Directed by Adrian Noble (1982). Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse © Charcoalblue
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
•
A. S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Harold Evans
•
Charles Frazier
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Jessica Hagedorn
•
Richard Howard
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Azar Nafisi
•
Joyce Carol Oates
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Salman Rushdie
•
Oliver Sacks
•
Carolyn See
•
Gore Vidal
Copyright © 2007, 2009 by The Royal Shakespeare Company
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
“Royal Shakespeare Company,” “RSC,” and the RSC logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of The Royal Shakespeare Company.
The version of Antony and Cleopatra and the corresponding footnotes
that appear in this volume were originally published in William Shakespeare
Complete Works, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, published
in 2007 by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-1-58836-834-8
www.modernlibrary.com
v3.0
1 dotage folly/infatuation/senility
general’s i.e. Antony’s
2 measure prescribed limit
goodly fine
3 files and musters rows of assembled troops
4 plated armored
Mars Roman god of war
bend direct
5 office service, duty
6 tawny brown-skinned
front forehead, face (plays on the sense of “front line of troops”)
8 reneges renounces, abandons
temper moderation, restraint/resilience (used of swords’ hardness)
10 gipsy’s Gypsies were believed to come from Egypt; “gipsy” was also a term for a deceitful woman or whore
Flourish trumpet fanfare announcing the approach or departure of an important person
Train retinue, followers
Eunuchs castrated males, often employed in Oriental courts
12 triple … world Mark Antony was one of three triumvirs who ruled the lands conquered by Rome
13 strumpet loose woman or whore
14 tell relate (in his reply, Antony responds to the sense of “count”)
15 beggary … reckoned if love can be calculated, it’s worthless
16 bourn boundary, limit
17 Then … earth i.e. his love’s infinitely greater than the known world
19 Grates me! How annoying!
The sum give me the gist
20 them i.e. the news
21 Fulvia Antony’s wife
perchance perhaps
22 scarce-bearded Caesar Octavius Caesar, another of the triumvirs and great-nephew of Julius Caesar; he was twenty-three, twenty years younger than Antony
23 mandate command
24 Take in conquer, occupy
enfranchise liberate
26 How what
27 Perchance? … like Perhaps? No, almost certainly
28 dismission dismissal, order to leave
30 process summons (legal term)
33 homager vassal, one who acknowledges the duty of loyalty and obligation
else so or else
34 scolds quarrels noisily/chastises with violent language
35 Tiber Rome’s chief river
36 ranged ordered (with connotations of buildings set out in a line or troops drawn up in ranks)
37 dungy made up of or abounding in dung
39 mutual intimate (especially in sexual sense)
40 twain pair
bind oblige, constrain with legal authority
41 On … punishment a phrase used in official statutes; Antony makes a public proclamation of their love
weet know
42 peerless matchless
44 and not if he did not
45 seem pretend to be
47 stirred inspired/sexually aroused
49 confound waste, ruin
conference conversation
50 stretch pass/be extended
51 sport entertainment (with connotations of sexual pleasure)
53 Fie exclamation of disgust or reproach
wrangling noisily contentious
54 Whom everything becomes whom all things suit, who is beautified by all moods
chide scold, reprimand
57 No i.e. I shall hear no
59 qualities characteristics, dispositions
61 with by
prized so slight valued so little
62 when … Antony i.e. he fails to live up to his great reputation
63 property special personal quality
64 still always
65 full deeply
66 approves proves right
68 Rest you happy remain fortunate, go well
Soothsayer one who foretells the future
2 absolute perfect
4 charge decorate, festoon
horns with garlands cuckolds (men with unfaithful wives) were fancifully supposed to grow horns on their foreheads; to festoon them with garlands suggests Charmian’s husband will be a champion cuckold
11 banquet a dessert course of sweetmeats, fruit and wine
16 fairer more fortunate/beautiful/plump/spotless, pale
18 paint use cosmetics
20 prescience foreknowledge
22 beloving loving
23 liver the organ regarded as the seat of the passions
25 Good now well then, come on
26 forenoon morning
27 Herod of Jewry King of Judaea who ordered the slaughter of all male infants in an attempt to kill the young Jesus Christ; he appears as the villain in numerous morality plays
28 homage acknowledge allegiance to
31 figs usually euphemistic for the vagina; possible phallic connotations here
32 proved experienced
34 belike perhaps/probably
have no names be illegitimate
35 wenches girls
must shall
38 Out exclamation of impatience or irritation
forgive … witch absolve you of the charge of witchcraft (because his predictions are worthless)
39 are privy to know of, are familiar with
44 drunk to bed to go to bed drunk
45 presages foretells
47 Nilus presageth famine Charmian is being ironic; the fertility of the River Nile’s flood ensured good harvests
48 wild flighty/mischievous/lustful
49 oily palm moist palms were thought to indicate sensuality
fruitful prognostication sign of fertility
50 scratch mine ear itching ears proverbially signify an enjoyment of hearing novelties
workaday humdrum, ordinary
54 I have said there is no more to be said
58 Not … nose implies that his penis would be a better place for an extra inch (though the nose itself often had phallic connotations)
61 go walk/have sex/carry a child
Isis Egyptian goddess of the
moon and fertility
63 fifty-fold fifty times over
64 cuckold man with an unfaithful wife
65 matter … weight something of greater importance/(lover with a) bigger penis/the weight of a lover’s body during sex/the weight of a child during pregnancy
67 loose-wived with an unfaithful wife
68 foul ugly
knave fellow
69 uncuckolded with a faithful wife
keep decorum behave appropriately/observe what is proper to character and rank
73 they’d … do’t they would stop at nothing even if it meant making themselves whores
81 A Roman thought a serious thought, imbued with Roman notions of virtue and honor
85 We the royal plural
86 field battlefield
89 time’s state circumstances at the time
90 jointing their force uniting their forces
91 better issue greater success
92 encounter battle
drave them drove them (out of Italy)
97 Who … flattered I will listen to a truth-teller as if he were a flatterer, even if he tells of death
99 Labienus rebel Roman general who defected to the Parthians after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at the battle of Philippi
100 stiff formidable, grave
Parthian Asiatic people whose army were challenging Roman expansion in the Middle East
101 Extended seized upon (legal term)
Euphrates one of the two main rivers of Mesopotamia (Iraq)
103 Lydia ancient country of Asia Minor
Ionia ancient region of Anatolia (Turkey)
104 wouldst wanted, meant to
106 home directly, bluntly
mince … tongue do not moderate public opinion
108 Rail … phrase scold me in the way that Fulvia would
111 quick lively
still inactive
our … earing being told of our misdeeds improves us as plowing (earing) does land
114 Sicyon ancient city situated in the northern Peloponnese, southern Greece
how what is
117 stays … will awaits your command
120 What who
125 Importeth it concerns
126 Forbear me leave me alone
128 What … again we often wish to have again what we’ve thrown away in contempt
130 By revolution low’ring decreasing over the course of time (as the wheel of fortune turns)
132 could would willingly
133 enchanting bewitching, with the power to cast spells
135 idleness indolence/folly
139 mortal fatal, deadly
suffer permit/undergo/experience pain at
142 die plays on the sense of “orgasm”
145 noise rumor
146 upon … moment over a much less important matter (moment quibbles on the sense of “orgasm”)
147 mettle spirit, vitality/sexual vigor
148 celerity swiftness
149 cunning perhaps a buried resonance of “cunt/con”
151 part plays on the sense of “sexual part, vagina”
153 almanacs calendars containing astrological and meteorological forecasts
154 Jove supreme Roman god who controlled the rain; the reference may recall Jove’s seduction of Danae when he took the form of a shower of gold
155 Would I wish
156 piece of work masterpiece/whore
157 withal with
158 your travel i.e. reputation as a traveler (puns on “travail,” i.e. “work/sexual labor”)
166 shows … earth shows men that the gods are the earth’s tailors (replacing worn-out wives with new ones as tailors make new clothes out of old ones); tailors were proverbially lecherous
therein in this respect
167 members plays on the sense of “penises”
169 cut shock, blow/vagina
case plays on the sense of “vagina”
170 crowned plays on the idea of the encircling vagina
consolation puns on “con” (vagina)
smock woman’s undergarment, hence woman in her sexual capacity
171 petticoat woman’s skirt or undergarment, hence woman in her sexual capacity
175 business plays on the sense of “copulation”
broached Enobarbus widens the sense of the word from “started” to incorporate the sexual sense of “pricked, penetrated”
177 abode staying
178 light frivolous/indecent, lewd
180 expedience speed/expedition requiring haste
181 leave to part permission to depart
alone only
182 touches motives
184 contriving working or scheming on Antony’s behalf
185 Petition … home urge us to come home
Sextus Pompeius younger son of Pompey the Great, the defeated rival of Octavius Caesar’s great-uncle Julius Caesar
186 given … to challenged, defied
187 slippery fickle, unreliable
189 throw bestow
190 Pompey the Great i.e. the title of Sextus Pompeius’ father
dignities titles, honors
191 high great/dignified/proud
192 blood and life vigor and spirit
stands up For shows himself to be/claims to be
193 main greatest, leading
quality abilities/party, supporters
going on continuing, being maintained
194 The … danger may endanger the very frame of the world (or perhaps “… the borders of the Roman empire”)
courser’s large horse used in battle
195 courser’s … poison refers to the belief that a horse hair placed in stagnant water would turn into a snake, a phenomenon caused by microscopic fauna attaching themselves to the hair and causing it to move
196 Say … hence tell those who serve me that I wish to depart quickly
2 did … since have not seen him recently
4 I … you i.e. do not say I sent you
sad serious/sorrowful
8 hold follow, adopt
9 like same
11 give him way let him have his own way
cross thwart, obstruct
13 Tempt provoke/test
forbear (you would) desist
16 sullen serious/melancholy
17 breathing voice, speech
19 thus long so long (before I die)
the … it my constitution won’t survive the strain
22 stand … me i.e. give me air
24 eye look in your eye
25 the married woman i.e. Fulvia
36 false unfaithful
Riotous madness unrestrained, wanton folly (on my part)
37 mouth-made i.e. insincere, not from the heart
38 in swearing even as they are being sworn
40 colour pretext
41 sued staying begged to stay
43 our my (Cleopatra uses the royal plural as she reminds Antony of his former praises of her)
44 brows bent arched eyebrows
none our parts not one of my features (was)
45 a … heaven a child of heaven/inherently divine
48 How now exclamation of reproach
49 inches height/manly strength (with phallic connotations)
50 heart courage, resolution
Egypt Cleopatra/the country
54 in use as (financial) security/in trust (legal term)/for your use (with connotations of sexual employment)
55 civil swords swords drawn in civil war
56 port city gate/harbor
57 Equality … faction having an equal division of power in the state (between Octavius Caesar and Lepidus) produces factional squabbles over small details
58 hated … love those who were hated, having grown strong, are now loved
60 apace rapidly
62 Upon … state under the present government
63 purge cleanse, purify itself
(medical term referring to the use of emetics or laxatives)
64 particular personal concern
65 safe make safe
71 garboils brawls, disturbances
best best of all (or possibly, referring to Fulvia, “when showed herself to be at her best”)
74 sacred vials lachrymatory bottles; small vessels placed in Roman graves and thought to have contained mourners’ tears
77 know learn
78 The … bear my intentions
are, or cease stand or fall
79 th’advice the judgment
fire … slime sun that brings fertility to the mudbanks of Egypt’s River Nile
82 thou affects you desire
83 lace the ties of her bodice as she struggles for breath
84 let it be leave it alone
85 So Antony loves Antony loves in just such a changeable manner/depending on whether or not Antony loves me
86 forbear be patient/control yourself
87 give true evidence bear witness
stands will sustain
92 Belong to Egypt are shed for the Queen of Egypt
93 dissembling playacting
95 heat my blood make me angry/passionate
96 meetly fairly good
98 target small shield; Cleopatra completes Antony’s phrase and makes it into a blustering theatrical oath
mends improves (in his act)
100 Herculean heroic, prodigiously strong; Antony’s family claimed descent from the Greek hero Hercules
become … chafe carry off his anger convincingly
107 oblivion forgetfulness/loss, abandonment
108 all forgotten forgetful/completely forgotten
109 But were it not
idleness foolishness/frivolity/triviality/worthlessness
110 holds … subject considers frivolity beneath you/means that you are in control of frivolity
112 sweating labour the language of childbirth, continued with bear
115 becomings attractive qualities
116 Eye look, seem
119 laurel … feet on his return to Rome, a victorious general wore a laurel wreath, and had flowers and rushes strewn in his path
122 Our … thee i.e. although separated physically they will still be together since they are joined spiritually
3 competitor associate, partner (plays on the sense of “rival”)
5 Is he is
6 Queen 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
7 gave audience received messengers
8 Vouchsafed condescended
9 abstract epitome, summary
13 spots of heaven stars; his faults stand out against his virtues as the stars do against the dark