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Alex. Soothsayer.

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Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space :"
Kingdoms are clay our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair,

[Embracing.
And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind
On pain of punishment, the world to weet, T
We stand up peerless.

Cleo. Excellent falsehold!

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her ?—
I'll seem the fool I am not: Antony
Will be himself.

Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra.-
Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours,
Let's not confound the time with conference

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night?

Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, To weep; whose every passion fully strives To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd! No messenger; but thine, and all alone, To-night we'll wander through the streets, and note The qualities of people. Come, my queen; Last night you did desire it :-Speak not to us. [Exeunt. ANT. and CLEO. with their Train. Dem. Is Cesar with Antonius priz'd so slight? Phi. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, He comes too short of that great property Which still should go with Antony.

Dem. I'm full sorry,

That he approves the common liar, ++ who
Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Same.-Another Room.
Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a
SOOTHSAYER.

Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? Oh! that I knew this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with gar

lands !

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Sooth. Your will?

Char. Is this the man?-Is't you, Sir, that

know things?

Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy,

A little I can read.

Alex. Show him your hand.

Enter ENOBARBUS.

Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine Cleopatra's health to drink. enough,

Char. Good Sir, give me good fortune.
Sooth. I make not, but foresee.
Char. Pray then, foresee me one.

Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are.
Char. He means, in flesh.

Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old.
Char. Wrinkles forbid !

Alex. Vex not his prescience: be attentive.
Char. Hush!

Sooth. You shall be more beloving than be

loved.

Char. I had rather heat my liver with drinking.
Aler. Nay, hear him.

Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius Cesar, and companion me with my mistress.

Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you

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Sooth. You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune

Than that which is to approach.

Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches must I have?

Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile every wish, a million.

Char. Out fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think none but your sheets are privy to your wishes.

Char. Nay, come, tell Iras her's.
Alex. We'll know all our fortunes.

Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be drunk to bed.

Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else.

Char. Even as the overflowing Nilus presageth famine.

Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay.

Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune.

Sooth. Your fortunes are alike.

Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars.
Sooth. I have said.

Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she?

Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than 1, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose.

Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas, come, his fortune, his fortune.-Oh! let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse; and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight: good Isis, I beseech thee!

Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded. Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly!

News Vulgarly esteemed the fiercest and proudest monarch
Kuow. of antiquity.
A common proverb.
1 Sha
be bastards.
An Egyptian godess.

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There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:
What our contempts do often hurl from us,
We wish it our's again; the present pleasure,
By revolution lowering, does become
The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone;
The hand could pluck her back, that shov'd her

on.

I must from this enchanting queen break off;
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,
My idleness doth hatch.-How now! Enobar-
bus!

Enter ENOBARBUS.

Eno. What's your pleasure, Sir? Ant. I must with haste from hence. Eno. Why, then, we kill all our women: We see how mortal an unkindness is to them; if they suffer our departure, death's the word. Ant. I must be gone.

Eno. Under a compelling occasion, let women though, between them and a great cause, they die: It were pity to cast them away for nothing: should be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly: I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment: I do think there is mettle in death, which commits some loving act upon her, she hath such a celerity in dying.

Ant. She is cunning past man's thought.

Eno. Alack, Sir, no: her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love: we cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacks can report: this cannot be cunning in her ; if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove.

Ant. 'Would I had never seen her !
Eno. O Sir, you had then left unseen a won-

Mess. The nature of bad news infects the derful piece of work; which not to have been teiler.

blessed withal, would have discredited your

Ant. When it concerns the fool or coward.-travel.

On :
[thus;
Themes that are past, are done, with me.-Tis
Wb, tells me true, though in his tale lle death,
I hear him as he flatter'd.

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(This is stiff news) hath, with his Parthian force,
Extended • Asia from Euphrates;

His conquering banner shook, from Syria
To Lydia, and to lonia;

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Ant. Fulvia is dead.
Eno. Sir?

Ant. Fulvia is dead.
Eno. Fulvia ?

Ant. Dead.

Eno. Why, Sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein, that when old robes are worn out, there are members to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case ge-to be lamented: this grief is crowned with consolation-your old smock brings forth a new petticoat :-and indeed the tears live in an onion, that should water this sorrow.

my

[lice much full licence, as both truth and maHave youer to utter. Oh! then we bring forth weeds.

When our quick winds + lie still; and our ills told
has our earing. Fare thee well a while.
Mess. At your noble pleasure.

[Exit, Ant. From Sicyon how the news? Speak

there.

1 Att. The man from Sicyon.-Is there such

a one ?

1 Aft. He stays upon your will. Ant. Let bin appear,— These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,

Ant. The business she hath broached in the Caunot endure my absence.

[state

Eno. And the business you have broached here cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode.

Ant. No more light answers. Let our officers Have notice what we purpose. I shall break The cause of our expedience to the queen, And get her love to part. For not alone The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, Do strongly speak to us; but the letters too Of many our contriving friends in Rome Petition us at home: Sextus Pompeius Hath given the dare to Cesar, and commands The empire of the sea: our slippery people (Whose love is never link'd 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, Beirngth of sickness, with what else more seri-The sides o'the world may danger: Much is Import.th thee to know, this bears.

Enter another MESSENGER.

Or lose myself in dotage.-What are you?
2 Mess. Fulvia thy wife is dead.
Ant Where died she?

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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 ; •—If you find him sad,
Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick : Quick, and return.
[Erit ALEXAS.
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.

Cleo. Thou teachest like a fool: the way to lose him.

Char. Tempt him not so too far: I wish for. bear:

In time we hate that which we often fear.

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Cleo. Why should I think you can be mine, and true,

Though you in swearing shake the thronged gods, Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness,

To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in swearing!

Ant. Most sweet queen,—

Cleo. Nay, pray you, seck no colour for your going, [ing, But bid farewell, and go: when you sued stay. Then was the time for words: No going then ;Eternity was in our lips, and eyes;

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 turn'd the greatest liar.

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Breeds scrupulous faction: The hated, grown to strength, [Pompey, Are newly grown to love : the condeшn'e Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd 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.

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

It does from childishness :-Can Fulvia die ? t
Ant. She's dead, my queen :

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

Cleo. O most false love!

Where be the sacred vials thou should'st fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advice: Now, 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 honourable 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 honour.

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 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 lov'd,-but there's not it;
That you know well: Something it is I would,-
Oh! my oblivion ý is a very Antony,
And I am all forgotten.

Ant. But that your royalty
Holds idleness your subject, I should take you
For idleness itself.

Cleo. 'Tis sweating labour,

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 honour calls you hence;
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,
And all the gods go with you! upon your sword
Sit laurel'd victory! and smooth success
Be strew'd 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
CESAR'S House.

Enter OCTAVIUS CESAR, LEPIDUS, and Atten

dants.

Ces. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,

It is not Cesar's natural vice to hate

One great competitor :|| from Alexandria

Render my going agreeable. Can Fulvia be dead? + Our eye brows. The commotion she occasioned. § Oblivious memory. Gate. Associate or partner.

This is the news-He fishes, drinks, and wastes | Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, The lamps of night in revel: is not more man-The barks of trees thou browsed'st; on the Alps

like

Than Cleopatra; nor the queen Ptolemy
More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or
Veachsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall
find there

A man, who is the abstract of all faults
That all men follow.

Lep. I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness:

His faults, in bim, seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd* what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.

Ces. You are too indulgent: let us grant, it is

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Most noble Cesar, shalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
And, it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cesar: to the ports
The discontents | repair, and men's reports
Give him mach wrong'd.

Cer. I should have known no less :-
Phath been taught us from the primal state,
That be, which is, was wish'd, until he were ;
And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth
love

[body, Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. ¶ This common Lar a vagabond flag upon the stream,

esta, and back, lackeying the varying tide,

To not itself with motion.

Mess. Cesar, I bring thee word, Marcrates and Menas, famous pirates, Make the sea serve them: which they ear ** and woond

keels of every kind: Many hot inroads They make in Italy; the borders maritime Les blood + to think on't, and flush ‡‡ youth revolt :

So easel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon
Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more
Thin could his war resisted.

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It is reported, thou did'st eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on: And all this,
(It wounds thine honour, that I speak it now,)
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

Lep. It is pity of him.

Ces. Let his shames quickly

Drive him to Rome: "Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i'the field; and, to that end,
Assemble we immediate council: Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To-morrow, Cesar,

I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able,
To 'front this present time.

Ces. Till which encounter,

It is my business too. Farewell.

Lep. Farewell, my lord: What you shall know mean time

Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, Sir,
To let me be partaker.

Ces. Doubt not, Sir;
I knew it for my bond.

[Exeunt.

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Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits be?

Or does he walk for 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.-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

Cesar,

When thou wast here above the ground, I was
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 dle With looking on his life.

Enter ALEXAS.

Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, bail !

My bounden duty,

: Unmanned.

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Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark An-
tony!

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 queeu,

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 picce
Her opulent throne with kingdoms; All the
cast,

Say thou, shall call her mistress. So he nodded,
And soberly did mount a termagant * 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 ume o'the year between the

extremes

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

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?

Cleo. Who's born that day

When I forget to send to Antony,

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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
For such a petty war: his soldiership [helm §
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,

Cesar and Antony shall well greet together:
His wife, that's dead, did trespasses to Cesar;
His brother warr'd upon him; although, I think,
Not mov'd by Antony.

Pom. I know not, Menas,

How lesser enmities may give way to greater.
Were't not that we stand up against them all,

Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Charmian.-'Twere pregnant they should square between Welcome, my good Alexas.-Did I, Charmian,

Ever love Cesar so?

Char. O that brave Cesar!

themselves;

For they have entertained cause enough
To draw their swords; but how the fear of us

Cleo. Be chok'd with such another emphasis! May cement their divisions, and bind up

Say, the brave Antony.

Char. The valiant Cesar!

Cleo. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth,

If thou with Cesar paragon again

My man of men.

Char. By your most gracious pardon,

I sing but after you.

Cleo. 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.

ACT II.

house.

[Exeunt.

The petty difference, we yet not know.
Be it as our gods will have it! It only stands
Our lives upon, to use our strongest hands.
Come, Menas.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II-Rome.-A Room in the house of
LEPIDUS.

Enter ENOBARBUS and LEpidus.

Lep. Good Enobarbus, 'tis a worthy deed,
And shall become you well, to entreat your cap-
To soft and gentle speech.

Eno. I shall entreat himn

To answer like himself: if Cesar move him,
Let Antony look over Cesar's head,
And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,
Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard,

SCENE I.-Messina.-A Room in POMPEY's would not shave to-day.

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Lep. 'Tis not a time
For private stomaching.

Eno. Every time

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