Cleo. If not denounced against us, why should

not we

Be there in person?

Eno. [Aside.] Well, I could reply;

If we should serve with horse and mares together, The horse were merely 2 lost; the mares would bear A soldier, and his horse.

Cleo.

What is't you say?

Eno. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony; Take from his heart, take from his brain, from his time, What should not then be spared. He is already Traduced for levity; and 'tis said in Rome,

That Photinus an eunuch, and your maids,
Manage this war.

Sink Rome; and their tongues rot,
A charge we bear i'the war,
my kingdom, will
Speak not against it

Cleo.
That speak against us!
And, as the president of
Appear there for a man.
I will not stay behind.
Eno.
Here comes the

emperor.

Nay, I have done.

Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS.

Ant. Is't not strange, Canidius,
That from Tarentum, and Brundusium,
He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea,

it;

And take in 3 Toryne?-You have heard on't, sweet? Cleo. Celerity is never more admired,

Than by the negligent.

Ant.

A good rebuke,

Which might have well becomed the best of men,
To taunt at slackness. Canidius, we

Will fight with him by sea.

1 Steevens reads, "Is't not? Denounce against us, why," &c. Malone explains the reading of the old copy thus:-"If there be no particular denunciation against us, why should we not be there in person?" Mr. Singer proposes to read, "Is't (i. e. the war) not denounced against us? Why should not we," &c.

2 i. e. entirely.

3 Take, subdue.

VOL. VI.

20

Cleo.

By sea! What else?

Can. Why will my lord do so?

Ant.

For that he dares us to't. Eno. So hath my lord dared him to single fight.

Can. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia, Where Cæsar fought with Pompey; but these offers, Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off; And so should you.

Eno.

Your ships are not well manned; Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people Engrossed by swift impress. In Cæsar's fleet Are those that often have 'gainst Pompey fought; Their ships are yare; yours, heavy. No disgrace Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,

2

Being prepared for land.

Ant.

By sea, by sea.

Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away
The absolute soldiership you have by land;
Distract your army, which doth most consist
Of war-marked footmen; leave unexecuted
Your own renowned knowledge; quite forego
The way which promises assurance; and
Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard,
From firm security.

Ant.

I'll fight at sea.

Cleo. I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better. Ant. Our overplus of shipping will we burn; And, with the rest full manned, from the head of Actium Beat the approaching Cæsar. But if we fail,

Enter a Messenger.

We then can do't at land.-Thy business?

Mess. The news is true, my lord; he is descried; Cæsar has taken Toryne.

Ant. Can he be there in person? 'tis impossible; Strange, that his power should be.-Canidius,

1 i. e. cause that, or that is the cause.

2 Yare is quick, nimble, ready.

Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land,

And our twelve thousand horse. We'll to our ship;

Enter a Soldier.

Away, my Thetis !-How now, worthy soldier?
Sold. O noble emperor, do not fight by sea;
Trust not to rotten planks. Do
Do you misdoubt
This sword, and these my wounds? Let the Egyptians,
And the Phoenicians, go a ducking; we

Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,
And fighting foot to foot.

Ant.

Well, well, away.

[Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and ENOBARBUS.

Sold. By Hercules, I think I am i' the right. Can. Soldier, thou art; but his whole action grows Not in the power on't.' So our leader's led,

And we are women's men.

Sold.

You keep by land

The legions and the horse whole, do you not?

Can. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius,

Publicola, and Cælius, are for sea;

But we keep whole by land. This speed of Cæsar's

2

Carries beyond belief.

Sold.

His power went out in such distractions, as

Beguiled all spies.

Can.

While he was yet in Rome,

Who's his lieutenant, hear you?

Well I know the man.

Sold. They say, one Taurus.

Can.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. The emperor calls Canidius.

1 "His whole conduct in the war is not founded upon that which is his greatest strength (namely, his land-force), but on the caprice of a woman, who wishes that he should fight by sea.'

2 i. e. passes all belief.

3 Detachments, separate bodies.

Can. With news the time's with labor; and throes

forth,

Each minute, some.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VIII. A Plain near Actium.

Enter CESAR, TAURUS, Officers, and others.

Cas. Taurus,

Taur.

Cæs.

My lord.

Strike not by land; keep whole:

Provoke not battle, till we have done at sea.

Do not exceed the prescript of this scroll.
Our fortune lies upon this jump.1

In

Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.

[Exeunt.

Ant. Set we our squadrons on yon' side o' the hill, eye of Cæsar's battle; from which place

We may the number of the ships behold,

And so proceed accordingly.

[Exeunt.

Enter CANIDIUS, marching with his Land-Army one way over the stage; and TAURUs, the Lieutenant of Cæsar, the other way. After their going in, is heard the noise of a sea-fight.

Alarum. Re-enter ENOBARBUS.

Eno. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer.

2

The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,

With all their sixty, fly, and turn the rudder;
To see't, mine eyes are blasted.

1 i. e. this hazard.

2 The Antoniad, Plutarch says, was the name of Cleopatra's ship.

Scar.

Enter SCARUS.

All the whole synod of them!

Eno.

Gods and goddesses,

What's thy passion ?

Scar. The greater cantle1 of the world is lost With very ignorance; we have kissed away Kingdoms and provinces.

Eno.

How appears the fight?

Scar. On our side like the tokened 2 pestilence, Where death is sure. Yon ribaudred hag3 of Egypt, Whom leprosy o'ertake! i'the midst o'the fight,When vantage like a pair of twins appeared,

Both as the same, or rather ours the elder,

4

The brize upon her, like a cow in June,

Hoists sails, and flies.

Eno. That I beheld;

Mine eyes did sicken at the sight, and could not

Endure a further view.

Scar.

She once being loofed,5

The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,

Claps on his sea-wing, and like a doting mallard,
Leaving the fight in height, flies after her.

I never saw an action of such shame;
Experience, manhood, honor, ne'er before
Did violate so itself.

1 A cantle is a portion, a scantling, a fragment; it also signified a corner, and a quarter-piece of any thing. It is from the old French chantel or eschantille.

2 The death of those visited by the plague was certain, when particular eruptions appeared on the skin; and these were called God's tokens.

3 The old copy reads, "ribaudred nag, which was altered by Steevens and Malone into "ribald-rid nag," but quite unnecessarily. Ribaudred is obscene, indecent in words or acts. Thus Baret:-" A ribaudrous and filthie tongue; os obscænum et impudicum. Ribaudrie, villanie in actes or wordes, filthiness, uncleanness." And in Horman's Vulgaria :-"Refrayne fro suche foule and rebaudry wordes." Mr. Tyrwhitt saw that the context required we should read hag instead of nag, which was an easy typographical error.

4 The brize is the œstrum, or gadfly, so troublesome to cattle in the summer months.

5 To loof is to bring a ship close to the wind. This expression is in the old translation of Plutarch.