tony will use his affection where it is; he married but his occasion here. Men. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you. Eno. I shall take it, sir we have used our throats in [Exeunt. SCENE VII. On board POMPEY's Galley, lying near Misenum. Music. Enter two or three Servants, with a banquet. 1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o'their plants* are ill-rooted already, the least wind in the world will blow them down. 2 Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured. 1 Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink.3 2 Serv. As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out, no more; reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink. 1 Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion. 2 Serv. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship: I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service, as a partizan I could not heave." 1 Serv. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks. A Sennet sounded. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains. tin. Ant. Thus do they, sir: [To CESAR.] They take the flow o'the Nile [4] Plants, besides its common meaning, is here used for the feet, from the LaJOHNSON. [5] Alms-drink---a phrase amongst good fellows, to signify that liquor of another's share which his companion drinks to ease him. But it satirically alludes to Cæsar and Antony's admitting him into the triumvirate, in order to take off from themselves the load of envy. WARBURTON. [6] A phrase equivalent to that now in use, of Touching one in a sore place. A partizan---a pike. JOHNSON. WARBURTON. This speech seems to be mutilated; to supply the deficiencies is impossible, but perhaps the sense was originally approaching to this. "To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in it, is a very ignominious state; great offices are the holes where eyes should be, which, if eyes be wanting, pitifully disJOHNSON. aster the cheeks." By certain scales i'the pyramid; they know, Lep. You have strange serpents there. Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile. Ant. They are so. Pom. Sit, and some wine.-A health to Lepidus. Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out. Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me, you'll be in, till then. Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies pyramises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that. Men. Pompey, a word. Pom. Say in mine ear: What is't? [Aside. [Aside. Men. Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain, And hear me speak a word. Pom. Forbear me till anon. This wine for Lepidus. Lep. What manner o'thing is your crocodile ? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath breadth it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates. : Lep. What colour is it of? Ant. Of its own colour too. And the tears of it are wet. Cas. Will this description satisfy him? Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure. Pom. [To MENUS aside.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away! [8] Foizon is a French word signifying plenty, abundance. I am told that it is still in common use in the North. STEEVENS. [9] Pyramis for pyramids was in common use in our author's time. From this word Shakespeare formed the English plural, pyramises, to mark the indistinct pronunciation of a man nearly intoxicated whose tongue is now beginning to "split what it speaks." In other places he has introduced the Latin plural pyramides, which was constantly used by our ancient writers. MALONE. Do as I bid you.-Where's this cup I call'd for? Pom. I think, thou'rt mad. The matter? [Aside. [Rises, and walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith: What's else to say Be jolly, lords. ? Ant. These quick-sands, Lepidus, Keep off them, for you sink. Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world? Pom. What say'st thou ? Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That's twice. Pom. How should that be? Men. But entertain it, and, Although thou think me poor, I am the man Will give thee all the world. Pom. Hast thou drunk well? Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove; Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips, Is thine, if thou wilt have't. Pom. Show me which way. Men. These three world-sharers, these competitors, Are in thy vessel: Let me cut the cable; And, when we are put off, fall to their throats. Pom. Ah, this thou should'st have done, Men. For this, I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.9 [Aside Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd, [8] Competitors---Confederates, partners. STEEVENS. [91 Palled--is vapid, past its time of excellence; palled wine, is wine that has lost its original sprightliness. JOHNSON. Pom. This health to Lepidus. Ant. Bear him ashore. I'll pledge it for him, Pompey. Eno. Here's to thee, Menas. Men. Enobarbus, welcome. Pom. Fill, till the cup be hid. Eno. There's a strong fellow, Menas. [Pointing to the attendant who carries off LEPIDUS. Men. Why? Eno. He bears The third part of the world, man; See'st not? Men. The third part then is drunk: Would it were all, That it might go on wheels! Eno. Drink thou; increase the reels. Men. Come. Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast. Ant. It ripens towards it.-Strike the vessels, ho!' Here is to Cæsar. Caes. I could well forbear it. It's monstrous labour, when I wash my brain, And it grows fouler. Ant. Be a child o'the time. Cas. Possess it, I'll make answer: but I had rather fast From all, four days, than drink so much in one. Eno. Ha, my brave emperor ! Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals, Pom. Let's ha't, good soldier. Ant. Come, let us all take hands ; [TO ANT. Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense Eno. All take hands. Make battery to our ears with the loud music :~~ As his strong sides can volley. [Music plays. ENO. places them hand in hand. [1] Strike the vessels---means chink the vessels one against the other as a mark of our unanimity in drinking, as we now say, chink glasses. STEEVENS. So, in one of Iago's songs: "And let me the cannikin clink." RITSON. Vessels probably meant kettle-drums, which were beaten when the health of a person of eminence was drank; immediately after we have," make battery to our ears with the loud music." They are called kettles in Hamlet: Give me the cups; And let the kettle to the trumpet speak." HOLT WHITE SONG. Come, thou monarch of the vine, Cup us, till the world go round! Cæs. What would you more ?-Pompey, good night. Let me request you off: our graver business Pom. I'll try you o'the shore. Ant. And shall, sir: give's your hand. You have my father's house,-But what? we are friends Eno. Take heed you fall not. [Exeunt Poм. CES. ANT. and Attendants. Menas, I'll not on shore.. Men. No, to my cabin. These drums!--these trumpets, flutes! what! Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell To these great fellows: Sound, and be hang'd, sound out. [A flourish of trumpets, with drums. Eno. Ho, says 'a !-There's my cap Men. Ho-noble captain! Come ! [Exeunt. [3] Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says a pink eye is a small eye, and quotes this passage for his authority. Pink eyne, however, may mean red eyes: eyes inflamed with drinking, are very well appropriated to Bacchus. So, in Julius Cæsar: such ferret and such fiery eyes." It should be observed, however, that from the following passage in P. Holland's translation of the 11th Book of Pliny's Natural History, it appears that pink-eyed signified the smallness of eyes: "also them that were pinke-eyed and had verie small eies, they termed ocella." STEEVENS. F |