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Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen,
My heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life,
I found no man, but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius, and Mark Antony,
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.

So, fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history:
Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,
That have but labour'd to attain this hour.
[Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly.
Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.
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;

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That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true.
Oct. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them.
Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.
Oct. Do so, Messala.
Mes.
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 : All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He, only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man!

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect, and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, order'd honourably.
So, call the field to rest: and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

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THYREUS,

GALLUS,

MENAS, MENECRATES, VARRIUS,

}

friends of Pompey.

TAURUS, lieutenant-general to Cæsar.

CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to Antony.

SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius's army.

EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Cæsar. ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES; at tendants on Cleopatra.

A Soothsayer.

A Clown.

CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt.

OCTAVIA, sister to Cæsar, and wife to Antony. CHARMIAN and IRAS, attendants on Cleopatra.

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendais.

SCENE, -dispersed; in several parts of the Roman Empire.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's

Palace.

Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.

Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war

Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper;
And is become the bellows, and the fan,

To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come !
Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their
Trains; Eunuchs fanning her.

Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.
Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much.
Ant. There's beggary in the love that can
reckon'd.

728

professes

unending love

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Diem

ACT I. SCENE I. absurdity.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life

Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair,

[Embracing.

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Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony
Will be himself. sociale diy
But stirr'd By Cleopatra.

Ant.
Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours,

Let's not confound the time with conference harsh:
There's not a minute of our lives should stretch
Without some pleasure now: What sport to-night
Cleo. Hear the ambassadors.
Ant.

Fye, wrangling queen!
Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd!
No messenger; but thine and all alone,

To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and

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Alex. Nay, hear him.

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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.

Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs.

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.

Alex. We'll know all our fortunes.

Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be drunk to bed.

Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else.

Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine.

say.

Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot sooth

Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful I'm full sorry, prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.— Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune.

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!

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Sooth. Your fortunes are alike.

Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. Sooth. I have said.

Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than

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Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend' Alexas, - O, let come, his fortune, his fortune. beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I 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, hear 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 accord

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Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the | I must from this enchanting queen break off;
sudden
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,

A Roman thought hath struck him.—Enobarbus,- My idleness doth hatch. — How now! Enobarbus !
Eno. Madam.
Enter ENOBARBUS.

Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither.

Alexas?

Where's

Aler. Here, madam, at your service. — My lord
approaches.

Enter ANTONY, with a Messenger and Attendants.
Cleo. We will not look upon him: Go with us.
[Exeunt CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, ALEXAS,
IRAS, CHARMIAN, Soothsayer, and

Attendants.

Mess. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field.
Ant. Against my brother Lucius?
Mess. Ay:

But soon that war had end, and the time's state
Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst
Cæsar;

Whose better issue in the war, from Italy,

Upon the first encounter, drave them.

Ant.

What worst?

Well,

Mess. The nature of bad news infects the teller.
Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward.

On :

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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; 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 a celerity in dying.

Ant. She is cunning past man's thought.

have

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.

Things, that are past, are done with me.- - 'Tis Ant. 'Would I had never seen her!

thus:

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Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been blessed withal, would have discredited your travel.

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 shows 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
Hath given the dare to Cæsar, and commands
The empire of the sea: our slippery people
(Whose love is never link'd to the deserver,
Till his deserts are past,) begin to throw
Pompey the great, and all his dignities,
Upon his son; who, high in name and power,
Higher than both in blood and life, stands up
For the main soldier: whose quality, going on,
The sides o'the world may danger: Much is

breeding,

Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life,

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Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he does :

I did not send you; If you find him sad,
Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick: Quick, and return.

[Exit ALEX. Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him Char. 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.

Cleo. Thou teachest like a fool: the way to lose him.

Char. Tempt him not so too far: I wish, forbear; In time we hate that which we often fear.

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Hear me, queen :

Ant. The strong necessity of time commands Our services a while; 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 domestick powers

Breeds scrupulous faction: The hated, grown to

strength,

Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace
Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd
Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge
By any desperate change: My more particular,
And that which most with you should safe my going,
Is Fulvia's death.

Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom,

It does from childishness: - O Can Fulvia die?
Ant. She's dead, my queen :
Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read
The garboils she awak'd; at the last, best;
See, when, and where she died.
Cleo.
O most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou should'st fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advice: Now, by the fire,
That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence,
Thy soldier, servant; making peace or war,
As thou affect'st.

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Cut my lace, Charmian, come;-
I am quickly ill, and well:

My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial.

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