Antonius

“ ANTONY. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom everything becomes,—to chide, to laugh, To weep; whose every passion fully strives To make itself in thee fair and admir'd! No messenger; but thine, and all alone To-night we'll wander through the streets and note The qualities of people. Come, my queen; Last night you did desire it:—speak not to us.
[Exeunt ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Train.]
DEMETRIUS. Is Caesar with Antonius priz'd so slight?
PHILO. Sir, sometimes when he is not Antony, He comes too short of that great property Which still should go with Antony. ”

“ I.53 Antonius' Pope | Antonio's Ff.
I.54 Antonius'. The 'Antonio's' of the Folios is the Italian form with which both actors and audience would be more familiar. So in IV, iii, 102, the Folios read "dearer than Pluto's (i.e. Plutus') mine." Antonius was at this time Consul, as Cæsar himself also was. Each Roman gens had its own priesthood, and also its peculiar religious rites. The priests of the Julian gens (so named from Iulus the son of Æneas) had lately been advanced to the same rank with those of the god Lupercus; and Antony was at this time at their head. ”

“ The enemy looked on with wonder, seeing them take advantage of the wind and shape their course towards the Peloponnesus. On this occasion Antonius clearly showed that he was not governed by the considerations that befit either a commander or a man, or even by his own judgment, but, as some one observed in jest, that the soul of the lover lives in another person’s body, so was he dragged along by the woman as if he had grown to her and moved together with her. ”

“ Marcus Antonius said, that the greatness of the people of Rome was not
so much seen in what they took, as in what they gave; and, indeed, some
ages before Antonius, they had dethroned one amongst the rest with so
wonderful authority, that in all the Roman history I have not observed
anything that more denotes the height of their power. ”

“ In an instant the barge would pass under the bridge!
"Fellow," replied Antonius (the whole inspection of the situation, formation of the plot, and visual dialogue had really been so rapid as to make no long break after the lictor ceased speaking) , "do you dare thus to do what even the most profane and impious have never dared before? Will you lay hands on two inviolate tribunes of the plebs, and those under their personal protection; and by your very act become a sacer—an outlaw devoted to the gods, whom it is a pious thing for any man to slay?" ”

“ For when Antonius rebelled against Domitian, and Rome was in consternation, expecting great wars from the quarter of Germany, all on a sudden, and nobody knows upon what account, the people spontaneously gave out a rumor of victory, and the news ran current through the city, that Antonius himself was slain, his whole army destroyed, and not so much as a part of it escaped ”

“ But it was the nature of Antonius to show his best qualities in difficulties, and in his misfortune he was as like as may be to a good man; for it is common to those who are hard pressed by straits to perceive what virtue is, but all have not strength enough in reverses to imitate what they admire and to avoid what they do not approve; but some rather give way to their habits through weakness and let their judgment be destroyed. ”

“ Antonius, believing the intelligence, said to himself, “Why dost thou still delay, Antonius? fortune has taken away the sole remaining excuse for clinging to life.” He then entered his chamber, and loosing his body armour and taking it in pieces, he said: “Cleopatra, I am not grieved at being deprived of thee, for I shall soon come to the same place with thee; but I am grieved that I, such an Imperator, am shown to be inferior to a woman in courage.” Now Antonius had a faithful slave named Eros, whom he had long before exhorted, if the necessity should arise, to kill him ”

“ She has to return from Athens without seeing Antony, but, despite Caesar’s command, she still lives in her husband’s house, still tries to heal the division, looks after his children and promotes the business of all whom he sends to Rome.
Howbeit thereby, thinking no hurt, she did Antonius great hurt. For her honest love and regard to her husband, made every man hate him, when they sawe he did so unkindly use so noble a Lady. ”

“ Synorix.
Our Antonius,
Our faithful friend of Rome, tho’ Rome may set
A free foot where she will, yet of his courtesy
Entreats he may be present at our marriage.
Camma.
Let him come—a legion with him, if he will.
(To Antonius.) Welcome, my lord Antonius, to our Temple.
(To Synorix.) You on this side the altar. (To Antonius.) You on that.
Call first upon the Goddess, Synorix.
[All face the Goddess. Priestesses, Children, Populace, and Guards kneel—the others remain standing. [70]
Synorix. ”

“ Among many who took the lead in this mode of life was the far-famed Antonius, most excellent master in the school of mortification, who made the desert a training place of virtue for his hermits. He after all his great and glorious labours had reached the haven where the winds of trouble blow no more, and then his followers were persecuted by the wretched and unhappy Lucius. ”

“ Antonius, a certain commander of this period in Germany, revolted against Domitian: him Lucius Maximus overcame and overthrew. For his victory he does not deserve any remarkable praise; [for many others have unexpectedly won victories, and his soldiers contributed largely to his success:] but for his burning all the documents that were found in the chests of Antonius, thus esteeming his own safety as of slight importance in comparison with having no blackmail result from them, I do not see how I may celebrate his memory as it deserves. ”

“ Antonius being sent with the cavalry not only occupied the straits, but taking Pelusium also, a large city, and the soldiers in it, he at the same time made the road safe for the army and gave the general sure hopes of victory. Even his enemies reaped advantage from his love of distinction; for when Ptolemæus entered Pelusium, and through his passion and hatred was moved to massacre the Egyptians, Antonius stood in the way and stopped him. ”

“ Plutarch's Lives.—Life of Marcus Antonius.—By Sir Thomas North. Folio 1676. Cambridge. Antony's Demon, or Genius, dares not oppose himself to Cæsar's; that is to say, Cæsar, according to the Astronomer's calculation, is born to the happier fortune. The Soothsayer's words are confirmed by various trifling occurrences; and, among others, that of always losing at every game with Cæsar, puts Antony out of humour: he dissembles his mortification; but, giving credit to the Astrologer, withdraws himself from the society of Octavius. ”

“ Position of Antonius.If it was in the interest of Rome to extend her conquests towards the East, and to enter on the inheritance of Alexander the Great there in all its extent, the circumstances were never more favourable for doing so than in the year 71638 B.C.. ”

“ He preferred observing Roman speakers to studying the precepts of the Greeks, [26] and he thought Roman oratory sounder than Greek because at Rome the pleaders were the foremost statesmen whereas in Greece only hirelings practiced the art. [27] In these views he was not far from representing orthodox opinions. [28] There were other great men who gave even less credit to scholastic practice. Antonius his rival—by many considered the more brilliant speaker of the two—claimed that rhetoric was useless in that it only formulated the [151] obvious ”

“ Many who had joined the ranks took the first opportunity of deserting; with those that remained faithful he made a hurried march to the north-west, hoping to make his way across the Apennines into Hither Gaul. But he found a force ready to bar his way, while Antonius, with the army from Rome, was pressing him from the south. Nothing remained for him but to give battle. Early in the year 62 B.C. the armies met. The rebel leader showed himself that day at his best. No soldier could have been braver, no general more skillful. ”

“ He formed an adulterous intercourse with Julia, the daughter of Augustus, which cost him his life B.C. 2. Antonius was a poet, as it seems (Horat. Carm. iv. 2, and Orelli’s note) .
The elder Antonia, the daughter of Octavia and Antonius, married L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the son of Cneius, who deserted to Cæsar just before the battle of Actium. This Lucius had by Antonia a son, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, who married Agrippina, the daughter of Cæsar Germanicus. ”

“ The former term is employed by Livy, Epit., 117; the latter by Cicero, Phil., 5, 7. The combined result was that Antony should have part or all of Gaul in place of Macedonia, and that both consuls should enjoy an imperium extended for five years. In the historians the references to the exchange of provinces are: Dio 45; 9, 20, 25; 46; 23, 24; Appian 3; 27, 29, 30, 31, 37, 38, 52, 55, 63.
[158] Antony left Rome October 9: ‘Antonius autem ... a.d. VII Id. Oct. Brundisium erat profectus’ (Cic., Fam., 12, 23, 2) . Also App. 3, 40. ”

“ The difference is one of use only; for the form seriaunt, E. serjeant, represents the Lat. seruientem, whilst servaunt, E. servant, represents the O. F. pres. part. of the O. F. verb servir; which comes to much about the same thing.
30. what, why; what ... anything answers to Lat. 'quid.'
33. in hool, &c., whether that power is unimpaired or lost; Lat. 'incolumis ... lapsa.'
34. Nero; see note to Monkes Tale, B 3685.
35. Antonius, a mistake for Antoninus, as in the Lat. text. By Antoninus is meant the infamous emperor Caracalla, on whom Septimius Severus had conferred the title of Antoninus. ”

“ Paganism was obviously falling asleep quite gently; Isis was giving way to Mary, apotheosis to canonisation, and saints succeeding divinities. Antonine, with the true Eastern conception of religion, strove to impress men with his vivid monotheism by means of the magnificence of the worship, the prodigal expenditure of a gorgeous pageant. This he gave the world right royally, but it was precisely this that the austere Roman could not understand was meant to be connected with the simple philosophy of his Western religion. Antonine thought to make his God great by means of a pompous show. ”

“ ANTONY. Favours, by Jove that thunders!— What art thou, fellow?
THYREUS. One that but performs The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest To have command obey'd.
ENOBARBUS. [Aside.] You will be whipp'd.
ANTONY. Approach there.—Ah, you kite!—Now, gods and devils! Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried 'Ho!' Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth And cry 'Your will?' Have you no ears? I am Antony yet.
[Enter Attendants.]
Take hence this Jack and whip him.
ENOBARBUS. 'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp Than with an old one dying.
ANTONY. Moon and stars! ”

“ That Antonine was wanted and wildly popular there can be no doubt, both from the statements of Lampridius and those of Eutropius, which record the spontaneity with which both Senate and people condemned the usurping house, and rejoiced at the restoration, as also from the record of the warmth with which Antonine was welcomed on his arrival. In fact, all men seem to have been pleased; the army with their Antonine; the Senate with their Aurelius; the people with their Augustus, or their Nero, as the case might be. Save for her strength, Rome had nothing of her own. ”

“ Antony was by nature a genial, open-hearted Roman, a good soldier, quick, resolute, and vigorous, but reckless and self-indulgent, devoid alike of prudence and of principle. The corruptions of the age, the seductions of power, and the evil influence of Cleopatra paralyzed a nature capable of better things. We know him chiefly through the exaggerated assaults of Cicero in his Philippic, and the narratives of writers devoted to Octavian. But after all deductions for partial representation, enough remains to show that Antony had all the faults of Cæsar, with little of his redeeming greatness. ”

“ At the very moment, when I was turning this over in my mind, following yours came the speech of Antoninus—Good heavens, how many admirable things, how many true! Every saying, every word quite fascinating, steeped in loyal affection and trust and love and longing. What then? which of both my two friends, the petitioner or the petitioned, should I praise the more? Antoninus with all his imperial power was complaisant, but you, Lucius, with all your complaisance, were for very love imperious. ”

“ The fame of Antony reached even the kings, for Constantinus the Augustus, and his sons, Constantius and Constans, the Augusti, hearing of these things, wrote to him as to a father, and begged to receive an answer from him. But he did not make much of the letters, nor was puffed up by their messages; and he was just the same as he was before the kings wrote to him. And he called his monks and said, “Wonder not if a king writes to us, for he is but a man: but wonder rather that God has written his law to man, and spoken to us by his own Son.” ”

“ During the first century of the Empire, chiefly under the influence of the Stoic philosophy, as later on under that of Christianity, there had been growing up a feeling that a slave was, after all, a human being, and had some claim to be treated as such under the Roman law, beneficent in its dealings with all other human beings. Antoninus followed out this new idea both in legislation and in his private life, as did his successor also, who adored his memory. ”

“ Antoninus did not view God and the material universe as the same, any more than he viewed the body and soul of man as one. Antoninus has no speculations on the absolute nature of the Deity. It was not his fashion to waste his time on what man cannot understand. He was satisfied that God exists, that he governs all things, that man can only have an imperfect knowledge of his nature, and he must attain this imperfect knowledge by reverencing the divinity which is within him, and keeping it pure. ”