NAY, but this dotage of our general's, O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes, Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Cleo. I'll set a bourn2 how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your dismission Is come from Caesar; therefore, hear it, Antony. Where's Fulvia's process ? Cæsar's, I would say ? Both ? Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, [Embracing. And such a twain can do't, in which I bind Cleo. Ant. Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, (5) Summons. (6) Know. (7) Consume. To weep; whose every passion fully strives [Exeunt Aut. and Cleo. with their train. Dem. I'm full sorry, [Exeunt. 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: Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend!-A SCENE II-The same. Another room. Enter seech thee! And let her die too, and give him a Alex. Soothsayer. Char. Is this the man?-Is't you, sir, that know things? Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy, A little I can read. Alex. Show him your hand. worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst I Irds. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wived, so it is a deadly sor row to behold a foul knave uncuckolded; Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen. Sooth. I make not, but foresee. Enter Cleopatra. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Eno. No, lady. Char. He means, in flesh. Cleo. Was he not here? Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Char. No, madam. Char. Wrinkles forbid! Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. 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. 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. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be-drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palin presages chastity, if nothing else. Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sud den His conquering banner shook, from Syria Ant. Antony, thou would'st say, Ó, my lord! Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue; Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome: 2 Att. He stays upon your will Let him appear.— These strong Egyptian fetters I must break, Enter another Messenger. Or lose myself in dotage.-What are you? Where died she? Eno. Fulvia ? Eno. Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein, that when old robes are worn out, there are members to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented: this grief is crowned with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new petticoat :-and, indeed, the tears live in an onion, that should water this sorrow. Ant. The business she hath broached in the state, Cannot endure my absence. Eno. And the business you have broached here, cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode. Ant. No more light answers. Let our officers 2 Mess. In Sicyon : The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone; Enter Enobarbus. Eno. What's your pleasure, sir? Eno. Why, then, we kill all our women: We see how mortal an unkindness is to them; if they suffer our departure, death's the word. Ant. I must be gone. Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, [Exeunt. SCENE III.-Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas. Cleo. Where is he? I did not see him since. Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he does: [Exit Alex. Eno. Under a compelling occasion, let women die: It were pity to cast them away for nothing; I did not send you;"-If you find him sad, though, between them and a great cause, they Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report should be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching That I am sudden sick: Quick, and return. but the least noise of this, dies instantly; I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment: I do think, there is mettle in death, which commits some loving act upon her, she hath such a celerity in dying. Ant. She is cunning past man's thought. Eno. Alack, sir, no; her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love; We cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacs can report: this cannot be cunning in her; if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove. Ant. 'Would I had never seen her! Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him You do not hold the method to enforce Cleo. Thou teachest like a fool: the way to lose Char. Tempt him not so too far: I wish, forbear; In time we hate that which we often fear. Enter Antony. Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been bless-But here comes Antony. ed withal, would have discredited your travel. It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature Ant. Now, my dearest queen,― What says the married woman?-You may go ; Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come But let it be.-I am quickly ill, and well: Ant. My precious queen, forbear; I pr'ythee, turn aside, and weep for her; O, never was there queen Of excellent dissembling; and let it look So mightily betray'd! Yet, at the first, Cleopatra, Cleo. Why should I think, you can be mine, and Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, Most sweet queen,- Bliss in our brows bent;' none our parts so poor, There were a heart in Egypt. Ant. How now, lady! Hear me, queen : Breeds scrupulous faction; The hated, grown to Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey, Is Fulvia's death. my Ant. And target,-Still he mends; Ant. I'll leave you, lady. Cleo. Courteous lord, one word. Ant. But that your royalty Holds idleness your subject, I should take you For idleness itself. Cleo. 'Tis sweating labour, And all the gods go with you! upon your sword Let's go. Come; Our separation so abides, and flies, Attendants. Caes. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate One great competitor:" From Alexandria This is the news; He fishes, drinks, and wastes me The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike Than Cleopatra: nor the queen Ptolemy More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall find there Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read As you shall give the advice: Now, by the fire That quickens Nilus' slime," I go from hence, (1) The arch of our eye-brows. (2) Smack, or flavour. (4) Render my going not dangerous. (5) Can Fulvia be dead? (6) The commotion she occasioned. A man, who is the abstract of all faults Lep. Cas. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it (7) Mud of the river Nile. (8) To me, the queen of Egypt. (9) Heat. (10) Oblivious memory. (11) Associate or partner. (12) Procured by his own fault. Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy; (As his composure must be rare indeed, Lep. To-morrow, Cæsar, Whom these things cannot blemish,) yet must An- I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly hour, Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports Cas. body, Like a vagabond flag upon the stream, Mess. With keels of every kind: Many hot inroads Cæs. Antony, Both what by sea and land I can be able, Cæs. Till which encounter, It is my business too. Farewell. Lep. Farewell, my lord: What you shall know Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir, Cæs. I knew it for my bond.12 Doubt, not sir; SCENE V.-Alexandria. [Exeunt, A room in the pal ace. Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian. Cleo. Charmian,― Char. Madam. Cleo. Ha, ha! Give me to drink mandragora." Char. Why, madam? Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of time Leave thy lascivious wassals. When thou once, deign The roughest berry on the rudest hedge; (1) Levity. (2) Visit him. (3) Consume. The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm With most delicious poison :-Think on me,, |