NOTE B

The scene is the first of the third Act. Here Ventidius says:

Caesar and Antony have ever won

More in their officer than person: Sossius,

One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,

For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achieved by the minute, lost his favour.

Plutarch (North, sec. 19) says that 'Sossius, one of Antonius'

lieutenants in Syria, did notable good service,' but I cannot find in

him the further statement that Sossius lost Antony's favour. I presume

it is Shakespeare's invention, but I call attention to it on the bare

chance that it may be found elsewhere than in Plutarch, when it would

point to Shakespeare's use of a second authority.

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