The empire of the sea: our slippery people Our quick remove from hence. Eno. I shall do't. SCENE III. [Exeunt. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS. Cleo. Where is he? Char. I did not see him since. Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he does: I did not send you;t-If you find him sad, Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report That I am sudden sick: Quick, and return [Exit ALEXAS. Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly, You do not hold the method to enforce The like from him. Cleo. What should I do, I do not? Char. In each thing give him way, cross him in nothing. Char. Tempt him not so too far: I wish forbear; In time we hate that which we often fear. But here comes Antony. Enter ANTONY, Cleo. I am sick, and sullen. Ant. I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose,- It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature Will not sustain it. Ant. Now, my dearest queen, Cleo. Pray you, stand further from me. Ant. What's the matter? Cleo. I know, by that same eye, there's some good news. What says the married woman ?-You may go? 'Would, she had never given you leave to come! Let her not say, 'tis I that keep you here, I have no power upon you: hers you are. Ant. The gods best know, Cleo. O, never was there queen So mightily betray'd! Yet, at the first, I saw the treasons planted. * It was once thought that the hair of a horse, dropped into corrupt water, became an animal. † I. e. seem as though I did not send you Ant. Cleopatra, Cleo. Why should I think, you can be mine, and true, Though you in swearing shake the thronged 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, 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. Ant. Hear me, queen: The strong necessity of time commands Our services awhile; but my full heart Remains in use with you. Our Italy Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius Makes his approaches to the port of Rome: Equality of two domestic powers Breeds scrupulous faction: The hated grown to strength, Are newly grown to love: The condemn'd Pompey, Into the hearts of such as have not thrived Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten; Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom, It does from childishness:-Can Fulvia die ? Ant. She's dead, my queen: Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read Cleo. O most false love! Where be the sacred vials thou should'st fill In Fulvia's death, how mine received shall be. Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come; * Arch. + Gate. Commotion. But let it be.-I am quickly ill, and well; So Antony loves. Ant. My precious queen forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands Cleo. So Fulvia told me. I pr'ythee turn aside and weep for her; Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more. Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. Cleo. And target,-Still he mends; But this is not the best: look pr'ythee, Charmian, The carriage of his chafe, † Ant. I'll leave you, lady. Cleo. Courteous lord, one word. Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it: Sir, you and I have loved,-but there's not it; And I am all forgotten. Ant. But that your royalty Holds idleness your subject, I should take you Cleo. Tis sweating labour, To bear such idleness so near the heart As Cleopatra this. But, Sir, forgive me; Since my becomings kill me, when they do no And all the gods go with you! upon your sword Ant. Let us go. Come; Our separation so abides, and flies, That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. Away. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-Rome. An Apartment in CESAR'S House. Enter OCTAVIUS CÆSAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. Cas. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate One great competitor : § from Alexandria This is the news; He fishes, drinks, and wastes The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or Vouchsafed to think he had partners: You shall find there A man who is the abstract of all faults That all men follow. Lep. I must not think, there are Evils enough to darken all his goodness: His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven, Rather than purchased; * what he cannot change, Cas. You are too indulgent: let us grant, it is not 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 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 His vacancy with his voluptuousness, Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones, Call on him for't: but, to confound such time, That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge, Enter a MESSENGER. Lep. Here's more news. Mess. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea; And it appears, he is beloved of those That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports Cæs. I should have known no less : 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 loved, till ne'er worth love, Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common body, Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide, T To rot itself with motion. 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: Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more, Cas. Antony, Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against, Which beast would cough at: thy palate then did deign Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, Lep. It is pity of him. Cas. Let his shames quickly Drive him to Rome: 'Tis time we twain Did show ourselves i' the field; and, to that end, Thrives in our idleness. Lep. To-morrow, Cæsar, I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly Both what by sea and land I can be able, To 'front this present time. Cas. 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. § SCENE V-Alexandria. [Exeunt. 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. Char. You think of him Too much. * Turn pale. VOL. IV. |