ENOBARBUS So hath my lord dared him to single fight.
CANIDIUS Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia,
Where Caesar fought with Pompey. But these offers
Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off,
And so should you.
ENOBARBUS Your ships are not well manned,
Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people
Engrossed by swift impress. In Caesar’s fleet
Are those that often have ’gainst Pompey fought.
Their ships are yare, yours heavy. No disgrace
Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,
Being prepared for land.
ANTONY By sea, by sea. (3.7.30-40)
Yes, well, says Enobarbus, so hath my lord dared him to single fight. You challenged Caesar to single combat, and that was a stupid idea too. Canidius follows up this intervention in the same vein: you also dared him to wage this battle at Pharsalia, where Caesar fought with Pompey, invoking that decisive battle between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great—and that was what it was, a dare, a war of words, bravado, rhetoric. But these offers which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off, and so should you. Caesar’s a politician and a strategist; he’s not interested in grand gestures, he’s only interested in winning. He knows that neither single combat nor a land battle at Pharsalia—albeit it’s close to Actium—would advantage him, and so he said no, turned you down. And that’s exactly what you should do here, refuse to engage with him at sea. Enobarbus has drawn breath and is ready to try another tack: your ships are not well manned, your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people engrossed by swift impress. You’re under-equipped and under-prepared; your sailors and soldiers simply don’t have the experience. They’re not professionals: rather than proper mariners, you have muleteers and reapers, more used to driving carts and getting the harvest in. They’re only aboard your ships because they’ve been press-ganged at short notice. They’re conscripts, as unwilling as they are raw and inexperienced. By contrast, in Caesar’s fleet are those that often ’gainst Pompey fought. He’s got battle-hardened veterans, tough, experienced and loyal. Their ships are yare, yours heavy: even his ships are better, light and manoeuvrable, in good battle-order. Yours are cumbersome tankers by comparison. Really—really—no disgrace shall fall you for refusing him at sea, being prepared for land. There’s no shame in it, it’s simple pragmatics, straightforward strategy. It would be madness to engage with Caesar at sea. (Enobarbus here reveals, once again, that he’s much more than the wingman and the party animal, much more than the cynic and the clown.)
By sea, by sea. Antony simply won’t be told.