Char. I did not see him since.

Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he does :

I did not send you; -If you find him sad,
Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick : Quick, and return.
[Exit ALEXAS.
Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him
dearly,

You do not hold the method to enforce
The like from him.

Cleo. What should I do, I do not?
Char. In each thing give him way,

in nothing.

cross him

and true,

Though you in swearing shake the thronged gods, Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness,

To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in swearing!

Ant. Most sweet queen,

Cleo. Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your going, [ing, But bid farewell, and go when you sued stay. Then was the time for words: No going then ;Eternity was in our lips, and eyes;

Bliss in our brows' bent; + none our parts so poor,
But was a race of heaven :-They are so still,
Or thou the greatest soldier of the world,
Art turn'd the greatest liar.

Ant. How now, lady!

Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom,

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 should'st fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd 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,
As thou affect'st.

Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come ;-
But let it be. I am quickly ill and well;
So Antony loves.

Ant. My precious queen, forbear;

And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial.

Cleo. So Fulvia told me.

I pr'ythee turn aside, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu 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.

Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. Ant. Now, by my sword,

Cleo. And target,-Still he mends;

But this is not the best: Look, pr'ythee, Charmiau,

How this Herculean Roman does become
The carriage of his chafe.

Ant. I'll leave, you, lady.

Cleo. Courteous lord, one word.

Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it:
Sir, you and I have lov'd,-but there's not it;
That you know well: Something it is I would,-
Oh! my oblivion § is a very Antony,
And I am all forgotten.

Ant. But that your royalty

Holds idleness your subject, I should take you For idleness itself.

Cleo. 'Tis sweating labour,

To bear such idleness so near the beart
As Cleopatra this. But, Sir, forgive me;
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! upon your sword
Sit laurel'd victory! and smooth success
Be strew'd before your feet!

Ant. Let us go. Come:

Our separation so abides, and flies,
That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away.
[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-Rome.-An apartment in
CESAR'S House.

Enter OCTAVIUS CESAR, LEPIDUS, and Atten

dants.

Ces. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth

know,

It is not Cesar's natural vice to hate

One great competitor :|| from Alexandria

Render my going agreeable. Can Fulvia be dead? The commotion she occasioned. § Obliv ous memory. Associate or partner.

This is the news-He fishes, drinks, and wastes The lamps of night in revel: is not more man

like

Than Cleopatra; nor the queen Ptolemy
More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall
find there

A man, who is the abstract of all faults
That all men follow.

Lep. I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness:
His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.

Ces. You are too indulgent: let us grant, it is

not

Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;
To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit
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 be comes him,

(As his composure must be rare indeed,
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
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones
Call on him for't: but, to confound such 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, being mature in know-

ledge,

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 hour,

Most noble Cesar, shalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
And, it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cesar: to the ports
The discontents repair, and men's reports
Give him much wrong'd.

Ces. 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

[body, Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common Like a vagabond flag upon the stream, Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide, To rot itself with motion.

Mess. Cesar, I bring thee word, Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,

Make the sea serve 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

revolt:

youth

Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsed'st; on the Alps
It is reported, thou did'st 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.

Ces. 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, Cesar,

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

Ces. Till which encounter,

It is my business too. Farewell.

Lep. Farewell, my lord: What you shall know mean time

Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, Sir,
To let me be partaker.

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

[Exeunt.

Cleo. O Charmian,

Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he?

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
mov'st?

The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
Aud 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

Cesar,

When thou wast here above the ground, I was
A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey
Would stand, and make his eyes grow in my
brow;

There would he anchor his aspect, and die
With looking on his life.

Enter ALEXAS.
Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, bail !

My bounden duty.

t Unmanned.

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 oyster; 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
Was beastly dumb'd by him.

Cleo. What, was he sad, or merry?

Alex. Like to the time o'the year between the

extremes

Of hot and cold; he was nor sad, nor merry. Cleo. O well-divided disposition !-Note 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 ?

Men. Cesar and Lepidus

Are in the field; a mighty strength they carry
Pom. Where have you this? 'tis false.
Men. From Silvius, Sir.

Pom. He dreams: I know they are in Rome together,

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 dullness!-How now, Var-
rius ?

Enter VARRIUS.

Var. This is most certain that I shall deliver: 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 this For such a petty war: his soldiership (helm ş 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.

Men. I cannot hope,

Cesar and Antony shall well greet together:
His wife, that's dead, did trespasses to Cesar;
His brother warr'd upon him; although, I think,
Not mov'd by Antony.

Pom. I know not, Menas,

Cleo. Who's born that day When I forget to send to Antony, Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Welcome, my good Alexas.-Did I, Charinian, Ever love Cesar so?

Char. O that brave Cesar!

Say, the brave Antony.

Char. The valiant Cesar!

Cleo. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth,

If thou with Cesar paragon again

My man of men.

Char. By your most gracious pardon,

I sing but after you.

Cleo. My sallad days,

When I was green in judgment :-cold in blood,
To say as I said then!--But, come, away:
Get me ink and paper: he shall have every day
A several greeting, or I'll unpeople Egypt.

ACT II.

house.

[Exeunt.

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.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 11.-Rome.-A Room in the house of

LEPIDUS.

Enter ENOBARBUS and LEPIDUS.

Lep. Good Enobarbus, 'tis a worthy deed, And shall become you well, to entreat your capTo soft and gentle speech.

Eno. I shall entreat him

Lep. 'Tis not a time For private stomaching.

Eno. Every time

[tain

Serves for the matter that is then born in it.
Lep. But small to greater matters must give

'Would we had spoke together! Haste we for it: Yet, ere we put ourselves in arins, despatch we The business we have talk'd of.

Ces. 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.

And what they undid, did,

Agr. Oh, rare for Antony!

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 pérfume hits the sense 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.

Agr. Royal wench!

She made great Cesar lay his sword to bed He plough'd her, and she cropp'd.

Eno. I saw her once

Hop forty paces through the public street:

And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted, That she did make defect, perfection,

And, breathless, power breathe forth.

Mec. Now Antony must leave her utterly.
Eno. Never; he will not;

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

Cloy th' appetites they feed: but she makes

hungry

LEPIDUS.

Mec. Welcome from Egypt, Sir.

Eno. Half the heart of Cesar, worthy Mecanas!-my honourable friend, Agrippa!Agr. Good Enobarbus !

Mec. We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested. You staid well by it in Egypt.

A blessed lottery to him,

Agr. Let us go.

Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest, Whilst you abide here.

Eno. Humbly, Sir, I thank you,

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The same.-A Room in CESAR'S

House.

ing.

Mec. Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve persons there. Is this true?

Eno. This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had much more monstrous matter of feast, which worthily deserved noting.

Mec. She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square to her.

Eno. When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart upon the river of Cydnus. Agr. There she appear'd indeed; or my reporter devised well for her.

Eno. I will tell you:

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, Burn'd 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 per-
son,

It beggar'd all description: she did lie
In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,)
O'erpicturing that Venus, where we see,
The fancy out-work nature on each side her,
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With diverse-colour'a fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
Suits with her merits.