Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Pray ye, sir?

 -Menas

Antony and Cleopatra            Act II, Scene vi, Line 111

Is that right? is probably what we would say today instead of Pray ye, sir?

In this scene Antony, Octavius and Lepidus have just concluded a treaty with Pompey. These four have all gone off to feast, and we are left with Menas and Enobarbus talking to each other. These are two old veteran soldiers from rival sides; Menas serves Pompey, and Enobarbus serves Antony. Since they are part of this truce meeting they are happy to just talk to each other. Enobarus just told Menas that Antony married Octavius’s sister, to which the latter replied Pray ye, sir?, and Enobarbus says ‘Tis true.

They spend a few minutes talking about the leaders and what’s really going on in general, and then they head off to the feast.

And that's about it.

I wanted to find a pic of someone saying Is that right? So here's my grandmother with my brother Dave. Now, truth be known, Gram was just proper enough, the descendant of Brits, that she would actually have been capable of saying Pray ye, sir? But whether she was saying, Is that right, or Pray ye sir, Dave has obviously become distracted with something else and is oblivious to her completely. Dave always did have a pretty limited attention span, God love him.