How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Riverside edition.
Quote #1
ANTONY
There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it.
What our contempts doth often hurl from us,
We wish it ours again. The present pleasure,
By revolution lowering, does become
The opposite of itself. (1.2.137-141)
Antony regrets that his wife is dead, and it seems he regrets that he wished her dead as well…now that it’s done. Only by getting what he wanted could he see how it wasn’t a good event to wish for at all. This retrospective thought is a kind of regret.
Quote #2
CLEOPATRA
Though age from folly could not give me freedom,
It does from childishness. Can Fulvia die? (1.3.69-70)
Cleopatra admits that she is old enough to be full of vices and foolishness, but not childishness. She clearly has a moment of compassion over Fulvia’s death, even though the woman was her enemy in love.
Quote #3
MENECRATES
We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers. (2.1.7-10)
Menecrates is prophetic here when speaking to Pompey about winning the war. Pompey will indeed triumph by the truce he’ll make, but he doesn’t know now that he’ll live to regret it.