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Men. We have, sir.

Eno. You have done well by water.

Men. And you by land.

Eno. I will praise any man that will praise me: though it cannot be denied what I have done by land. Men. Nor what I have done by water.

Eno. Yes, something you can deny for your own safety: you have been a great thief by sea. Men. And you by land.

Eno. There I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas: If our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kissing.

Men. All men's faces are true, whatsoe'er their hands are.

Eno. But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

Men. No slander; they steal hearts.

Eno. We came hither to fight with you.

Men. For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.

Eno. If he do, sure, he cannot weep it back again. Men. You have said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony here; Pray you, is he married to Cleopatra ?

Eno. Cæsar's sister is call'd Octavia.

Men. True, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.

Eno. But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius. Men. Pray you, sir?

Eno. 'Tis true.

Men. Then is Cæsar, and he, for ever knit together. Eno. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophecy so.

Men. I think, the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage, than the love of the parties. Eno. I think so too. But you shall find, the band

that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation.2

Men. Who would not have his wife so?

Eno. Not he, that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cæsar; and, as I said before, that which is the strength of their amity, shall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his affection where it is; he married but his occasion here. Men. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.

Eno. I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.

Men. Come; let's away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

On Board Pompey's Galley, lying near Misenum.

Musick.

Enter Two or Three Servants, with a
Banquet.3

1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already, the least wind i' the world will blow them down.

2

2 Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured.

1 Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink.

mon life.

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conversation.] i. e. behaviour, manner of acting in com

with a Banquet.] A banquet, in our author's time, frequently signified what we now call a desert; and from the following dialogue the word must here be understood in that sense. Some o' their plants-] Plants, besides its common meaning, is here used for the foot, from the Latin.

They have made him drink alms-drink.] A phrase, amongst good fellows, to signify that liquor of another's share which his

2 Serv. As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out, no more; reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1 Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

2 Serv. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship: I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service, as a partizan" I could not heave.

1 Serv. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks.

A Sennet sounded. Enter CAESAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains.

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Ant. Thus do they, sir: [To CESAR.] They take the flow o' the Nile

By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know,
By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth,
Or foizon, follow: The higher Nilus swells,
The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman
Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,
And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You have strange serpents there.
Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of mud by the operation of

codile.

Ant. They are so.

your your sun: so is your cro

Pom. Sit, and some wine.-A health to Lepidus.

companion drinks to ease him. But it satirically alludes to Cæsar and Antony's admitting him into the triumvirate, in order to take off from themselves the load of envy.

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* Or foizon, follow:] Foizon is a French word signifying plenty, abundance.

Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll

ne'er out.

Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me, you'll be in, till then.

Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard, the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that.

Men. Pompey, a word.

Pom.

[Aside.

Say in mine ear: What is't? Men. Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain,

And hear me speak a word.

Pom.

This wine for Lepidus.

[Aside.

Forbear me till anon.—

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.

Lep. What colour is it of?

Ant. Of its own colour too.
Lep. "Tis a strange serpent.

Ant. "Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.
Cæs. Will this description satisfy him?

Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure.

Pom. [To MENAS aside.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away!

Do as I bid you.-Where's this cup I call'd for? Men. If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me, Rise from thy stool.

[Aside.

• I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things;] Pyramis for pyramid was in common use in our author's time.

From this word Shakspeare formed the English plural, pyramises, to mark the indistinct pronunciation of a man nearly intoxicated, whose tongue is now beginning to." split what it speaks."

Pom.

I think, thou'rt mad. The matter? [Rises, and walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith: What's else to say?

Be jolly, lords.

Ant.

These quick-sands, Lepidus,

Keep off them, for you sink.

Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world?

Pom.

What say'st thou ?

Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world?

That's twice.

Pom. How should that be?

Men.

But entertain it, and,

Hast thou drunk well?

Although thou think me poor, I am the man
Will give thee all the world.

Pom.

Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove: Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips,'

Is thine, if thou wilt have't.

Pom.

Show me which way.

Men. These three world-sharers, these competi

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Are in thy vessel: Let me cut the cable;

And, when we are put off, fall to their throats:
All there is thine.

Pom.
Ah, this thou should'st have done,
And not have spoke on't! In me, 'tis villainy;
In thee, it had been good service. Thou must know,
'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;
Mine honour, it. Repent, that e'er thy tongue
Hath so betray'd thine act: Being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done;
But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink.

2

or sky inclips,] i. e. embraces.

competitors,] i. e. confederates, partners.

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