Antony and Cleopatra

 

ACT IV SCENE VIII	Under the walls of Alexandria.
[ Alarum. Enter MARK ANTONY, in a march; SCARUS, with others ]
MARK ANTONY	We have beat him to his camp: run one before,
	And let the queen know of our gests. To-morrow,
	Before the sun shall see ‘s, we’ll spill the blood
	That has to-day escaped. I thank you all;
	For doughty-handed are you, and have fought	5
	Not as you served the cause, but as ‘t had been
	Each man’s like mine; you have shown all Hectors.
	Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends,
	Tell them your feats; whilst they with joyful tears
	Wash the congealment from your wounds, and kiss	10
	The honour’d gashes whole.
[To SCARUS]
	Give me thy hand
[Enter CLEOPATRA, attended]
	To this great fairy I’ll commend thy acts,
	Make her thanks bless thee.
[To CLEOPATRA]
	O thou day o’ the world,	15
	Chain mine arm’d neck; leap thou, attire and all,
	Through proof of harness to my heart, and there
	Ride on the pants triumphing!
CLEOPATRA	Lord of lords!
	O infinite virtue, comest thou smiling from	20
	The world’s great snare uncaught?
MARK ANTONY	My nightingale,
	We have beat them to their beds. What, girl!
	though grey
	Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet ha’ we	25
	A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can
	Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man;
	Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand:
	Kiss it, my warrior: he hath fought to-day
	As if a god, in hate of mankind, had	30
	Destroy’d in such a shape.
CLEOPATRA	I’ll give thee, friend,
	An armour all of gold; it was a king’s.
MARK ANTONY	He has deserved it, were it carbuncled
	Like holy Phoebus’ car. Give me thy hand:	35
	Through Alexandria make a jolly march;
	Bear our hack’d targets like the men that owe them:
	Had our great palace the capacity
	To camp this host, we all would sup together,
	And drink carouses to the next day’s fate,	40
	Which promises royal peril. Trumpeters,
	With brazen din blast you the city’s ear;
	Make mingle with rattling tabourines;
	That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together,
	Applauding our approach.	45
[Exeunt]

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, Scene 9
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Explanatory Notes for Act 4, Scene 8
From Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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2. Gests. Valorous acts, exploits.

5. Doughty-handed. Stout-handed, brave soldiers.

7. Hectors. You have all shown yourselves as brave as Hector — the great hero of the Trojans during their ten years’ war with the Greeks.

8. Clip. Embrace.

11. Whole. Until they are whole again.

12. Fairy. Mistress of the fairies, enchantress.

17. Proof of harness. Armor of proof, or metal that had been “proved” by being subjected to a severe test.

20. Virtue. Here, valor, which was the original meaning of the word.

25. Something. Somewhat.

27. Goal for goal. That is, for every goal youth wins of us we can win one from them.

34. Carbuncled. Set with carbuncle stones like the wheels of Phoebus Apollo’s car, as described by Ovid.

37. Targets. Shields.

37. Owe. That is, bear our hack’d targets as becomes those who own them. The expression may very possibly mean, however, “targets hack’d like the men that own them.”

43. Tambourines. Here, drums.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company, 1908.