SCENE II. -Rome. An Ante-chamber in CESAR'S House.

Enter AGRIPPA and ENOBARBUS, meeting.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted?

Eno. They have dispatch'd with Pompey, he is gone;

The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps

To part from Rome; Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus,
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the green sickness.

Agr.

'Tis a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one. O, how he loves Cæsar!
Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony !
Eno. Cæsar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men.
Agr. What's Antony? The god of Jupiter.

Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How! the nonpareil !
Agr. Of Antony? O thou Arabian bird!1
Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say Cæsar; go no further.
Agr. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.
Eno. But he loves Cæsar best; - yet he loves Antony :
Hoo! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot
Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number,
His love to Antony. But, as for Cæsar,
Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.
Agr.

-

hoo!

Both he loves.

Eno. They are his shards, and he their beetle. [Trumpets within.] So,

This is to horse. - Adieu, noble Agrippa.

Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.

1 The phoenix So in Cymbeline: "She is alone the Arabian bird, and I have lost my wager."-It must be understood that in this dialogue the speakers are travestying the flights of Lepidus in praise of his colleagues.

2 They are the wings that raise this lumpish insect from the ground. See Macbeth, iii. 2, note 12.

Enter CESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA.

Ant. No further, sir.

Cæs. You take from me a great part of myself;
Use me well in't. Sister, prove such a wife
As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest band.
Shall pass on thy approof.3- Most noble Antony,
Let not the piece of virtue, which is set
Betwixt us as the cement of our love

To keep it builded, be the ram to batter
The fortress of it; for far better might we
Have loved without this mean, if on both parts
This be not cherish'd.

Though you be therein curious, the least cause

For what you seem to fear: so, the gods keep you,
And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!
We will here part.

Cas. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well:
The elements be kind to thee, and make

Thy spirits all of comfort!4 fare thee well.

Octa. My noble brother! —

Ant. The April's in her eyes; it is love's Spring, And these the showers to bring it on. Be cheerful. Octa. Sir, look well to my husband's house; and

3 Such as my strongest pledge or assurance shall pass in thy approval. For this use of band see page 29, note 13.

4 To be of comfort is repeatedly used by Shakespeare for to be comforted. See vol. v. page 212, note 6. By elements here I understand no more or other than is usually meant by that term: Octavia is to sail for Athens, and her brother wishes that the winds and seas may be kind to her. Some, however, find a more recondite meaning: "May the elements be so mixed and tempered in thee as to make thee cheerful and happy."

Cæs.

What,

Octavia?

Octa.

I'll tell you in your ear.

Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can

Her heart inform her tongue: the swan's down-feather

Thus stands upon the swell at full of tide,5

And neither way inclines.

Eno. [Aside to AGR.] Will Cæsar weep?

Agr. [Aside to ENO.]

He has a cloud in's face.

Eno. [Aside to AGR.] He were the worse for that were he a horse; 6

So is he being a man.

Agr. [Aside to ENO.] Why, Enobarbus,
When Antony found Julius Cæsar dead,
He cried almost to roaring; and he wept
When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.

Eno. [Aside to AGR.] That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum;7

What willingly he did confound he wail'd,

Believe't, till I wept too.

Cæs.

No, sweet Octavia,

You shall hear from me still; the time shall not

Out-go my thinking on you.

Ant.

Come, sir, come ;

5 Very delicate imagery, but not perfectly clear: the plain English of it is, that Octavia's heart is divided equally between her brother and her husband, so that she cannot tell which she loves most.

6 A horse is said to have a cloud in his face when he has a dark-coloured spot in his forehead between the eyes. This gives him a sour look, and is thought to indicate an ugly temper. Burton has applied the phrase to the look of a female: "Every lover admires his mistress, though she be very deformed of herselfe - thin, leane, chitty-face, have clouds in her face, be crooked," &c.

7 Was troubled with a flowing or watering of the eyes, a proneness to weep. So, in Hamlet, we have “bisson rheum" for blinding tears. - Confound, again, in the next line, for consume or destroy. See page 12, note 10.

I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,

And give you to the gods.

Adieu; be happy!

Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light

Cas.

To thy fair way!)

Cæs.

Farewell, farewell!

[Kisses OCTAVIA.

Farewell!

Ant.

[Trumpets sound within. Exeunt.

SCENE III.- Alexandria. A Room in CLEOPATRA'S Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS.

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you
But when you are well pleased.

Cleo.

That Herod's head

I'll have but how, when Antony is gone
Through whom I might command it? -
Mess. Most gracious Majesty,-

Cleo.

Octavia?

Mess. Ay, dread Queen.

Cleo.

Mess.

Come thou near.

Didst thou behold

Where?

Madam, in Rome;

I look'd her in the face, and saw her led
Between her brother and Mark Antony.

Cleo. Is she as tall as me?

Mess.

She is not, madam.

Cleo. Didst hear her speak? is she shrill-tongued or

low?

Mess. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low-voiced.
Cleo. That's not so good. He cannot like her long.

Char. Like her! O Isis! 'tis impossible.

Cleo. I think so, Charmian: dull of tongue, and dwarf

ish!

What majesty is in her gait? Remember,

If e'er thou look'dst on majesty.

She creeps;

Mess.
Her motion and her station are as one:

1

I do perceive't. There's nothing in her yet:

The fellow has good judgment.

Cleo. Bear'st thou her face in mind? is't long or round? Mess. Round even to faultiness.

1 She is so dull and sleepy of motion that her moving is like her standing still. For this use of station see vol. xiv. page 248, note 8.

2 An elliptical expression for "There are not three in Egypt who can make better note." Shakespeare has many such.