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Come good Fellow Dyce (ed. ii): That the word which has dropt out of the folio in this line was my (Rowe's addition) is proved by Antony's next speech but one, ‘Seest thou, my good fellow?’ put thine Iron on Malone: ‘Thine iron’ is the iron which thou hast in thy hand, that is, Antony's armour.—Collier (Notes, etc. p. 498): Surely ‘thine’ ought to be as the MS renders it, ‘Put mine iron on.’—Anon. (Blackwood, Oct. 1853, p. 468, thus answers Collier): Not at all; either word will do; but ‘thine’ is more consonant with ordinary usage. A gentleman asks his butler, not ‘have you cleaned my plate?’ but ‘have you cleaned your plate?’ meaning my plate of which you have the charge. Eros had the charge of Antony's armour.—Dyce (ed. ii): [‘Thine’ of the Folio, with Malone's note,] is an utterly improbable reading and explanation, since just before Antony has twice said ‘mine armour.’ Nor, as the context shows, is Antony here speaking of Eros's armour,—he afterwards bids Eros ‘put on his defences.’—[The reason given by Dyce which renders ‘thine’ ‘utterly improbable’ is to me precisely the reason which renders it extremely probable. It would be ‘damnable iteration’ indeed, to have called out ‘mine armour’ three times. Is it not universal that an exclamation or a question is varied at the second or third repetition of its substance? It is, to me, eminently natural that Anthony should have changed his twice-uttered impatient summons, ‘mine armour,’ into ‘thine iron.’ If ‘thine’ is to be changed to mine why should not, by Dyce's rule, ‘iron’ be changed to armour? An adequate reason why ‘thine’ refers to Anthony's armour, and not Eros's, is given, I think, by ‘Anon.’ who, it has been said, was Lettsom.—Ed.]
Nay, Ile helpe too, . . . it must bee Hanmer was the first to attempt to disentangle these lines; this he did so far as to remove ‘Anthony’ from the end of Cleopatra's speech, and give it to ‘Ant.’ by placing it before the next line, where it was almost as ill placed as it was before. Then he gave line 12: ‘Sooth-law Ile helpe: Thus it must bee’ to Cleopatra, whose it has remained ever since. Capell, in his text, followed Hanmer, but in his Notes (i, 43) he says that he ‘now thinks’ ‘Antony’ is ‘better placed before “Ah,” and the words “What's this for?” given to Cleopatra, who, in speaking them, takes up some of the armour.’ Malone (1790) adopted this suggestion of Capell (without acknowledgement) and his text has been followed ever since. All this is set forth piecemeal in the Text. Notes; but it is satisfactory to have before the eyes the undissected modern text, as follows: ‘Cleop. Nay, I'll help too. What's this for? Ant. Ah, let be, let be! thou art The armourer of my heart:—false, false; this, this. Cleop. Sooth, la, I'll help: Thus it must be.’—Ed.
Sooth-law Earle (§ 197): ‘La’ is that interjection which in modern English is spelt lo. It was used, in Saxon times, both as an emotional cry and as a sign of the respectful vocative . . . The ‘la’ of Saxon times has none of the indicating or pointing force which lo now has, and which fits it to go so naturally with an adverb of locality, as ‘Lo here,’ or ‘Lo there.’ While lo became the literary form of the word, ‘la’ has still continued to exist more obscurely, at least down to a recent date, even if it be not still in use. ‘La’ may be regarded as a sort of feminine to lo.—[Also see Twelfth Night, III, iv, 104; Love's Lab. Lost, V, ii, 460; Wint. Tale, II, iii, 64, where the foregoing note substantially appears.] Thus it must bee Collier (ed. ii): These words have usually been assigned to Cleopatra, but it appears by the MS that they belong to Antony, who is instructing Cleopatra, and who adds ‘well, well,’ when what he wished has been accomplished by her.—[Cleopatra has made one blunder, and then having adjusted a piece of armour correctly, exclaims exultingly: ‘Thus it must be!’—Ed.]
Briefely Sir Johnson: That is, quickly, sir.—[Or does it not mean, ‘in a minute’? or ‘presently,’ as we now use the word?—Ed.]
daft See Text. Notes. heare a storme Collier (ed. ii): The MS instructs us to read ‘bear a storm,’ in reference to the blows the man must receive who unbuckled the armour until the wearer pleased.—[If the reference be to the blows the foe must receive, which is doubtful, he could quite as well ‘hear’ them pelting on his armour as bear them.—Ed.]
More tight at this Steevens: ‘Tight’ is handy, adroit.
an Armed Soldier Dyce: What is said to him by Antony shows that he is not one of the common file. [See Text. Notes.]
betime For the varying use of such adverbs as afterward（s), downward（s), forward（s), betime（s), etc., see Franz (§ 91) where the conclusion is reached that, in colloquial language, the modern tendency is to retain the s, albeit the dropping of the s still continues, especially in the written language. See also § 262.—[With Shakespeare's printers the two forms seem to be used indifferently; see ‘betimes’ in line 38. Abbott (§ 25) does not, as far as I can find, include betime（s) in his list. —Ed.]
Riueted trim That is, their equipment or armour which is all riveted. Port That is, the gate. 34. The Morne is faire, etc.] Capell (i, 44): This speech, in the folio's, is preceded by the letters—Alex. meaning—Alexas; in the moderns, by—Cap. meaning—captains: The first was set aside by them, and rightly; for Alexas was otherwise dispos'd of, as we find in [IV, vi, 16]; but the actor of that part having nothing more to do, this character was also perform'd by him; and the speech that is given to't, intitl'd by the name of that character which he had appear'd in before.— G. Wilkes (p. 366): The morn is always fair in Egypt. I have been assured by Egyptians that it never rains above Cairo, on the Nile, and so seldom at Alexandria (say six or seven times a year) that a fair sky is not a matter for remark. Bacon would not have fallen into this mistake.
'Tis well blowne Lads Delius: This refers to the Flourish of trumpets, which make themselves heard.—[This reference to the Trumpets is followed by Schmidt (Lex. s. v. Blow, vb. 4), by Rolfe, and by Wordsworth; I think rightly. On the other hand Hudson says it refers ‘to the morning or the day; the metaphor being implied of night blossoming into day.’ Thus also Deighton: ‘That is, in full blossom, i. e. the sun is shining brightly in the sky.’—Ed.]
spirit In the present line, at least, Walker's rule for the monosyllabic pronunciation of ‘spirit’ does not hold good. See I, ii, 143.—Ed.
Come giue me that Wordsworth: This is addressed to Cleopatra. ‘That’ is another piece of his armour. well-sed See Schmidt (Lex. s. v. Say, 4, 2) for many instances where this phrase is equivalent to ‘well done!’
On more Mechanicke Complement Delius: A ‘mechanic compliment’ is a style of leave-taking which befits the common people, mechanics, but not a man of steel, a warrior, who parts from his mistress only with a soldier's kiss.
Determine Charles Allen gives a valuable chapter wherein many instances are gathered of Shakespeare's legal knowledge whereto parallel instances are to be found in contemporary writers; from which the conclusion fairly follows that Shakespeare's legal knowledge, on which much stress has been laid, is not more extraordinary than that of his eminent contemporaries. On p. 55 Allen notes that ‘“Determine” is twice used by Shakespeare in its legal sense as signifying the end, namely, in Coriolanus (V, iii, 119): “I purpose not to wait on fortune till These wars determine.” [and in the present passage.] A similar use is found in Jonson's Alchemist: “For here Determines the indenture tripartite.” (V, ii.) Donne also, in Anatomy of the World, says: “Measures of times are all determined.” (I, § 40.)’
Then Anthony; but now Kreyssig (ii, 73): To this woman Anthony gave more than any man should dare to give: his honour. He cannot complain if he is taken at his own valuation. The recollection of the flight of the ‘doting mallard’ from the sea-fight, although it cannot morally justify Cleopatra's faithlessness, makes it æsthetically endurable. When she is arming him for his last battle, her determination is already taken. She knows well enough that what must here decide is not the heroic courage of a warrior, but wary judgement and essential superiority. But, at that very moment, her fine, æsthetic temperament pays homage to the man who is even in that instant betrayed.—[The Editor begs leave to remark that he is not responsible for the opinions of commentators.]
William Shakespeare. Horace Howard Furness. A New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare: The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra. Philadelphia and London. J. B. Lippincott Company. 1907.
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