Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of

Mar.

What's your highness' pleasure?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee sing; I take no pleasure

In aught an eunuch has: 'Tis well for thee,
That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts
May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?
Mar. Yes, gracious madam.

Cleo. Indeed?

Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing But what in deed is honest to be done:

Yet I have fierce affections, and think,
What Venus did with Mars.

Cleo.

O Charmian,

Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he? Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?

O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony! Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st?

The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm

And burgonet of men.8-He's speaking now,
Or murmuring, Where's my serpent of old Nile?
For so he calls me; Now I feed myself
With most delicious poison:-Think on me,
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Cæsar,
When thou wast here above the ground, I was

9

And burgonet of men.] A burgonet is a kind of helmet.
Broad-fronted Cæsar,] In allusion to Cæsar's baldness.

A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey
Would stand, and make his eyes grow in my brow;
There would he anchor his aspéct, and die

With looking on his life.

Alex.

Enter ALEXAS.

Sovereign of Egypt, hail!

Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony! Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee.'

How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?
Alex. Last thing he did, dear queen,

He kiss'd, the last of many doubled kisses,-
This orient pearl;-His speech sticks in my heart.
Cleo. Mine ear must pluck it thence.

Alex.
Good friend, quoth he,
Say, The firm Roman to great Egypt sends
This treasure of an oyster; at whose foot
To mend the petty present, I will piece

Her opulent throne with kingdoms; All the east,
Say thou, shall call her mistress. So he nodded,
And soberly did mount a termnagant steed,'

Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke
Was beastly dumb'd by him.

Cleo.

What, was he sad, or merry? Alex. Like to the time o' the year between the extremes

Of heat and cold; he was nor sad nor merry.
Cleo. O well-divided disposition!-Note him,
Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note
him:

1

that great medicine hath

With his tinct gilded thee.] Alluding to the philosopher's stone, which, by its touch, converts base metal into gold. The alchemists call the matter, whatever it be, by which they performa transmutation, a medicine. JOHNSON.

2 termagant steed,] Termagant means furious.

He was not sad; for he would shine on those
That make their looks by his: he was not merry;
Which seem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy: but between both:
O heavenly mingle!-Be'st thou sad, or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes;

So does it no man else.-Met'st thou my posts?
Alex. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers:
Why do
you send so thick 3

Cleo.

Who's born that day

When I forget to send to Antony,

Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Charmian.Welcome, my good Alexas.-Did I, Charmian, Ever love Cæsar so?

Char.

O that brave Cæsar!

Cleo. Be chok'd with such another emphasis!

Say, the brave Antony.

Char.

The valiant Cæsar!

Cleo. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæsar paragon again

My man of men.

Char.

I sing but after you.

Cleo.

By your most gracious pardon,

My sallad days;

When I was green in judgment:-Cold in blood,
To say, as I said then!-But, come, away:
Get me ink and paper: he shall have every day
A several greeting, or I'll unpeople Egypt. [Exeunt.

8

so thick?] i. e. in such quick succession.

unpeople Egypt.] By sending out messengers.

ACT II.

SCENE I. Messina. A Room in Pompey's House.

Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS.

Pom. If the great gods be just, they shall assist The deeds of justest men.

Mene.

Know, worthy Pompey, That what they do delay, they not deny.

Pom. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays The thing we sue for.

Mene.

We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good; so find we profit,

By losing of our prayers.

Pom.
I shall do well:
The people love me, and the sea is mine;
My power's a crescent, and my auguring hope
Says, it will come to the full. Mark Antony
In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make

No wars without doors: Cæsar gets money, where
He loses hearts: Lepidus flatters both,

Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves,

Nor either cares for him.

Men.

Cæsar and Lepidus

Are in the field; a mighty strength they carry.
Pom. Where have you this? 'tis false.

Men.

From Silvius, sir.

Pom. He dreams; I know, they are in Rome together,

Looking for Antony: But all charms of love
Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip!5

5

--thy wan'd lip!] Shakspeare's orthography [or that of his ignorant publishers] often adds a d at the end of a word. Thus,

Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both!
Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks,
Sharpen with coyless sauce his appetite;
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour,
Even till a Lethe'd dulness."How now Varrius?

Enter VARRIUS.

Var. This is most certain that I shall deliver:
Mark Antony is every hour in Rome

Expected; since he went from Egypt, 'tis
A space for further travel.?

Pom.

I could have given less matter

A better ear.-Menas, I did not think,

This amorous surfeiter would have don'd his helm
For such a petty war: his soldiership

Is twice the other twain: But let us rear
The higher our opinion, that our stirring
Can from the lap of Egypt's widow' pluck
The ne'er lust-wearied Antony.

Men.

I cannot hope,'

vile is (in the old editions) every where spelt vild. Laund is given instead of lawn; why not therefore wan'd for wan here.

If this however should not be accepted, suppose we read with the addition only of an apostrophe, wan'd; i. e. waned, declined, gone off from its perfection; comparing Cleopatra's beauty to the moon past the full. PERCY.

• That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour,

Even till a Lethe'd dulness.] i. e. to a Lethe'd dulness. Till was sometimes used instead of to. To prorogue his honour, &c. means, to delay his sense of honour from exerting itself till he is become habitually sluggish.

7

since he went from Egypt, 'tis

A space for further travel.] i. e. since he quitted Egypt, a space of time has elapsed in which a longer journey might have been performed than from Egypt to Rome.

8

9

don'd his helm-] To don is to do on, to put on.

Egypt's widow-] Julius Cæsar had married her to young Ptolemy, who was afterwards drowned.

I cannot hope, &c.] To hope, means to expect.