Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you. Your honour calls you hence;
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,

And all the gods go with you! On your sword
Sit laurell'd victory, aud fmooth fuccefs
Be ftrew'd before your feet!

Ant. Let us go: come,

Our feparation fo abides and flies,
That thou refiding here, goeft yet

with me,

And I hence fleeting, here remain with thee.

Away.

SCENE V.

[Exeunt.

Changes to Cafar's palace in Rome.

Enter Octavius Cæfar reading a letter, Lepidus, and Attendants.

Caf. You may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know,

It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate

One great competitor. From Alexandria

This is the news; he fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manly-
Than Cleopatra; nor the Queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience,
Or did vouchfafe to think that he had partners.
You fhall there find a man, who is the abstract:
Of all faults all men follow.

Lep. I must not think

They're evils enough to darken all his goodness;
His faults in him feem as the fpots of heav'n, ́
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,.
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,
Than what he chufes.

Caf. You're too indulgent. Let us grant it is not Amils to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,.

To give a kingdom for a mirth, to fit

And keep the turn of tipling with a flave,

To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet

With knaves that fmell of fweat; fay, this becomes him, (As his compofure must be rare indeed,

Whom there things cannot blemish), yet muft Antony
No way excufe his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightnefs. If he fill'd

His vacancy with his voluptuoufness;

Full furfeits, and the drinefs of his bones,

Call on him for't. But to confound fuch time,
That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud
As his own state and ours; 'tis to be chid,
As we rate boys, who, immature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Enter a Meffenger.

Lep. Here's more news.

Mef. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Moft Noble Cæfar, fhalt thou have report

How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at fea,

And it appears he is belov'd of thofe
That only have fear'd Cæfar: to the ports
The difcontents repair, and mens' reports
Give him much wrong'd.

Caf. I fhould have known no lefs:

It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he which is, was wifh'd until he were ;

And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love, 'Comes 'dear'd by being lack'd.

This common body,

Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

Goes to and back, lacqueying the varying tide,

To rot itself with motion.

Mef. Cæfar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,

Make the fea ferve them; which they ear and wound 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 veffel can peep forth, but 'tis as foòn

Taken as feen for Pompey's name ftrikes more,
Than could his war refifted.

Caf. Antony,

Leave thy lafcivious waffails.When thou once
Wert beaten from Mutina, where thou flew'st
Hirtius and Panfa Confuls, at thy heel
Did Famine follow, whom thou fought'ft against
(Though daintily brought up) with patience more
Than favages could fuffer. Thou didst drink

The ftale of horses, and the gilded puddle

Thy palate then did

Which beafts would cough at.
The rougheft berry on the rudeft hedge: [deiga
Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browfedft. On the Alps,
It is reported, thou didst eat ftrange flesh,
Which fome did die to look on; and all this
(It wounds thine honour that I speak it now)
Was bore fo like a foldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

Lep. 'Tis pity of him.

Caf. Let his fhames quickly

Drive him to Rome; time is it, that we twain
Did fhew ourselves i' th' field; and to that end
Affemble we immediate council; Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To morrow, Cæfar,

I fhall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by fea and land I can be able,
To front this present time.

Caf. Till which encounter,

It is my business too.

Farewel.

Lep. Farewel my Lord.

What you fhall know mean time of flirs abroad,
I fhall befeech you, let me be partaker.

Caf Doubt it not, Sir; I knew it for my bond.

Farewel.

[Exeunt

S GENE VI. Changes to the palace in Alexandria.

Enter Cleopatra, Chermian, Iras, and Mardian.
Cleo. Charmian..

Char. Madam?

Cleo. Ha, ha-give me to drink Mandragoras,

Char Why, Madam?

Gleo. I hat I might fleep out this great gap of time,

My Antony is away.

Char. You think of him too much.

Cleo. O, 'tis treafon..

Char. Madam, I trust not fo.

Cleo. Thou, eunuch, Mardian,

Mar. What's your Highness' pleasure?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee fing. I take no pleasure In aught an eunuch has; 'tis well for thee,

That, being unfeminar'd, thy freer thoughts

May not fly forth of Egypt. Haft thou affections? Mar. Yes, gracious Madam.

Cleo. Indeed?.

Mar. Not in deed, Madam; for I can do nothing But what indeed is honeft to be done:

Yet have I fierce affections, and think
What Venus did with Mars,

Cleo. Oh Charmian !

Where think'st thou he is now? ftands he, or fits he?
Or does he walk? or is he on his horfe?

Oh happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony !
Do bravely, horfe; for wot'ft thou whom thou mov'st ?
The 'demy Atlas of this earth, the arm

And burgonet of man. "He's fpeaking now,
"Or murmuring, Where's my ferpent of old Nile ?—
"(For fo he calls me). Now I feed myself
"With most delicious poifon. Think on me,
"That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
"And wrinkled deep in time. Broad-fronted Cæfar,
"When thou waft here above the ground, I was
A morfel for a monarch; and great Pompey
Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow;
There would he anchor his afpect, and die
With looking on his life.

Enter Alexas.

Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, hail!

Cleo. How much art thou unlike Mark Antony? Yet coming from him, that great med'cine hath With his tinct gilded-thee.

How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?
Alex. Laft thing he did, dear Queen,
He kifs'd, the laft of many doubled kiffes,
This orient pearl-His fpeech fticks in my heart.
Cleo. Mine ear must pluck it thence.

Alex. Good friend, quoth he,

Say, the firm Roman to great Ægypt fends
This treasure of an oyster; at whole foot,
To mend the pretty prefent, I will pace

VOL. VII.

H

Her opulent throne with kingdoms. All the east,
Say thou, fhall call her mistress. So he nodded d;
And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed *,
Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have spoke
Was beaftly done by him.

Cleo. What, was he fad, or merry ?

Alex. Like to the time o'th' year, between th' ex

tremes

Of hot and cold, he was nor fad, nor merry.

Cleo. Oh, well divided disposition?

Note him, good Charmian; 'tis the man: but note him;
He was not fad, for he would fhine on those
That make their looks by his; he was not merry,
Which feem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy; but between both.
O heav'nly mingle! be'ft thou fad or merry,'
The violence of either thee becomes,

So does it no man elfe. Met'st thou my pofts?
Alex. Ay, Madam, twenty feveral meffengers.
Why do you fend fo thick?

Cleo. Who's born that day,

When I forget to fend to Antony,

Shall die a beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.
Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I, Charmian,
Ever love Cæfar fo?

Char. Oh, that brave Cæfar!

Cleo. Be chok'd with fuch another emphafis! Say, the brave Antony.

Char. The valiant Cæfar

Cleo. By Ifis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæfar paragon again

My man of men.

Char. By your most gracious pardon,

I fing but after you.

Cleo. My fallad days;

When I was green in judgment-Cold in blood!

To fay, as I faid then

-But come away,

Get me ink and paper;

He fhall have every day feveral greetings, or I'll un

people Ægypt.

[Exeunt.

i.e. his steed worn lean and thin by much service in war.