[400]"The first image I had of him was from the Achilles of Homer, the next from Tasso's Rinaldo, and the third from the Artaban of Monsieur Calpranède."—Preface to "Almanzor."
[401] "The Moors have heaven, and me, to assist their cause"
"I'll whistle thy tame fortune after me" (3, 1).
He falls in love, and speaks thus:
"'Tis he; I feel him now in every part;
Like a new lord he vaunts about my heart,
Surveys in state each corner of my breast,
While poor fierce I, that was, am dispossess'd'" (3, 1).
[402]Compare the song of the Zambra dance in the first part of "Almanzor and Almahide."
[403]The first part of "Almanzor and Almahide," IV. 5, 2.
[404]"The Indian Emperor," II. 1, 1.
[405]The first part of "Almanzor and Almahide," IV. 2, 1. This same Lyndaraxa says also to Abdalla (4, 2), "Poor women's thoughts are all extempore." These logical ladies can be very coarse; for example, this same damsel says in Act 2, 1, to the same lover, who entreats her to make him "happy, If I make you so, you shall pay my price."
[406] "He words me, girls; he words me, that I should not
Be noble to myself; but hark thee, Charmian....
Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
Thou, an Egyptian puppet shalt be shown
In Rome, as well as I: mechanic slaves,
With greasy aprons, rules and hammers, shall
Uplift us to the view....
Saucy lictors
Will catch at us, like strumpets; and scald rhymers
Ballad us out o' tune; the quick comedians
Extemporally will stage us, and present
Our Alexandrian revels; Antony
Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
I' the posture of a whore....
Husband, I come:
Now to that name my courage prove my title!
I am fire and air; my other elements
I give to baser life. So; have you done?
Come, then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell....
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?"
—Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," 5, 2.