ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

Alexandria.

A Room in CLEOPATRA's Palace.

Enter THYREUS and DOLABELLA; sent from CÆSAR.
Thyr. Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war
Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn
The office and devotion of their view,
Upon a tawny front.-Look, where they come.

Flourish. Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and their
Trains; EUNUCHS fanning her.

Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet's fool: behold, and see.

Cleo. If it be love, indeed, tell me how much.
Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reck-
on'd.

Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

Enter an ATTENDANT.

Atten. News, my good lord, from Rome.
Ant. It grates me.-The sum.

Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony:

Fulvia, perchance, is angry: Or, who knows
If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent
His powerful mandate to you-" Do this; or this;
Take in that kingdom, and infranchise that;
Perform't, or else we damn thee.”

Ant. How, my love?

Cleo. Perchance! nay, and most like :-
You must not stay here longer, your dismission
Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony.
Where's Fulvia's process?-Cæsar's, I would say?-
Both?

Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen,
Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Cæsar's homager: so thy cheek pays shame,
When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds.-The messengers.
Ant. Let Rome in Tiber melt! and the wide arch
Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space;
Kingdoms are clay: Our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair,
And such a twain can do't; in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.

Cleo. Excellent falshood!

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?—
I seem the fool I am not; Antony

Will be himself.

Ant. But, stirr'd by Cleopatra,

Now for the love of love, and his soft hours;

Let's not confound the time with conference harsh : There's not a minute of our lives would stretch

Without some pleasure now: What sport to-night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors.

Ant. Fie, wrangling queen!

Whom every thing becomes-to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd!
No messenger, but thine: and all alone,
To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
Last night you did desire it.—Speak not to us.

[Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and Trains. Dol. Triumphant lady!-Fame, I see, is true. Thyr. Too true: since she first met Mark Antony Upon the river Cydnus, he has been hers.

Dol. There she appear'd indeed; or my reporter Devis'd well for her.

Thyr. I will tell you, sir.

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that

The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were

silver;

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 outwork 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.

Dol. O, rare for Antony!

Thyr. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids, So many mermaids, tended her i'the eyes, And made their bends adornings: at the helm A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle Swells with the touches of those flower-soft hands, That yarely frame the office. From the barge,

A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs: The city cast
Her people out upon her: and Antony,
Enthron'd i'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.

Dol. Rare Egyptian !

Thyr. Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
Invited her to supper: she reply'd,

It should be better, he became her guest;
Which she intreated: Our courteous Antony,
(Whom never the word, 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.

Dol. Royal wench!

She made great Julius lay his sword to bed;
He plough'd her, and she cropp'd. Now Antony
Must leave her utterly.

Thyr. Never! he will not:

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: Other women cloy

The appetites they feed; but she makes hungry,
Where most she satisfies.

Dol. Well, I am sorry,

He too approves the common liar, who
Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE II.

An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and ALEX AS, meeting ENOBARBUS.

Cleo. He was disposed to mirth; but, on the sud

den,

A Roman thought hath struck him. Enobarbus,Enob. Madam.

Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither.-Where's Alexas?

Alexas. Here, lady, at your service. My lord approaches.

Enter ANTONY, with a MESSENGER; ATTENDANTS

following.

Cleo. We will not look upon him; go

with us.

[Exeunt CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, ALEXAS,
CHARMIAN, and ATTENDANTS.

Mess. Fulvia, thy wife, came first into the field.
Ant. Against my brother Lucius?

Mess. Ay; but soon

That war had end; and the time's state made friends

Of them, jointing their forces against Cæsar ;

Whose better issue in the war from Italy,

Upon the first encounter, drave them,

Ant. Well,

What worst?