Cas. Most certain. Sister, welcome: pray you, Be ever known to patience. My dear'st sister! [Exeunt. SCENE VII. Antony's Camp near the Promontory of Actium. Enter CLEOPATRA and ENOBAREUS. Cleo. I will be even with thee, doubt it not. Eno. But, why, why, why? Cleo. Thou hast forspoke1 my being in these wars; And say'st, it is not fit. Eno. Well, is it, is it? Cleo. If not denounced against us,2 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 lost. ? Cleo. Traduced for levity and 't is said in Rome, That Photinus an eunuch and your maids Cleo. Sink Rome! and their tongues rot That speak against us! A charge we bear i' the war, Forspoke.] Spoken against; forbidden. 2 If not denounced against us.] Perhaps Shakspeare wrote, as Staunton well suggests, 'If not, denounce 't against us why,' &c. that is, if it be not fit, declare in reply to us why, &c. 3 Merely.] Absolutely. Puzzle.] Distract. Appear there for a man. Speak not against it; That from Tarentum and Brundusium, He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea, And take in1 Toryne?—You have heard on 't, sweet? Than by the negligent. Which might have well becomed the best of men, To taunt at slackness.-Canidius, we Will fight with him by sea. Cleo. By sea! what else? For that he dares us to 't. Can. Why will my lord do so? Eno. So hath my lord dared him to single fight. Eno. Your ships are not well manned,— Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people Ingrossed by swift impress; 2 in Cæsar's fleet Take in.] Take; subdue. See Extracts from Plutarch, 32. 2 Ingrossed by swift impress.] Levied in great haste. Yare.] Easy of steerage; nimble. • Fall you.] Befall you. Ant. By sea, by sea. 1 Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away Cleo. I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better. And, with the rest full-manned, from the head of Actium We then can do 't at land. Enter a Messenger. Thy business? Mess. The news is true, my lord; he is descried; Ant. Can he be there in person? 't is impossible; Enter a Soldier. How now, worthy soldier! Sold. O, noble emperor, do not fight by sea; 1 War-marked footmen.] War-tested infantry. 2 His power.] His forces. Thetis.] Goddess of the sea. O noble emperor, &c.] See Extracts from Plutarch, 35. Trust not to rotten planks: do you misdoubt This sword and these my wounds? Let the Egyptians Have used to conquer, standing on the earth, And fighting foot to foot. Ant. Well, well, away! [Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and ENOBAR"US Sold. By Hercules, I think I am i' the right. 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 :2 But we keep whole by land. This speed of Cæsar's Enter a Messenger. Mess. The emperor calls Canidius. Can. With news the time 's with labour, and throes forth, Each minute, some. [Exeunt. 1 His whole action, &c.] No part of his conduct proceeds from the force of his own mind. 2 Marcus Octavius, &c.] Extracts from Plutarch, 36. 3 Distractions.] Detachments. With labour.] In labour. SCENE VIII.-A Plain near Actium. Enter CESAR, TAURUS, Officers, and others. Strike not by land; keep whole; [Exeunt. Provoke not battle till we have done at sea. Do not exceed the prescript of this scroll: SCENE IX.-Another Part of the Plain. Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS. Ant. Set we our squadrons on yond side o' the hill, In eye of Cæsar's battle; from which place We may the number of the ships behold, And so proceed accordingly. SCENE X.-Another Part of the Plain. [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 out, is heard the noise of a sea-fight. Eno. Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer : The Antoniad,3 the Egyptian admiral, This jump.] This juncture or hazard. ་ 2 Battle.] Army. Octavius, lead your battle softly on.' Julius Cæsar, v. 1. The Antoniad.] Cleopatra's ship. See p. 117, note 2, and Extracts from Plutarch, 37. |