I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart
And answer me declin'd]
I require of Caesar not to depend on that superiority which the
_comparison_ of our different fortunes may exhibit to him, but to answer
me man to man, in this decline of my age or power.
III.xiii.42 (202,6) The loyalty, well held to fools, does make/Our faith
meer folly] [T: Though loyalty, well held] I have preserved the old
reading: Enobarbus is deliberating upon desertion, and finding it is
more prudent to forsake a fool, and more reputable to be faithful to
him, makes no positive conclusion. Sir T. Hanmer follows Theobald; Dr.
Warburton retains the old reading.
III.xiii.77 (204,9) Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear/The
doom of Aegypt] _Doom_ is declared rather by an _all-commanding_, than
an _all-obeying breath_. I suppose we ought to read,
--_all_-obeyed breath.
III.xiii.81 (205,1) Give me grace] Grant me the favour.
III.xiii.109 (206,3) By one that looks on feeders?] One that waits at
the table while others are eating.
III.xiii.128 (207,4) The horned herd] It is not without pity and
indignation that the reader of this great poet meets so often with this
low jest, which is too much a favourite to be left out of either mirth
or fury.
III.xiii.151 (208,5) to quit me] To repay me this insult; to _requite_
me.
III.xiii.180 (209,9) Were nice and lucky] [_Nice_, for delicate,
courtly, flowing in peace. WARBURTON.] _Nice_ rather seems to be, _just
fit for my purpose, agreeable to my wish_. So we vulgarly say of any
thing that is done better than was expected, it is _nice_.
IV.i.5 (210,1) I have many other ways to die] [Upton: He hath.../I
laugh] I think this emendation deserves to be received. It had, before
Mr. Upton's book appeared, been made by sir T. Hanmer.
IV.i.9 (211,2) Make boot of] Take advantage of.
IV.ii.8 (212,3) _take all_] Let the survivor take all. No composition,
victory or death.
IV.ii.14 (212,4) one of those odd tricks] I know not what obscurity the
editors find in this passage. _Trick_ is here used in the sense in which
it is uttered every day by every mouth, elegant and vulgar: yet sir T.
Hanmer changes it to _freaks_, and Dr. Warburton, in his rage of
Gallicism, to _traits_.
IV.ii.26 (213,5) Haply, you shall not see me more; or if,/A mangled
shadow] _Or if_ you see me more, you will see me _a mangled shadow_,
only the external form of what I was.
IV.ii.35 (213,6) onion-ey'd] I have my eyes as full of tears as if they
had been fretted by onions.
IV.iv.3 (215,8) Come, good fellow, put thine iron on] I think it should
be rather,
--mine _iron_--
IV.iv.5 (215,9) Nay, I'll help too] These three little speeches, which
in the other editions are only one, and given to Cleopatra, were happily
disentangled by sir T. Hanmer.
IV.iv.10 (215,1) Briefly, sir] That is, _quickly_, sir.
IV.v.17 (218,3) Dispatch. Enobarbus!] Thus [_Dispatch, my Eros_] the
modern editors. The old edition reads,
--_Dispatch Enobarbus_.
Perhaps, it should be,
--_Dispatch! To Enobarbus!_ (see 1765, VII, 208, 3)
IV.vi.12 (219,6) persuade] The old copy has _dissuade_, perhaps rightly.
IV.vi.34 (219,7) This blows my heart] All the latter editions have,
--_This_ bows _my heart_;
I have given the original word again the place from which I think it
unjustly excluded. _This generosity_, (says Enobarbus) swells _my
heart_, so that it will quickly break, _if thought break it not, a
swifter mean_.
IV.vii.2 (220,8) and our oppression] Sir T. Hanmer has received
_opposition_. Perhaps rightly.
IV.viii.1 (221,9) run one before,/And let the queen know of our guests]
[W: gests] This passage needs neither correction nor explanation. Antony
after his success intends to bring his officers to sup with Cleopatra,
and orders notice to be given her of their _guests_.
IV.viii.12 (222,1) To this great fairy] Mr. Upton has well observed,
that _fairy_; which Dr. Warburton and sir T. Hanmer explain by
_Inchantress_, comprises the idea of power and beauty.
IV.viii.22 (222,2) get goal for goal of youth] At all plays of barriers,
the boundary is called a _goal_; to _win a goal_, is to be superiour in
a contest of activity.
IV.viii.31 (223,4) Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them]
i.e. hack'd as much as the men are to whom they belong. WARB.] Why not
rather, _Bear our hack'd targets_ with spirit and exaltation, such as
becomes the brave warriors _that own them_?