Act 4, Scene 1

CAESAR'S Camp at Alexandria.

[Enter CAESAR reading a letter; AGRIPPA, MAECENAS, and others.]
Octavius Caesar
2316 He calls me boy; and chides as he had power
2317 To beat me out of Egypt; my messenger
2318 He hath whip'd with rods; dares me to personal combat,
2319 Caesar to Antony:—let the old ruffian know
2320 I have many other ways to die; meantime
2321 Laugh at his challenge.
Maecenas
2322 Caesar must think
2323 When one so great begins to rage, he's hunted
2324 Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now
2325 Make boot of his distraction:—never anger
2326 Made good guard for itself.
Octavius Caesar
2327 Let our best heads
2328 Know that to-morrow the last of many battles
2329 We mean to fight.—Within our files there are
2330 Of those that serv'd Mark Antony but late,
2331 Enough to fetch him in. See it done:
2332 And feast the army; we have store to do't,
2333 And they have earn'd the waste. Poor Antony!
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2316historical topical
“He calls me boy”
Antony addresses Octavius Caesar as 'boy' in his challenge, a calculated insult targeting Caesar's relative youth -- he was about 33 at this point, against Antony's roughly 52. The taunt denies Caesar the status of a legitimate military equal, since Octavius had never personally won glory in pitched battle the way Antony had.
historical The Second Triumvirate
TLN 2318historical topical
“dares me to personal combat”
Antony challenges Octavius Caesar to single combat — one general against the other, winner takes the war. This was an ancient Roman gesture of honor, but by the late republic it was already archaic; Caesar's dismissal ('I have many other ways to die; meantime / Laugh at his challenge') is the political realist's response to a soldier playing by codes his opponent simply does not share.
TLN 2325archaic vocab
“Make boot of his distraction”
'Make boot of' means to profit from, to take advantage of. 'Distraction' here means mental frenzy or breakdown — the state of a man losing control. Maecenas is telling Caesar not to give Antony time to recover, but to press the attack while Antony is falling apart mentally and militarily.
TLN 2332historical topical
“feast the army; we have store to do't, / And they have earn'd the waste”
Caesar orders a feast for his army, pointedly noting that within his ranks ('our files') are soldiers who served Antony until very recently. The feast is both reward and propaganda: binding Antony's former troops to the winning side with loyalty purchased through generosity. 'Waste' here means lavish expenditure, prodigal spending — what soldiers have earned by their service.
historical The Battle of Actium