Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; [embracing. Cleo. Excellent falshood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her? Will be himself. Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra. 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 tonight? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fye, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, note The qualities of people. Come, my queen; [Exeunt ANT. and CLEOP. with their train. Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope Or better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! [Exeunt. 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. Char. Is this the man? Is't kuow things? you, sir, that Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy, A little I can read. Alex. Shew him your hand. Enter ENOBARBUS. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Sooth. I make not, but foresee. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Char. He means, in flesh. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. T Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than be lov'd. Char. I had rather heat my liver with drinking. Alex. Nay. hear him. 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 Caesar, and companion me with my mistress! Sooth. You shall out-live the lady whom you serve. Char. O excellent! I love long live better than figs. Sooth. You have seen and prov'd 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. vy Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are priwishes. to your 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. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, 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. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? 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. - 0, 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, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose wiv'd, 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. Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sudden A Roman thought hath struck him. — Enobar bus, Eno. Madam. Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither. Where's Alexas? Alex. Here, at your service. My lord ap proaches. 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. Mes. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. Ant. Against my brother Lucius? Mes. Ay: But soon that war had end, and the time's state Whose better issue in the war, from Italy, Ant. Well, What worst? Mes. The nature of bad news infects the teller. Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward. On: Things, that are past, are done, with me. thus; "Tis Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, I hear him as he flatter'd. Més. Labienus (this is stiff news) Hath, with his Parthian force, extended Asia; Whilst |