SOME TEXTUAL DIFFICULTIES IN SHAKESPEARE
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present printed, with a period, thus showing their complete detachment from one another, and indicate them as being addressed to the Messenger and Cleopatra respectively.
The opening scene of this play is all bent to the purpose of impressing upon us Antony's complete infatuation and obsession with the charming Egyptian. Therefore, at the very beginning, we see him ignoring state affairs entirely—not partially or with a divided mind. This is brought out most strongly in the line we are considering; it was Shakespeare's strongest point in calculating the opening. We should not, therefore, be willing to consider Antony as consenting to pause in his courtship and lend one ear to the news, as it were, providing it was summed up or made short.
