The last of all the Romans, fare thee well! It is impossible, that ever Rome Should breed thy fellow.-Friends, I owe more tears [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter fighting, Soldiers of both Armies; then BRUTUS, CATO, LUCILIUS, and others. Bru. Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads! [me? Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with I will proclaim my name about the field :I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend; I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! (Charges the enemy.) Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend: know me for Brutus. [Exit, charging the enemy. Cato is overpowered, and falls. Luc. O young and noble Cato, art thou down? Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; And may'st be honour'd, being Cato's son. 1 Sold. Yield, or thou diest. Luc. Only I yield to die : There is so much that thon wilt kill me straight: (Offering money.) Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death. 1 Sold. We must not.-A noble prisoner! 2 Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 1 Sold. I'll tell the news.-Here comes the ge neral: Enter ANTONY. Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. Ant. Where is he? Luc. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough : Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus : Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you, [Exeunt. SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS. Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius shew'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain. Bru. Sit thee down, Clytus: Slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clytus. (Whispering.) Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace then, no words. Cli. I'd rather kill myself. (Whispers him.) I do such a deed? Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius; Cli. O, Dardanius! Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius; list a word. Vol. What says my lord? Bru. Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night: at Sardis, once; And, this last night, here in Philippi' fields. I know, my hour is come. Vol. Not so, my lord. It is more worthy to leap in ourselves, Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here. Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; Bru. Hence; I will follow thee. [Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius. I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord: Thou art a fellow of a good respect; Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it: Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face, While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato? Stra. Give me your hand first: Fare you well, my lord. Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cæsar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will. (He runs on his sword, and dies.) Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their army. Oct. What man is that? [master? Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy And no man else hath honour by his death. That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true, How died my master, Strato? Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all : Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, [Exeunt. SCENE I.-Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's His powerful mandate to you, Do this, or this: Palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that; Perform't, or else we damn thee. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your dismission Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony. Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's, I would say? Both? Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, sengers. Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind, Cleo. There's not a minute of our lives should stretch [Exeunt Ant, and Cleop. with their Train. Dem. I'm full sorry, That he approves the common liar, who Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! [Exeunt, SCENE II.-The same. Another Room. Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? O, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must change his horns with garlands! Alex. Soothsayer. Sooth. Your will? [things? Char. Is this the man?-Is't you, sir, that know Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all: let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. [figs. Char. O excellent! I love long life better than Sooth. You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches must I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile every wish, a million. Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be-drunk to bed. [else. Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. [say. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothChar. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prog nostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.-Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. Sooth. I have said. [she? Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose. Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas, come, his fortune, his fortune.-O, let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, bear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded; Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen. Alex. Lo, now! If it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but they'd do't, Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Enter CLEOPATRA. Eno. Cleo. Char. No, madam. Not he, the queen. No, lady. Was he not here! [sudden Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the A Roman thought hath struck him.—Enobarbus,— Eno. Madam. [Alexas! Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither. Where's Alex. Here, madam, at your service.-My lord approaches. Enter ANTONY with a Messenger and Attendants. Mess. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. But soon that war had end, and the time's state Well, (This is stiff news) hath, with his Parthian force Extended Asia from Euphrates; His conquering banner shook, from Syria Ant. Antony, thou would'st say,— O, my lord! Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue; Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome : Ant. Forbear me. [Exit Messenger. Eno. What's your pleasure, sir? Eno. Why, then, we kill all our women: We see how mortal an unkindness is to them; if they suffer our departure, death's the word. Ant. I must be gone. Eno. Under a compelling occasion, let women die: It were pity to cast them away for nothing; though, between them and a great cause, they should be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly; I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment: I do think, there is mettle in death, which commits some loving act upon her, she hath such celerity in dying. Ant. She is cunning past man's thought. Eno. Alack, sir, no; her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love: We cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacks can report: This cannot be cunning in her; if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove. Ant. 'Would I had never seen her! Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been blessed withal, would have discredited travel. your Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Sir? Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Fulvia? Ant. Dead. Eno. Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shews to man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein, that when old robes are worn out, there are members to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented: this grief is crowned with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new petticoat :-and, indeed, the tears live in an onion, that should water this sorrow. Ant. The business she hath broached in the state, Cannot endure my absence. Eno. And the business you have broached here cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode. Ant. No more light answers. Let our officers Have notice what we purpose. I shall break The cause of our expedience to the queen, And get her love to part. For not alone The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, Do strongly speak to us; but the letters too Of many our contriving friends in Rome Petition us at home: Sextus Pompeius 607 Hath given the dare to Cæsar, and commands Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, Eno. I shall do't. [Exeunt. SCENE III.-Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS. Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius Ant. She's dead, my queen: Look bere, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read Cleo. Ant. My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial. I pr'ythee turn aside, and weep for her; Then bid adieu to me, and say, the tears Belong to Egypt: Good now, play one scene Of excellent dissembling; and let it look Like perfect honour. Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more. Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. Ant. Now, by my sword,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. Cleo. 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; That you know well: Something it is I would,— O, my oblivion is a very Antony, And I am all forgotten. Ant. But that your royalty Holds idleness your subject, I should take you For idleness itself. Cleo. And all the gods go with you! upon your sword Let us go. Come; [Exeunt. Our separation so abides, and flies, SCENE IV. Rome. An Apartment in Cæsar's Enter OCTAVIUS, CÆSAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants 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 blackness; hereditary, Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change, Than what he chooses. [not [him, [tony Cæs. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is 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 With knaves, that smell of sweat: say, this becomes (As his composure must be rare indeed, Whom these things cannot blemish,) yet must AnNo way excuse his soils, when we do bear 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 load As his own state, and ours,-'tis to be chid As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge, Pawn their experience to their present pleasure, And so rebel to judgment. Enter a Messenger. [hour, Lep. Here's more news. Mess. Thy biddings have been done; and every Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea; And it appears, he is belov'd of those That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports The discontents repair, and men's reports Give him much wrong'd. 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 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, lackeying the varying tide, 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: No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more, Than could his war resisted. Cæs. Antony, Leave thy lascivious wassels. When thou once Lep. It is pity of him. Did shew ourselves i' the field; and, to that end, |