Mec. When fuch a fpacious mirror's fet before him, He needs muft fee himself.

Caf. O Antony!

I've follow'd thee to this

but we do lance
Diseases in our bodies. I muft perforce
Have fhewn to thee fuch a declining day,
Or look on thine; we could not ftall together
In the whole world. But yet let me lament
With tears as fovereign as the blood of hearts,
That thou my brother, my competitor
In top of all defign, my mate in Empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart
Where mine its thoughts did kindle; that our stars,
Unreconcileable, fhould have divided

Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends,
But I will tell you at fome meeter season.
The bufinefs of this man looks out of him,
We'll hear him what he says. Whence are you?
Enter an Egyptian.

Egypt. A poor Ægyptian yet; the Queen my mistress, Confin'd in all fhe has, (her monument)

Of thy intents defires instruction;

That the preparedly may frame herself
To th' way he's forc'd to.

Caf. Bid her have good heart;

She foon fhall know of us, by fome of ours,
How honourably and how kindly we

Determine for her. For Cafar cannot live,
To be ungentle.

Egypt. May the Gods preferve thee!

Caf. Come hither, Proculeius; go, and fay,

[Exit

We purpose her no fhame; give her what comforts

The quality of her paffion fhall require;

Left in her greatnefs by fome mortal stroke
She do defeat us: for her life in Rome
Would be eternal in our triumph. Go,

And with your fpeedieft bring us what the fays,
And how you find of her..

Pro. Cæfar, I fhall.

[Exit Proculeius.

Caf. Gallus, go you along; where's Dolabella, To fecond Proculeius?

All. Dolabella!

[Exit Gallus.

Caf. Let him alone; for I remember now,
How he's employ'd: he fhall in time be ready.
Go with me to my Tent, where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war;
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and fee
What I can fhew in this.

SCENE changes to the Monument.

[Exeunt.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, Mardian, and Seleucus,

Cleo.

MY

above.

Y defolation does begin to make
A better life; 'tis paltry to be Cæfar :
Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave,
A minister of her Will, and it is great

To do that thing, that ends all other deeds;
Which fhackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which fleeps, and never palates more the Dung:
The beggar's nurse, and Cæfar's.

Enter Proculeius.

Pro. Cafar fends Greeting to the Queen of Egypt, And bids thee ftudy on what fair demands

Thou mean'ff to have him grant thee.

Cleo. What's thy name?

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. Antony

Did tell me of you, bade me truft you, but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

That have no ufe for trufting. If your master

Would have a Queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That Majefty, to keep decorum, muft

No lefs beg than a Kingdom; if he please.
To give me conquer'd Egypt for my Son,.
He gives me fo much of mine own, as I

Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro. Be of good cheer:

You're fall'n into a princely hand, fear nothing;
Make your full ref'rence freely to my Lord,
Who is fo full of grace, that it flows over
On all that need. Let me report to him
Your fweet dependency, and you fhall find
A Conqu'ror that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. Pray you, tell him,

I am his fortune's vaffal, and I send him
The Greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly
Look him i'th' face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.

Have comfort, for, I know, your plight is pity'd
Of him that caus'd it.

[Here Gallus, and Guard, afcend the Monument by
a Ladder, and enter at a back-Window.

Gall. You fee, how easily she may be surpriz'd. (34) Pro. Guard her, 'till Cæfar come.

Iras. O Royal Queen!

Char. Oh Cleopatra ! thou art taken, Queen.

Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

[Drawing a Dagger.

[The Monument is open'd; Proculeius rushes in, and difarms the Queen.

(34) Char. You see, how easily she may be furpriz'd,] Here Charmian, who is fo faithful as to die with her Mistress, by the ftupidity of the Editors is made to countenance and give Directions for her being furpriz'd by Cæfar's Meffengers. But this Blunder is for want of knowing, or obferving, the hiftorical Fact. When Cæfar fent Proculeius to the Queen, he fent Gallus after him with new Inftructions: and while one amufed Cleopatra with Propofitions from Cæfar, thro' Crannies of the Monument; the other fcaled it by a Ladder, entred at a Window backward, and made Cleopatra, and those with her Prifoners. I have reform'd the Paffage therefore, (as, I am perfuaded, the Author defign'd it ;) from the Authority of Plutarch.

Pra.

Pro. Hold, worthy fady, hold:

Do not yourself fuch wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo. What, of death too, that rids our dogs of languish?

Pro. Do not abufe my mafter's bounty, by Th' undoing of yourself: let the world fee His Nobleness well acted, which your death Will never let come forth.

Cleo. Where art thou, Death?

Come hither, come: oh come, and take a Queen
Worth many babes and beggars.
Pro. Oh, temperance, lady!

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, Sir:
If idle talk will once be neceffary,

I'll not fleep neither.

This mortal house I'll ruin,
Do Cafar what he can. Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's Court,
Nor once be chaftis'd with the fober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up,
And fhew me to the fhouting varletry
Of cens'ring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt
Be gentle Grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me ftark nak'd, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My Country's high Pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro. You do extend

These thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find cause in Cæfar.

Dol. Proculeius,

Enter Dolabella.

What thou haft done thy mafter Cafar knows,
And he hath fent for thee: as for the Queen,
I'll take her to my guard.

Pro. So, Dolabella,

It fhall content me beft; be gentle to her;
To Cafar I will speak what you shall please,
If you'll employ me to him.

Cleo.

Cleo. Say, I would die.

[Exit Proculeius

Dol. Moft noble Emprefs, you have heard of me.
Cleo. I cannot tell.

Dol. Affuredly, you know me.

Cleo. No matter, Sir, what I have heard or known: You laugh, when boys or women tell their dreams; Is't not your trick?

Dol. I understand not, Madam.

Cleo. I dreamt, there was an Emp❜ror Antony; Oh fuch another fleep, that I might fee

But fuch another man!

Dol. If it might pleafe ye

Cleo. His face was as the heav'ns; and therein stuck A Sun and Moon, which kept their courfe, and lighted (35)

The little O o'th' Earth.

Dol. Moft fovereign creature!

Cleo. His legs beftrid the ocean, his rear'd arm
Crefted the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned Spheres, when that to friends:
But when he meant to quail, and shake the Orb,
He was as ratling thunder. For his bounty, (36)

(35) A Sun and Moon which kept their Course, and lighted The little o' th' Earth.

Dol.

-Moft fovereign Creature!]

There

What a bleffed limping Verse these two Hemiflichs give us! Had none of the Editors an Ear to find the Hitch in its Pace? 'Tis true, there is but a Syllable wanting, and that, I believe verily, was but of a fingle Letter; which the firft Editors not understanding, learnedly threw it out as a Redundance. I restore,

The little Oo'th' Earth.

i. e. the little Orb or Circle. And 'tis plain, our Poet in other Paffages chufes to exprefs himself thus.

There was no Winter in't: an Antonie it was,

That grew the more by reaping.]

There was certainly a Contrast, both in the Thought and Terms, defign'd here, which is loft in an accidental Corruption. How could an Antony grow the more by reaping? I'll venture, by a very easy

Change,