Caf. Look you fad, friends:

(58)

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.

Cafar is touch'd.

Mec. When fuch a fpacious mirror's fet before him,

He needs must see himself.

Caf. 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 on thine; we could not ftall 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, fhould have divided

Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends,
But I will tell you at fome meeter season.-

(58) Look you, fad friends.] I obferv'd in the Appendix to my SHAKESPEARE Reftor'd, that it was requifite to transpose this comma. Octavius's friends probably would avoid fhewing any concern on the news of Antony's death, left it should give displeasure to Cafar: which Cafar obferving, it fhews a noble humanity in him to bid them fhare in fuch a forrow, and to tell them it is a calamity, that ought to draw tears even from the eyes of princes. Young prince Henry, upon his father's death, speaks juft in the fame manner to his brothers; and tho' he would not have them mix fear with their affliction, he encourages them in their forrow.

Yet be fad, good brothers;

For, to speak truth, it very well becomes you.

4

2 Henry IV. The

The bufinefs of this man looks out of him,

We'll hear him what he says.

Whence are you?

Enter an Ægyptian.

Egypt. A poor Egyptian yet; the Queen my mistress, Confin'd in all fhe 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 Cafar cannot live,
To be ungentle.

Egypt. May the Gods preferve thee!

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

[Exit,

We purpose her no fhame; give her what comforts

The quality of her paffion fhall require;
Left in her greatness by fome mortal stroke
She do defeat us: for her life in Rome
Would be eternal in our triumph. Go,

And with your speedieft bring us what she says,
And how you find of her.

Pro. Cafar, 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 fhall 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 see
What I can fhew in this.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Monument.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, Mardian, and Seleu

cus, above.

Y defolation does begin to make

Cleo. M

A better life; 'tis paltry to be Cafar:
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;
Which fleeps, and never palates more the dug :-(59)
The beggar's nurse, and Cafar's.

Enter Proculeius.

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

Thou mean'ft to have him grant thee.

Cleo. What's thy name?

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

(59) Which fleeps, and never palates more the dung,

The beggar's nurse, and Cæfar's.]

Our Poet has made Antony fay, at the beginning of this tragedy, that -the dungy earth alike

Feeds beaft, as man:

but how are we to understand here, palating the dung? the text is certainly corrupt, and must be slightly help'd; and tho' then we can't make it strictly grammatical, we shall come at the Poet's detach'd and feparate allufions. I read,

Which fleeps, and never palates more the dug:

I'll explain the whole of Cleopatra's reflections, as they lie, by a fhort paraphrafe." "Tis great in us to do that action, (i. e. give ourselves "death) which puts an end to all other actions; and which pre"vents and disappoints accidents and change of fortune. While in

life, like flumbering children, we palate and tamper for the dug; "but in the fleep of death, we hone no more after tranfitory enjoy"ments. Death rocks us all into a faft and unbroken fleep; and

is equally a nurse to the beggar, in this refpect, as it is to Cafar." The clofe of this reflection is just what Horace has express'd by a different image.

Pallida Mors æquo pullsat pede pauperum tabernas,
Regumque turres,
Lib. I. Od. 4.
Mr. Warburton.

Cleo.

Cleo. Antony

Did tell me of you, bade me truft you,

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

but

That have no ufe for trufting. If your mafter
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 Egypt for my fon,
He gives me fo much of mine own, as 1
Will kneel 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 fweet dependency, and you fhall 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.

Gall. You fee, how eafily fhe may be furpriz'd. (60) Pro. Guard her, till Cajar come.

(60), Char. You fee, how eafily for may be furpriz'd.]

Here Charmian, who is fo faithful as to die with her mistress, by the ftupidity of the editors is made to countenance and give directions for her being furpriz'd by Cafar's meffengers. But this blunder is for want of knowing, or obferving, the hiftorical fact. When Cæfar fent Proculeius to the queen, he fent Galius after him with new inftructions: and while one amufed Cleopatra with propofitions from Cæfar, thro' crannies of the monument; the other fcaled it by a ladder, enter'd at a window backward, and made Cleopatra, and those with her, prifoners. I have reform'd the paffage therefore, (as, I am perfuaded, the Author defign'd it) from the authority of Plutarch.

13

Iras.

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 Quern.

Pro. Hold, worthy lady, hold:

Do not yourself fuch wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo. What, of death too, that rids our dogs of languish?
Р 0. Do not abufe my master's bounty, by

Th' undoing of yourfelf: 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!

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

I'll not fleep neither. This mortal houfe 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 chaftis'd with the sober eye
Of dull O&avia. Shall they hoift me up,
And fhew me to the fhouting varletry
Of cens'ring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt
Pe gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilas mud
Lay me ftark nak'd, and let the water-flies
Elow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's high Pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro. You do extend

Thefe thoughts of horror further than you fhall
Find caufe in Cafar.

Dol. Proculeius,

Enter Dolabella.

What thou haft done thy mafter Cafar knows,

And