* ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.] Among the entries in the books of the Stationers' Company, October 19, 1593, I find "A Booke entituled the Tragedie of Cleopatra." It is entered by Symon Waterson, for whom some of Daniel's works were printed; and therefore it is probably by that author, of whose Cleopatra there are several editions; and, among others, one in 1594. In the same volumes, May 20, 1608, Edward Blount entered "A Booke called Anthony and Cleopatra." This is the first notice I have met with concerning any edition of this play more ancient than the folio, 1623. STEEVENS. Antony and Cleopatra was written, I imagine, in the year 1608. MALONE. } Menecrates, Friends of Pompey. Taurus, Lieutenant-General to Cæsar. Canidius, Lieutenant-General to Antony. Euphronius, an Ambassador from Antony to Cæsar. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Octavia, Sister to Cæsar, and Wife to Antony. Iras, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE, dispersed; in several Parts of the Roman Empire. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. ACT I. SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's, O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes, That o'er the files and musters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, The office and devotion of their view Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come! Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Take but good note, and you shall see in him 2 Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see. 1 Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. reneges Renounces. The triple pillar-] Triple is here used improperly for third, or one of three. One of the triumvirs, one of the three masters of the world. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon❜d. Cleo. I'll set a bourn3 how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. Enter an Attendant. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. 5 Grates me:-The sum.* Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Ant. How, my love! Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch bourn The sum. -] Bound or limit. [Embracing, n.] Be brief, sum thy business in a few words. Nay, hear them,] i. e. the news. This word, in Shakspeare's time, was considered as plural. • Take in, &c.] i. e. subdue, conquer. "Where's Fulvia's process?] Process here means summons, And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind Cleo. Excellent falshood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?- Will be himself. Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra. Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours, Let's not confound the time' with conference harsh : There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now: What sport to night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fye, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, To weep; whose every passion fully strives To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and note Exeunt ANT. and CLEOP. with their Train. 8 Dem. to weet,] To know. I'm full sorry, 9 Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours,] For the love of Love, means, for the sake of the queen of love. 'Let's not confound the time-] i. e. let us not consume the time. 2 No messenger; but thine and all alone, &c.] Cleopatra has said, "Call in the messengers ;" and afterwards," Hear the ambassadors." Talk not to me, says Antony, of messengers; I am now wholly thine, and you and I unattended will to-night wander through the streets. |