Antony and Cleopatra (33 page)

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)