Be ftrew'd before your feet!

Ant. Let us go; come,

Our feparation fo abides and flies,

That thou, refiding here, goeft yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to Cæfar's Palace in Rome.

Enter Octavius Cæfar reading a letter, Lepidus, and attendants.

Caf.

YOU

YOU may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate
One great competitor. From Alexandria

This is the news; he fishes, drinks, and waftes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manly
Than Cleopatra; nor the Queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he. Hardly gave audience,
Or did vouchsafe to think that he had partners.
You fhall there find a man, who is the abstract
Of all faults all men follow.

Lep. I must not think,

They're evils enough to darken all his goodness;
His faults in him feem (as the spots of heav'n,
More fiery by night's blackness ;) hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,
Than what he chufes.

Caf. You're too indulgent. Let us grant, it is not Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,

To give a kingdom for a mirth, to fit

And keep the turn of tipling with a flave,

To reel the streets at noon; and ftand the buffet

With knaves that smell of sweat; fay, this becomes him;

(As his compofure must be rare, indeed,

Whom these things cannot blemish ;) yet muft Antony
No way excufe his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightnefs. If he fill'd

His vacancy with his voluptuoufness;

Full furfeits, and the drynefs of his bon es,
Call on him for't. But to confound fuch time,

That

That drums him from his fport, and fpeaks as loud
As his own ftate, and ours; 'tis to be chid,
As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Enter a Meffenger.

Lep. Here's more news.

Mef. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Moft noble Cæfar, halt thou have report How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at Sea, And, it appears, he is belov'd of thofe That only have fear'd Cæfar: to the ports The Discontents repair, and mens reports Give him much wrong'd.

Caf. I fhould have known no less;

It hath been taught us from the primal State, (5)
That he, which is, was wifh'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. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

Goes to, and back, lacquying the varying tide, (6)
To rot itself with motion.

Mef.

(5) It bath 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,
Comes fear'd, by being lack'd.]

"The earlieft

Let us examine the Senfe of this in plain Profe. "Hiftories inform us, that the Man in fupreme Command was "always wifh'd to gain that Command, till he had obtain'd it. "And he, whom the multitude has contentedly feen in a low Con"dition, when he begins to be wanted by them, becomes to be "fear'd by them". But do the Multitude fear a Man, because they want him? Certainly, we must read;

Comes dear'd, by being lack'd.

i. e. endear'd, a Favourite to them. Befides, the Context requires this Reading; for it was not Fear, but Love, that made the People flock to Young Pompey, and that he occafion'd this Reflection.

(6) Goes to, and back, lafhing the varying Tide, To rot itself with Motion,

E 2

Mr. Warburton.

How

Mef. Cafar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,

Make the fea ferve them; which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind. Many hot inrodes
They make in Italy, the borders maritime

Lack blood to think on't, and flush'd youth revolt:
No veffel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon
Taken as feen: for Pompey's name strikes more,
Than could his war refifted.

Caf. Antony,

Leave thy lafcivious waffails ;-When thou once
Wert beaten from Mutina, where thou flew❜ft
Hirtius and Panfa Confuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow, whom thou fought'ft against
(Though daintily brought up) with patience more
Than Savages could fuffer. Thou didst drink
The ftale of horfes, and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at. Thy Palate then did deign
The rougheft berry on the rudeft hedge:

Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou brow fed'ft.
On the Alps,

It is reported, thou didst eat ftrange flesh,
Which fome did die to look on; and all this,
(It wounds thine honour, that I fpeak it now)
Was bore fo like a foldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

Lep. 'Tis pity of him.

Caf. Let his fhames quickly

How can a Flag, or Rufh, floating upon a Stream, and that has no · Motion but what the Fluctuation of the water gives it, be faid to lah the tide? This is making a Scourge of a weak ineffective Thing, and giving it an active Violence in its own Power. All the old Editions read lacking. 'Tis true, there is no Senfe in that Reading, but the Addition of a fingle Letter will not only give us good Senfe, but the genuine Word of our Author into the Bargain.

-Lacquing the varying Tide.

1. e. floating backwards and forwards with the Variation of the Tide, like a Page, or Lacquey, at his Mafter's Heels.

Drive

Drive him to Rome; time is it, that we twain
Did fhew orfelves i'th' field; and to that end
Affemble we immediate council; Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To-morrow, Cæfar,

I fhall be furnish'd to inform you rightly,
Both what by fea and land I can be able,
To front this prefent time.

Caf, "Till which encounter,

It is my business too.

Farewel.

Lep. Farewel, my Lord :

What you shall know mean time of ftirs abroad,
I fhall befeech you, let me be partaker.

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

Farewel

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Palace in Alexandria.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian.
Harmian,-

Cha

Cleo. Char. Madam?

Cleo. Ha, ha-give me to drink Mandagoras.
Char. Why, Madam?

Cleo. That I might fleep out this great gap of time, My Antony is away.

Char. You think of him too much.

Cleo. O, 'tis treafon..

Char. Madam, I truft not fo.

Cleo. Thou, eunuch, Mardian,

Mar. What's your Highness' pleasure ?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee fing. I take no pleasure In aught an eunuch has; 'tis well for thee,

That, being unfeminar'd, thy freer thoughts

May not fly forth of Egypt. Haft thou affections ?
Mar. Yes, gracious Madam.

Cleo. Indeed ?

Mar. Not in deed, Madam; for I can do nothing
But what indeed is honeft to be done :

Yet have I fierce affections, and think,
What Venus did with Mars.

Cleo. Ch Charmian!

Where think'st thou he is now? ftands he, or fits he? Or does he walk ? or is he on his horfe?

Oh happy horfe, to bear the weight of Antony !

Do bravely, horfe; for, wot'ft thou, whom thou mov'st? The demy Atlas of this earth, the arm

And burgonet of man. He's fpeaking now,

Or murmuring, "where's my ferpent of old Nile ?"-
(For fo he calls me ;) Now I feed myself
With most delicious poifon. Think on me,
That am with Phabus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time. Broad-fronted Cæfar,
When thou waft here above the ground, I was
A morfel for a monarch; and great Pompey
Would ftand and make his eyes grow in my brows
There would he anchor his afpect, and die
With looking on his life.

Enter Alexas.

Alex. Sovereign of Ægypt, hail !

Cleo. How much art thou unlike Mark Antony?
Yet coming from him, that great med'cine hath
With his tinct gilded thee.

How goes it with my brave Mark Antony ?
Alex. Laft thing he did, dear Queen,
He kift, the laft of many doubled kiffes,
This orient pearl.-His fpeech fticks in my heart.
Cleo. Mine ear muft pluck it thence.
Alex. Good friend, quoth he,

Say, the firm Roman to great Ægypt sends
This treasure of an oyfter; at whofe foot,
To mend the petty prefent, I will piece

Her opulent throne with Kingdoms. All the east,
Say thou, fhall call her mistress. So, he nodded ;
And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed,

Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have spoke, (7)

Was

(7) Who neigb'd fo high, that what I would have spoke

Was beafly dumb by bim.]