THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE THE TRAGEDY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA EDITED BY R. H. CASE INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL CO. PUBLISHERS INTRODUCTION THIS edition of Antony and Cleopatra presents the first folio text with the majority of those emendations which in course of time have secured almost universal assent, no others, whether accepted in one or more editions or merely suggested, possessing, in the editor's judgment, that probability only short of certainty which alone justifies adoption. Certain changes countenanced by the best editions have, on the other hand, been rejected in favour of the original readings, and are here briefly indicated. The plurals in -th and -s, so extremely common in the literature of the period, have been restored wherever they occur in the folio; and similarly other slight variations from modern grammar: obsolete forms of words (mere difference of spelling excepted) are invariably given in place of following the usual eclectic plan: the folio forms of names, where they correspond with those of North and are consequently not press errors, are retained; and finally, also, besides the folio readings in certain places, its sense-affecting punctuation in the following passages, for reasons given in the notes in each case: Act I. sc. i. l. 4, sc. v. 11. 74, 75; Act II. sc. ii. ll. 71, 72; Act III. sc. xiii. l. 74 ; Act IV. sc. xv. l. 73; Act v. sc. ii. l. 291. With regard to interpretation of identical readings, many instances of greater or less variation from the usually accepted senses will be found. The obstinate cruces of the play have been fully discussed, and, as a choice of evils, no ascertained difficulties have been avoided, though in cases of ambiguity where language is so freely wielded as in Antony and Cleopatra, it is a question whether a reader's cursory impressions are not less likely to mislead than laboured analyses. A particular aim has |
