ACT I., SCENE 4. P. 54. It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate Our great competitor. - The original has One instead of Our. Corrected by Heath. P. 54. Hardly gave audience, or Vouchsafed to think he had partners: you shall find there A man who is the abstract of all faults, &c.—The original has Vouchsafe and abstracts. The latter was corrected in the second fólio, which also reads Did vouchsafe. P. 55. soils. Yet must Antony No way excuse his soils, &c. - The original has foyles instead of P. 55. Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones, Call on him for't. -Collier's second folio substitutes Fall for Call. Rightly, I suspect. See, however, foot-note 5. P. 55. But to confound such time, That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud As his own state and ours! They're to be chid As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge, Pawn their experience to their present pleasure, And so rebel to judgment. — The original reads "As his owne State, and ours, 'tis to be chid: As we rate Boyes," &c. With this reading, who necessarily refers to boys; which surely cannot be right, for boys are not mature in knowledge or experience. To remove the difficulty, Hanmer substituted immature for being mature: but this disorders the sense nearly if not quite as much the other way; for boys, immature in knowledge, have not experience to pawn, nor judgment to rebel against. Mr. P. A. Daniel would read “he's to be chid," &c.; but this necessitates four other changes,—his for their in both places, and Pawns and rebels for Pawn and rebel. As the single change of 'tis to they're gives the same meaning, I prefer that one to the five which he would make. Shakespeare has repeated instances of infinitive clauses used exclamatively. In this case, I take it that the transcriber or printer did not understand the preceding exclamation, and so undertook to set things right by sophisticating the two sentences into a sort of literal continuity. P. 56. And the ebb'd man, ne'er loved till not worth love, Comes dear'd by being lack'd. The original has "till ne'er worth love," and fear'd instead of dear'd. The first correction is Malone's, the second Warburton's. P. 56. Goes to and back, lacqueying the varying tide, &c. bald. The original has "lacking the varrying tyde." P. 57. Leave thy lascivious wassails. — The original has Vassailes. Corrected by Pope. P. 57. Assemble we immediate council. first has me instead of we. P. 58. - So the second folio. The Doubt not, sir ; I know it for my bond. — The original has "I knew it." Corrected by Walker. ACT I., SCENE 5. P. 60. And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed, Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke Was beastly dumb'd by him. — Instead of arm-girt, the original has Arme-gaunt, which I can nowise interpret to any fitting sense. Warburton says, "Worn lean and thin by much service in war.” But, if that were the case, how should the poor beast "neigh so high"? Besides, it does not seem likely that Antony, with the riches of Egypt at his command, would have been riding a gaunt and overworn steed. The correction is Hanmer's. Several others have been proposed, termagant, arrogant, and rampant. See foot-note 6.—The original also has dumbe instead of dumb'd. Corrected by Theobald. P. 60. The violence of either thee becomes, So does it no man else. So the second folio. The first has man's instead of man. ACT II., SCENE I. P. 62. My power's a crescent, and my auguring hope Says it will come to th' full. The original reads "My powers are Cressent." The correction is Theobald's; who notes as follows: "It is evident beyond a doubt, that the Poet's allusion is to the Moon; and that Pompey would say, He is yet but a half-moon or crescent; but his hopes tell him that crescent will come to a full orb." P. 63. His brother warr'd upon him. So the second folio. The first has wan'd. P. 67. ACT II., SCENE 2. If you'll patch a quarrel, As matter whole you lack to make it with, It must not be with this. — The original reads "As matter whole you have to make it with." This, apparently, gives just the opposite of the sense intended. Rowe, and, after him, Dyce and the Cambridge Editors, insert not after have. I had conjectured lack, but found afterwards that I had been anticipated by an anonymous writer. See footnote 8. say Agrippa," and also has proofe instead of reproof. The first correction is Rowe's, the second Hanmer's. P. 71. Truths would be but tales, So Pope. The original is Where now half tales be truths. without but. Steevens proposed as, and Capell printed "truths would then be tales." The latter answers just as well for metre, but not, I think, for sense. P. 72. About the Mount Misenum. — The original has Mesena. Corrected by Rowe. P. 76. To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool. — The original reads "To glove the delicate cheekes." Corrected by Rowe. P. 76. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids, tended her i'the eyes, And made their bends adornings. For adornings Warburton substituted adoring, which is approved by Walker. But the change seems to me far from being an improvement: I rather agree with Heath in "doubting whether such an affected flat expression came from Shakespeare." - Dr. Ingleby, in his Shakespeare Hermeneutics, notes upon the text as follows: "We read, after Zachary Jackson, ‘made the bends' adornings.' Both the 'eyes' and 'bends' were parts of Cleopatra's barge. The eyes of a ship are the hawseholes; the bends are the wales, or thickest planks in the ship's sides. North has it, 'others tending the tackle and ropes of the barge'; which settles the question as to the meaning of eyes; and, that once settled, the other part of the interpretation is inevitable. What could the hardy soldier, Enobarbus, care for the curves of the mermaids' bodies? To us it is obvious that if the girls tended Cleopatra at the eyes, they would, there, be the natural ornaments of the bends." - Rather forced, perhaps, but ingenious enough. Still I am not sure but it may be right. See footnote 28. ACT II., SCENE 3. P. 79. I have not kept my square; but that to come Shall all be done by th' rule. Good night, dear lady. Octa. Good night, sir. - So the second folio. The first makes Octavia's speech a part of Antony's. Ritson's observation appears to be just: "Antony has already said 'Good night, sir,' to Cæsar in the first three words of his speech. The repetition would be absurd." P. 79. Would I had never come from thence, nor you hither. — So Mason. The original has thither instead of hither. The former would naturally refer to Egypt, and so give a wrong meaning. P. 79. I see it in my notion, have it not in my tongue.· So Theobald. Instead of notion, the original has motion, which Warburton explains “the divinitory agitation." The explanation is, I think, enough of itself to condemn the old reading. See foot-note I. P. 79. Thy demon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is Where Casar's is not; but, near him, thy angel Becomes a fear, as being o'erpower'd. — In the first of these lines, the second folio reads “Thy Dæmon, that's thy spirit," &c.; perhaps rightly. In the fourth line, Thirlby proposed to read "Becomes afeard," which some have adopted. Both of these changes are favoured by the corresponding passage in North's Plutarch: "For thy Demon, said he (that is to say, the good angel, and spirit that keepeth thee) is affraied of his; and being coragious and high when he is alone, becometh fearful and timerous when he cometh neare unto the other." See, however, foot-note 2. Is all afraid to govern thee near him; But, he away, 'tis noble. - The original reads "But he alway 'tis Noble." Corrected by Pope. As I conceive the journey, be at th' Mount Before you, Lepidus. -So the second folio. The first reads "Be at Mount." ACT II., SCENE 5. P. 82. My music playing far off, I will betray Tawny-finn'd fishes.· The original has "Tawny fine fishes." Corrected by Theobald. P. 83. Antony's dead? If thou say so, thou villain, Thou kill'st thy mistress. — The original lacks the second thou. |