155 civilly politely
156 haltered neck neck with a noose around it
157 yare brisk, nimble
159 begged a did he beg
163 follow … triumph serve Caesar now that he’s triumphant/follow in Caesar’s triumphal procession
165 hand … lady i.e. offered for you to kiss
fever thee put you into a feverish sweat
167 thy entertainment how you were received
look make sure
173 orbs orbits/rotating transparent spheres in which stars and planets were thought to be contained
174 th’abysm the abyss
176 enfranchèd bondman freed bond slave (he had deserted Antony for Caesar)
178 quit requite, repay
181 terrene moon earthly moon (i.e. Cleopatra, associated with the moon goddess Isis)
182 portends alone foretells only (eclipses were regarded as bad omens)
183 stay his time wait until he’s finished
184 mingle eyes exchange glances
185 ties his points does up Caesar’s points (laces with metal tags, used for fastening clothes)
191 in my neck on my head/down my throat
determines comes to an end, melts
192 Caesarion Cleopatra’s son by Julius Caesar
195 discandying melting
pelleted consisting of pellets, hail
197 buried … prey i.e. eaten them
199 sets down encamps
200 oppose his fate do battle with his destiny
202 fleet is afloat
sea-like like the sea itself/seaworthy and shipshape
205 in blood bloodstained from battle/in full vigor/sexually aroused
206 chronicle place in history
209 treble-sinewed, hearted, breathed three times myself in muscle, heart, and breath
210 maliciously fiercely
211 nice extravagant, pampered/lascivious
men … jests I allowed captives to be redeemed for trifles
214 gaudy luxurious
215 sad melancholy/somber, grave
216 mock … bell stay up late, make a night of it (perhaps with suggestion of scorning the death bell)
218 held it poor marked it in a poor fashion
224 sap in’t yet still life left
225 contend … scythe compete with death, killing as many as he does with the plague (contend plays on the sense of “engage in amorous conflict, embrace”)
227 outstare defy, stare down
furious full of fierce passion/frenzied, raging
229 estridge ostrich/goshawk
231 heart courage
1 as as if
4 ruffian villain/swaggering bully/protector or confederate of prostitutes
9 breath breathing space
10 Make boot take advantage
distraction madness
12 best heads chief commanders
14 files ranks
15 but late only recently
16 fetch him in capture him
17 store plenty of supplies
18 waste extravagance
1 Domitius the only time that Antony uses Enobarbus’ first name
4 of better fortune more fortunate than you
7 or … Or either … or
8 bathe … again a metaphor drawn from the belief that bathing in warm blood could cure one of debilitating diseases
9 Woo’t wilt, i.e. will you
10 ‘Take all’ “Winner takes all” (gambling phrase; plays on the sense of “Lower my ship’s sails in defeat and surrender everything”)
14 honest honorable, faithful
16 fellows fellow servants
18 tricks whims, caprices
22 clapped up combined
27 Scant … cups give me plenty to drink
29 suffered was under, was subject to
33 period end
34 Haply perhaps
if … shadow if you do, it will be as a mutilated ghost
35 Perchance maybe
41 yield reward
43 discomfort grief, distress
44 onion-eyed i.e. weeping
47 the … me may I be bewitched
48 Grace forgiveness/the herb of grace (rue)
hearty kind-hearted/sincere/noble, courageous
49 dolorous sad, dismal
50 for your comfort in order to cheer you up
51 burn … torches i.e. spend all night in revelry
55 consideration serious thoughts
1 day i.e. of battle
2 determine one way decide matters/conclude one way or another
5 Belike probably
7 careful cautious, wary
10 absolute positive, free from all doubt
12 brave valiant/splendid
purpose determination
hautboys oboe-like instruments
14 List listen
18 signs well is a good omen
21 Hercules legendary Greek hero of immense strength, supposed ancestor of Antony
28 masters sirs
29 we have quarter our watch extends
30 give off cease
3 chuck chick (term of endearment)
4 thine iron the armor that you are holding
6 brave defy
10 False that’s wrong (Cleopatra has got the wrong piece of armor, or has tried to attach a piece incorrectly)
11 Sooth in truth
la emphatic exclamation
12 Well i.e. Cleopatra’s assistance
14 thy defences your own armor
15 Briefly shortly
17 Rarely splendidly
18 we … repose I choose to remove it in order to rest (Antony uses the royal pronoun)
19 doff’t take it off
storm rain of blows
20 squire young man of good birth attendant on a knight
21 tight deft
dispatch hurry up
22 knew’st understood
23 royal occupation business of kings, i.e. warfare
24 workman expert craftsman
25 him one
knows … charge has a military responsibility (i.e. comes to deliver a message)/has experience of fighting
26 betime early
29 riveted trim armor
30 port gate
33 ’Tis well blown referring either to the flourish of trumpets or to the dawning of the morning
35 of note famous
37 dame queen/my lady
39 check reprimand
stand insist
40 mechanic compliment formal etiquette
41 that will who intend to
45 That if only
46 Determine decide/end
1 happy fortunate
2 Would I wish
prevailed succeeded in persuading
5 revolted deserted
21 charge order
22 subscribe sign
25 Dispatch do it straightaway
2 took captured
5 universal peace the Pax Romana, a long period of relative peace established under the rule of Emperor Augustus (Octavius’ subsequent title); also the beginning of the Christian era
6 three-nooked three-cornered; refers either to the tripartite division of lands ruled by a triumvirate, or to the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia
7 bear the olive bring forth the olive tree/wear an olive garland (symbolic of peace)
freely willingly, readily/abundantly/without impediment
10 van vanguard, the front
13 Jewry Judaea, modern Israel/Palestine
14 dissuade persuade to change his allegiance
15 Great Herod Herod the Great, King of the Jews
18 fell away deserted
entertainment hospitality/employment
24 bounty overplus generous gift in addition
25 on my guard while I was on guard duty
29 safed escorted safely
30 host army
office duties
33 alone the only,
the worst
34 most more than anyone else, most acutely
36 turpitude wickedness, depravity
37 blows swells/batters
38 swift thought instant despair
mean method (i.e. suicide)
39 outstrike deal a heavier blow than/obliterate
41 foul’st worst/muddiest
Alarum a call to arms
1 Retire retreat, fall back
2 has work has his hands full
our oppression the pressure on us
5 droven driven
6 clouts cloths, bandages/blows
9 H puns on “ache” (the two were similarly pronounced)
11 bench-holes toilet holes
12 scotches gashes
13 serves is as good as/gives us the opportunity
15 score mark with cuts
16 snatch … behind an image from hare-hunting
17 runner one who runs away, a coward
19 sprightly comfort spirited encouragement
21 halt limp
2 gests deeds
5 doughty-handed hardy in battle
6 as … cause as though you merely served the general cause
as’t … mine as if each of you had the same personal motivation as I
7 shown all Hectors all behaved like Hector, the most renowned Trojan warrior
8 clip embrace
10 congealment congealed blood
11 whole better, healed (puns on “hole”)
12 fairy magical being, enchantress
13 day light
14 Chain … neck put your arms round my armor-clad neck
15 proof of harness invulnerable armor
16 pants triumphing in triumph on my panting breast
18 virtue courage
22 something somewhat
23 nerves muscles
24 Get … youth score as many victories as a young man (the image may be of running or of football)
25 Commend entrust
28 such a shape the shape of a man
31 carbuncled studded with gems
32 holy Phoebus’ car the chariot of the Greek and Roman sun god
34 targets shields
owe own
like … them i.e. honorably (or possibly “hacked at like the soldiers they belong to”)
36 camp accommodate
sup eat
37 carouses toasts
38 royal peril great danger, fit for a king
39 brazen brass/bold
40 Make mingle combine your sounds with those of
taborins drums
41 That … together so that their sounds reverberate back and forth from earth to heaven
2 th’court of guard the guardroom
3 shiny bright
embattle prepare for battle
5 shrewd bad, difficult/damaging
8 close concealed
list listen to
10 When … memory when deserters are remembered with hatred in written accounts
15 sovereign … melancholy i.e. the moon, associated with melancholy and madness
16 damp of night the damp night air was considered noxious
disponge pour down as from a squeezed sponge
17 rebel … will i.e. because Enobarbus wishes to die
19 flint stony hardness
20 dried with grief each sigh was thought to drain the heart of a drop of blood
23 thine own particular personally
24 rank … register publicly record me to be
25 fugitive deserter
31 Swoons faints
bad desperate
36 raught seized
37 demurely quietly
39 of note an important man
hour … out time on duty is over
3 both i.e. sea and land
4 i’th’fire or i’th’air the remaining two of the four elements (air, earth, fire, water)
5 foot infantry
8 put … haven left the harbor
9 appointment purpose/equipment
1 But being charged unless we’re attacked
still inactive
2 we shall we will be able to do
3 vales flat lands between hills
4 hold … advantage stay in the most advantageous position
1 Yet … joined battle has still not begun
5 augurers Roman religious officials who predicted the future by interpreting, among other things, the behavior of birds
8 by starts in turn
9 fretted worn, decayed/checkered
15 Triple-turned whore! i.e. Cleopatra, whose affections shifted three times: she had affairs with Julius Caesar, Gneius Pompey, and Antony
18 charm enchantress
20 uprise rising
23 spanieled followed like fawning spaniels
24 discandy dissolve
melt their sweets the image is of dogs slobbering from the treats which have dissolved in their mouths
25 this pine i.e. Antony himself
barked stripped of its bark
27 grave serious/deadly, dangerous
28 becked gestured
29 Whose … end i.e. whose love was the aim and achievement of my life
crownet coronet
30 gipsy believed to come from Egypt, proverbially deceitful
fast and loose cheating game much practiced by Gypsies in which the victim bets on the apparent security of (or bets that he can secure) a cunningly coiled belt that is then readily unrolled; plays on the sense of “sexual cheating”
31 Beguiled deceived
32 spell enchantment
Avaunt! Be gone!
35 blemish Caesar’s triumph spoil Caesar’s triumphal procession (in which he intends to display you as a captive)
36 plebeians commoners
37 spot stain, blemish
38 monster-like, be shown be exhibited like a freak at a fair
39 For for the benefit of, to (an audience of)
poor’st diminutives undergrown weaklings/dwarves
dolts idiots
40 Patient long-suffering
41 preparèd ready and waiting
43 fell’st into had fallen victim to
45 shirt of Nessus the poisoned shirt that Hercules’ wife Deianira unwittingly gave him; it was soaked with the blood of the centaur Nessus, whom Hercules had shot with a poisoned arrow after the attempted rape of Deianira, and who had revenged himself by telling Deianira that his blood could be used as a love charm
46 Alcides Hercules
47 Lichas the servant who brought Hercules the poisoned shirt and who was thrown into the sea by his enraged and pain-crazed master
48 club famous emblem of Hercules’ strength
49 worthiest most heroic, noblest/most deserving of death
2 Telamon … shield Telamonian Ajax went mad and killed himself when the shield and armor of the dead Achilles were awarded to Ulysses rather than himself
boar of Thessaly sent by Diana to ravage the kingdom of Calydon in Thessaly, central Greece
3 embossed driven to extremity, foaming at the mouth (used of a hunted animal)
4 th’monument the tomb, burial chamber
6 rive split
7 going off departing, being lost
1 thou … me can you still see me (Antony feels himself to have become insubstantial)
3 dragonish dragon-shaped
5 pendent jutting, overhanging
6 promontory headland
8 mock deceive
signs images/omens/pretenses
9 vespers’s evening
pageants theatrical shows/empty illusions/tricks
11 with a thought as quick as thought
12 rack cloud (plays on the sense of “torture instrument that dislocates the limbs”)
dislimns paints out, obliterates (puns on “dislimbs,” i.e. removes the limbs from their sockets)
15 knave boy, lad
18 Egypt the Queen of Egypt
22 Packed stacked, shuffled
false-played falsely played away
23 triumph victory/trump card
26 robbed … sword destroyed my soldiership/emasculated me
28 mingled … entirely were completely bound up with yours
30 saucy impudent
33 discharged paid in full
34 unto thy hand for you
37 divided … lips she spoke half of your name before she died, the rest was still in her heart
38 rendered surrendered, gave up
43 That … richly you may consider yourself amply rewarded by the fact that I haven’t harmed you
43 That … richly you may consider yourself amply rewarded by the fact that I haven’t harmed you
46 seven-fold … Ajax Ajax’s bronze shield was backed by seven layers of oxhide
47 battery assault with heavy blows, bombardment
cleave split
48 continent container
49 Apace quickly
50 bruisèd pieces dented armor
51 From leave
54 length delay
torch i.e. the life of Cleopatra (aural play on torture)
56 very … strength as an animal caught in a net is entangled by its efforts to escape
57 Seal conclude
58 Stay wait
59 souls … flowers i.e. the paradisiacal Elysian Fields, where, in Greek mythology, the blessed went after death
couch lie
60 sprightly port lively bearing
61 Dido … Aeneas emblematic tragic lovers in Virgil’s Aeneid; the Trojan hero, Aeneas, survived the sack of Troy, landed at Carthage in north Africa, and became the lover of Queen Dido, whom he eventually abandoned to found Rome; she committed suicide in despair
want troops lack followers
62 all … ours all will follow us (haunt plays on its ghostly sense)
63 would wishes
67 green Neptune’s back the sea, of which Neptune was the Roman god
68 With … cities commanded fleets of ships so large that they were like cities
to lack for lacking
72 exigent emergency/urgent legal summons
74 prosecution pursuit/persecution/carrying out of legal proceedings
79 withhold restrain/preserve
80 Parthian darts arrows of the Parthians, famous for shooting backward on horseback
81 enemy hostile
83 windowed placed at a window
84 pleached folded/crossed and bound
85 corrigible submissive
86 penetrative intense, penetrating
wheeled seat chariot
87 branded … ensued marked, as a brand does a criminal, the humiliating lowliness of him who followed
91 honest faithful, honorable
worn Most useful put to such good use
93 pardon me release me from this duty
96 precedent previous
97 unpurposed of no use
99 worship worth, honor
Antony and Cleopatra Page 27