Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Alex. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be drunk to bed. as, Char. 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. Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexcome, his fortune, his fortune. — O, let him marry, sweet Isis 9, I beseech thee! And let her die, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave. 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! Dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune Char. Amen. To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and note him accordingly! [Exeunt ANT. and CLEOP. with their Train. Dem. I am full sorry, That he approves the common liar 8, who Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! [Exeunt. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Char. Not he, the queen. Enter CLEOPatra. Cleo. Saw you my lord? Eno. No, lady. Cleo. Was he not here? But soon that war had end, and the time's state Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst Cæsar; Whose better issue in the war, from Italy, Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly: wine enough, Upon the first encounter, drave them. Cleopatra's health to drink. 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. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all: find me to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs. Sooth. You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune Than that which is to approach. 7 Consume. Ant. What worst? Well, Mess. The nature of bad news infects the teller. Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward.-On: Things, that are past, are done with me.-'Tis thus: Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, I hear him as he flatter'd. Labienus Mess. Ant. Antony, thou wouldst say Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome; Ant. I must be gone. Eno. Under compelling occasion, let women die: It were pity to cast them away for nothing; though, between them and a great cause, they 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. 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 wonderful piece of work; which not to have been blessed withal, would have discredited your travel. 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 others to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented: this grief is crowned with consolation; and, indeed, the tears live in an onion, that should water this sorrow. Ant. The business she hath broached in the state, Cannot endure my absence. 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 propose. 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 Cæsar, 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, 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. SCENE III. [Exeunt. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS. Char. I did not send you6: - If you find him sad, [Exit ALEXAS. Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly, You do not hold the method to enforce The like from him. 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. 4 Expedition. O, never, was there queen, 5 Leave. 6 Look as if I did not send you. Cleo. Why should I think, you can be mine, and true, Ant. Bliss in our brows bent 7; none our parts so poor, How now, lady! Ant. Ant. Breeds scrupulous faction: The hated, grown to Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey, Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me It does from childishness: Can Fulvia die? Ant. She's dead, my queen : Cleo. Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill Our separation so abides, and flies, [Exeunt. Ronie. An Apartment in Cæsar's Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or O most false love! A man, who is the abstract of all faults Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know Cæs. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is not Amiss to press the bed of Ptolemy; To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones, 3 Rage. 5 Procured by his own fault. As his own state, and ours, -'tis to be chid As we rate boys; who being mature in knowledge, SCENE V. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report Cæs. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN time, My Antony is away. Char. Too much. You think of him I should have known no less: It hath been taught us from the primal state, That he, which is, was wish'd, until he were ; And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth love, Comes dear'd, by being lack'd.9 This common body, Like a vagabond flag upon the stream, Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide, To rot itself with motion. Mess. Cæsar, I bring thee word, Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates, Make the sea serve them; which they ear and wound With keels of every kind: Many hot inroads They make in Italy; the borders maritime Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt: No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more, Than could his war resisted. Cleo. Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits Or does he walk? or is he on his horse? he? Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st? : The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm Good friend, quoth he, Cleo. extremes Of hot and cold; he was nor sad, nor merry. He was not sad: for he would shine on those |