Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/160

148 The Tragedie of Cleopatra, which Samuel Daniel modelled after the tragedies of Seneca, antedates Shakespeare. The False One, written by Fletcher and Massinger about 1620, goes back to the 'salad days' of Cleopatra for its story; and so does the Cæsar and Cleopatra of Bernard Shaw. But the only play upon this theme which has seriously challenged comparison with Shakespeare is, curiously enough, Dryden's All for Love, written in avowed imitation. 'In my stile I have profess'd to imitate the Divine Shakespeare,' says Dryden in his Preface, and writes blank verse accordingly; and again and quite truly, 'Yet I hope I may affirm, and without vanity, that by imitating him, I have excell'd myself throughout the play.' What he did was to regularize Shakespeare's story by reducing it to unity as the French critics understood the word. It is probable that he did succeed in making a better acting play by his concentration of the story, but the character of Antony suffers degradation, Cleopatra loses her charm, and the whole action of the piece moves on lower levels of poetry and human experience.

A full account of the various dramatic versions of the Cleopatra story may be found in the Appendix to the Variorum edition of H. H. Furness.

 

There is no known quarto edition of Antony and Cleopatra. The earliest edition is, therefore, that of the First Folio of 1623.

The text of the present edition is by permission that of Craig's Oxford Shakespeare, published by the Oxford University Press. Deviations from the 