Note 226 — Chapter VII · ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

To me the sense seems to be: Supposing the Antony I have depicted never existed, still the conception is too great to be merely my own. It must be an imagination of Nature herself, which she may be unable to embody, but which shames our puny ideals. In other words, Antony is the “form” or “type” which Nature aims at even if she does not attain. I see no reason for changing the “nor” of the first line as it is in the folio to “or.”