“…our courteous Antony,
Whom ne’er the word of ‘No’ woman heard speak”
(Antony and Cleopatra, act 2, sc. 2)
Tips for Use. Whether you may mean it literally or figuratively, whether it is actually true or whether it represents your general inclination on the matter, the line makes an elegant answer to a request for a favor from a woman. E.G. “Never the word of ‘No’ woman heard me speak.” Either way to have an effect the line relies on the mode of delivery. Says Khalil Gibran, “the reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but how he says it, as well as to what he does not say.”
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In the play. Enobarbus, an officer in Antony’s army explains to Agrippa, a Roman senator, how Cleopatra conquered Antony by inviting him to dinner. Usually it is the other way around, but Cleopatra was notoriously skilled at blending romance with politics. As a Roman potentate Antony was a good ally for a Tolomean Queen.
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