The strong necessity of time commands
Our services awhile; but my full heart
Remains in use with you. Our Italy
Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius
Makes his approaches to the port of Romeo
Equality of two domestic powers alde[strength,
Breed scrupulous faction: The hated, grown to
Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace
Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'dak edi
Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge
By any desperate change: My more particular, 900
And that which most with you should safe my
Is Fulvia's death.
[going,
Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me
freedom,
wah
It does from childishness:Can Fulvia die ?
Ant. She's dead, my queen:
Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read
The garboils she awak'd ; at the last, best:
See, when and where she died.
Cleo. O most false love;
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fille
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepared to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advice: Now, by the fire,
That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence,
Thy soldier, servant; making peace, or war,yol
As thou affect'st.
Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come ;—
But let it be. I am quickly ill, and well;
So Antony loves.. Mu
Ant. My precious queen, forbear
And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial.
Cleo. So Fulvia told me. 4
I pr'ythee, turn aside, and weep for her;
Then bid adicu to me, and say, the tears
Belong to Egypt: Good now, play one scene
Of excellent dissembling; and let it look
Like perfect honour.
Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more.
Our separation so abides, and flies,
That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, CA
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee:
Away.
[exeunt.
SCENE IV. ROME. AN APARTMENT AT CÆSAR'S
HOUSE.
Enter Octavius Cæsar, Lepidus, and Attendants. Cas. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth i It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hates on [know, One great competitor: From Alexandria duo This is the news; he fishes, drinks, and wastes The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy V More womanly then he: hardly gave audience, or Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall A man, who is the abstract of all faults [find there That all men follow.
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA231&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U1rj4ACKRojMj5A1SgiO_eIUEES0g&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=739,992,17,11)
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA231&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U1rj4ACKRojMj5A1SgiO_eIUEES0g&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=816,1011,36,10)
Lep. I must not think, there are Evils enough to darken all his goodness:end His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven, More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,625 Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change, Than what he chooses. [is not
Cas. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, is
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy god aviat
To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sito vide hiti
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave
To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet
With knaves that smell of sweat: say, this becomes
(As his composure must be rare indeed, [him
Whom these things cannot blemish), yet must
Antony
No way excuse his soils, when we do bear)
So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd zi vi
His vacancy with his voluptuousness, 978*k
Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones,
Call on him for't: but, to confound such time, 70
That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud
As his own state, and ours, 'tis to be chida">
As we rate boys: who being mature in knowledge, I
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And so rebel to judgment.
Enter a Messenger.
Lep. Here's more news.
Mess. Thy biddings have been done; and every
Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
And it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have feared Cæsar; to the ports
The discontents repair, and men's reports
Give him much wrong'd.
Cæs. I should have known no less:
It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he, which is, was wish'd until he were ;
And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth
love,
Come's dear'd, by being lack'd.
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion.
Mess. Cæsar, I bring thee word,
Menecrates, and Menas, famous pirates,
Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing
Make the sea serve them; which they ear and But what in deed is honest to be done:
With keels of every kind: Many hot inroads
They make in Italy; the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt:
No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon
Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more,
Than could his war resisted.
Yet have I fierce affections, and think,
What Venus did with Mars.
Cleo. O Charmian,
Where think'st thou he is now?
Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?
O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm [mov'st?
And burgonet of men.-He's speaking now,
Or murmuring, Where's my serpent of old Nile?
For so he calls me; now I feed myself
With most delicious poison:-Think on me,
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Cæsar,
When thou wast here above the ground, I was
Leave thy lascivious wassals. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer: Thou didst drink
The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsed'st; on the Alps
It is reported, thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on: And all this
(It wounds thine honour, that I speak it now),
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.
Lep. It is pity of him.
Cas. Let his shames quickly
Drive him to Rome: 'Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i'the field; and, to that end,
Assemble we immediate council: Pompey'
Thrives in our idleness.
Lep. To-morrow, Cæsar,
I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able,
To 'front this present time.
Cas. Till which encounter,
It is my business too.
Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, hail!
Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony! Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee.
How goes it with my brave Mark Antony
Alex. Last thing he did, dear queen,
He kiss'd, the last of many doubled kisses,—
This orient pearl;-his speech sticks in my heart.
Cleo. Mine ear must pluck it thence.
Alex. Good friend, quoth he,
Say, The firm Roman to great Egypt sends
This treasure of an oister; at whose foot
To mend the petty present, I will piece
Her opulent throne with kingdoms: All the east,
Say thou, shall call her mistress. So he nodded,
And soberly did mount a termagant steed,
Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have
[spoke
Lep. Farewell, my lord: What you shall know Was beastly dumb'd by him.
Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note
him:
He was not sad; for he would shine on those
That make their looks by his: he was not merry;
Which seem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy: but between both :
O heavenly mingle!-Be'st thou sad, or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes;
So does it no man else.-Met'st thou my posts?
Alex. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers:
Why do you send so thick?
Cleo. Who's born that day
When I forget to send to Antony,
Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Charmian.
Welcome, my good Alexas.-Did I, Charmian,
Ever love Cæsar so?
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA233&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2FGpbYCyoeyimtw7agvEYX_HniaQ&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=38,446,424,313)
The people love me, and the sea is mine;
My power's a crescent, and my auguring hope
Says, it will come to the full. Mark Antony
In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make
No wars without doors: Cæsar gets money, where
He loses hearts: Lepidus flatters both,
Of both is flatter'd ; but he neither loves,
Nor either cares for him.
Men. Cæsar and Lepidus
Are in the field; a mighty strength they carry.
Pom. Where have you this? 'tis false.
Men. From Silvius, sir.
[together,
Pom. He dreams; I know, they are in Rome
Looking for Antony: but all charms of love,
Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip!
Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both!
Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks,
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite;
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour,
Even till a Lethe'd dulness.-How now, Varrius?
Enter Varrius.
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA233&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2FGpbYCyoeyimtw7agvEYX_HniaQ&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=458,126,449,366)
Cæsar and Antony shall well greet together:
His wife, that's dead, did trespasses to Cæsar;
His brother warr'd upon him: although, I think,
Not mov'd by Antony.
Pom. I know not, Menas,
How lesser enmities may give way to greater.
Were't not that we stand up against them all,
'Twere pregnant they should square between them-
For they have entertained cause enough [selves;
To draw their swords: but how the fear of us
May cement their divisions, and bind up
The petty difference, we yet not know.
Be it as our gods will have it! It only stands
Our lives upon, to use our strongest hands.
Come, Menas.
Enter Antony and Ventidius.
Var. This is most certain that I shall deliver: The noble Antony.
Mark Antony is every hour in Rome
Expected; since he went from Egypt, 'tis
A space for further travel.
Pom. I could have given less matter
A better ear.-Menas, I did not think,
This amorous surfeiter would have don'd his helm
For such a petty war: his soldiership
Is twice the other twain: But let us rear
The higher our opinion, that our stirring
Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck
The ne'er lust-wearied Antony.
Eno. And yonder, Cæsar.
Enter Casar, Mecanas, and Agrippa.
Ant. If we compose well here, to Parthia:
Hark ycu, Ventidius.
Cæs. I do not know,
Mec..nas; ask Agrippa.
Lep. Toole friends,
That whic combin'd us was most great, and let
A leaner action render us. What's amiss,
May it be gently heard: When we debate
Our trivial difference loud, we do commit
Marder in healing wounds: Then, noble partners, | Did pocket up my letters, and with tauntski stol (The rather, for I earnestly beseech)
I know you could not lack, I am certain on't,
Very necessity of this thought, that I, 2.6
Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought,
Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars
Which 'fronted mine own peace. As for my wife,
I would you had her spirit in such another:
The third o'the world is yours; which with a snaffle
You may pace easy, but not such a wife
Eno. Would, we had all such wives, that the men might go to wars with the women!
Ant. So much uncurable, her garboils, Caesar, Made out of her impatience, (which not wanted Shrewdness of policy too), I grieving grant, Did you too much disquiet; for that, you must But say, I could not help it.
Cas. I wrote to you,
When rioting in Alexandria; you
Did gibe my missive out of audience.
Ant. Sir,
He fell upon me, ere admitted; then
Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want
Of what I was i'the morning: but, next day,
I told him of myself; which was as much
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA234&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2-gC0sBjv6vLIWaqC8ri6xkD1pMw&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=539,273,424,479)
Mec. If it might please you, to enforce no furThe griefs between ye: to forget them quite, Were to remember that the present need it Speaks to atone you.
Lep. Worthily spoke, Mecenas.
Eno. Or, if you borrow one another's love for the instant, you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey, return it again: you shall have time to wrangle in, when you have nothing else to do.
Ant. Thou art a soldier only; speak no more. Eno. That truth should be silent, I had almost forgot. [no more. Ant. You wrong this présence, therefore speak Eno. Go to then; your considerate stone.
Cas. I do not much dislike the matter, but The manner of his speech: for it cannot be, We shall remain in friendship, our conditions So differing in their acts. Yet, if I knew What hoop should hold us staunch, from edge to O' the world I would pursue it. att smi[edge) Agr. Give me leave, Cæsar,Cas. Speak, Agrippa.
Agr. Thou hast a sister by the mother's side, if Admir'd Octavia: great Mark Antony Is now a widower
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA234&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2-gC0sBjv6vLIWaqC8ri6xkD1pMw&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=749,1287,8,9)
Cas. Say not so, Agrippa;
If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
Were well deserv'd of rashness.
Ant. I am not married, Cæsar; let me hear
Agrippa further speak.
Agr. To hold you in perpetual amitypdeck and To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts & With an unslipping knot, take Antony Octavia to his wife: whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men;
Whose virtue, and whose general graces, speak
That which none else can utter. By this marriage,
All little jealousies, which now seem great,
And all great fears, which now import their
dangers,
[tales,
Would then be nothing: truths would be but
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both,
Would, each to other, and all loves to both,
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke
For 'tis a studied, not a present thought,
By duty ruminated.
Cas. Not till he hears how Antony is touch'a Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
With what is spoke already.
Ant. What power is in Agrippa,
If I would say, Agrippa, be it so,
'Would, we had spoke together! haste we for it: Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, despatch we The business we have talk'd of.
Cas. With most gladness;
And do invite you to my sister's view,
Whither straight I will lead you.
Ant. Let us, Lepidus,
Not lack your company.
Lep. Noble Antony,
Not sickness should detain me.
[flourish; exeunt Cas. Ant. & Lep. Mec. Welcome from Egypt, sir. Eno. Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Mecenas! -my honourable friend, Agrippa!
Mec. We have cause to be glad, that matters are so well digested. You stay'd well by it in Egypt.
Eno. Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance, and made the night light with drinking.
Purple the sails, and so perfum'd, that t
The winds were love-sick with them: the oars
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water, which they beat, to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggar'd all description; she did lie
In her pavilion (cloth of gold, of tissue),
O'er-picturing that Venus, where we see
The fancy out-work nature: on each side her,
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With diverse-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid, did. ? NEVE
Agr. O, rare for Antony!
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA235&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2qOP1Mej3gTDw1lNw_ya6L8_xOzA&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=811,674,11,6)
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.ie/books/content?id=JO6g2iiqSuUC&output=html_text&pg=PA235&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=Cleo&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2qOP1Mej3gTDw1lNw_ya6L8_xOzA&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=849,759,7,7)
Eno. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids, tended her i'the eyes And made their bends adornings: at the helm A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands That yarely frame the office. From the barge A strange invisible perfume hits the sens Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast Her people out upon her; and Antony, Enthron'd in the market-place, did sit alone, Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy, Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, And made a gap in nature. Agr. Rare Egyptian !
Eno. Upon her landing, Antony sent to her, Invited her to supper: she replied,
It should be better, he became her guest ;'
Which she entreated: our courteous Antony
Whom ne'er the word of No woman heard speak,
Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast;
And, for his ordinary, pays his heart,
For what his eyes eat only.
|