Cleo. Ha, ha!

Give me to drink mandragora.

Char.

Why, madam?

Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of time,

Cleo. Not now to hear thee sing: I take no plea

sure

In aught an eunuch has. "Tis well for thee,

That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts

May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?
Mar. Yes, gracious madam.

Cleo. Indeed?

Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing, But what in deed is honest to be done;

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

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

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,

8 Give me to drink MANDRAGORA.] A strong opiate. See "Othello," Vol. vii.

p. 571.

9 And BURGONET of men.] A " burgonet was a kind of helmet: by "arm' in the preceding line is probably to be understood weapon. On the next page we meet with the epithet "arm-gaunt," as applied to a horse, which had perhaps become gaunt by bearing arms. However, this is doubtful, and Sir T. Hanmer would substitute arm-girt, and Monck Mason, termagant.

And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Cæsar,
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.

Alex.

Enter ALEXAS.

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 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 an arm-gaunt 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 ex

tremes

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?

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?

Char.

O, that brave Cæsar!

Cleo. Be chok'd with such another emphasis!

Say, the brave Antony.

Char.

The valiant Cæsar!

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

If thou with Cæsar paragon again

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.

[Exeunt.

19 So does it no man else.] The folio, 1623, “no man's else:" corrected in the folio, 1632. "So" is here used as in a previous passage (p. 17) for as-" So Antony loves."

1 - cold in blood,] Boswell would make these words apply to Cleopatra, as if she had been "cold in blood" when she was young, and hot in blood now she had grown older: "cold in blood" is clearly addressed to Charmian, by way of reproof, and so Warburton considered, varying judiciously from the old punctuation, which affords, not only a tame and spiritless, but an inconsistent, meaning.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Messina. A Room in POMPEY'S House.

Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS.

Pom. If the great gods be just, they shall assist The deeds of justest men.

Mene.

Know, worthy Pompey,

That what they do delay, they not deny.

Pom. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays

The thing we sue for.

Mene.

We, ignorant of ourselves,

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit,

By losing of our prayers.

Pom.

I shall do well:

The people love me, and the sea is mine;

My powers are 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.

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

ther,

Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,

2 My powers ARE crescent,] Every old copy has "are crescent," which modern editors arbitrarily change to "a crescent:" thus we say, the moon is crescent, and will come to the full.

Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wand lip3!

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.

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 farther 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.

Men.
I cannot hope,
Cæsar and Antony shall well greet together:
His wife that's dead did trespasses to Cæsar;
His brother warr'd upon him1, 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,

3

.

soften thy wAND lip!] It may be doubted whether "wand" and "lip" ought not to be united by a hyphen : "wand" probably has reference to Cleopatra's power of enchantment--that her lip is as potent as a magician's wand: and this construction seems warranted by what immediately follows, "Let witchcraft join with beauty." "Wand" is the "witchcraft," and "lip" the "beauty." The conjectures that "wand" is misprinted for fond, or warm seem little better than idle; although, as Mr. B. Field suggests, waned or wan'd might, possibly, be the true reading.

His brother WARR'D upon him,] Misprinted "wan'd upon him" in the folio, 1623; but "warr'd upon him" in the folio, 1632.