Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; So, fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue Hence; I will follow thee. That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all : All the conspirators, save only he, Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar; Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, [Exeu 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 Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come ! Take but good note, and you shall see in him 728 professes unending love 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. Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her? Ant. Let's not confound the time with conference harsh: Fye, wrangling queen! To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and Alex. Nay, hear him. 725 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 Rest you happy! 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 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 Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the | I must from this enchanting queen break off; A Roman thought hath struck him.—Enobarbus,- My idleness doth hatch. — How now! Enobarbus ! Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither. Alexas? Where's Aler. Here, madam, at your service. — My lord Enter ANTONY, with a Messenger and Attendants. Attendants. Mess. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. But soon that war had end, and the time's state 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. On : 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: 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. 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 The cause of our expedience to the queen, breeding, Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he does : I did not send you; If you find him sad, [Exit ALEX. Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him Char. dearly, You do not hold the method to enforce 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. 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, Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom, It does from childishness: - O Can Fulvia die? Cut my lace, Charmian, come;- My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial. |