Authors: William Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra (35 page)

⁸⁵So Antony loves
Antony loves in just such a changeable manner/depending on whether or not Antony loves me

⁸⁶forbear
be patient/control yourself

⁸⁷give true evidence
bear witness

stands
will sustain

⁹²Belong to Egypt
are shed for the Queen of Egypt

⁹³dissembling
playacting

⁹⁵heat my blood
make me angry/passionate

⁹⁶meetly
fairly good

⁹⁸target
small shield; Cleopatra completes Antony’s phrase and makes it into a blustering theatrical oath

mends
improves (in his act)

¹⁰⁰Herculean
heroic, prodigiously strong; Antony’s family claimed descent from the Greek hero Hercules

become … chafe
carry off his anger convincingly

¹⁰⁷oblivion
forgetfulness/loss, abandonment

¹⁰⁸all forgotten
forgetful/completely forgotten

¹⁰⁹But
were it not

idleness
foolishness/frivolity/triviality/worthlessness

¹¹⁰holds … subject
considers frivolity beneath you/means that you are in control of frivolity

¹¹²sweating labour
the language of childbirth, continued with
bear

¹¹⁵becomings
attractive qualities

¹¹⁶Eye
look, seem

¹¹⁹laurel … feet
on his return to Rome, a victorious general wore a laurel wreath, and had flowers and rushes strewn in his path

¹²²Our … thee
i.e. although separated physically they will still be together since they are joined spiritually

³competitor
associate, partner (plays on the sense of “rival”)

⁵Is
he is

⁶Queen of Ptolemy
i.e. Cleopatra; in keeping with Egyptian royal tradition she was married first to her brother Ptolemy XIII and, after he was accidentally drowned, to a younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, whom she was subsequently thought to have poisoned

⁷gave audience
received messengers

⁸Vouchsafed
condescended

⁹abstract
epitome, summary

¹³spots of heaven
stars; his faults stand out against his virtues as the stars do against the dark

¹⁵purchased
acquired otherwise than by inheritance (legal term)

¹⁸tumble
have sex

¹⁹mirth
joke

²⁰keep … tippling
take turns in drinking toasts

²¹reel
stagger drunkenly around

stand the buffet
exchange or endure blows

²³As
though

composure
constitution, disposition

²⁵foils
disgraces

when … lightness
since we have to bear an extra burden because of his frivolity (or “promiscuity”)

²⁷vacancy
spare time

voluptuousness
sensual pleasures

²⁸surfeits
digestive disorders resulting from too much food and drink

dryness … bones
corrosion of the bones is a symptom of syphilis

²⁹confound
waste

³⁰drums
summons with a (military) drum

³¹his … ours
i.e. our positions as triumvirs

’tis … chid
deserves reprimand

³²rate
berate, scold

mature in knowledge
old enough to know what’s right

³⁴to
against

³⁶biddings
commands

³⁸How ’tis
what the situation is

⁴⁰only have feared
have obeyed (Caesar) through fear, not love

⁴¹discontents
discontented

⁴²Give him
claim he is

⁴⁴primal state
beginning of the world/first organized government

⁴⁵he … were
he who is in power was only deemed desirable until he gained power

⁴⁶ebbed
declining in fortunes, on his way out

ne’er … love
no longer powerful/unable to reward his followers

⁴⁷Comes deared
becomes loved/becomes valued

lacked
absent, missed

This common body
the people

⁴⁸vagabond
drifting

flag
water iris/reed, rush

⁴⁹lackeying
following like a servant

⁵²famous
notorious

⁵³ear
plow

⁵⁴hot inroads
violent raids

⁵⁵borders maritime
coastal regions

⁵⁶Lack blood
turn pale

flush
vigorous, lively/flushed, ruddy (i.e. unafraid)

⁵⁸Taken
captured

strikes … resisted
causes more loss than resisting him in battle

⁶¹wassails
revels

⁶²Modena
city in northern Italy

⁶⁴whom
i.e. famine

⁶⁵daintily
with fine food/in a refined way

⁶⁷stale
urine

gilded
tinged with gold glint of scum

⁶⁸deign
not refuse

⁶⁹rudest
wildest

⁷⁰sheets
covers

⁷¹browsèd
fed on

⁷⁶So … not
did not so much as grow thin

⁷⁷pity of
a shame for/about

⁷⁹twain
two

⁸⁰i’th’field
on the battlefield

⁸⁵can be able
am capable of mustering

⁸⁶front
confront

⁹⁰stirs
events/uprisings

⁹³bond
duty/obligation

⁴mandragora
juice of the mandrake, a plant with strong narcotic properties

¹³Not … sing
an anachronism: castrated singers were employed in Renaissance courts

¹⁵unseminared
castrated, deprived of virility

freer
looser, less restrained

¹⁶affections
desires

¹⁹in deed
in terms of the sexual act (punning on
indeed
)

do
perform/have sex

²⁰honest
chaste

²²Venus … Mars
the Roman goddess of love and the god of war had a passionate adulterous love affair

²⁷bravely
splendidly

wot’st thou
do you know

²⁸demi-Atlas
in classical mythology, Atlas carried the world on his shoulders; Cleopatra, ignoring Lepidus, describes Antony bearing responsibility for half the world

arm
weapon

arm And burgonet
i.e. complete soldier/defender

²⁹burgonet
light steel infantryman’s helmet/helmet with a visor

³³Phoebus
Greek and Roman sun god

black
i.e. deeply tanned

³⁴Broad-fronted
with a broad forehead/with a wide or open face

Caesar
Julius Caesar, with whom Cleopatra had an affair

³⁶morsel
beautiful woman/sexual mouthful

great Pompey
Cleopatra was actually supposed to have had an affair with Gneius (or Gnaeus) Pompey, the son of Pompey the Great (though
great
here may simply be a descriptive “noble” applied to Gneius)

³⁷make … brow
fix his eyes on my face (but
stand
and
grow
are suggestive of penile erection)

³⁸aspect
gaze

die
be consumed with desire/orgasm

³⁹his life
what he lived for

⁴²great med’cine
alchemical term for the supposed elixir that turned base metal into gold

⁴³tinct
dye, color/transmuting elixir

⁴⁴brave
valiant/splendid

⁴⁷orient
lustrous

⁴⁹quoth
said

⁵⁰firm
constant, resolute

Egypt
the Queen of Egypt

⁵²mend
make amends for