By Hercules, I think, I am i' the right.
Can. Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows
Not in the power on't]
That is, his whole conduct becomes, ungoverned by the right, or by
reason.
III.vii.77 (191,2) distractions] Detachments; separate bodies.
III.x.6 (193,4) The greater cantle] [A piece or lump. POPE.] _Cantle_ is
rather a _corner_. Caesar in this play mentions the _three-nook'd
world_. Of this triangular world every triumvir had a corner. (see 1765,
VII, 185, 6)
III.x.9 (193,5) token'd pestilence] Spotted.
III.x.10 (193,6) Yon' ribauld nag of Aegypt] The word is in the old
edition _ribaudred_, which I do not understand, but mention it, in hopes
others may raise some happy conjecture. [Tyrwhitt: hag] The brieze, or
oestrum, the fly that stings cattle, proves that _nag_ is the right
word. (1773)
III.x.11 (193,7) Whom leprosy o'ertake!] _Leprosy_, an epidemical
distemper of the Aegyptians; to which Horace probably alludes in the
controverted line.
_Contaminato cum grege turpium
Morbo virorum._
III.x.36 (195,1) The wounded chance of Antony] I know not whether the
author, who loves to draw his images from the sports of the field, might
not have written,
_The wounded_ chase _of Antony_,--
The allusion is to a deer wounded and chased, whom all other deer avoid.
_I will_, says Enobarbus, _follow Antony_, though _chased_ and
_wounded_.
The common reading, however, may very well stand.
III.xi.3 (195,2) so lated in the world] Alluding to a benighted
traveller.
III.xi.23 (196,3) I have lost command] I am not master of my own
emotions.
III.xi.35 (196,4) He at Philippi kept/His sword e'en like a dancer] In
the Moriaco, and perhaps anciently in the Pyrrhick dance, the dancers
held swords in their hands with the points upward.
III.xi.39 (196,6) he alone/Dealt on lieutenantry] I know not whether the
meaning is, that Caesar acted only as lieutenant at Philippi, or that he
made his attempts only on lieutenants, and left the generals to Antony.
III.xi.47 (197,7) death will seize her; but/Your comfort] _But_ has
here, as once before in this play, the force of _except_, or _unless_.
III.ii.52 (197,8) How I convey my shame] How, by looking another way, I
withdraw my ignominy from your sight.
III.ii.57 (197,9) ty'd by the strings] That is by the _heart string_.
III.xii.18 (199,1) The circle of the Ptolemies] The diadem; the ensign
of royalty.
III.xii.34 (199,2) how Antony becomes his flaw] That is, how Antony
conforms himself to this breach of his fortune.
III.xiii.1 (200,3) Think, and die] [Hanmer: Drink] This reading, offered
by sir T. Hanmer, is received by Dr. Warburton and Mr. Upton, but I have
not advanced it into the page, not being convinced that it is necessary.
_Think, and die_; that is, _Reflect on your folly, and leave the world_,
is a natural answer.
III.xiii.9 (201,4) he being/The meered question] The _meered_ question
is a term I do not understand. I know not what to offer, except,
_The_ mooted _question_.--
That is, the _disputed_ point, the subject of debate. _Mere_ is indeed a
_boundary_, and the _meered question_, if it can mean any thing, may,
with some violence of language, mean, the _disputed boundary_.