Be buried in your ruins: On my life, Or shake one dart, or sword, aimed at your safety, Without their warrant. Casar. For the young king, I know not How he may be misled; but for his sister, Unequalled Cleopatra, 'twere a kind Of blasphemy to doubt her: Ugly treason Ant. Let us seize on him then; Use it to your security, and let His honesty acquit him; if he be false, It is too great an honour he should die Cæsar. He comes, and I Shall do as I find cause. SCENE II. Enter PHOTINUS, ACHILLAS, SEPTIMIUS, and Soldiers. Pho. There's no retiring now; we are broke in; The deed past hope of pardon. If we prosper, To dare, and power to do, gave the first difference Achil. The deed is bloody, If we conclude in Ptolomy's death. The globe of empire must be so manured. name, Had her walls watered with a crimson shower, Drained from a brother's heart; nor was she raised Enter PTOLOMY, ACHOREUS, and APOLLODORUS. To this prodigious height, that overlooks Ptol. Let not great Cæsar Impute the breach of hospitality To you, my guest, to me! I am contemned, And my rebellious subjects lift their hands Against my head; and 'would they aimed no ther, Provided, that I fell a sacrifice Three full parts of the earth, that pay her tribute, But by enlarging of her narrow bounds, By the sack of neighbour cities, not made hers 'Till they were cemented with the blood of those That did possess them: Cæsar, Ptolomy, fur-Now I am steeled, to me are empty names, Esteemed as Pompey's was. Pho. Well said, Septimius! Thou now art right again. Achil. But what course take we For the princess Cleopatra ? Pho. Let her live In which our worth is weighed. Upon what grounds hast thou presumed to raise Pho. On those, by which Thou didst presume to pass the Rubicon Think on that, Cæsar! Casar. Ob, the gods! be braved thus ? And must descend. Pho. Despair, and think we stand The champions of Rome, to wreak her wrongs, Sept. And that the ghosts of all those noble That by thy sword fell in this civil war, Ant. Darest thou speak, and remember Pho. There's no hope to escape us: If that, against the odds we have upon you, Ant. Let us die nobly; Sept. I feel my resolution melts again, Enter CESAR, PTOLOMY, ANTONY, DOLABELLA, And shews the city like a second Troy; [Exeunt Pho. Achil. Sept. Make spoil of all: Only Achillas' troops. And rather fall upon cach other's sword, Cæsar. That fortune, Which to this hour hath been a friend to Cæsar, frowns, Will smile again upon me: Who will pay her Her sovereign lord, to end ingloriously A life admired by all? The threatened danger low, are safe. I'll lead you like a thunder-bolt! Sept. Stay, Cæsar. Casar. Who's this? the dog Septimius? Dol. You barked but now; fawn you so soon? What I'll deliver is for Cæsar's safety, Ant. Good from a mouth like-thine, Sept. I am an altered man, Altered indeed; and I will give you cause Dol. Rogue, I grant thee. Sept. Trust me, I'll make the passage smooth and easy, For your escape. Ant. I'll trust the devil sooner, Sept. I am trusted With all Photinus' secrets. Sept. Thus, Cæsar: To me alone, but bound by terrible oaths Not to discover it, he hath revealed A dismal vault, whose dreadful mouth does open A mile beyond the city: In this cave Ant. If you believe him, He'll bury us alive. Dol. I'll fly in the air first. Sept. Then in the dead of night, I'll bring you back Into a private room, where you shall find Photinus, and Achillas, and the rest Of their commanders, close at counsel. What follows? And with a masculine constancy deride Nay, grant they had slaved my body, my free mind, Like to the palm-tree walling fruitful Nile, Ars. I am new created, And owe this second being to you, best sister; Eros. I still am fearful: I dare not tell a lie: You, that were born Daughters and sisters unto kings, may nourish Were offered for thy ransom, it could not help | Great thoughts, which I, that am your humble Dare raise a storın, when we command a calm? Upon that sovereignty, thou shouldst bow to! Be swallowed up, remember who I am, ness From running headlong on to thy confusion. Pho. Plead my pardon! Το I bow; but scorn as much to stoop thus you To Ptolomy, to Cæsar, nay the gods, As to put off the figure of a man, And change my essence with a sensual beast: Cleo. How durst thou, being The scorn of baseness, nourish such a thought! Pho. They, that have power, are royal; and those base, That live at the devotion of another. 'Tis deadly aconite to my cold heart; It choaks my vital spirits! Where was your care? Did the guards sleep? Achil. He roused them with his sword; (We talk of Mars, but I am sure his courage Admits of no comparison but itself!) And, as inspired by him, his following friends, With such a confidence as young eaglets prey, Under the large wing of their fiercer dam, Brake through our troops, and scattered them. He went on, But still pursued by us: When, on the sudden, He turned his head, and from his eyes flew terror, Which struck in us no less fear and amazement, Than if we had encountered with the lightning, Hurled from Jove's cloudy brow. Cleo. Twas like my Cæsar! Achil. We fallen back, he made on; and, as our fear Had parted from us with his dreadful looks, Pho. How fell the king? Achil. Unable Mountains fall on me! Oh, for him to die, Is but a bastard courage, ever fainting. [Exit. BELLA. Cleo. He is all honour; Nor do I now repent me of my favours, Enter CESAR, SCEVA, ANTONY, DOLABELLA, and Soldiers, with the heads. Ars. He's come back. Cesar. Pursue no further; curb the soldiers' fury! See, beauteous mistress, their accursed heads, Casar. Look on your Cæsar! banish fear, my That did conspire against us. fairest; You now are safe! Sce. By Venus, not a kiss Sce. Furies plague them! They had too fair an end, to die like soldiers: Till our work be done! The traitors once dis-Should have dispatched them. patched, To it, and we'll cry aim. [Exeunt Cæsar and train. Cleo. Farewell again!-Arsinoe! How now, Eros? Ever faint-hearted? Eros. But that I am assured Your excellency can command the general, Casar. All's but death, good Sceva; Be therefore satisfied. And now, my dearest, Will shew he can give kingdoms; for the senate, [Exeunt omnes. |