Luc. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough;
I dare assure thee, that no enemy
Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus:
The gods defend him from so great a shame!
When you do find him, or alive, or dead,
He will be found like Brutus, like himself.

Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you,
A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe,
Give him all kindness: I had rather have
Such men my friends than enemies. Go on,
And see whe'r Brutus be alive, or dead:
And bring us word, unto Octavius' tent,
How every thing is chanced.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.-Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS.

Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock.

Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain.

Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.[Whispering. Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace, then, no words. Cli.

I'll

Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius! Dar.

Cli. O, Dardanius!

Dar. Ó, Clitus!

rather kill myself. [Whispers him. I do such a deed?

Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius: list a word. Vol. What says my lord?

Bru.

Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night: at Sardis, once; And, this last night, here in Philippi' fields. I know my hour is come.

Not so, my lord.

Vol. Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes; Our enemies have beat us to the pit: It is more worthy to leap in ourselves, Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, Thou know'st, that we two went to school together; Even for that our love of old I pray thee, Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it. Vol. That's not an oflice for a friend, my lord. [Alarum ill.

Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
Bru. Farewell to you;-and you; and you,
Volumnius.-

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee, too, Strato.-Countrymen,
My heart doth joy, that yet in all my life,
I found no man, but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius, and Mark Antony,
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
So fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history:
Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest.
That have but labor'd to attain this hour.
[Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly.
Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.
Bru.

Hence; I will follow thee.
[Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and VOLUMNIUS.
I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:
Thou art a fellow of a good respect;

Thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it:
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?
Stra. Give me your hand first: Fare you well,
my lord.

Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cæsar, now be still, I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.

[He runs on his Sword, and dies. Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their Army. Oct. What man is that?

Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy master?

Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala;

The conquerors can but make a fire of him;
For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honor by his death.

Luc. So Brutus should be found.-I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true.

Oct. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them.1 Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. Oct. Do so, Messala.

Mes.

How died my master, Strato? Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master.

Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man!

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Most like a soldier, order'd honorably.-
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
So, call the field to rest: and let's away.
To part the glories of this happy day.

Receive into my service.

[Exeunt

Recommend.

PROCULEIUS, THYREUS,

GALLUS,

MENAS,

MENECRATES,Friends of Pompey.

VARRIUS,

TAURUS, Lieutenant-General to Cæsar.
CANIDIUS, Lieutenant-General to Antony.
SILIUS, an Officer in Ventidius's Army.'

EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from Antony to

Cæsar.

ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES, Attendants on Cleopatra.

A Soothsayer.

A Clown.

CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt.

OCTAVIA, Sister to Cæsar, and Wife to Antony. CHARMIAN,

IRAS,

Attendants on Cleopatra.

Palace.

Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.

Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's, O'erflows the measure: Those his goodly eyes, That o'er the files and musters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, The office and devotion of their view Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights had burst The buckles on his breast, reneges1 all temper; And is become the bellows and the fan, To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come ! Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Trains; Eunuchs fanning her. Take but good note, and you shall see in him The triple pillar of the world transform'd Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.

Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

Cleo. I'll set a bourn2 how far to be belov'd.

Ant.

But stirr'd by Cleopatra.

new earth.

Enter an Attendant.

Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates me:-The sum! Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony. Fulvia, perchance, is angry: Or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent His powerful mandate to you, Do this, or this; Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that; Perform't, or else we damn thee. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your dismission

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 to-night?
Cleo. Hear the ambassadors.
Ant.
Fye, wrangling queen!
Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd!
No messenger; but thine and all alone,
To-night,we'll wander through the streets, and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
Last night you did desire it :-Speak not to us.

[Exeunt ANT. and CLEOP. with their Train. Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius priz'd so slight? Summons. Consume.

• Know.

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.
Char. Wrinkles forbid!

Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive.
Char. Hush!

Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved.
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 Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress.

Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs.

Sooth. You have seen and proved 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.

Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes.

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 sooth

say.

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.-O, 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!

Fame. Shall be bastards. An Egyptian goddess.

Cleo. We will not look upon him: Go with us.
[Exeunt CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, ALEXAS, IRAS,
CHARMIAN, Soothsayer and Attendants.
Mess. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field.
Ant. Against my brother Lucius ?
Mess. Ay:

But soon that war had end, and the time's state
Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst

Cæsar;

Whose better issue in the war, from Italy, Upon the first encounter, drave them.

Ant.

What worst!

Well,

2 Att. He stays upon your will. Ant.

Let him appear,—
These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
Enter another Messenger.

Or lose myself in dotage.-What are you?
2 Mess. Fulvia thy wife is dead.
Ant.

Ant.

Where died she?

2 Mess. In Sicyon: Her length of sickness, with what else more serious Importeth thee to know, this bears. [Gires a letter. Forbear me.[Exit Messenger There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it: What our contempts do often hurl from us, We wish it ours again; the present pleasure, By revolution lowering, does become The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone; The hand could pluck her back, that shovd her on. I must from this enchanting queen break off; Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, My idleness doth hatch.-How now! Enobarbus!

2 Overrun. * In some editions, minds, Tilling, ploughing: prepare us to produce good seed.