heart parted betwixt two friends
That do afflict each other,
(III. vi. 77.)
or if Antony describes her equipoise of feeling as
the swan’s down-feather,
That stands upon the swell at full of tide,
And neither way inclines,
(III. ii. 48.)
it is not because she regards them both with equal tenderness. Her brother has her love; her husband, so long as he deserves it, has her duty. But when he forfeits his claim, she has done with him, unlike Plutarch’s Octavia, who pursues him to the end, and beyond the end, with a self-forgetfulness that her mere covenant could never call forth. Of all this there is nothing in the play. Her appeal to Antony in defence of Caesar is far warmer than her appeal to Caesar on behalf of Antony, and when she definitely hears that Antony has not only joined Cleopatra against her brother but has installed Cleopatra in her own place, she merely says, “Is it so?” and falls silent. No wonder. She is following Antony’s instructions to the letter:
Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks