Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.
Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes;
Our enemies have beat us to the pit:
It is more worthy to leap in ourselves,
Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,
Thou know'st that we two went to school together;
Even for that our love of old, I prithee,
Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.
Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord.
[Alarum still.
Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
Bru. Farewell to you-and you;-and you
Volumnius.-

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee too, Strato.-Countrymen,
My heart doth joy that yet, in all my life,
I found no man but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day,
More than Octavius and Mark Antony
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
So, fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history:

Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,

That have but labour'd to attain this hour. [Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly!

Cli Fly, my lord, fly! Bru.

Hence; I will follow. [Exeunt CLI., DAB., and VOL.

I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord
Thou art a fellow of a good respect;
Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it:
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?
Stra. Give me your hand first: Fare you well,
my lord.

Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cæsar, now be still:

I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.

[He runs on his sword, and dies. Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their army.

Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.
Oct. Do so, good Messala.

Mes.
How died my master, Strato?
Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it.
Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee,
That did the latest service to my master.

Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all:

All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, "This was a man!'
Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, order'd honourably.--
So call the field to rest: and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

Exer

M. ANTONY, a triumvir. OCTAVIUS CAESAR, a triumvir.
M. EMIL LEPIDUS, & triumvir. SEXTUS POMPEIUS.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, a friend of Antony.
VENTIDIUS, a friend of Antony. EROS, a friend of Antony.
SCARUS, a friend of Antony.
DERCETAS, a friend of Antony.
DEMETRIUS. a friend of Antony. PHILO, a friend of Antony.
MECENAS, a friend of Caesar. AGR PPA, a friend of Caesar.

DOLABELLA, a friend of Caesar.
PROCULEIUS, a friend of Caesar.

THYREUS, a friend of Caesar GALLUS, a friend of Caesar.

MENAS, a friend of Pompey.

MENECRATES, a friend of Pompey. VARRIUS, a friend of Pompey.

TAURUS, Heutenant-general to Caesar.
CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to Antony.
SILIUS, an ficer in Ventidius's army.

EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Caesar.
ALEXAS, an attendant on Cleopatra.
MARDIAN, an attendant on Cleopatra.
BELEUCUS, an attendant on Cleopatra.
DIOMEDES, an attendant on Cleopatra.
A Soothsayer. A Clown.
CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt.

OCTAVIA, sister of Caesar, and wife to Antony.
CHARMIAN, an attendant on Cleopatra.

IRAS, an attendant on Cleopatra.

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

Palace.

Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.

Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes, That o'er the files and musters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, The office and devotion of their view Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst The buckles on his breast, reneagues all temper; And is become the bellows, and the fan, To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come! Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their trains; Eunuchs fanning her. Take but good note, and you shall see in him The triple pillar of the world transform'd Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.

Cleo. It it be love indeed, tell me how much. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

Cleo. I'll set a bourne how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's, I would say.

Both.

Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine Is Cæsar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The mes

sengers.

Ant. Let Rome in Tiber melt! and the wide arch 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, And such a twain can do't, in which I bind, On pain of punishment, the world to weet We stand up peerless.

Cleo. Excellent falsehood! 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 harsh: There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now: What sport to-night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors.

Ant.

Fie, wrangling queen! Whom everything 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 CLEOP., with their Train. Dem. Is Cæsar 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.

When our quick winds lie still; and our ills told us,

Is as 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 an one?

2 Att. He stays upon your will. Ant.

Let him appear. These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,

Enter another Messenger.

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

Where died she?

2 Mess. In Sicyon : Her length of sickness, with what else more serious Importeth thee to know, this bears. [Gives a letter. Ant. Forbear me.

[Exit Messenger.
There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:
What our contempts do often hurl from us,
We wish it ours 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! Enobarbus!
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 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: 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 almanacs 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.

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 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 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
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 ain 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.

Cleo. Thou teachest like a fool: the way to

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

Ant.

Cleopatra,

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;

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.

How now, lady!

Ant. Cleo. I would I had thy inches; thou should'st know

There were a heart in Egypt.

Ant. Hear me, queen: The strong necessity of time commands Our services awhile; but my full heart Remains in use with you. Our Italy 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 condemn'd Pompey,
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?
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 secret vials thou shouldst 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: 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 prithee, 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,-

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 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 Cæsar's House.

Enter OCTAVIUS CÆSAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants

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

It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate
One great competitor: 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 vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall
find there

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