Both as the same, or rather ours the elder,
The breese upon her, like a cow in June,
Hoists sail and flies.
(III. x. 10.)
Not all is lost even then. But Antony follows the fugitive, when, if he were true to himself, the day might still be retrieved. This is the view that Shakespeare assigns to Canidius; and while all the previous items he derived from Plutarch, only distributing them among his persons, and adding to their picturesqueness and force, this is an addition of his own to heighten the ignominy of Antony’s desertion:
Had our general
Been what he knew himself, it had gone well.
(III. x. 25.)
And the explanation of his “most unnoble swerving,” if in one way an excuse, in another is an extra shame to his manhood, and too well justifies Enobarbus’ dread of Cleopatra’s influence:
Your presence needs must puzzle Antony;