Thou art sure to lose; and, of that natural luck, He beats thee 'gainst the odds; thy lustre thickens1, When he shines by: I say again, thy spirit

Is all afraid to govern thee near him;

But, he away 2, tis noble.

ANT.

Get thee gone:

Say to Ventidius, I would speak with him :

[Exit Soothsayer. He shall to Parthia.-Be it art, or hap, He hath spoken true: The very dice obey him And, in our sports, my better cunning faints Under his chance: if we draw lots, he speeds: His cocks do win the battle still of mine, When it is all to nought; and his quails' ever Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds*. I will to Egypt:

I

So, in Macbeth:
STEEVENS.

thy LUSTRE thickens,]
light thickens-."

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2 But, he AWAY,] Old copy-alway. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

3 his quails-] The ancients used to match quails as we match cocks.

JOHNSON.

So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "For, it is said, that as often as they two drew cuts for pastime, who should haue any thing, or whether they plaied at dice, Antonius alway lost. Oftentimes when they were disposed to see cockefight, or quailes that were taught to fight one with another, Cæsars cockes or quailes did euer ouercome." STEEVENS.

4

INHOOP'D, at odds.] Thus the old copy. Inhoop'd is inclosed, confined, that they may fight. The modern editions read: "Beat mine, in whoop'd-at odds." JOHNSON. Shakspeare gives us the practice of his own time; and there is no occasion for in whoop'd at, or any other alteration. John Davies begins one of his Epigrams upon Proverbs:

"He sets cocke on the hoope, in, you would say ;

"For cocking in hoopes is now all the play." FARMER. The attempt at emendation, however, deserves some respect; as, in As You Like It, Celia says: - and after that out of all whooping." STEEVENS.

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At odds was the phraseology of Shakspeare's time. So, in Mortimeriados, by Michael Drayton, no date:

"She straight begins to bandy him about,

"At thousand odds, before the set goes out." MALONE.

And though I make this marriage for my peace,

Enter VENTIDIUS.

I' the east my pleasure lies :-O, come, Ventidius, You must to Parthia; your commission's ready: Follow me, and receive it.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The Same. A Street.

Enter LEPIDUS, MECENAS, and AGRIPPA.

LEP. Trouble yourselves no further: pray you, hasten

Your generals after.

AGR.

Sir, Mark Antony

Will e'en but kiss Octavia, and we'll follow.

LEP. Till I shall see you in your soldier's dress, Which will become you both, farewell.

MEC.

As I conceive the journey, be at Mount 5
Before you, Lepidus.

LEP.

My purposes do draw me much about;

We shall,

Your way is shorter,

You'll win two days upon me.

MEC. AGR.

LEP. Farewell.

5 at Mount] i. e. Mount Misenum. STEEvens. Our author probably wrote-a' the mount. MALOne.

SCENE V.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRa, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas. CLEO. Give me some musick; musick, moody food 6

Of us that trade in love.

ATTEND.

The musick, ho!

Enter MARDIAN.

CLEO. Let it alone; let us to billiards": Come, Charmian.

CHAR. My arm is sore, best play with Mardian. CLEO. As well a woman with an eunuch play'd, As with a woman;-Come, you'll play with me, sir? MAR. As well as I can, madam.

CLEO. And when good will is show'd, though it come too short,

The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now:Give me mine angle,-We'll to the river: there,

6 musick, MOODY food -] The mood is the mind, or mental disposition. Van Haaren's panegyrick on the English begins, "Grootmoedig Volk [great minded nation]." Perhaps here is a poor jest intended between mood the mind and moods of musick. JOHNSON.

Moody, in this instance, means melancholy. Cotgrave explains moody, by the French words, morne and trifle. STEEVENS. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

"Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,

But moody and dull melancholy?" MALONE.

7-let us to BILLIARDS:] This is one of the numerous anachronisms that are found in these plays. This game was not known in ancient times. MALONE.

8 And when good will is show'd, though it come too short, The actor may plead pardon.] A similar sentiment has already appeared in A Midsummer-Night's Dream :

"For never any thing can be amiss,

"When simpleness and duty tender it." STEEVENS.

My musick playing far off, I will betray

Tawny-finn'd fishes'; my bended hook shall pierce Their slimy jaws; and, as I draw them up,

I'll think them every one an Antony,

And say, Ah, ha! you're caught.

'Twas merry, when

CHAR.
You wager'd on your angling; when your diver
Did hang a salt-fish on his hook, which he
With fervency drew up.

1

CLEO. That time!-O times!I laugh'd him out of patience; and that night I laugh'd him into patience and next morn, Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed; Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst I wore his sword Philippan 2. O! from Italy?—

Enter a Messenger.

Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears,

9 Tawny-finn'd fishes ;] The first copy reads:

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Tawny fine fishes." JOHNSON. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

'Did hang a salt-fish, &c.] This circumstance is likewise taken from Sir Thomas North's translation of the life of Antony in Plutarch. STEEVENS.

I wore his sword Philippan.] We are not to suppose, nor is there any warrant from history, that Antony had any particular sword so called. The dignifying weapons, in this sort, is a custom of much more recent date. This therefore seems a compliment à posteriori. We find Antony, afterwards, in this play, boasting of his own prowess at Philippi:

"Ant. Yes, my lord, yes; he at Philippi kept "His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck "The lean and wrinkled Cassius," &c.

That was the greatest action of Antony's life; and therefore this seems a fine piece of flattery, intimating, that this sword ought to be denominated from that illustrious battle, in the same manner as modern heroes in romances are made to give their swords pompous names. THEOBALD.

3 RAM thou thy fruitful tidings-] Shakspeare probably

That long time have been barren.

MESS.

CLEO. Antony's dead?

Madam, madam,

If thou say so, villain, thou kill'st thy mistress:
But well and free *,

If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here

My bluest veins to kiss; a hand, that kings
Have lipp'd, and trembled kissing.

MESS. First, madam, he is well.
CLEO.

But, sirrah, mark, we use

Why, there's more gold.

wrote, (as Sir T. Hanmer observes,) "Rain thou," &c. Rain agrees better with the epithets fruitful and barren. So, in Timon: "Rain sacrificial whisp'rings in his ear:

Again, in The Tempest:

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Heavens rain grace!" STEEVENS.

I suspect no corruption. The term employed in the text is much in the style of the speaker; and is supported incontestably by a passage in Julius Cæsar:

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I go to meet

"The noble Brutus, thrusting this report

"Into his ears."

Again, in Cymbeline:

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say, and speak thick,

"(Love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing,
"To the smothering of the sense,) how far," &c.

Again, in The Tempest:

"You cram these words into my ears, against

"The stomach of my sense." MALONE.

Ram is a vulgar word, never used in our author's plays, but once by Falstaff, where he describes his situation in the buckbasket. In the passage before us, it is evidently a misprint for rain. The quotation from Julius Cæsar does not support the old reading at all, the idea being perfectly distinct. RITSON. Ramm'd, however, occurs in King John:

"Have we ramm'd up your gates against the world."

STEEVENS.

4 But well and free, &c.] This speech is but coldly imitated by Beaumont and Fletcher, in The False One:

"Cleop. What of him? Speak: if ill, Apollodorus,

"It is my happiness: and for thy news

"Receive a favour kings have kneel'd in vain for,
"And kiss my hand." STEEVENS.