Mef. Cæfar and he are greater friends than ever.[
Cleo. Make thee a fortune from me.

Mef. But yet, madam—

Cleo. I do not like but yet, it does allay
The good precedence; fye upon but yet:
But yet is as a jailer to bring forth

Some monftrous malefactor. Pr'ythee, friend,
Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear,

The good and bad together: He's friends with
Cæfar;

In state of health, thou say'st; and thou fay'ft, free.
Mef. Free, madam! no; I made no fuch report:
He's bound unto Octavia.

Cleo. For what good turn?

Mef. For the best turn i' the bed.

Cleo. I am pale, Charmian.

Mef. Madam, he's married to Octavia.
Cles. The most infectious peftilence upon thee!
[Strikes him down.

20

Mef. Good madam, patience.
Cleo. What fay you?-Hence, [Strikes bim again.
Horrible villain! or I'll fpurn thine eyes
Like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head;
[She bales bim up and down.
Thou shalt be whipt with wire, and stew'd in brine, 25
Smarting in ling'ring pickle.

Mef. Gracious madam,

I, that do bring the news, made not the match.

Cleo. Say, 'tis not so, a province I will give thee,
And make thy fortunes proud: the blow, thou hadft, 30
Shall make thy peace, for moving me to rage;
And I will boot thee with what gift befide
Thy modefty can beg.

Mef. He's married, madam.

Are all too dear for me; Lye they upon thy hand,
And be undone by 'em!
[Exit Meffenger
Char. Good your highnefs, patience.
Cleo. In praifing Antony, I have difprais'd Cæfar.
Char. Many times, madam.

Cleo. I am paid for it now. Lead me from hence,
I faint; O Iras, Charmian,-'Tis no matter:-
Go to the fellow, good Alexas: bid him
Report the feature 3 of Octavia, her years,
Her inclination, let him not leave out
The colour of her hair :-bring me word quickly.-

[Exit Alexas.
Let him 4 for ever go:-Let him not,-Charmian;
Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon,
The other way he is a Mars :-Bid you Alexas
[To Mardian.

Bring me word, how tall fhe is.-Pity me, Charmian,

35 But do not fpeak to me.-Lead me to my chamber. [Exeunt.

Char. Good madam, keep yourself within yourself, 40| The man is innocent.

Cleo. Some innocents 'fcape not the thunderbolt.Melt Egypt into Nile! and kindly creatures Turn all to ferpents! Call the flave again; Though I am mad, I will not bite him :-Call. Char. He is afeard to come.

Cleo. I will not hurt him :

Thefe hands do lack nobility, that they strike
A meaner than myself; fince I myself
Have given myself the caufe.-Come hither, fir.
Re-enter a Meffenger.

Though it be honest, it is never good

To bring bad news: Give to a gracious meffage
An host of tongues; but let ill tidings tell
Themfelves, when they be felt.

Mcf. I have done my duty.

Cico. Is he married?

I cannot hate thee worfer than I do,

If thou again fay, Yes.

Mf. He is married, madam.

Cleo. The gods confound thee! doft thou hold

there still?

45 Caf. Moft meet,

That firft we come to words; and therefore have we
Our written purposes before us fent :
Which, if thou haft confider'd, let us know
If 'twill tie up, thy difcontented fword;
50 And carry back to Sicily much tall youth,
That elfe muft perish here.

55

Pomp. To you all three,

The fenators alone of this great world,
Chief factors for the gods,-I do not know,
Wherefore my father fhould revengers want,
Having a fon, and friends; fince Julius Cæfar,
Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,
There faw you labouring for him. What was it,
That mov'd pale Caffius to confpire? And

60 What made, all-honour'd, honeft, Roman Brutus,
With the arm'd reft, courtiers of beauteous freedom,
To drench the Capitol; but that they would

4 i. e.

Submerg'd is whelm'd under water. z i. e. Thou art not an honeft man, of which thou art thy felf affured, but thou art in my opinion a knave by thy mafter's fault alone. 3 i. e. the beauty. Antony.

Have one man but aman? And that is it,
Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burden
The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant
To scourge the ingratitude that defpightful Rome
Caft on my noble father.

Caf. Take your time.

[fails,

Ant. Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy We'll speak with thee at sea: at land, thou know'ft How much we do o'er-count thee.

Pomp. At land, indeed,

Thou doft o'er-count me of my father's house:
But, fince the cuckow builds not for himself,
Remain in't, as thou may'st.

Lep. Be pleas'd to tell us,

(For this is from the present) how you take The offers we have fent you.

Caf. There's the point,

Ant. Which do not be intreated to, but weigh What it is worth embrac'd.

Caf. And what may follow,

To try a larger fortune.

Pomp. You have made me offer

Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I muft

Rid all the fea of pirates: then, to send

5

|10|

15

20

Measures of wheat to Rome: This 'greed upon, 25

To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back
Our targes undinted.

4

Omnes. That's our offer.

Pomp. Know then,

came before you here, a man prepar'd To take this offer: but Mark Antony

Put me to fome impatience:-Though I lose
The praise of it by telling, You must know,
When Cæfar and your brother were at blows,
Your mother came to Sicily, and did find
Her welcome friendly.

Ant. I have heard it, Pompey;

And am well ftudied for a liberal thanks,

Which I do owe you.

Pomp. Let me have your hand:

I did not think, fir, to have met you here.
Ant. The beds i' the east are soft; and thanks to you
That call'd me, timelier than my purpose, hither;

For I have gain'd by it.

Caf. Since I faw you last,

There is a change upon you.

Pomp. Well, I know not,

What counts harsh fortune cafts upon my face 2;
But in my bofom fhall the never come,

To make my heart her vaffal.

Lep. Well met here.

Pomp. I hope fo, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed: I crave, our compofition may be written,

And feal'd between us.

Caf. That's the next to do.

30

Eno. A certain queen to Cæfar 3 in a mattress.
Pomp. I know thee now; How far'st thou, foldier?
Eno. Well;

And well am like to do; for, I perceive,
Four feafts are toward.

Pomp. Let me shake thy hand;

I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
When I have envied thy behaviour.

Eno. Sir,

I never lov'd you much; but I have prais'd you,
When you have well deferv'd ten times as much
As I have faid you did.

Pomp. Enjoy thy plainnefs,
It nothing ill becomes thee.-
Aboard
my galley I invite you all:
Will you lead, lords?

All. Shew us the way, fir.

Pomp. Come. [Exeunt. Manent Ensb. and Menas. Men. [Afide.] Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have made this treaty.

You and I have known, fir.

Eno. At fea, I think.

Eno. I will praife any man that will praise me: though it cannot be denied what I have done by 35 land.

140

45

Men. Nor what I have done by water.

Eno. Yes, fomething you can deny for your own fafety: You have been a great thief by fea.

Men. And you by land.

Eno. There I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas: If our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kiffing.

Men. All men's faces are true, whatfoe'er their hands are.

Eno. But there is never a fair woman has a true
face.

Men. No flander; they steal hearts.
Em. We came hither to fight with you.

Men. For my part, I am forry it is turn'd to a
50drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his.

Men. You have faid, fir. We look'd not for [us 55 Mark Antony here: Pray you, is he married to Cleopatra ?

Pomp. We'll feaft each other, ere we part; and let Draw lots, who fhall begin.

Ant. That will I, Pompey.

Pomp. No, Antony, take the lot: but, first,

Or laft, your fine Egyptian cookery

Shall have the fame. I have heard, that Julius Cæfar

Grew fat with feafting there.

1 i.e. affright us.

3.e, to Julius Cæfar,

60

Eno. Cæfar's fifter is call'd Octavia.

Men. True, fir; fhe was the wife of Caius Mar

cellus.

Eno. But now fhe is the wife of Marcus Antonius.
Men. Pray you, fir?

Eno. 'Tis true.

2 A metaphor from making marks or lines in cafting accounts in arithmetick

Men. Then is Cæfar, and he, for ever knit together.

Eno. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophesy fo.

Men. I think, the policy of that purpose made 5 more in the marriage, than the love of the parties.

10

Eno. I think fo too. But you fhall find, the band, that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation. Men. Who would not have his wife fo? Eno. Not he, that himself is not fo; which is Mark Antony. He will to his Ægyptian difh again: then fhall the fighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cæfar; and, as I faid before, that which is the 15 ftrength of their amity, shall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his affection where it is; he marry'd but his occafion here.

Men. And thus it may be. aboard?

I have a health for you.

Come, fir, will you 20

Eno. I fhall take it, fir: we have us'd our throats

in Egypt.

Men. Come; let's away,

Mufick plays.

Pomp. Forbear me 'till anon.-This wine for Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? [Exeunt. 25 Ant. It is fhap'd, fir, like itfelf: and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is juft fo high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourishes it; and the elements once out of it, it tranfmigrates.

Enter two or three Servants with a
banquet.

1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already, the least wind i' the world will blow them down.

2 Serv. Lepidus is high-colour'd.

1 Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink 2. 2 Serv. As they pinch one another by the difpofition 3, he cries out no more; reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1 Serv. But it raifes the greater war between him and his difcretion.

30

35

1401

2 Serv. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship: I had as lief have a reed that will do me no fervice, as a partizan 4 I could not 45

heave.

1 Serv. To be call'd into a huge fphere, and not to be feen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully difafter the cheeks 5.

A fennet founded. Enter Cæfar, Antony, Pompey, Lepidus, Agrippa, Mecanas, Enobarbus, Menas, with other Captains.

Ant. Thus do they, fir: They take the flow o'
the Nile

By certain fcales i' the pyramid; they know,
By the height, the lowness or the mean, if dearth,
Or foizon 7, follow: the higher Nilus fwells,
The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman

50

Lep. What colour is it of?

Ant. Of its own colour too.
Lep. 'Tis a strange serpent.

Ant. 'Tis fo.

And the tears of it are wet.

Caf. Will this description fatisfy him?
Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him
elfe he is a very epicure.

Pomp. [To Menas afide.] Go, hang, fir, hang;
Tell me of that? away!

Do as I bid you.-Where's the cup I call'd for?,
Men. If for the fake of merit thou wilt hear me,
Rife from thy ftool.

Pomp. [Rifes, and walks afide.] I think, thou'rt

55 And, though you think me poor, I am the man Will give thee all the world.

Pomp. Haft thou drunk well?

Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. Thou art, if thou dar'ft be, the earthly Jove:

Plants, befides its common meaning, is here ufed for the foot, from the Latin. 2 A phrafe amongst good fellows, to fignify that liquor of another's fhare which his companion drinks to ease him. But it fatirically alludes to Cæfar and Antony's admitting him into the triumvirate, in order to take off from themselves the load of envy. 3 A phrafe equivalent to that now in ufe, of touching one in a fore place. i. e. a pike. 5 i, e. Great offices are the boles where eyes fhould be, which, if the eyes be wanding, pitifully difafter the cheeks. i. e. the middle. 7 i. e. plenty, abundance.

Whate'er

[Pompey. 20

Men. The third part then is drunk: 'Would it 30 Antick'd us all. What needs more words? Good

1 i.e. embraces. 2 Palled is vapid, paft its time of excellence. paffage by, Try whether the casks found as empty while Mr. Steevens thinks, that firike the vessels means no more than, chink the vessels one against the other, as a mark of our unanimity in drinking, as we now Lay, chink glasses. 4 i. e. the burden of the fong. 5 i. e. eyes inflam'd with drinking. alludes to darting. Thou whofe darts have so often struck others, art struck now thyself. was the fon of Orodes, king of Parthia.

Shall fet thee on triumphant chariots, and
Put garlands on thy head.

Ven. O Silius, Silius,

I have done enough: A lower place, note well,

May make too great an act: For learn this, Silius;
Better to leave undone, than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame, when he we ferve's away.
Cæfar and Antony have ever won

More in their officer, than perfon: Soffius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he atchiev'd by the minute, loft his favour.
Who does i' the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,
The foldier's virtue, rather makes choice of lofs,
Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,
But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

Sil. Thou haft, Ventidius, that,
Without the which a foldier, and his fword, [tony?
Grants scarce diftinction. Thou wilt write to An-

5

Eno. They are his fhards, and he their beetle 3.
So,-This is to horse.-Adieu, noble Agrippa.
[Trumpets.
Agr. Good fortune, worthy foldier; and farewel.
Enter Cæfar, Anteny, Lepidus, and OƐtavia.
Ant. No further, fir.

Caf. You take from me a great part of myself :
Ufe me well in it.-Sifter, prove fuch a wife [band
As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest
15 Shall pafs on thy approof 4.-Most noble Antony,
Let not the piece of virtue, which is fet
Betwixt us, as the cement of our love,
To keep it builded, be the ram, to batter
The fortrefs of it: for better might we

20 Have lov'd without this mean, if on both parts
This be not cherish'd.

Ven. I'll humbly signify what in his name,
That magical word of war, we have effected;
How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks, 25
The ne'er-yet beaten horfe of Parthia
We have jaded out o' the field.
Sil. Where is he now ?
[what hafte
Ven. He purpofeth to Athens: whither with
The weight we must convey with us will permit,|30|
We shall appear before him.-On, there; pafs
along.
[Exeunt.

Ant. Make me not offended
In your distrust.
Caf. I have faid.

Ant. You fhall not find,

Though you be therein curious 5, the leaft caufe
For what you feem to fear: So, the gods keep you,
And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!
We will here part.

Caf. Farewel, my dearest fifter, fare thee well;
The elements be kind to thee, and make
Thy fpirits all of comfort! fare thee well.
Octa. My noble brother!

Ant. The April's in her eyes; it is love's fpring, 35 And thefe the fhowers, to bring it on:-Be cheerful.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted? [gone;
Eno. They have dispatch'd with Pompey, he is 40
The other three are fealing. Octavia weeps,
To part from Rome: Cæfar is fad; and Lepidus,
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas fays, is troubled
With the green-fickness.

Agr. 'Tis a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæfar!
Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark An-
Eno. Cæfar! Why, he's the Jupiter of men. [tony!
Agr. What's Antony? The god of Jupiter.
Eno. Speak you of Cæfar? How? the nonpareil!
Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird 2!
Eno. Would you praife Cæfar, fay,—Cæfar;-
go no further.

Agr. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent
praises.

45

50 When Antony found Julius Cæfar dead,
He cried almost to roaring: and he wept,
When at Philippi he found Brutus flain.
Eno. That year, indeed, he was troubled with
a rheum;

[Antony: 55 What willingly he did confound, he wail'd:
Believe it, 'till I weep too.

Eno. But he loves Cæfar beft;-Yet he loves Ho: hearts, tongues, figures, fcribes, bards, poets,

conduct.

cannot

5 i. e. fcrupulous.

Caf. No, fweet Octavia,

You shall hear from me ftill; the time shall not
Out-go my thinking on you.

1 Grant, for afford. 2 The phoenix. 3 i. e. They are the wings that raife this heavy, lumpish infect from the ground. 4 i. e. as I will venture the greatest pledge of fecurity, on the trial of thy A horfe is faid to have a cloud in bis face, when he has a black or dark-coloured fpot in His forehead between his eyes. This gives him a four look, and being fuppofed to indicate an ill-temper, is of courfe regarded as a great blemish.