Chapter 2

----Ye Gods, it doth amazs me, A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world, And bear the palm alone.

This noble image is taken from the Olympic games. This majestic world is a fine periphrasis of the Roman Empire; majestic, because the Romans ranked themselves on a footing with kings, and a world, because they called their empire Orbis Romanus; but the whole story seems to allude to Cæsar's great exemplar, Alexander, who, when he was asked whether he would run the course of the Olympic games, replied, 'Yes, if the racers were kings.'--So again in Anthony and Cleopatra, Act I.