Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here, Bru. Farewell to you;-and you;-and you,

Volumnius.

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee, too, Strato. - Countrymen,
My heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life,
I found no man, but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius, and Mark Antony,
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
So, fare you well at once: for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history.

Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,
That have but labored to attain this hour.

[Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly.

Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.

Bru.

:

Hence; I will follow.

[Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and

VOLUMNIUS.

I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord.
Thou art a fellow of a good respect;
Thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it.
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

Stra. Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my

lord.

Bru. Farewell, good Strato. Cæsar, now be still: I killed not thee with half so good a will.

[He runs on his sword and dies.

Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their army.

Oct. What man is that?

Mes. My master's man. - Strato, where is thy mas

ter?

Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala ;

The conquerors can but make a fire of him;

For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honor by his death.

Luc. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee,

Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.

Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them.

Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer1 me to you.

Oct. Do so, good Messala.

Mes.

How died my master, Strato?

Strat. I held the sword, and he did run on it.
Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee,

That did the latest service to my master.

Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all.

All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He, only, in a general, honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man!

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, ordered honorably.-
So, call the field to rest; and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

AFTER a perusal of this play, the reader will, I doubt not, be surprised when he sees what Johnson has asserted that "its power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of the scene; "-and that "no character is very strongly discriminated." If our great Poet has one supereminent dramatic quality in perfection, it is that of being able "to go out of himself at pleasure, to inform and animate other existences." It is true, that, in the number of characters, many persons of historical importance are merely introduced as passing shadows in the scene; but "the principal personages are most emphatically distinguished by lineament and coloring, and powerfully arrest the imagination." The character of Cleopatra is indeed a masterpiece; though Johnson pronounces that she is "only distinguished by feminine arts, some of which are too low." It is true that her seductive arts are in no respect veiled over; but she is still the gorgeous Eastern queen, remarkable for the fascination of her manner, if not for the beauty of her person; and though she is vain, ostentatious, fickle, and luxurious, there is that heroic, regal dignity about her, which makes us, like Antony, forget her defects :

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
Th' appetites they feed; but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies."

The mutual passion of herself and Antony is without moral dignity, yet it excites our sympathy:-they seem formed for each other. Cleopatra is no less remarkable for her seductive charms, than Antony for the splendor of his martial achievements. Her death, too, redeems one part of her character, and obliterates all faults.

Warburton has observed that Antony was Shakspeare's hero; and the defects of his character, a lavish and luxurious spirit, seem almost virtues when opposed to the heartless and narrow-minded littleness of Octavius Cæsar. But the ancient historians, his flatterers, had delivered the latter down ready cut and dried for a hero; and Shakspeare has extricated himself with great address from the dilemma. He has admitted all those great strokes of his character as he found them, and yet has made him a very unamiable character, deceitful, mean-spirited, proud, and revengeful.

Schlegel attributes this to the penetration of Shakspeare, who was not to be led astray by the false glitter of historic fame, but saw through the disguise thrown around him by his successful fortunes, and distinguished in Augustus a man of little mind.

Malone places the composition of this play in 1608. No previous edition to that of the folio of 1623 has been hitherto discovered; but there is an entry of " A Booke called Antony and Cleopatra," to Edward Blount, in 1608, on the Stationers' books.

Shakspeare followed Plutarch, and appears to have been anxious to introduce every incident and every personage he met with in his historian. Plutarch mentions Lamprias, his grandfather, as authority for some of the stories he relates of the profuseness and luxury of Antony's entertainments at Alexandria. In the stage direction of Scene 2, Act i., in the old copy, Lamprias, Ramnus, and Lucilius, are made to enter with the rest; but they have no part in the dialogue, nor do their names appear in the list of Dramatis Personæ.

THYREUS,

GALLUS,

MENAS,

}

ΑΝΤΟΝΥ AND CLEOPATRA.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace.

Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.

Philo. 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 glowed 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
The buckles on his breast, reneges1 all temper;
And is become the bellows, and the fan,

To cool a gypsy's lust. Look, where they come !

Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their
Trains; Eunuchs fanning her.

Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.