Pom. Know, then, 40 I came before you here a man prepared Ant. I have heard it, Pompey, And am well studied for a liberal thanks Which I do owe you. Pom. Let me have your hand: 50 I did not think, sir, to have met you here. What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face; But in my bosom shall she never come, To make my heart her vassal. Lep. Well met here. Pom. I hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed: I crave our composition may be written And seal'd between us. Cæs. That's the next to do. Pom. We'll feast each other ere we part, and let's Draw lots who shall begin. Ant. That will I, Pompey. Pom. No, Antony, take the lot: but, first Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Cæsar Grew fat with feasting there. 55. counts, reckonings, marks. 60 Ant. You have heard much. Pom. I have fair meanings, sir. And fair words to them. Pom. Then so much have I heard: What, I pray you? 70 And I have heard, Apollodorus carried- And well am like to do, for, I perceive, Four feasts are toward. Pom. Well; Let me shake thy hand; I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight, Eno. Sir, I never loved you much, but I ha' praised ye, Pom. Enjoy thy plainness, It nothing ill becomes thee. Aboard my galley I invite you all : Will you lead, lords? Cas. Ant. Lep. Show us the way, sir. Pom. Come. [Exeunt all but Menas and Enobarbus. Men. [Aside] Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have made this treaty.-You and I have known, sir. Eno. At sea, I think. 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. 80 90 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 100 kissing. Men. All men's faces are true, whatsome'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't back again. Men. You've said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony here: pray you, is he married to 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 ye, 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. made. Men. I think the policy of that nat purpose 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 110 120 will be the very strangler of their amity: Octavia 130 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 Mark 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. SCENE VII. [Exeunt. On board Pompey's galley, off Music plays. Enter two or three Servants with a banquet. First Serv. Here they'll be, man. Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already; the least wind i' the world will blow them down. Sec. Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured. First Serv. They have made him drink almsdrink. Sec. Serv. As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out 'No more;' reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink. 140. occasion, convenience. 5. alms-drink, leavings. 140 7. pinch one another by the disposition, banteringly twit one another. First Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion. Sec. 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 partisan I could not heave. First 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, LEPIDUS, POMPEY, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other captains. Ant. [To Cæsar] Thus do they, sir: they take the flow o' the Nile By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know, The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman And shortly comes to harvest. Lep. You've strange serpents there. Ant. Ay, Lepidus. ΤΟ 20 Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your 30 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. Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me you'll be in till then. Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies' |