That thou, refiding here, go'ft yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Cafar's Palace in Rome. Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. Caf. You may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate

One great competitor: From Alexandria

This is the news; he fifhes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy

More womanly than he hardly give audience, or

Vouchfaf'd to think he had partners: You fhall find there A man, who is the abftract 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,
More fiery by night's blacknefs; hereditary
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.

Caf. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is not
Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;

To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit

And keep the turn of tippling with a slave;

To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet

With knaves that smell of fweat: fay, this becomes him

(As his compofure must be rare indeed,

Whom these things cannot blemish), yet muft Antony
No way excufe his foils, when we do bear

So great weight in his lightness: If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuoufnefs,

Full furfeits, and the dryness of his bones,

Call on him for't: but, to confound fuch time-
That drums him from his fport, and fpeaks as loud
As his own ftate, and ours-'tis to be chid

As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their prefent pleasure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Enter

Enter a Messenger.

Lep. Here's more news.

Mef. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Moft noble Cæfar, fhalt thou have report

How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at fea;

And it appears he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cæfar: to the ports.
The difcontents repair, and men's reports.
Give him much wrong'd.

Caf. I fhould have known no lefs:

It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he which is was wifh'd until he were ;
And the ebb'd man ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth love,
Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackying the varying tide
To rot itself with motion.

Mef. Cæfar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,

Make the fea ferve 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 veffel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon

Taken as feen; for Pompey's name ftrikes more
Than could his war resisted.

Caf. Antony,

Leave thy lafcivious waffels. When thou once
Waft beaten from Modena, where thou flew'st
Hirtius and Panfa, confuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow; whom thou fought'ft against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than favages could fuffer: Thou did❜st drink
The ftale of horfes, and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign
The rougheft berry on the rudeft hedge;
Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsed'ft: on the Alps,
It is reported, thou did'ft eat ftrange flesh,
Which fome did die to look on: And all this
(It wounds thine honour that I speak it now)

Was

Was borne fo like a foldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

Lep. It is pity of him.

Caf. Let his fhames quickly

Drive him to Rome: Time is it that we twain
Did fhew ourselves i'the field; and, to that end,
Affemble me immediate council: Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To-morrow, Cæfar,

I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by fea and land I can be able
To 'front this prefent time.

Caf. 'Till which encounter

It is

my

bufinefs too.

Farewell.

Lep. Farewell, my lord: What you fhall know mean

time

Of ftirs abroad, I shall beseech you, fir,

To let me be partaker.

Caf. Doubt it not, fir; I knew it for my bond. [Exeunt.

SCENE V. The Palace in Alexandria.

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 fleep out this great gap of time

My Antony is away.

Char. You think of him too much.

Cleo. O, 'tis treafon !

Char. Madam, I truft, not fo.

Cleo. Thou, eunuch! Mardian !

Mar. What's your highness' pleasure ?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee fing; I take no pleasure

In aught an eunuch has: 'Tis well for thee,

That, being unfeminar'd, thy freer thoughts

May not fly forth of Egypt. Haft thou affections?
Mar. Yes, gracious madam.

Cleo. Indeed!

Mar

Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing
But what in deed is honeft to be done :

Yet have I fierce affections, and think
What Venus did with Mars.

Cleo. O, Charmian!

Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or fits he?
Or does he walk? or is he on his horfe?

O, happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!

Do bravely, horfe! for wot'ft thou whom thou mov'st?
The demy Atlas of this earth, the arm

And burgonet of man.-He's fpeaking now,
Or murmuring, Where's my ferpent of old Nile?
For fo he calls me ;-Now I feed myself
With moft delicious poifon :-Think on me,
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Cæfar,
When thou waft here above the ground, I was
A morfel for a monarch: and great Pompey
Would ftand, and make his eyes grow in my brow;
There would he anchor his afpect, and die
With looking on his life.

Enter ALEXAS.

Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, hail!

Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony! Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee.

How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?

Alex. Laft thing he did, dear queen,
He kifs'd, the last of many doubled kiffes,
This orient pearl ;-His fpeech fsticks in my heart.
Cleo. Mine ear muft pluck it thence.

Alex. Good friend, quoth he,

Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt fends
This treasure of an oyfier: at whofe foot,
To mend the petty prefent, I will piece

Her opulent throne with kingdoms; All the east,
Say thou, fhall call her mistress. So he nodded,
And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed,

Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have spoke
Was beaftly dumb'd by him.

Clea

Cleo. What, was he fad or merry?

year

Alex. Like to the time o'the between the extremes Of hot and cold, he was nor fad nor merry.

Cleo. O, well-divided difpofition!-Note him,

Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note him:
He was not fad; for he would fhine on thofe
That make their looks by his : he was not merry;
Which feem'd to tell them his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy: but between both :
O, heavenly mingle! Be'ft thou fad or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes;

So does it no man else.-Met'st thou my posts?
Alex. Ay, madam, twenty feveral meffengers:
Why do you fend fo thick?

Cleo. Who's born that day.

When I forget to send to Antony,

Shall die a beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.-
Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I, Charmian,
Ever love Cæfar fo?

Char. O, that brave Cæfar!

Cleo. Be chok'd,with fuch another emphafis! Say, the brave Antony.

Char. The valiant Cæfar!

Cleo. By Ifis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæfar paragon again

My man of men.

Char. By your moft gracious pardon, I fing but after you.

Cleo. My fallad days!

When I was green in judgment; Cold in blood,
To fay as I faid then!-But come, away;
Get me ink and paper; he fhall have every day
A feveral greeting, or I'll unpeople Ægypt.

[Exeunt.

ACT