Ant. Yes, my lord, yes; he at Philippi kept
His fword e'en like a dancer, while I ftrook
The lean and wrinkled Caffius; and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus ended; he alone
Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had
In the brave fquares of war; yet now-no matter
Cleo. Ah, ftand by.

Eros. The Queen, my lord, the Queen

Iras. Go to him, Madam, fpeak to him, He is unqualitied with very fhame.

Cleo. Well then, sustain me; oh!

Eros. Moft noble Sir, arife, the Queen approaches; Her head's declin'd, and death will feize her, but Your comfort makes the refcue.

Ant. I have offended reputation;

A moft unnoble fwerving

Eros. Sir, the Queen.

Ant. O whither haft thou led me, Ægypt? fee,
How I convey my fhame out of thine eyes;
By looking back on what I've left behind,
'Stroy'd in difhonour.

Cleo. Oh, my lord, my lord;

Forgive my fearful fails; I little thought,
You would have follow'd.

Ant. Egypt, thou knew'ft too well,
My heart was to thy rudder ty'd by th' ftring,
And thou should'st towe me after. O'er my fpirit
Thy full fupremacy thou knew'ft; and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the Gods
Command me.

Cleo. Oh, my pardon.

Ant. Now I must

To the young man send humble treaties, dodge
And palter in the fhift of lowness; who,
With half the bulk o' th' world, play'd as I pleas'd,
Making and marring fortunes. You did know,
How much you were my conqueror; and that
My fword, made weak by my affection, would

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Obey

Obey it on all caufe.

Cleo. O, pardon, pardon.

Ant. Fall not a tear, I fay; one of them rates
All that is won and loft: give me a kifs,
Even this repays me.

We fent our schoolmafter; is he come back?
Love, I am full of lead; fome wine,

Within there, and our viands: Fortune knows,
We fcorn her moft, when moft fhe offers blows.

[Exeunt. SCENE changes to Cæfar's Camp.

Enter Cæfar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Thyreus, with others. Caf. LET him appear, that's come from Antony. Know you him?

Dol. Cæfar, 'tis his schoolmafter;

An argument that he is pluckt, when hither
He fends fo poor a pinion of his wing,
Which had fuperfluous Kings for meffengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Enter Ambaffador from Antony.

Caf. Approach and speak.

Amb. Such as I am, I come from Antony:

I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn dew on the myrtle leaf
To his grand fea.

Caf. Be't fo, declare thine office.

Amb. Lord of his fortunes he falutes thee, and
Requires to live in Egypt; which not granted,
He leffens his requests, and to thee fues

To let him breathe between th' heav'ns and earth,
A private man in Athens: this for him.
Next, Cleopatra does confefs thy greatness;
Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

Caf. For Antony,

I have no ears to his requeft. The Queen

of

Of audience, nor defire, fhall fail; fo fhe
From Egypt drive her all-difgraced friend,
Or take his life there. This if the perform,
She fhall not fue unheard. So to them Both.
Amb. Fortune pursue thee!

Caf. Bring him through the bands:

[Exit Ambaffador. To try thy eloquence now 'tis time; dispatch, From Antony win Cleopatra, promise; [To Thyreus. And, in our name, when the requires, add more, From thine invention, offers. Women are not In their best fortunes ftrong; bur want will perjure 'The ne'er-touch'd veftal. Try thy cunning, Thyreus ; Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we Will anfwer as a law.

Thyr. Cafar, I go.

Caf. Obferve, how Antony becomes his flaw; And what thou think't his very action speaks In every power that moves.

Thyr. Cafar, I fhall.

SCENE changes to Alexandria,

[Excunt.

Enter Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, and Iras

Cleo. WHAT fhall we do, Enobarbus?

Think, and die.

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?
Eno. Antony only, that would make his will
Lord of his reason. What although you fled
From that great face of war, whofe feveral ranges
Frighted each other? why should he follow you?
The itch of his affection fhould not then
Have nick'd his captainship; at fuch a point,
When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
The meered queftion. 'Twas a fhame no less
Than was his lofs, to courfe your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter Antony, with the Ambassador.

Ant. Is that his answer?

Amb. Ay, my lord.

Ant. The Queen shall then have courtefie,

So fhe will yield us up.
Amb. He fays fo.

Ant. Let her know't.

To the boy Cefar fend this grizled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim
With Principalities.

Cleo. Thy head, my lord?

Ant. To him again; tell him, he wears the rofe
Of youth upon him: from which, the world should note
Something particular; his coyn, fhips, legions,

May be a coward's, whose ministers would prevail
Under the fervice of a child, as foon

As i' th' command of Cæfar. I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,

And answer me declin'd, fword against sword,
Ourselves alone; I'll write it, follow me.

[Exit Antony.
Eno. Yes, like enough; high-battled Cæfar will
Unftate his happiness, and be ftag'd to th' fhew
Againft a fworder.-
I fee, men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To fuffer all alike. That he fhould dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Cafar will
Anfwer his emptiness!

His judgment too.

Cafar, thou haft subdu'd

Enter a Servant.

Ser. A meffenger from Cæfar.

Cleo. What, no more ceremony? fee, my women,-
Against the blown rofe may they flop their nofe,
That kneel'd unto the buds. Admit him, Sir.
Eno. Mine honefty and I begin to square; (24)

(24) Mine Honesty and I begin to square;

The Loyalty, well held to Fools, does make

Tho'

ONT

Tho' loyalty, well held, to fools does make
Our faith meer folly: yet he, that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord,

Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i' th' ftory.

Enter Thyreus.

Cleo. Cæfar's will?

Thyr. Hear it apart.

Cleo. None but friends; fay boldly.
Thyr. So, haply, are they friehds to Antony.
Eno. He needs as many, Sir, as Cæfar has:
Or needs not us. If Cafar please, our master
Will leap to be his friend; for, as you know,
Whose he is, we are, and that's Cæfar's.
Thyr. So.

Thus then, thou most renown'd, Cefar intreats,
Not to confider in what cafe thou stand'it
Further than he is Cæfar.

Cleo, Go on;

-right royal.

Thyr. He knows that you embrace not Antony As you did love, but as you fear'd him.

Cleo. Oh!

[Afide.

Thyr. The fcars upon your honour, therefore, he Does pity, as constrained blemishes,

Not as deferv'd.

Cleo. He is a God, and knows

What is moft right. Mine honour was not yielded,

Our Faith meer Folly: &c.]

If I fee any thing of the Poet's Sentiment in this Paffage, Both the Text and Pointing are slightly deprav'd; and, I think, I have reform'd Both justly. After Enobarbus has faid, that his Honesty and he begin to quarrel, (i. e. that his Reafon fhews him to be mistaken in his firm adherence to Antony ;) he immediately falls into this generous Reflection: "Tho' Loyalty, "ftubbornly preferv'd to a Master in his declin'd Fortunes, "feems Folly in the Eyes of Fools; (i. e. Men, who have not "Honour enough to think more wifely ;) yet he, who can be "fo obftinately loyal, will make as great a Figure on Record, 66 as the Conqueror.

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