Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with me? I will proclaim my name about the field :- A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend; [Charges the enemy. Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend: know me for Brutus. [Exit, charging the enemy. Cato is overpowered, and falls. Luc. O young and noble Cato, art thou down? Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; And may'st be honour'd, being Cato's son. 1 Sold. Yield, or thou diest. Luc. Only I yield to die: There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight; Offering money. Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death. 1. Sold. We must not.-A noble prisoner! 2 Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 1 Sold. I'll tell the news.-Here comes the general: Enter ANTONY. Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. Luc. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough : A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe, [Exeunt. Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain. Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: Slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.Whispering. Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace then, no words. Cli. I'll rather kill myself. Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius! [Whispers him. Dar. I do such a deed? Cli. O, Dardanius! Dar. O, Clitus! Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius; líst a word. Vol. What says my lord? Bru. Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me Vol. Not so, my lord. Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. Thou see'st 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 pray thee, 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; That have but labour d to attain this hour. Bru. Hence; I will follow thee. [Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius. I pr'ythee, 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 I kill'd not thee with half so good a will. Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy master? Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, The conquerors can but make a fire of him; And no man else hath honour by his death. That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true. Oct. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them. Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. Oct. Do so, 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 Caesar; Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, [Exeunt SCENE I.-Alexandria. A room in CLEOPA- | The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper; TRA's palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's The office and devotion of their view And is become the bellows, and the fan, 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. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; [Embracing. Cleo. Excellent falsehood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?- Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra.- There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now: What sport to night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fye, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, 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. Char. He means, in flesh. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Char. Wrinkles forbid! Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Char. Hush! Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than belov'd. Char. I had rather heat my liver with drinking. Alex. Nay, hear him. Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, tonight, shall be drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot Soothsay. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.— 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. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose. Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas,-come, his fortune, his fortune.-O, let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold! 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! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wiv'd, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded; Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen. Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but they'd do't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Char. Not he, the queen. (This is stiff news) hath, with his Parthian force, Ant. Antony, thou would'st say,— Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue; Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome: 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. [Erit. 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 Ant. Let him appear : will. 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. Eno. What's your pleasure, sir? |