You shall hear from me still; the time shall not
Out-go my thinking on you.

Come, sir, come;

I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,
And give you to the gods.

Cæs.

Adieu; be happy! Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light To thy fair way!

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Cæs.

Ant.

Farewell, farewell! [Kisses OCTAVIA.

Farewell!

[Trumpets sound. Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALexas.

Cleo. Where is the fellow?

Alex.

Half afeard to come.

Cleo. Go to, go to:-Come hither, sir.

Alex:

Enter a Messenger.

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you,

But when you are well pleas'd.

Cleo.

Good majesty,

That Herod's head

I'll have: But how? when Antony is gone

Through whom I might command it.-Come thou

Mess.

Madam, in Rome

I look'd her in the face; and saw her led
Between her brother and Mark Antony.
Cleo. Is she as tall as me?7

Mess.
She is not, madam.
Cleo. Didst hear her speak? Is she shrill-tongu'd,

or low?

Mess. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low

voic'd.

Cleo. That's not so good: he cannot like her

long.

Char. Like her? O Isis! 'tis impossible.

Cleo. I think so, Charmian: Dull of tongue, and dwarfish!

What majesty is in her gait? Remember,
If e'er thou look'dst on majesty.

Mess.

She creeps;

Her motion and her stations are as one:
She shows a body rather than a life;

A statue, than a breather.

Cleo.

Mess. Or I have no observance.

Char.

Cannot make better note.

Cleo.

Is this certain?

Three in Egypt

He's very knowing,

I do perceiv't:-There's nothing in her yet:-
The fellow has good judgment.

Char.

Excellent.

Madam,

Cléo. Guess at her years, I pr'ythee.
Mess.

Is she as tall as me? &c. &c. &c.] This scene (says Dr. Grey) is a manifest allusion to the questions put by Queen Elizabeth to Sir James Melvil, concerning his mistress the Queen of Scots. Whoever will give himself the trouble to consult his Memoirs, may probably suppose the resemblance to be more than accidental. her station] Station, in this instance, means the act

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of standing.

She was a widow.

Cleo.

Widow?-Charmian, hark.

Mess. And I do think, she's thirty.

Cleo. Bear'st thou her face in mind? is it long, or round?

Mess. Round even to faultiness.

Cleo.

For the most part too,

They are foolish that are so.-Her hair, what colour?
Mess. Brown, madam: And her forehead is as low
As she would wish it.

Cleo.
There is gold for thee.
Thou must not take my former sharpness ill:-
I will employ thee back again; I find thee.
Most fit for business: Go, make thee ready;
Our letters are prepar'd.

Char.

[Exit Messenger.

A proper man.

Cleo. Indeed, he is so: I repent me much, That so I harry'd him. Why, methinks, by him, This creature's no such thing.

Char.

O, nothing, madam.

Cleo. The man hath seen some majesty, and

should know.

Char. Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend, And serving you so long!

Cleo. I have one thing more to ask him yet, good
Charmian:-

But 'tis no matter; thou shalt bring him to me
Where I will write: All may be well enough.
Char. I warrant you, madam.

[Exeunt.

9 so I harry'd him.] To harry, is to use roughly, harass, subdue; or literally, to hunt. Hence the word harrier. King James threatened the Puritans that "he would harry them out of the land."

SCENE IV.

Athens. A Room in Antony's House.

Enter ANTONY and OCTAVIA.

Ant. Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that,
That were excusable, that, and thousands more
Of semblable import,-but he hath wag'd

New wars 'gainst Pompey; made his will, and read it
To publick ear:

Spoke scantly of me: when perforce he could not
But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly
'He vented them; most narrow measure lent me:
When the best hint was given him, he not took't,
Or did it from his teeth.'

Oct.
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, 0, 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.

Gentle Octavia,

Ant.Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks Best to preserve it: If I lose mine honour,

I lose myself: better I were not yours,.

Than yours so branchless. But, as you requested,

1 Or did it from his teeth.] Whether this means, as we now say, in spite of his teeth, or that he spoke through his teeth, so as to be purposely indistinct, is uncertain.

Yourself shall go between us: The mean time, lady, I'll raise the preparation of a war

Shall stain your brother; Make your soonest haste; So your desires are yours.

2

Oct.
Thanks to my lord.
The Jove of power make me most weak, most weak,
Your reconciler! Wars 'twixt you twain would be2
As if the world should cleave, and that slain men
Should solder up the rift.

Ant, When it appears to you where this begins,
Turn your displeasure that way; for our faults
Can never be so equal, that your love

Can equally move with them. Provide your going;
Choose your own company, and command what cost
Your heart has mind to.
[Exeunt.

The same.

SCENE V.

Another Room in the same.

Enter ENOBARBUS and EROS, meeting.

Eno. How now, friend Eros?

Eros. There's strange news come, sir.

Eno. What, man?

Eros. Cæsar and Lepidus have made wars upon Pompey.

Eno. This is old; What is the success?

3

Eros. Cæsar, having made use of him in the wars 'gainst Pompey, presently denied him rivality; would not let him partake in the glory of the action: and not resting here, accuses him of letters he had

2

- Wars 'twixt you twain would be, &c.] The sense is, that war between Cæsar and Antony would engage the world between them, and that the slaughter would be great in so extensive a

commotion.

3 rivality;] Equal rank.

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