Of many our contriving friends in Rome
Petition us at home. Sextus Pompeius
Hath given the dare to Cæsar, and commands
The empire of the sea. Our slippery people
Whose love is never linked to the deserver,
Till his deserts are past) begin to throw
Pompey the Great, and all his dignities,
Upon his son; who, high in name and power,
Higher than both in blood and life, stands up
For the main soldier; whose quality, going on,
The sides o' the world may danger. Much is breeding,
Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life,
And not a serpent's poison. Say, our pleasure,
To such whose place is under us, requires
Our quick remove from hence.

Eno. I shall do't.

1

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS. Cleo. Where is he?

Char.

I did not see him since.

Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he

does.—

I did not send you.2-If you find him sad,

Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report

That I am sudden sick. Quick, and return.

[Exit ALEX.

Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly, You do not hold the method to enforce

The like from him.

Cleo.
What should I do, I do not?
Char. In each thing give him way; cross him in

nothing.

1 This alludes to the ancient vulgar error, that a horse-hair dropped into corrupted water would become animated. Dr. Lister, in the Philosophical Transactions, showed that these animated horse-hairs were real insects, and displayed the fallacy of the popular opinion.

2 "You must go as if you came without my order or knowledge."

Cleo. Thou teachest, like a fool, the way to lose him. Char. Tempt him not so too far. I wish, forbear: In time we hate that which we often fear.

Enter ANTONY.

But here comes Antony.

I am sick and sullen.

Cleo.
Ant. I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose,-
Cleo. Help me away, dear Charmian, I shall fall ;

It cannot be thus long; the sides of nature

Will not sustain it.1

Ant.

Now, my dearest queen,

Cleo. Pray you, stand further from me.
Ant.

What's the matter?

Cleo. I know, by that same eye, there's some good

news.

What says the married woman?--You may go;
'Would she had never given you leave to come!
Let her not say 'tis I that keep you here;
I have no power upon you; hers you are.
Ant. The gods best know,-

Cleo.

O, never was there queen

So mightily betrayed! Yet, at the first,
I saw the treasons planted.

Ant.

Cleopatra,

Cleo. Why should I think you can be mine, and true, Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness, To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in swearing!

Most sweet queen,

Ant. Cleo. Nay, pray you, seek no color for your going, But bid farewell, and go: when you sued staying, Then was the time for words. No going then ;Eternity was in our lips and eyes;

1 Thus in Twelfth Night :

"There is no woman's sides

Can bide the beating of so strong a passion."

1

Bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor,
But was a race of heaven. They are so still,
Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world,
Art turned the greatest liar.
Ant.

Cleo. I would I had thy
know

There were a heart in Egypt.

How now, lady!

inches; thou shouldst

Hear me, queen;

Ant.
The strong necessity of time commands

Our services awhile; but my full heart
Remains in use with you. Our Italy

4

Shines o'er with civil swords. Sextus Pompeius
Makes his approaches to the port of Rome :
Equality of two domestic powers

Breeds scrupulous faction: the hated, grown to strength,

Are newly grown to love: the condemned Pompey,
Rich in his father's honor, creeps apace

Into the hearts of such as have not thrived
Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge
By any desperate change. My more particular,
And that which most with you should safe my going,
Is Fulvia's death.

5

Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me freedom,

It does from childishness.-Can Fulvia die? 6

Ant. She's dead, my queen.

Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read
The garboils she awaked; at the last, best.
See, when, and where she died.

1 The bending or inclination of our brows.

2 i. e. of heavenly mould.

3 The Poet here means, "in pledge:" the use of a thing is the possession of it.

4 Gate.

5 i. e. render my going not dangerous.

6 Cleopatra apparently means to say, "Though age could not exempt me from folly, at least it frees me from a childish and ready belief of every assertion. Is it possible that Fulvia is dead? I cannot believe it." 7 The commotion she occasioned.

Cleo.

O, most false love!

Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrowful water? I see, I see,

In Fulvia's death, how mine received shall be.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepared to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advice. By the fire,
That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence,
Thy soldier, servant; making peace, or war,
As thou affect'st.

Cleo.

Cut my lace, Charmian, come ;

But let it be.—I am quickly ill, and well;
So Antony loves.

Ant.

My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honorable trial.

Cleo.

So Fulvia told me.

I pr'ythee, turn aside, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and say, the tears
Belong to Egypt. Good now, play one scene
Of excellent dissembling; and let it look

Like perfect honor.

Ant.

You'll heat my blood; no more. Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly.

Ant. Now, by my sword,

Cleo.

And target,-Still he mends;

But this is not the best. Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, How this Herculean Roman 2 does become

The carriage of his chafe.

Ant.

I'll leave you, lady.

Cleo. Courteous lord, one word.

Sir, you and I must part,—but that's not it;

Sir, you and I have loved,-but there's not it;
That you know well. Something it is I would,—
O, my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all forgotten.

1 Alluding to the lachrymatory vials filled with tears, which the Romans placed in the tomb of a departed friend.

2 Antony traced his descent from Anton, a son of Hercules.

3 Oblivion is used for oblivious memory, a memory apt to be deceitful.

Ant.

But that your royalty

Holds idleness your subject, I should take you
For idleness itself.1

Cleo.

'Tis sweating labor,

To bear such idleness so near the heart

As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you. Your honor calls you hence;
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,

And all the gods go with you! Upon your sword
Sit laurelled victory! and smooth success

Be strewed before your feet!

Ant.

Let us go. Come;

Our separation so abides, and flies,

That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Rome. An Apartment in Cæsar's

House.

Enter OCTAVIUS CESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants.

Cæs. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate

Our great competitor.3 From Alexandria

This is the news:-He fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall fina
there

1 An antithesis seems intended between royalty and subject.

"But that

I know you to be a queen, and that your royalty holds idleness in subjection to you, I should suppose you, from this idle discourse, to be the very genius of idleness itself."

2 That which would seem to become me most, is hateful to me when it is not acceptable in your sight."

3 The old copy reads, "One great competitor." Dr. Johnson proposed the emendation.