In my post of “Love at first smell”, I used “so perfumèd, that the winds were lovesick with them;” to describe how Cleopatra used perfume to seduce Antony (in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra). This is right after they met:
Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
Invited her to Supper. She replied
It should be better he became her Guest,
Which she entreated. Our courteous Antony,
Whom never the word of ‘No’ Woman heard speak,
Being barbered ten times over, goes to the Feast,
And for his Ordinary pays his Heart
For what his Eyes eat only. (Cleopatra is 秀色可餐)
It basically says Antony accepted Cleopatra’s invitation as Antony never said ‘No’ to any woman. “Being barbered ten times over” means Antony had the barber groom him excessively before meeting Cleopatra. “For what his Eyes eat only” says Cleopatra is 秀色可餐, Antony went to the feast but ate nothing although his eyes did eat. Antony was satiated and satisfied by looking at (eating, 可餐) the sensual beauty (秀色) of Cleopatra.
Then we read,
She made great Caesar lay his Sword to Bed;
He ploughed her (藍田種玉), and she cropped.
Before Antony came, Cleopatra has had a child (prince) with Caesar. Plough is 耕種 or 播種, crop is 收成 or 收割, thus “He ploughed her, and she cropped” means Caesar 耕種 (藍田種玉) and Cleopatra 收割 (produced a child/prince).
This is my way of doing comparative literature.
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