Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read
The garboils she awak'd; at the last, best:

See, when, and where she died.

O most false love!

Cleo.
Where be the sacred vials thou should'st fill
With forrowful 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, to cease,
As you shall 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'st.

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.

Cleo.

So Fulvia told me.

I pr'ythee, turn aside, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and say, the tears
Belong to Egypt: Good now, play one scene

Of excellent dissembling; 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 fword,

Cleo.

And target,-Still he mends;

But this is not the best: Look, pr'ythee, Charmian,

How this Herculean Roman does become

The carriage of his chafe.

Ant.

Cleo. Courteous lord, one word.

I'll leave you, lady.

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.

[blocks in formation]

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 fuccess

Be strew'd before your feet!

Ant.

Let us go. Come;

Our separation so abides, and flies,

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

Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Rome. An Apartment in Cæfar'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 Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsaf'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, seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.

Caf. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;
To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit
And keep the turn of tippling with a flave;
To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet
With knaves that smell of sweat: say, this becomes him,
(As his composure must be rare indeed,

Whom these things cannot blemish,) yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. If he fill
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full furfeits, and the dryness of his bones,
Call on him for't: but, to confound such 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 Messenger.

Here's more news.

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

Moft

Most 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 should have known no less :

It hath been taught us from the primal state,

That he, which is, was wish'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 serve 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 seen; for Pompey's name strikes more,
Than could his war resisted.

[blocks in formation]

Leave thy lascivious wassels. When thou once
Waft beaten from Modena, where thou flew'st

Hirtius and Pansa, confuls, at thy heel
Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could fuffer: Thou didft 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 stag, when snow the pasture sheets,

The

The barks of trees thou browsed'st; 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 speak it now,)
Was borne so like a foldier, that thy cheek

So much as lank'd not.

Lep.

It is pity of him.

Caf. Let his shames quickly

Drive him to Rome: 'Tis time we twain

Did show ourselves i' the field; and, to that end,

Assemble we immediate council: Pompey

Thrives in our idleness.

Lep.

To-morrow, Cæfar,

I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by sea 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 stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, fir,

To let me be partaker.

[blocks in formation]

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN.

[blocks in formation]
« FöregåendeFortsätt »