Marc Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cæsar; and, as I said before, that which is the strength of their amity, shall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his affection where it is: he married but his occasion here.

Men. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.

Eno. I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.

Music. Enter two or three Servants, with a banquet.

1st Serv. Here they 'll be, man. Some o'their plants are ill-rooted already: the least wind i' the world will blow them down.

2nd Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured.

1st Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink. 2nd Serv. As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out, "no more:" reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1st Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

2nd Serv. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship. I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service, as a partizan I could not heave.

1st Serv. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in 't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks.

A Sennet sounded. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains.

Ant. Thus do they, sir [To CESAR]. They take the flow o' the Nile

By certain scales i' the pyramid: they know,
By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth
Or foizon follow: the higher Nilus swells,
The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman
Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,
And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You have strange serpents there.
Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud, by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.

Ant. They are so.

Pom. Sit; and some wine.-A health to Lepidus. Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out.

This wine for Lepidus.

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.

Lep. What colour is it of?
Ant. Of its own colour too.
Lep. 'Tis a strange serpent!

Ant. 'Tis so: and the tears of it are wet.
Cæs. Will this description satisfy him? [Aside.
Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him,
else he is a very epicure.

Pom. [TO MENAS aside]. Go, hang, sir; hang!
Tell me of that? away!

Do as I bid you.-Where's this cup I called for?
Men. If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me,
Rise from thy stool.
Pom.

[Aside. I think thou 'rt mad. The matter? [Walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast served me with much faith: what's else to say?-

"Till that the conquering wine hath steeped our

sense

In soft and delicate Lethe.
Eno.

All take hands.

Make battery to our ears with the loud music:-
:-
The while I'll place you. Then the boy shall sing:
The holding every man shall bear, as loud
As his strong sides can volley.

[Music plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand in

hand.

SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the vine, Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne: In thy vats our cares be drowned; With thy grapes our hairs be crowned. Cup us till the world go round: Cup us till the world go round! Cæs. What would you more?-Pompey, good night.-Good brother,

Let me request you off: our graver business Frowns at this levity.-Gentle lords, let's part: You see we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarbe

Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost Anticked us all. What needs more words? Good night.

Good Antony, your hand.

Pom.

I'll try you o' the shore. Ant. And shall, sir: give's your hand.

Pom. O Antony, you have my father's house!—— But what? we are friends. Come down into the boat.

Eno. Take heed you fall not.

[Exeunt POMPEY, CÆSAR, ANTONY, & Attendants. Menas, I'll not on shore.

Men. No, to my cabin.

These drums! these trumpets, flutes! what!— Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell

To these great fellows. Sound, and be hanged; sound out!

[A flourish of trumpets, with drums.

Eno. Ho, says 'a!—There's my cap.
Men. Ho!-noble captain! Come. [Exeunt.

Better to leave undone, than by our deed Acquire too high a fame when him we serve 's away.

Cæsar and Antony have ever won
More in their officer than person. Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,
Which he achieved by the minute, lost his fa-

vour.

Who does i'the wars more than his captain.

can,

Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,
But 't would offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

Sil.

Thou hast, Ventidius, that Without the which a soldier and his sword Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony?

Ven. I'll humbly signify what in his name, That magical word of war, we have effected: How with his banners, and his well-paid ranks, The ne'er-yet beaten horse of Parthia We have jaded out o' the field.

Sil.

Where is he now?

Ven. He purposeth to Athens: whither, with

what haste

The weight we must convey with us will permit, We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass along. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Rome. An Antechamber in CÆSAR'S

House.

Enter AGRIPPA and ENOBARBUS, meeting.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted?
Eno. They have despatched with Pompey;

he is gone:

The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps
To part from Rome: Cæsar is sad: and Lepidus,
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the green sickness.
Agr.

"T is a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one: O how he loves Cæsar! Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Marc Antony!

Eno. Cæsar? Why, he 's the Jupiter of men. Agr. What's Antony? the god of Jupiter. Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How! the nonpareil! Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird! Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say "Cæsar!" go no further.

Agr. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.

Ant. You shall not find, Though you be therein curious, the least cause For what you seem to fear. So the gods keep you, And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends! We will here part.

Cæs. Farewell, my dearest sister; fare thee well: The elements be kind to thee, and make Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well.

Octa. My noble brother!

Ant. The April's in her eyes: it is love's spring, And these the showers to bring it on.—Be cheerful. Octa. Sir, look well to my husband's house; andCæs. What, Octavia?

Octa. I'll tell you in your ear.

Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can Her heart inform her tongue :-the swan's down feather,

That stands upon the swell at the full of tide,
And neither way inclines.

Eno. Will Cæsar weep? [Aside to AGRIPPA.
Agr. He has a cloud in 's face.

Eno. He were the worse for that were he a horse:

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you But when you are well pleased.

Octa.

O my good lord,
Believe not all: or, if you must believe,
Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady,
If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
Praying for both parts:

And the good gods will mock me presently, When I shall pray, "O, bless my lord and husband!"

Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud, "O bless my brother!"-Husband win, win brother,

Prays, and destroys the prayer: no midway "Twixt these extremes at all!