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Ant. To flatter Cæsar, would you mingle eyes With one that ties his points ?1

Cleo.

Ant. Cold-hearted toward me!
Cleo.

Not know me yet?

Ah, dear, if I be so,

From my cold heart let heaven engender hail,
And poison it in the source; and the first stone
Drop in my neck as it determines,2 so
Dissolve my life! The next Cæsarion smite!
Till, by degrees, the memory of my womb,
Together with my brave Egyptians all,
By the discandying 3 of this pelleted 4 storm,
Lie graveless, till the flies and gnats of Nile
Have buried them 5 for prey!

Ant.
I am satisfied.
Cæsar sits down6 in Alexandria; where
I will

oppose his fate. Our force by land

Hath nobly held :7 our severed navy too

8

Have knit again, and fleet, threatening most sea-like.

Where hast thou been, my heart ?9-Dost thou hear, lady?
If from the field I shall return once more

To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood;
I and my sword will earn our chronicle;
There's hope in 't yet.

1 One that ties his points.] A servant that fastens his dress. Points are laces.

2 As it determines.] As the hail-stone dissolves on my breast. To determine is to come to an end.

The discandying.] To discandy is to dissolve.
Pelleted.] Composed of pellets.

• Buried them.] Covered them with their swarms.
Sits down.] Encamps as a besieger.

"Held.] Held together; kept whole.

• Fleet.] Float.

• Where hast thou been, &c.] Antony here reproaches his own heart.

Cleo.

That's my brave lord!

Ant. I will be treble-sinewed, hearted, breathed,'
And fight maliciously:" for when mine hours
Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives
Of me for jests; but now I'll set my teeth,
And send to darkness all that stop me.-Comé,
Let's have one other gaudy3 night: call to me
All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more
Let's mock the midnight bell.

Cleo.

It is my birthday :4
I had thought to have held it poor; but, since my lord
Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra.

Ant. We will yet do well.

Cleo. Call all his noble captains to my lord.

Ant. Do so, we 'll speak to them; and to-night I'll force

The wine peep through their scars.— -Come on, my queen: There's sap in 't yet. The next time I do fight,

I'll make Death love me; for I will contend

Even with his pestilent scythe."

[Exeunt all except ENOBARBUS.

Eno. Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious,

Is to be frighted out of fear; and in that mood

The dove will peck the estridge; and I see still 6

A diminution in our captain's brain

1 Breathed.] Exercised; kept in breath.

2 Fight maliciously.] Compare Coriolanus, iv. 5, 'I will fight against my cankered country with the spleen of all the under fiends.'

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♦ It is my birthday.] Extracts from Plutarch, 42.

5 Contend, &c.] Vie with him in the havoc he makes when he kills with pestilence.

I see still.] I always see.

Restores his heart: when valour preys on reason,

It eats the sword it fights with.
Some way to leave him.

I will seek

[Exit.

It eats the sword, &c.] It deprives a man of that judgment without which he cannot fight successfully.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. Cæsar's Camp before Alexandria.

Enter CESAR, reading a letter; AGRIPPA, MECENAS, and others.

Cæs. He calls me boy; and chides, as he had power

To beat me out of Egypt; my messenger

He hath whipped with rods; dares me to personal combat:
Cæsar to Antony :'-Let the old ruffian know

I have 2 many other ways to die; mean time,
Laugh at his challenge.

Mec.

Cæsar must think,

When one so great begins to rage, he 's hunted
Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now
Make boot 3 of his distraction :-never anger
Made good guard for itself.

Let our best heads

Cæs.
Know, that to-morrow the last of many battles
We mean to fight :—within our files there are
Of those that served Mark Antony but late,
Enough to fetch him in.4 See it done: 5

1 Cesar to Antony.] Cæsar, in reply to Antony, says.

2 I have.] Shakspeare should have written 'He hath,' that is, Antony has. The poet here mistook the language of North's Plutarch. See Extracts from Plutarch, 44.

3 Make boot.] Make profit; take advantage.

• Enough to fetch him in.] Enough to make him yield. See Extracts from Plutarch, 46.

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See it done.] See that our best heads know,' &c.

And feast the army; we have store to do 't,

And they have earned the waste. Poor Antony! [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Alexandria.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN,

IRAS, ALEXAS, and others.

Ant. He will not fight with me, Domitius.

Eno.

Ant. Why should he not?

No.

Eno. He thinks, being twenty times of better fortune, He is twenty men to one.

Ant.

To-morrow, soldier,

By sea and land I'll fight,—Or1 I will live,

Or bathe my dying honour in the blood

Shall make it live again.-Woot2 thou fight well?
Eno. I'll strike, and cry, Take all.3

Ant.

Well said; come on.

Call forth my household servants; let's to-night
Be bounteous at our meal.—

Enter Servants.

Give me thy hand,

-so hast thou;

Thou hast been rightly honest ;

Thou, and thou,-and thou:-you have served me well,

And kings have been your fellows.

Cleo. [Aside to ENO.]

What means this?

Eno. [Aside to CLEO.] 'T is one of those odd tricks

which sorrow shoots

Out of the mind.

1 Or.] Either.

2 Woot.] Woult or woot was a provincial expression for wilt. Woult weep? woult fight?' &c. Hamlet, v. 1.

I'll strike, &c.] This is intentionally ambiguous: one of the meanings of to strike being to give in.

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