's son, Mark Antony. 5

ANTONY. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.
But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar's house;
Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine
How to cut off some charge in legacies.

LEPIDUS. What, shall I find you here? 10

OCTAVIUS. Or here, or at the Capitol. [_Exit_ LEPIDUS]

ANTONY. This is a slight unmeritable man,
Meet to be sent on errands: is it fit,
The three-fold world divided, he should stand
One of the three to share it?

OCTAVIUS. So you thought him; 15
And took his voice who should be prick'd to die,
In our black sentence and proscription.

ANTONY. Octavius, I have seen more days than you:
And though we lay these honours on this man,
To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, 20
He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,
To groan and sweat under the business,
Either led or driven, as we point the way;
And having brought our treasure where we will,
Then take we down his load and turn him off, 25
Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears
And graze in commons.

[Note 10: /What/, Johnson | What? Ff.]

[Note 23: /point/ F1 | print F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 4-5: According to Plutarch, as quoted above, this was
Lucius Caesar, not Publius; nor was he Antony's nephew, but
his uncle by the mother's side. His name in full was Antonius
Lucius Caesar.]

[Note 6: /with a spot I damn him:/ with a mark I condemn him.]

[Note 12: /slight unmeritable:/ insignificant, undeserving. In
Shakespeare many adjectives, especially those ending in
_-ful_, _-less_, _-ble_, and _-ive_, have both an active and a
passive meaning. See Abbott, Sect. 3.]

[Note 27: /commons./ This is a thoroughly English allusion to
such pasture-lands as are not owned by individuals, but
occupied by a given neighborhood in common. In 1614
Shakespeare protested against the inclosure of such 'common
fields' at Stratford-on-Avon.]

[Page 118]

OCTAVIUS. You may do your will;
But he's a tried and valiant soldier.

ANTONY. So is my horse, Octavius; and for that
I do appoint him store of provender: 30
It is a creature that I teach to fight,
To wind, to stop, to run directly on,
His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit.
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so;
He must be taught, and