Το say So soon, when I so far have come to see you. Ant. Now thou hast seen me, art thou satisfied? Vent. Look, emperor, this is no common dew; I have not wept these forty years; but now My mother comes afresh unto my eyes; I cannot help her softness. Ant. By Heaven, he weeps!-poor, good old man, he weeps! The big round drops course one another down Ant. Sure there's contagion in the tears of friends; See, I have caught it too. Believe me, 'tis not -Nay, father For my own griefs, but thine Vent. Emperor ! Ant. Emperor? Why, that's the style of victory! The conqu❜ring soldier, and with unfelt wounds, Salutes his general so: but never more Shall that sound reach my ears. Vent. It sits too near you. Ant. Here, here it lies; a lump of lead by day; And in my short, distracted, nightly slumbers, The hag that rides my dreams Vent. Out with it! give it vent. Ant. Urge not my shame I lost a battle! Vent. So has Julius done. Ant. Thou favour'st me, and speak'st not half thou think'st; For Julius fought it out, and lost it fairly; But Antony Vent. Nay, stop not. Ant. Antony (Well, thou wilt have it), like a coward, fled,— Fled while his soldiers fought!—fled first, Ventidius. I know thou cam'st prepared to rail. Vent. I did. Ant. I'll help thee-I have been a man, Ventidius. Ant. I know thy meaning. But I have lost my reason, have disgraced And worked against my fortune, chid her from me, At length have wearied her, and now she's gone; Who laboured to be wretched. Pr'ythee curse me. Ant. Why? Vent. You are too sensible already Of what you've done; too conscious of your failings. To fury, sting yourself in mad revenge. I would bring balm, and pour it in your wounds, Vent. I will. Ant. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Vent. You laugh. Ant. I do, to see officious love Give cordials to the dead. Vent. You would be lost, then? Ant. I am. Vent. I say you are not. Try your fortune. Ant. I have to the utmost. Dost thou think me des perate Without just cause? No; when I found all lost Beyond repair, I hid me from the world, And learned to scorn it here; which now I do So heartily, I think it is not worth The cost of keeping. Vent. Cæsar thinks not so: He'll thank you for the gift he could not take. Ant. No, I can kill myself; and so resolve. Vent. I can die with you, too, when time shall serve; But fortune calls upon us now to live, To fight, to conquer. Ant. Sure thou dream'st, Ventidius ? Vent. No; 'tis you dream; you sleep away your hours In desperate sloth, miscalled philosophy. Up, up, for honour's sake; twelve legions wait you, I led 'em, patient both of heat and hunger, 'Twill do you good to see their sun-burnt faces, Their scarred cheeks, and chopt hands; there's virtue in 'em : They'll sell those mangled limbs at dearer rates Than trim bands can buy. yon Ant. Where left you them? Vent. I said in Lower Syria. Ant. Bring 'em hither; There may be life in these. Vent. They will not come. Ant. Why didst thou mock my hopes with promised aids, To double my despair? They're mutinous. Vent. Most firm and loyal. Ant. Yet they will not march To succour me. Oh, trifler! Vent. They petition You would make haste to head 'em. Ant. I'm besieged. Vent. There's but one way shut up. How came I hither? Ant. I will not stir. Vent. They would perhaps desire A better reason. Ant. I have never used My soldiers to demand a reason of My actions. Why did they refuse to march? Vent. They said they would not fight for Cleopatra. Vent. They said they would not fight for Cleopatra. Ant. Ventidius, I allow your tongue free license Vent. Behold, you powers, To whom you have intrusted human-kind; See Europe, Afric, Asia put in balance, And all weighed down by one light worthless woman! I think the gods are Antonies, and give, Like prodigals, this nether world away To none but wasteful hands. Ant. You grow presumptuous. Vent. I take the privilege of plain love to speak. Ant. Plain love! plain arrogance, plain insolence! Thy men are cowards, thou an envious traitor; Who, under seeming honesty, hast vented The burden of thy rank o'erflowing gall. Oh, that thou wert my equal; great in arms |