To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once;
Or thy precedent services are all
But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come.

EROS. Turn from me then that noble countenance,

Wherein the worship of the whole world2 lies.
ANT. Lo thee.
[Turning from him.

EROS. My sword is drawn.
ANT.
The thing why thou hast drawn it.

EROS.
My dear master,
My captain, and my emperor! let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.
ANT. 'Tis said, man ;-and farewell.
EROS. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?
ANT.
Now, Eros.
EROS. Why, there then :-[Falls on his Sword.
Thus do I escape the sorrow
Of Antony's death.

Then let it do at once

[Dies. ANT. Thrice nobler than myself! Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what I should, and thou could'st not. My queen and Eros Have, by their brave instruction, got upon me A nobleness in record: But I will be A bridegroom in my death, and run into't

-the worship of the whole world-] The worship, is the dignity, the authority. JOHNSON.

So, in King John:

3

"By giving it the worship of revenge.". STEEVENS.

But I will be

A bridegroom in my death, &c.] This thought has occurred before in Measure for Measure:

"I will encounter darkness as a bride,
"And hug it in my arms."

SC. XII. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 245

As to a lover's bed. Come then; and, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar; to do thus

[Falling on his Sword. I learn'd of thee. How! not yet dead? not dead?— The guard!—ho!5—O, despatch me.

Dryden's Don Sebastian has the same image, though more luxuriantly expressed:

"The sprightly bridegroom on his wedding night
"More gladly enters not the lists of love:
"Why, 'tis enjoyment to be summon'd thus."

STEEVENS.

Stowe, describing the execution of Sir Charles Davers, one of the Earl of Essex's associates, says, that "having put off his gown and doublet in a most cheerful manner, rather like a bridegroom than a prisoner appointed for death, he prayed very devoutly." MALONE.

not yet dead?] Yet, which is wanting in the old copy, was supplied by Mr. Pope. STEEVENS.

The guard!-ho!] [Old copy-guard how.] I suspect the poet wrote:

The guard, ho! O, despatch me! So, afterwards:

"What, ho! the emperor's guard!"

In the last scene of the third Act, he has said

66

Authority melts from me. Of late, when I cried ho,
"Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth,
"And cry, your

will?"

The same mistake has happened in The Merchant of Venice. See Vol. VII. p. 379, n. l.

And twice in the original copy of Hamlet, 1604:

"Queen, Help, how!"
"Pol. What how, help."

Again, in the last Act:

"O villainy! how, let the door be lock'd."

The emendation which I have proposed, ought therefore certainly to be admitted into the text. MALONE.

I find this emendation already admitted into the text of edition 1785. STEEVENS.

Enter DERCETAS and Guard.

1 GUARD.

What's the noise?

ANT. I have done my work ill, friends; O, make an end

Of what I have begun.

2 GUARD.

The star is fallen.

1 GUARD. And time is at his period.

ALL.

Alas, and woe!

ANT. Let him that loves me, strike me dead. 1 GUARD.

Not I.

2 GUARD. Nor I.

3 GUARD. Nor any one.

[Exeunt Guard.

DER. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.

This sword but shown to Cæsar, with this tidings, Shall enter me with him.

Enter DIOMedes.

DIO. Where's Antony?

DER.

DIO.

Wilt thou not answer, man?

[Exit DERCETas.

ANT. Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword, and give me

Sufficing strokes for death.

DIO.

There, Diomed, there.

Lives he?

Most absolute lord, My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee. ANT. When did she send thee?

DIO.

ANT.

Now, my lord.

Where is she?

DIO. Lock'd in her monument. She had
phesying fear

6

Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw
(Which never shall be found,) you did suspect
She had dispos'd with Cæsar, and that your rage
Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was
dead;

7

pro

But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent
Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come,
I dread, too late.

ANT. Too late, good Diomed:-Call my guard,
I pr'ythee.

DIO. What, ho! the emperor's guard! The
guard, what, ho!

Come, your lord calls.

Enter some of the Guard.

ANT. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra
bides;

'Tis the last service that I shall command you.

8

1 GUARD. Woe are we, sir, you may not live to

wear

All

your true followers out.

ALL.

Most heavy day! ANT. Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp

fate

a prophesying fear-] I suppose our author designed we should read:

a prophet's fear. STEEVENS.

7 She had dispos'd with Caesar,] To dispose, in this instance, perhaps signifies to make terms, to settle matters. STEEVENS. • Woe are we,] Old copy-Woe, woe,-. But as the second woe appears (for it spoils the verse) to have been accidentally repeated by the compositor, I have left it out. STEEVENS.

To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us, and we punish it
Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up:
I have led you oft; carry me now, good friends,
And have my thanks for all.

[Exeunt, bearing ANTONY,

SCENE XIII.

The same. A Monument.

Enter above, CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.

CLEO. O Charmian, I will never go from hence. CHAR. Be comforted, dear madam.

CLEO. No, I will not: All strange and terrible events are welcome, But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great

Enter DIOMEdes.

As that which makes it.-How now? is he dead?
DIO. His death's upon him, but not dead."
Look out o'the other side your monument,
His guard have brought him thither.

• His death's upon him, but not dead.] The defective measure, and want of respect in the speaker, induce me to suppose, that this line originally stood thus:

His death's upon him, madam, but not dead.

STEEVENS.