"Patience is fottifh, and impatience does. "Become a dog that's mad: then is it fin, "To rufh into the fecret house of death,

"Ere death dare come to us? how do you, women? "What, what, good cheer! why, how now, Charmian? "My noble girls?ah, women, women! look, "Our lamp is spent, 'tis out- -good Sirs, take heart, "We'll bury him; and then what's brave, what's noble, "Let's do it after the high Roman fashion, "And make death proud to take us,

Come away,

This cafe of that huge fpirit now is cold.
Ah, women, women! come, we have no friend
But refolution, and the briesest end.

[Exeunt bearing off Antony's body.

ACT

ง.

SCENE

Cæfar's Camp.

1.

Enter Cæfar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Mecanas, Procu leius, Gallus, and train..

Caf.

G

O to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;
Being fo fruftrate, tell him,

He mocks the pauses that he makes.

Dol. Cæfar, I fhall.

[Exit Dolabella.

Enter Dercetas, with the fword of Antony.

Caf. Wherefore is that? and what art thou that dar'st Appear thus to us!

Der. I am call'd Dercetas;

ง

Mark Antony I ferv'd, who beft was worthy

Beft to be ferv'd; whilft he stood up, and spoke,,

He was my mafter, and I wore my life

To spend upon his haters. If thou please

To take me to thee, as I was to him

I'll be to Cæfar: if thou pleasest not,

I yield thee up my life..

Caf. What is't thou fay'st?

Der. I fay, oh Cæfar, Antony is dead.

Caf. The breaking of fo great a thing fhould make

A greater crack.

The round world fhould have fhook.

Lions into civil streets, and citizens.

Into their dens-The death of Antony
Is not a fingle doom, in that name lay
A moiety of the world.

Der. He is dead, Cæfar,

Not by a public minifter of justice,
Nor by a hired knife; but that felf-hand
Which writ his honour in the acts it did,

Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,
Splitted the heart. This is his fword,

I robb'd his wound of it: behold it ftain'd
With his most noble blood.

Caf. Look you fad, friends:

The gods rebuke me, but it is a tiding
To wash the eyes of Kings!

Agr. And ftrange it is,

That nature muft compel us to lament

Our most perfifted deeds.

Mec. His taints and honours

Weigh'd equal in him.

Agr. A rarer fpirit never

Did fteer humanity; but you gods will give us

Some faults to make us men.

Cæfar is touch'd.

Mec. When such a spacious mirror's fet before him,

He needs muft fee himself.

Gef. O Antony!

I've follow'd thee to this-but we do lance
Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce
Have fhewn to thee fuch a declining day,
Or look'd on thine; we could not tall together
In the whole world. But yet let me lament
With tears as fovereign as the blood of hearts,
That thou my brother, my competitor
In top of all defign, my mate in empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart
Where mine its thoughts did kindle; that our stars,
Unreconcileable, thould have divided

Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends,

But I will tell you at fome meeter feafon..

The bufinefs of this man looks out of him,
We'll hear him what he says.

Whence are you ?

Enter an Egyptian.

Egypt. A poor Ægyptian yet; the Queen my miConfin'd in all she has, (her monument),

Of thy intents defires inftruction;

That the preparedly may frame herself
To th' way fhe's forc'd to.

Caf. Bid her have good heart!

She foon fhall know of us, by fome of ours,
How honourably and how kindly we
Determine for her. For Cæfar cannot live
To be ungentle.

Egypt. May the gods preferve thee.

Caf. Come hither, Proculeius; go, and say,

[ftrefs,

[Exit.

We purpose her no fhame; give her what comforts
The quality of her paffion fhall require ;
Left in her greatnefs, by fome mortal stroke
She do defeat us: for her life in Rome
Would be eternaling our triumph. Go,

And with your speedieft bring us what the fays,
And how you find her..

Pro. Cæfar, I fhall.

[Exit, Proculeius.

Caf. Gallus, go you along; where's Dolabella, To fecond Proculeius?

All. Dolabella!

[Exit. Gallus,

Caf Let him alone; for I remember now,
How he's employ'd : he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent, where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war ;
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and fee
What I can fhew in this.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Changes to the monument.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, Mardian, and Se leucus, above.

Cleo, My defolation does begin to make
A better life 'tis paltry to be Cæfar;
Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
A minifter of her will; and it is great
To do that thing that ends all other deeds

Which fhackles accidents, and bolts up change;
[Lulls wearied nature to a found repose],
(Which fleeps, and never palates more the dug),
The beggar's nurse, and Cæfar's.

Enter Proculeius.

Pro. Cæfar fends greeting to the Queen of Egypt, And bids thee study on what fair demands

Thou mean'ft to have him grant thee.

Cleo. What's thy name?

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. Antony

Did tell me of you, bad me truft you; but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

That have no use for trufting. If your master
Would have a Queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That Majefty, to keep decorum, must

No lefs beg than a kingdom: if he please
To give me conquer'd Ægypt for my son,
He gives me fo much of mine own as I
Will kneel for to him with thanks.
Pro. Be of good cheer:

You're fall'n into a princely hand, fear nothing;
Make your
full ref'rence freely to my Lord,

Who is fo full of grace, that it flows over

On all that need. Let me report to him
Your sweet dependency, and you shall find
A conqu'ror that will pray in aid † for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. Pray you tell him,

I am his fortune's vaffal, and I fend him
The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly
Look him i' th' face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear Lady.

Have comfort; for I know your plight is pity'd

Of him that caus'd it.

[Here Gallus, and guard, afcend the monument by a ladder, and enter at a back window.

* This line is inferted by Mr Warburton, to fupply a line lost.

↑ Praying in aid, is a law term, used for a petition made in a court of justice, for the calling in of help from another that hath an interest in the caufe in question.

Gall. You fee how eafily fhe may be furpris'd.
Pro, Guard her till Cæfar come.

Iras. O Royal Queen!

Char. Oh, Cleopatra! thou art taken, Queen.— Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands [Drawing a dagger. [The monument is open'd; Proculeius rushes in, and difarms the Queen.

Pro. Hold, worthy Lady, hold :

Do not yourself fuch wrong, who are in this

Bereav'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo. What, of death too, that rids our dogs of languish?

Pro. Do not abufe my master's bounty, by

Th' undoing of yourself: let the world fee
His nobleness well acted, which your death
Will never let come forth.

Cleo. Where art thou, Death?

Come hither, come; oh, come, and take a Queen
Worth many babes and beggars.

Pro. Oh, temperance, Lady!

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, Sir:
If idle time will once be neceffary,

I'll not fleep neither. This mortal house I'll ruin,
Do Cæfar what he can. Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court,
Nor once be chastis'd with the fober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoift me up,
And fhew me to the fhouting varletry
Of cens'ring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt
Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me ftark nak'd, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's higheft pyramid my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro. You do extend

Thefe thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find caufe in Cæfar.

SCENE III. Enter Dolabella,

Del. Proculeius,

What thou haft done thy master Cæfar knows,

And he hath fent for thee.

As for the Queen,