Enter Antony and Scarus with their army

ANTONY         Their preparation is today by sea;

We please them not by land.

SCARUS                      For both, my lord.

ANTONY         I would they’d fight i’th’ fire or i’th’ air;

We’d fight there too. But this it is: our foot

Upon the hills adjoining to the city

Shall stay with us. Order for sea is given.

They have put forth the haven. Up higher then,

Where their appointment we may best discover,

And look on their endeavour.

Exeunt             (4.11.1-9)

Another jump forward: it’s daylight, or almost (or else how could they see?)—and that it’s Antony with Scarus again is a cruel contrast to Enobarbus’s loneliness in the previous scene, and another glance at his betrayal of Antony. The time for battle is approaching, and Antony is taking the lie of the land. At first he thinks that their preparation is today by sea, that Caesar’s planning another Actium. We please them not by land: that’s where we beat them, after all! Scarus makes a slight correction: for both, my lord. Caesar’s preparing to fight us both at sea and on land. Antony’s undaunted, defiant at least: I would they’d fight in the fire or in the air, then, the other two elements besides water and earth: we’d fight there, too! we’d have a go! But this it is, we are where we are, and so, here’s the plan. Our foot—the infantry—upon the hills adjoining to the city shall stay with us. I’ll remain here on land, on the higher ground, and I’ll command the troops myself. Order for sea is given: they know what they’ve got to do this time. And they have put forth the haven already; they’re already out of the harbour. It’s underway. (If it’s a production with any kind of classical accuracy aspirations, there might be the noise of drums, beating time for the rowers in the galleys.) Up higher, then, where their appointment we may best discover, and look on their endeavour. We’d better climb further up the hill, for a better view, to see how they get on, how they acquit themselves…