I faint: O Iras, Charmian!-'Tis no matter.-
Go to the fellow, good Alexas: bid him
Report the feature of Octavia, her years,
Her inclination: let him not leave out
The colour of her hair. Bring me word quickly.—
[Exit ALEXAS.
Let him for ever go!-Let him not-Charmian,
Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon,
T'other way he's a Mars.-Bid you Alexas
[TO MARDIAN.
Bring me word how tall she is.-Pity me, Charmian,
But do not speak to me: lead me to my chamber.

To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome Cast on my noble father.

Cæs.

Take your time.

You have made me offer Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must

Rid all the sea of pirates: then, to send Measures of wheat to Rome. This 'greed upon, To part with unhacked edges, and bear back Our targe undinted.

Cæs.

Ant.

I think.

Eno. At sea,
Men. We have, sir.

Eno. You have done well by water.
Men. And you by land.

Eno. I will praise any man that will praise me: though it cannot be denied what I have done by land.

Men. Nor what I have done by water.

Eno. Yes, something you can deny for your own safety: you have been a great thief by sea. Men. And you by land.

Eno. There I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas: if our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kissing.

Men. All men's faces are true, whatsoe'er their hands are.

Eno. But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

Men. No slander: they steal hearts. Eno. We came hither to fight with you. Men. For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.

Eno. If he do, sure he cannot weep it back again. Men. You have said, sir. We looked not for Marc Antony here: pray you is he married to Cleopatra?

Eno. Cæsar's sister is called Octavia.

Men. True, sir: she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.

Eno. But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.

Men. Pray you, sir?

Eno. 'Tis true.

Men. Then is Cæsar and he for ever knit together.

Eno. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophesy so.

Men. I think the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage than the love of the parties. Eno. I think so too: but you shall find the band that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very strangler of their amity. Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation.

Men. Who would not have his wife so?
Eno. Not he that himself is not so; which is

:

Marc Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cæsar; and, as I said before, that which is the strength of their amity, shall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his affection where it is: he married but his occasion here.

Men. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.

Eno. I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.

Men. Come; let's away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VII.-On board POMPEY's galley, lying near Misenum.

Music. Enter two or three Servants, with a banquet.

1st Serv. Here they 'll be, man. Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already: the least wind i'the world will blow them down.

2nd Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured.

1st Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink. 2nd Serv. As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out, "no more:" reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1st Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

2nd Serv. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship. I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service, as a partizan I could not heave.

1st Serv. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in 't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks.

A Sennet sounded. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains.

Ant. Thus do they, sir [To CESAR]. They take the flow o' the Nile

By certain scales i' the pyramid: they know,
By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth
Or foizon follow: the higher Nilus swells,
The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman
Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,
And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You have strange serpents there.
Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud, by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.

Ant. They are so.

Pom. Sit; and some wine.-A health to Lepidus. Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out.

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.

Lep. What colour is it of?
Ant. Of its own colour too.
Lep. 'Tis a strange serpent!

Ant. 'Tis so: and the tears of it are wet.
Cas. Will this description satisfy him? [Aside.
Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him,
else he is a very epicure.

Pom. [To MENAS aside]. Go, hang, sir; hang!
Tell me of that? away!

Do as I bid you.-Where's this cup I called for?
Men. If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me,
Rise from thy stool.
Pom.

[Aside.

I think thou 'rt mad. The matter? [Walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast served me with much faith: what's else to say?-

"Till that the conquering wine hath steeped our

sense

In soft and delicate Lethe.
Eno.

All take hands.

Make battery to our ears with the loud music :-
The while I'll place you. Then the boy shall sing:
The holding every man shall bear, as loud
As his strong sides can volley.

[Music plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand in hand.

SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the vine, Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne: In thy vats our cares be drowned; With thy grapes our hairs be crowned. Cup us till the world go round: Cup us till the world go round! Cæs. What would you more?-Pompey, good night. Good brother,

Let me request you off: our graver business Frowns at this levity.-Gentle lords, let's part: You see we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarbe

Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost Anticked us all. What needs more words? Good night.

Good Antony, your hand.

Pom.
I'll try you o' the shore.
Ant. And shall, sir: give 's your hand.

Pom. O Antony, you have my father's house!— But what? we are friends. Come down into the boat.

Eno. Take heed you fall not.

[Exeunt POMPEY, CESAR, ANTONY, & Attendants. Menas, I'll not on shore.

Men. No, to my cabin.

These drums! these trumpets, flutes! what!— Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell

To these great fellows. Sound, and be hanged; sound out!

[A flourish of trumpets, with drums.

Eno. Ho, says 'a!-There's my cap.
Men. Ho!-noble captain! Come. [Exeunt.