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Antony and Cleopatra
137

liards are not known to have been played in the Roman period.

II. v. 23. his sword Philippan. The sword which Antony had worn at the battle of Philippi.

II. v. 103. That art not what thou'rt sure of. The probable meaning is, 'thou art not the cause of that unwelcome information of which thou art so sure.'

II. vi. 10–14. I do not know Wherefore my father should revengers want, Having a son and friends; since Julius Cæsar, Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted, There saw you labouring for him. Why should my father, who has a son and friends, go unrevenged, when you labored at the battle of Philippi in the cause of the dead Julius Cæsar.

II. vi. 27. Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house. Antony, in the days of Julius Cæsar, had professedly bought the property of Pompey senior, but actually confiscated it.

II. vii. 7, 8. As they pinch one another by the disposition. As they irritate one another by references to subjects upon which one or the other is sensitive (?).

II. vii. 13–15. I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service as a partisan I could not heave. A weapon that cannot be lifted is no more valuable than a reed. Lepidus' position does him little service since he is not great enough to fill it.

II. vii. 16–19. 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. To occupy an important position without doing anything is as bad as an empty socket where there should be an eye.

III. i. 1–5. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck; and now Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus