Cleo. I know, by that same eye, there's some good news. What says the married woman ?-You may go: I have no power upon you; hers you are. O! never was there queen So mightily betray'd; yet at the first Ant. Cleopatra, Cleo. Why should I think, you can be mine, and true, Though you in swearing shake the throned 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, But bid farewell, and go: when you sued staying, 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, Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world, Art turn'd the greatest liar. Ant. How now, lady! Cleo. I would, I had thy inches; thou shouldst know There were a heart in Egypt. Hear me, queen. Ant. Our services a while, but my full heart Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius Equality of two domestic powers Breeds scrupulous faction. The hated, grown to strength, Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom, It does from childishness.-Can Fulvia die? Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read Cleo. Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come. But let it be.-I am quickly ill, and well, Ant. My precious queen, forbear; And give true credence to his love, which stands Cleo. So Fulvia told me. Ant. Cleo. And target. Still he mends; But this is not the best. Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, How this Herculean Roman does become The carriage of his chafe. Ant. I'll leave you, lady. 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; And I am all forgotten. 1 Commotions. 2 evidence in f. e. 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 heart, As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me; And all the gods go with you! upon your sword Be strew'd before your feet! Ant. Let us go. Come; That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-Rome. An Apartment in CÆSAR'S 'House. Enter OCTAVIUS CESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. Cas. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate Our' great competitor. From Alexandria This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or there A man, who is the abstract of all faults That all men follow. Lep. His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven, Cas. 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 1 One in f. e. With knaves that smell of sweat: say, this becomes him, (As his composure must be rare indeed, Whom these things cannot blemish) yet must Antony So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones, As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge, Lep. Enter a Messenger. Here's more news Mess. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report How 't is abroad. Pompey is strong at sea; And it appears, he is belov'd of those, That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the fleets3 The discontents repair, and men's reports Give him much wrong'd. Cæs. 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, Comes lovd by being lack'd. This common body, Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, I should have known no less. Goes to, and back, and lackeying the varying tide, Mess. Cæsar, 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 youth revolt. No vessel can peep forth, but 't is as soon Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more, Antony, Cæs. 1 Malone reads: soils. 2 Call in f. e. 3 ports: in f. e. 4 dear'd: in f. e. fear'd in folio. 5 lacking in folio. Theobald made the change. 6 Plough. 7 vassailes in folio; some eds. read: vassels. Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, Lep. 'Tis pity of him. Cas. Let his shames quickly Drive him to Rome. 'T is time we twain Did show ourselves i' the field; and, to that end, Lep. To-morrow, Cæsar, I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly -Cæs. 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. Cas. Doubt not, sir; I knew it for my bond. [Exeunt. SCENE V.-Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN, Cleo. Charmian! Char. Madam. Cleo. Ha, ha!— Give me to drink mandragora. Char. Why, madam? Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of time, My Antony is away. 1 me in folio, 1623. |