-see p. 317,) that she might make separate and advantageous terms for herself.

I suspect that the preceding speech belongs to Cleopatra, not to Enobarbus. Printers usually keep the names of the persons who appear in each scene, ready composed; in consequence of which, speeches are often attributed to those to whom they do not belong. Is it probable that Enobarbus should presume to interfere here? The whole dialogue naturally proceeds between Cleo

CLEO.

Go on: Right royal.

THYR. He knows, that you embrace not Antony As you did love, but as you fear'd him.

CLEO.

O!

THYR. The scars upon your honour, therefore, he Does pity, as constrained blemishes,

Not as deserv'd.

CLEO.

He is a god, and knows

What is most right: Mine honour was not yielded, But conquer'd merely.

ENO.

To be sure of that, [Aside.

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I will ask Antony.-Sir, sir, thou'rt so leaky,
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee 6.

THYR.

[Exit ENOBARbus. Shall I say to Cæsar

What you require of him? for he partly begs
To be desir'd to give. It much would please him,
That of his fortunes you should make a staff

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patra and Thyreus, till Enobarbus thinks it necessary to attend to his own interest, and says what he speaks when he goes out. The plural number, (us,) which suits Cleopatra, who throughout the play assumes that royal style, strengthens my conjecture. The words, our master," it may be said, are inconsistent with this supposition; but I apprehend, Cleopatra might have thus described Antony, with sufficient propriety. They are afterwards explained: "Whose he is, we are." Antony was the master of her fate. MALONE.

Enobarbus, who is the buffoon of the play, has already pre-) sumed [see p. 228,] to interfere between the jarring Triumvirs, and might therefore have been equally flippant on the occasion before us. For this reason, as well as others, I conceive the speech in question to have been rightly appropriated in the old copy. What a diminution of Shakspeare's praise would it be, if four lines that exactly suit the mouth of Enobarbus, could come with equal propriety from the lips of Cleopatra! STEEVENS.

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that you EMBRACE not-] The author probably wroteembrac'd. MALONE.

6 thou'rt so leaky, &c.

Thy dearest QUIT thee.] So, in The Tempest:

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A rotten carcase of a boat

the very rats

"Instinctively had quit it-." STEEVENS.

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