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Cæsar himselfe ha's worke Schmidt (Lex. s. v. 2): That is, Cæsar is in great straits. our oppression Steevens: That is, the force by which we are oppressed or overpowered.
Scarrus Capell (i, 45): It is worth remarking, concerning this Scarus,— that his name is of the Poet's invention, and himself a person of his creating: One (he saw) must be had, to be about Antony when deserted by Enobarbus and the rest, and no fit one was presented by story: he therefore had recourse to invention; and by bringing in his foundling before among Antony's other followers at the battle of Actium, gives his introduction in this scene an easy appearance, and hides it's necessity. [Sce Dram. Pers.]
drouen This form is found in Shakespeare only here.
With clowts about their heads Schmidt (Lex.) asks whether or not ‘clouts’ be here ‘equivalent to cuffs,’—a question which surely requires no answer from any English reader. ‘Clouts’ here are bandages for wounds.
that was like a T Delius: We must suppose that the T was lying on its side, T, and by one or two more slashes was changed to an H.—[This is certainly ingenious, and the only attempt I have found to explain the conversion of the letter T into a letter H. Staunton (Athenæum, 26 Apr. 1873), however, gives the true interpretation, namely, that there was no actual conversion of one letter into another; the pun consists in that Scarus had received a T-shaped wound which, ‘by being undressed and exposed to the air, had begun to pain him.’ The noun ache and the letter H were pronounced alike; see the next note.—Ed.]
now 'tis made an H Steevens (Note on Much Ado, III, iv, 52): Heywood in his Epigrams, 1566, has one ‘Of the letter H’ (p. 111, Spenser Soc. Reprint), ‘H is worst among letters in the crosse row, For if thou finde him either in thine elbow, In thine arme, or leg, in any degree, In thine head, or teeth, in thy toe or knee, Into what place soever H may pike him, Where euer thou finde ache, thou shalt not like him.’—[The verb was pronounced ake; the noun aitch, like the letter, or, possibly, atch. For a fuller discussion of this pronunciation, see, if need be, The Tempest, I, ii, 433; Much Ado, III, iv, 52, of this edition.—Ed.]
our aduantage serues Capell (i, 45): Meaning—that circumstances favour'd them, and they had now an opportunity of obtaining ‘a fair victory’; an opinion that Scarus assents to, and afterwards—Antony, and occasions their exit: As they are again the next enterers, and that in another place, some interval must be suppos'd between the two scenes, that should be fill'd up with skirmishings and distant alarums.
Come thee on For many examples of the Elizabethan use of ‘thee’ for thou, see Abbott, § 212.
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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