Is come, indeed,) when I should see behind me
The inevitable prosecution of

Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,

Thou then would'st kill me: do't; the time is

come:

Thou strik'st not me, 'tis Cæsar thou defeat'st.

Put colour in thy cheek.

EROS.
Shall I do that, which all the Parthian darts,
Though enemy, lost aim, and could not?

The gods withhold me!

Eros,

ANT.
Would'st thou be window'd in great Rome, and see
Thy master thus with pleach'd arms', bending down
His corrigible neck, his face subdued

To penetrative shame; whilst the wheel'd seat
Of fortunate Cæsar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued ??

EROS.

I would not see't.

ANT. Come then; for with a wound I must be

cur'd.

Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn Most useful for thy country.

There may still, however, remain a slight corruption, viz. noble instead of nobly. I would therefore read

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condemn myself to lack

"The courage

of a woman; less nobly mind

"Than she," &c.

i. e. am less nobly inclined than she is. STEEVENS.

7 - pleach'd arms,] Arms folded in each other. JOHNSON. A passage very like this occurs in Thomas Kyd's translation of Robert Garnier's Cornelia, published in 1594:

"Now shalt thou march (thy hands fast bound behind thee,)
Thy head hung down, thy cheeks with tears besprent,
"Before the victor; while thy rebel son

"With crowned front triumphing follows thee." STEEVENS. 8 His CORRIGIBLE neck,] Corrigible for corrected, and afterwards penetrative for penetrating. So Virgil has “penetrabile frigus" for "penetrans frigus," in his Georgicks. STEEVENS.

9 His baseness that ensued?] The poor conquered wretch that followed. JOHNSON.

EROS.

O, sir, pardon me.

ANT. When I did make thee free 1, swor'st thou

not then

To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once;
Or thy precedent services are all

But accidents unpurpos'd.

Draw, and come.

EROS. Turn from me then that noble counte

nance,

Wherein the worship of the whole world 2 lies.

ANT. Lo thee.

EROS. My sword is drawn.

ANT.

[Turning from him.

Then let it do at once

The thing why thou hast drawn it.

EROS.

My dear master, My captain, and my emperor! let me say, Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.

I When I did make thee free, &c.] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "Now he had a man of his called Eros, whom he loued and trusted much, and whom he had long before caused to sweare vnto him, that he should kill him when he did commaunde him and then he willed him to keepe his promise. His man drawing his sworde, lift it vp, as though he had ment to haue striken his maister: but turning his head at one side, he thrust his sword into him selfe, and fell downe dead at his maister's foote. Then said Antonius, O noble Eros, I thanke thee for this, and it is valiantly done of thee, to show me what I should do to my selfe, which thou couldest not doe for me. Therewithall he tooke his sword, and thrust it into his bellie, and so fell downe vpon a little bed. The wounde he had, killed him not presently, for the blood stinted a little when he was layed: and when he came somewhat to him selfe again, he praied them that were about him to dispatch him. But they all fled out of the chamber, and left him crying out and tormenting him selfe: vntil at last there came a secretarie vnto him called Diomedes, who was commaunded to bring him into the tombe or monument where Cleopatra was. When he heard that she was aliue, he verie earnestlie prayed his men to carie his bodie thither, and so he was caried in his men's armes into the entry of the monument." STEEVENS. the WORSHIP of the whole world —] The worship, is the dignity, the authority. JOHNSON.

2

So, in King John;

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By giving it the worship of revenge." STEEVENS, J

ANT. "Tis said, man ;-and farewell.

EROS. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? ANT.

Now, Eros. EROS. Why, there then :- [Falls on his Sword.

Thus do I escape the sorrow

Of Antony's death.

ANT.

[Dies.

Thrice nobler than myself!

Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what

I should, and thou could'st not. My queen and Eros Have, by their brave instruction, got upon me

A nobleness in record: But I will be

A bridegroom in my death, and run into't
As to a lover's bed. Come then; and, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar; to do thus

[Falling on his Sword. I learn'd of thee. How! not dead? not dead?The guard!—ho3 !—O, despatch me.

A bridegroom in my death, &c.] This thought has occurred before in Measure for Measure:

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"I will encounter darkness as a bride,

"And hug it in my arms."

Dryden's Don Sebastian has the same image, though more luxuriantly expressed:

"The sprightly bridegroom on his wedding night

"More gladly enters not the lists of love:

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Why, 'tis enjoyment to be summon'd thus." STEEVENS. Stowe, describing the execution of Sir Charles Davers, one of the Earl of Essex's associates, says, that " having put off his gown and doublet in a most cheerful manner, rather like a bridegroom than a prisoner appointed for death, he prayed very devoutly." MALONE.

4not YET dead?] Yet, which is wanting in the old copy, was supplied by Mr. Pope. STEEVENS.

5 The guard!-HO!] [Old copy-guard how.] I suspect the poet wrote:

"The guard, ho! O, despatch me! So, afterwards:

"What, ho! the emperor's guard!" In the last scene of the third Act, he has said

1 GUARD.

Enter DERCETAS and Guard.

What's the noise ?

ANT. I have done my work ill, friends; O, make

an end

Of what I have begun.

2 GUARD.

1 GUARD. And time is at his period.

ALL.

The star is fallen.

Alas, and woe!

Not I.

Exeunt Guard.

ANT. Let him that loves me, strike me dead.

1 GUARD.

2 GUARD. Nor I.

3 GUARD. Nor any one.

DER. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers

fly.

This sword but shown to Cæsar, with this tidings, Shall enter me with him.

Enter DIOMEDES.

D10. Where's Antony?

DER. There, Diomed, there.

DIO. Lives he?

Wilt thou not answer, man?

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[Exit DERCETAS.

Authority melts from me. Of late, when I cried ho, "Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth,

The same mistake has happened in The Merchant of Venice. See vol. v. p. 143, n. 2.

And twice in the original copy of Hamlet, 1604:

"Queen. Help, how!

"Pol. What how, help.”

Again, in the last Act:

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"O villainy! how, let the door be lock'd."

The emendation which I have proposed, ought therefore certainly to be admitted into the text. MALONE.

I find this emendation already admitted into the text of edition 1785. STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens should have added that it was so admitted in consequence of my having suggested it. MALONE.

ANT. Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword, and give me

Sufficing strokes for death.

DIO.

My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.

ANT. When did she send thee?

DIO.

ANT.

Most absolute lord,

Now, my lord.

Where is she?

She had a pro

Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw
(Which never shall be found,) you did suspect
She had dispos'd with Cæsar7, and that your rage
Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was

dead;

But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent
Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come,
I dread, too late.

ANT. Too late, good Diomed:-Call my guard,
I pr'ythee.

Dio. What, ho! the emperor's guard! The guard, what, ho!

Come, your lord calls.

Enter some of the Guard.

ANT. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides;

'Tis the last service that I shall command you. 1 GUARD. Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not live to wear

All your true followers out.

6 -a PROPHESYING fear-] I suppose our author designed we should read :

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-— a prophet's fear

-." STEEVENS.

7 She had DISPOS'D with Cæsar,] To dispose, in this instance, perhaps signifies to make terms, to settle matters. STEEVENS.

8 Woe are we,] Old copy-Woe, woe-. But as the second woe appears (for it spoils the verse) to have been accidentally repeated by the compositor, I have left it out. STEEVENS.