Act 4, Scene 7

Field of battle between the Camps.

[Alarum. Drums and trumpets. Enter AGRIPPA and others.]
Agrippa
2543 Retire, we have engag'd ourselves too far:
2544 Caesar himself has work, and our oppression
2545 Exceeds what we expected.
[Exeunt.]
[Alarum. Enter ANTONY, and SCARUS wounded.]
Scarus
2546 O my brave emperor, this is fought indeed!
2547 Had we done so at first, we had driven them home
2548 With clouts about their heads.
Mark Antony
2549 Thou bleed'st apace.
Scarus
2550 I had a wound here that was like a T,
2551 But now 'tis made an H.
Mark Antony
2552 They do retire.
Scarus
2553 We'll beat'em into bench-holes: I have yet
2554 Room for six scotches more.
[Enter EROS.]
Eros
2555 They are beaten, sir; and our advantage serves
2556 For a fair victory.
Scarus
2557 Let us score their backs
2558 And snatch 'em up, as we take hares, behind:
2559 'Tis sport to maul a runner.
Mark Antony
2560 I will reward thee
2561 Once for thy sprightly comfort, and tenfold
2562 For thy good valour. Come thee on.
Scarus
2563 I'll halt after.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2544archaic vocab
“our oppression / Exceeds what we expected”
'Oppression' here means the pressure or force brought against Agrippa's troops — the weight of the enemy attack — not mistreatment in the modern sense. Agrippa is admitting that Antony's counterattack is heavier than Octavius Caesar's forces anticipated.
TLN 2548archaic vocab
“clouts about their heads”
'Clouts' are cloths or rags — specifically bandages or cloths wrapped around a wound. Scarus means that had Antony's forces attacked so boldly from the start they would have driven Caesar's soldiers home with their heads bandaged up from their beatings.
TLN 2550wordplay
“wound here that was like a T, / But now 'tis made an H”
Scarus describes his wound with grim soldier's humor: it started as a T-shaped cut but has been widened in the fighting into an H shape — that is, the wound has grown a crossbar. The joke uses letter-shapes to convey that his injury has roughly doubled in size, while treating it with deliberate casualness to show courage.
TLN 2553archaic vocab
“beat'em into bench-holes: I have yet / Room for six scotches more”
'Bench-holes' are the holes cut in a bench used as a latrine — Scarus contemptuously says he will drive Caesar's men into the sewers. 'Scotches' are cuts or gashes (from the verb 'to scotch,' meaning to score or slash); Scarus jokes that his body still has room for six more sword-cuts before he is done fighting.
TLN 2563wordplay
“I'll halt after”
'Halt' means to limp or walk with a lame gait — Scarus is wounded and physically cannot keep up. The line doubles as a willing promise to follow Antony into the pursuit despite his injuries. The joke lands on both meanings at once: 'I will come after you' and 'I will be limping as I do it.'