Note 334 — SCENE VII.
Reading edition
It appears from Segar ("Honour, Military and Civil," fol. 1602, p. 122), that a person of superior birth might not be challenged by an inferior, or, if challenged, might refuse the combat. Alluding to this circumstance, Cleopatra says—
"These hands do lack nobility, that they strike A meaner than myself."
—Act ii. sc. 5.