Look here, and, at thy fovereign leisure, read
The garboils fhe awak'd; at the last, best:
See, when, and where fhe died.

Cleo.

O moft falfe love!

Where be the facred vials thou fhould't fill
With forrowful water? Now I fee, I fee,
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, to cease,

As

you

fhall give the advice: Now, by the fire, That quickens Nilus' flime, I go from hence, Thy foldier, fervant; making peace. or war, As thou affect'ft.

Cleo.

Cut my lace, Charmian, come;

But let it be. I am quickly ill, and well:
So Antony loves.

Ant.

My precious queen, forbear;

And give true evidence to his love, which stands
An honourable trial.

I pr'ythee, turn afide, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and say, the tears
Belong to Egypt: Good now, play one scene
Of excellent diffembling; 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 beft: 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 idlenefs itself.

To bear fuch idleness so near the heart

As Cleopatra this. But, fir, forgive me;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you: Your honour calls you hence ;
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,

And all the gods go with you! upon your sword
Sit laurel'd victory! and smooth fuccefs

Be ftrew'd before your feet!

Ant.

Let us go. Come;
Our feparation fo abides, and flies,

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

Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Rome. An Apartment in Cæsar's house.

Enter OCTAVIUS, CÆSAR, 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 fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike

Than

Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy

More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or Vouchfaf'd to think he had partners: You shall find there A man, who is the abstract 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, feem 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 composure 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
His vacancy with his voluptuoufness,
Full furfeits, and the drynefs of his bones,

Call on him for't: but, to confound fuch time,
That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud
At 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 fo rebel to judgement.

Lep.

Enter a Meffenger.

Here's more news.

Mef. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour,

Moft

Moft noble Cæfar, 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 Cæfar: to the ports
The discontents repair, and men's reports
Give him much wrong'd.

Caf.

I fhould have known no less :

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, lackeying 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 vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon

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

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 didst drink
The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;

Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the pafture fheets,

The

The barks of trees thou brow fed'ft; on the Alps,
It is reported, thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which fome did die to look on: And all this

(It wounds thine honour, that I fpeak it now,)
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: 'Tis time we twain

Did show ourselves i' the field; and, to that end,
Affemble we immediate council: Pompey

Thrives in our idleness.

Lep.

To-morrow, Cæfar,

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

Caf.

Till which encounter,

It is my business too. Farewell.

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

time

Of ftirs abroad, I fhall befeech you, fir,

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN.

Cleo. Charmian,―

Char. Madam.

Cleo. Ha, ha !

Give me to drink mandragora.

C

Char