18 your diver i.e. one of Cleopatra’s men, who dived underwater to attach the dried fish to Antony’s hook
19 salt-fish dried, salted fish (a euphemism for an impotent penis; “salt” plays on the sense of “lustful”)
20 fervency eagerness/sexual excitement
25 tires and mantles headdresses and robes
26 Philippan the sword he used at the battle of Philippi to defeat Brutus and Cassius
27 Ram … barren a highly sexualized image of being vigorously penetrated and made pregnant
32 yield report
34 lipped kissed, touched with their lips
37 use are accustomed
38 say … well i.e. because they are in heaven
42 go to get on with it
44 tart a favour sour a look
46 Fury in classical mythology, the Furies were the three goddesses of vengeance, commonly depicted as winged women with snakes for hair
47 formal normal/in the form of
50 ’tis well that’s good
51 Or … or either … or
52 shower of gold may recall Jove’s seduction of Danae in the form of a shower of gold
57 honest worthy
61 allay … precedence detract from the good news that preceded it
64 monstrous malefactor hideous criminal
65 Pour … ear tell me everything (as if the messenger were a peddler with a pack of news)
69 bound married (plays on the sense of “captive”; Cleopatra then shifts the sense to “indebted”)
71 turn the Messenger shifts the sense to “sexual act”
74 pestilence plague
77 spurn kick
80 pickle salt pickling solution
84 proud magnificent
85 make thy peace atone
86 boot enrich
92 keep … yourself contain yourself
94 thunderbolt Jove’s weapon of punishment
95 Egypt the country/Cleopatra
kindly good/natural
97 mad angry/frenzied, like a rabid dog
101 A meaner one of lower social rank
I … cause it’s my own fault I’m so upset
104 gracious joyful/full of esteem and nobility
105 host of tongues may glance at the mythological figure of Fame (renown), who was represented as multi-tongued
tell … felt announce themselves as their effects are felt
112 confound destroy
hold there still stick to your story
115 So even if
116 cistern pond/water tank
117 Narcissus in classical mythology, a young man who was so beautiful he fell in love with his own reflection
121 Take … you do not be offended because I am reluctant to offend you
123 much unequal most unjust
124 O … of! What a pity that Antony’s fault makes you into the villain that you’re not, by equating you with the bad news you report!
fault failing/fornication
knave rogue, villain
126 merchandise i.e. news
127 dear expensive/heartfelt
lie … ’em may you be unable to sell them, and be ruined
135 feature appearance
years age
136 inclination disposition
138 him i.e. Antony
139 painted … Mars as in a perspective picture in which the image changed depending on the angle of the viewer.
Gorgon: mythical creature with snakes for hair and a gaze that turned people to stone
140 Mars Roman god of war
Gorgon mythical creature with snakes for hair and a gaze that turned people to stone
140 Mars Roman god of war
Drum and Trumpet drummer and trumpeter
3 meet fitting, appropriate
5 purposes proposals
7 tie up hang up/curb
8 tall brave
9 else otherwise
11 senators alone sole rulers
12 factors agents, representatives
13 Wherefore why
father Pompey the Great, defeated by Julius Caesar
want need/lack
15 ghosted haunted; Julius Caesar was assassinated by conspirators that included Brutus and Cassius; they were then defeated and killed at the battle of Philippi by Antony and Octavius Caesar
17 moved incited
18 honest truthful/honorable
19 courtiers wooers/courtly attendants
20 drench drown in blood
20 Capitol Capitoline Hill, site of the senate house where Julius Caesar was killed
21 one … man i.e. prevent Julius Caesar, a mere mortal, from being crowned and treated like a god
24 scourge punish
despiteful malicious, spiteful
27 fear frighten
28 speak encounter, fight
29 o’er-count outnumber
31 o’er-count … house alludes to the confiscation of his father’s estate, which Antony bought but failed to pay for
o’er-count cheat
32 cuckoo … himself the cuckoo does not build its own nest but lays its eggs in another bird’s
33 as thou mayst as long as you can
35 from the present irrelevant
take respond to
38 entreated to cajoled into accepting
weigh consider seriously
39 embraced if accepted
40 what … fortune the future advantages to be gained/the dangerous consequences of fighting a battle
46 part depart
unhacked edges undamaged sword blades (i.e. without fighting)
47 targes shields
undinted without dents, unmarked by blows
53 praise of credit for
must should, ought to
58 studied prepared
63 timelier sooner
my purpose I intended
67 counts marks (literally, tally marks from adding up accounts)
68 in … vassal I shall never become a slave to bad luck
72 composition agreement, truce
73 sealed between us following signature, affixed with seals by each party
78 take the lot draw lots like the rest of us
first Or last whether your turn comes first or last
80 have the fame gain the glory
81 Grew … there another image of sex as eating; “grew fat” may have erectile connotations
83 fair sincere/courteous/decent
84 And … them Antony’s tone may be placatory or sarcastic here
86 Apollodorus a Sicilian friend of Cleopatra; Plutarch tells the tale of his rolling her up in a mattress in order that she might be conducted to Julius Caesar in secret
90 far’st are (from “fare,” pronounced “fairst”)
93 toward forthcoming
96 behaviour conduct in battle
101 plainness bluntness, plain speaking
102 nothing ill becomes suits
103 galley Greek or Roman warship with banks of oars on each side
108 known met before
121 take arrest
thieves i.e. hands (or possibly the men embrace after the handshake)
122 true honest
124 true genuine, i.e. without cosmetics
130 said spoken the truth
looked not for did not expect to see
135 Pray ye, sir? Is that right?
138 divine predict the outcome
140 policy … in politics of that alliance had more to do with
142 band wedding ring/bond, pledge
144 cold and still calm, reserved, meek/sexually unresponsive
145 conversation demeanor (plays on the sense of “sexual intercourse”)
148 Egyptian dish i.e. the delicious Cleopatra (dish plays on the sense of “vagina”)
149 blow … up inflame, enrage (as a pair of bellows fans a fire)
151 author creator, instigator
variance dispute, contention
15
2 use … is satisfy his sexual appetite where it is already lodged (with Cleopatra in Egypt)
occasion opportunity
155 health toast, drink
banquet dessert course of sweetmeats, fruit, and wine (though possibly the main part of the feast)
1 plants seedlings/soles of the feet (i.e. the agreement between them is not well founded/they’re unsteady on their feet due to alcohol)
4 high-coloured red in the face
5 alms-drink normally the remains of liquor given to the poor in charity, but here most likely Lepidus is drinking as a charitable act to further the reconciliation process
6 pinch … disposition snipe at and irritate each other in accordance with their differing personalities
10 discretion sound judgment
11 have … fellowship be one of a group of powerful men
12 as lief rather
13 partisan long-handled spear
heave lift
14 To … cheeks to occupy an exalted position but be seen to be incapable of filling it is as pitiful as empty eye sockets which ruin the face
sphere refers to the belief that planets orbited within transparent concentric spheres that ringed the earth
16 pitifully puns on the sense of “with pits”
sennet trumpet call signaling a procession
17 take measure
18 scales marks
i’th’pyramid on the obelisk (rather than the conventional Egyptian pyramids)
19 mean middle
dearth famine
20 foison plenty, abundance
22 ooze mud
26 Your … crocodile a widespread belief that the influence of the sun on vegetable matter could create certain forms of life; the repetition of the colloquial “your” suggests Lepidus is fairly drunk
31 ne’er out never back out
33 in in your cups, drunk/indoors
34 the Ptolemies the Ptolemaic dynasty, rulers of Egypt
pyramises pyramids; Lepidus is slurring drunkenly
39 Forsake leave
41 Forbear … anon wait until a little later
45 the … transmigrates once it dies, its soul passes into another body; Antony refers to a Pythagorean theory
48 it its
50 tears crocodiles supposedly cried before eating their victims
53 else or else
epicure glutton, since nothing can satisfy him/unbeliever, a follower of Epicurus, who rejected the theory of life after death
56 merit my past services to you/my worth
58 The matter? What’s this all about?
59 held … off deferred respectfully
60 faith loyalty
62 quicksands the drunken Lepidus is unsteady on his feet
68 entertain consider
74 pales encompasses
inclips clasps, embraces
77 competitors partners/rivals
78 cable rope or chain attached to the anchor
79 put off adrift/away from the shore
82 on’t of it
84 ’Tis … it I always put my honor before my personal profit
86 betrayed revealed
88 Desist leave off
89 palled weakened
91 more again
93 pledge i.e. drink the toast
96 hid i.e. brimful
99 A he
101 on wheels i.e. fast/dizzily (the “world goes on wheels” was a proverbial phrase)
102 reels revels/staggering motions
105 Strike the vessels clink or fill the cups/pierce the wine casks (precise meaning unclear)
107 forbear’t abstain from it (drink)
108 monstrous huge/unnatural
109 fouler more dirty (despite washing)
110 Be … o’th’time live for the moment
111 ‘Possess … answer my answer is “control it” (rather than be its subject)
112 fast from all abstain from all food (for)
114 brave splendid
115 Bacchanals dances in honor of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine
116 celebrate consecrate with religious ceremony
120 Lethe the river of forgetfulness in Hades
122 battery to an assault on
123 The while in the meanwhile
124 holding refrain
125 volley produce repeated noise (perhaps “like firearms or artillery”)
127 Plumpy plump
Bacchus the Roman god of wine
pink half-closed/reddened from drink
eyne eyes
129 fats vats
130 Cup us fill our cups
132 brother brother-in-law (i.e. Antony)
133 off to come ashore
135 burnt our cheeks i.e. they’re flushed from drinking
137 disguise dance/transformative powers of drink
138 Anticked made grotesque clowns
140 try you test your capacity for drink
143 what so what
147 What! i.e. strike up, let’s hear them
148 Neptune Roman god of the sea
150 a he
triumph the ceremonial procession undertaken by victorious generals, in which captives and the bodies of high-ranking enemies were displayed; a Roman practice
1 darting Parthia the Parthians were famed for their mounted archers whose tactics included shooting arrows behind them
2 Marcus Crassus member of the first triumvirate with Pompey and Julius Caesar; he was defeated by the Parthians and his head taken to their king, Orodes, who filled its mouth with molten gold as a punishment for greed
4 Pacorus Orodes’ son
8 The … follow follow the fleeing Parthians
Spur ride swiftly
Media eastern Iran
9 Mesopotamia present-day Iraq
11 triumphant triumphal
14 lower place a subordinate
15 make … act do too much
18 won … person been more successful through their officers’ military skill than their own
20 my place the same rank I hold
22 by th’minute all the time
25 makes choice of chooses
26 darkens eclipses, darkens his fortunes
28 in his offence through his being offended
29 performance achievements
36 horse cavalry
37 jaded exhausted and reduced to jades (inferior horses)
39 purposeth intends to go
40 weight i.e. the spoils of war, military equipment etc.
with’s with us
1 brothers brothers-in-law (i.e. Antony and Octavius Caesar)
parted departed
2 dispatched settled matters
3 other three triumvirate
sealing putting their seals to the agreement
6 green sickness anemic disease usually suffered by teenage girls and associated with lovesickness; Enobarbus mockingly attributes Lepidus’ hangover to his adulation of his fellow triumvirs
8 fine puns on the Latin lepidus (“fine, elegant”)
12 non-pareil paragon, matchless one
13 Arabian bird the phoenix, a mythical bird that was reborn from its own ashes; only one existed at a time
17 figures figures of speech, rhetorical conceits
18 cast calculate
22 shards patches of dung (in which some types of beetle live)
25 No further accompany me no further/you needn’t continue urging your point
27 Use … in’t treat that part of me which is in Octavia well
28 as … approof such a wife that my greatest pledge of your worth will be justified by your behavior
pass on be (legally) determined by
approof act of proving
30 piece masterpiece (but also a term for a woman)
31 Betwixt between
34 mean means/intermediary
36
in by
37 said finished
39 curious determinedly scrupulous in your inquiry
40 keep protect
44 elements weather, climate
47 April’s … on i.e. she’s weeping; “April showers bring May flowers” was proverbial
49 look … house think kindly of Antony’s household
53 the … inclines unable to express her feelings, Octavia’s mind is poised like a feather caught before the turn of the tide
57 cloud sorrowful raincloud (but Enobarbus introduces the sense of “dark spot on a horse’s face”)
64 rheum a cold causing streaming eyes
65 confound destroy, overthrow
wailed lamented
68 still continually
69 Outgo overtake (i.e. I shall think of you constantly)
1 fellow man/servant
5 Herod of Jewry i.e. even the famously cruel tyrant
8 how can I have it
12 dread revered/feared
21 That’s … good i.e. for Octavia (or for Cleopatra, who then shifts into a more optimistic vein)
24 gait bearing
27 station standing still
28 shows appears like
29 breather living creature
31 observance power of observation
34 in her yet i.e. that need concern me
46 As … it i.e. she would not wish it any lower (high foreheads were considered attractive)
49 employ … again send you back with a message
52 proper fine/handsome
54 harried ill-treated
by according to
55 no such thing nothing special
58 else defend forbid that it should be otherwise
63 warrant assure
1 Nay … that Antony enters mid-conversation; he is in the process of listing Caesar’s abuses
3 semblable import similar significance
4 made … ear a strategy to win support by suggesting that the terms of the will were advantageous to the Roman people
6 scantly grudgingly
perforce of necessity
8 vented expressed
most … me in the most ungenerous way
9 hint cue/opportunity (to praise Antony)
10 from his teeth feignedly, insincerely
13 Stomach resent
14 chance should happen
16 presently immediately
18 Undo and then undo
23 Let … it love him best who does most to preserve you and your love
26 branchless bare, destitute; perhaps alludes to the oak or laurel wreath awarded to a man who won honor in battle
28 preparation … war army
29 stain deprive of his luster/dishonor
30 So … yours in order to achieve your wishes/if that’s what you want
34 cleave break apart
slain … rift bodies of the dead would fill up the gap