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Ant. Fall not a tear, I fay; one of them rates All that is won and loft: give me a kiss,

Even this repays me.

We fent our schoolmafter; is he come back?
Love, I am full of lead; fome wine,

Within there, and our viands. Fortune knows,
We scorn her moft, when moft fhe offers blows.

[Exeunt.

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Enter Cæfar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Thyreus, with

Caf·L

others.

ET him appear, that's come from Antony.
Know you him?

Dol. Cafar, 'tis his schoolmafter;

An argument that he is pluckt, when hither
He fends fo poor a pinnion of his wing,
Which had fuperfluous Kings for meffengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Enter Ambajador from Antony.

Caf. Approach and speak.

Amb. Such as I am, I come from Antony :

I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To the grand fea.

Caf. Be't fo. Declare thine office.

Amb. Lord of his fortunes he falutes thee, and Requires to live in Egypt; which not granted, He leffens his requefts, and to thee fues

To let him breathe between the heav'ns and earth A private man in Athens. This for him.

Next, Cleopatra does confefs thy greatness;
Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

Caf. For Antony,

I have no ears to his request. The Queen
Of audience, nor defire, fhall fail; fo fhe
From Ægypt drive her all-disgraced friend,
Or take his life there. This if she perform,
She shall not fue unheard. So to them both.
Amb. Fortune pursue thee!

Caf. Bring him through the bands:

[Exit Ambaffador. To try thy eloquence now 'tis time; difpatch, From Antony win Cleopatra; promife, [To Thyreus. And in our name, when fhe requires, add more, From thine invention, offers. Women are not In their best fortunes ftrong; but want will perjure The ne'er-touch'd veftal. Try thy cunning, Thyreus Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we Will answer as a law.

Thry. Cafar, I go.

Caf. Obferve, how Antony becomes his flaw;
And what thou think'ft his very action speaks
In every power that moves.
Thyr. Cæfar, I fhall.

2 The circle of the Ptolemies-] The diadem; the enfign of royalty.

[Exeunt.

3. •how Antony becomes his flaw;] That is, how Antony conforms himself to this breach of his fortune.

SCENE

SCÈNE IX.

Changes to Alexandria.

Enter Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmion, and Iras.

Cleo.

W

HAT fhall we do, Enobarbus?

Eno. Think, and die.

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?

Eno. Antony only, that would make his will
Lord of his reafon. What though you fled,
From that great face of war, whofe feveral ranges
Frighted each other? why fhould he follow?
The itch of his affection fhould not then
Have nickt his captainfhip; at fuch a point,
When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
The meered queftion. 'Twas a fhame no less
Than was his lofs, to courfe your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.
Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace.

4 Think, and die.] Read,

Drink, and die. This reply of Enobarbus feems grounded upon a particularity in the conduct of Antony and Cleopatra, which is related by Plutarch: that, after their defeat at Allium, they instituted a fociety of friends who entered into engagement to die with them, not abating in the mean time any part of their luxury, excess and riot, in which they had lived before. HANMER.. This reading offered by Sir T. Hanmer, is received by Dr. Warburton and Mr. Upton, but I have not advanced it into the page,

5

not being convinced that it is neceflary. Think, and die; that is, Reflect on your folly, and leave the world, is a natural anfwer.

5 -be being

The meered question.-]. The meered question is a term which I do not understand. I know not what to offer, except,

The mooted question.That is, the difputed point, the fubject of debate. Mere is indeed a boundary, and the meered queflion, if it can mean any thing, may, with fome violence of language, mean, the disputed boundary.

Enter

Enter Antony, with the Ambassador,

Ant. Is that his answer?

Amb. Ay, my Lord.

Ant. The Queen fhall then have courtesy, So fhe will yield us up.

Amb. He fays fo.

Ant. Let her know't.

To the boy Cæfar fend this grizled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim
With Principalities.

Cleo. That head, my Lord?

Ant. To him again. Tell him, he wears the rofe Of youth upon him, from which the world fhould

note

Something particular; his coin, fhips, legions,
May be a coward's, whose minifters would prevail
Under the service of a child, as foon

As i' th' command of Cæfar. I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,

And answer me declin'd, fword against fword,
Ourselves alone. I'll write it, follow me.

[Exit Antony
Eno. Yes, like enough; high-battled Cæfar will
Unftate his happiness, and be ftaged to th' fhew
Against a fworder.I fee, mens judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To fuffer all alike. That he fhould dream,
Knowing all meafures, the full Cæfar will
Answer his emptinefs!

His judgment too.

6-bis gay comparisons apart,

And anfwer me declin'd, I require of Cafar not to depend on that fuperiority which the

VOL. VII.

-Cafar, thou haft fubdu'd

comparison of our different fortunes may exhibit to him, but to answer me man to man, in this decline of my age or power.

Enter

Enter a Servant.

Serv. A meffenger from Cæfar.

Cleo. What, no more ceremony? See, my women!

Against the blown rose may they stop their nose,
That kneel'd unto the buds. Admit him, Sir.
Eno. Mine honefty and I begin to fquare;
7 The loyalty, well held to fools, does make
Our faith meer folly: yet he, that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fall'n Lord,
Does conquer him that did his mafter, conquer,
And earns a place i' th' ftory.

Enter Thyreus.

Cleo. Cafar's will?

Thyr. Hear it apart.

Cleo. None but friends. Say boldly.
Thyr. So, haply, are they friends to Antony.
Eno. He needs as many, Sir, as Cæfar has,
Or needs not us. If Cafar please, our master
Will leap to be his friend; for us you know,
Whose he is, we are, and that's Cæfar's.

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