The Plays of Shakspeare

Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him His part o'the isle: then does he say, he lent me Some shipping unrestor'd: lastly, he frets, That Lepidus of the triumvirate

Should be depos'd; and, being, that we detain All his revenue.

Agr. Sir, this should be answer'd.

Cas. 'Tis done already, and the messenger gone. I have told him, Lepidus was grown too cruel; That he his high authority abus'd,

And did deserve his change; for what I have conquer'd,

I grant him part; but then, in his Armenia, And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I Demand the like.

Mec. He'll never yield to that.

Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king
Of Comagene; Polemon and Amintas,
The kings of Mede, and Lycaonia, with a
More larger list of sceptres.

Octa. Ah me, most wretched,

That have my heart parted betwixt two friends, That do afflict each other!

Cas. Welcome hither:

Your letters did withhold our breaking forth: Till we perceiv'd, both how you were wrong led, And we in negligent danger. Cheer your heart: Be you not troubled with the time, which drives O'er your content these strong necessities; But let determin'd things to destiny

Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome: Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd

Cas. Nor must not then be yielded to in this. Beyond the mark of thought: and the high gods,

Enter OCTAVIA.

To do you justice, make them ministers
Of us, and those that love you. Best of comfort;

Octa. Hail, Cæsar, and my lord! hail, most And ever welcome to us.

To come thus was I not constrain’d, but did it
On my free will. My lord, Mark Antony,
Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted
My grieved ear withal: whereon, I begg'd
His pardon for return.

Cas. Which soon he granted,

Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him.
Octa. Do not say so, my lord.
Cas. I have eyes upon him,

And his affairs come to me on the wind.
Where is he now?

Octa. My lord, in Athens.

Cas. No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire

Up to a whore; who now are levying

Agr. Welcome, lady.

Mec. Welcome, dear madam. Each heart in Rome does love and pity you: Only the adulterous Antony, most large In his abominations, turns you off; And gives his potent regiment to a trull, That noises it against us.

Octa. Is it so, sir?

Cas. Most certain. Sister, welcome: Pray you, Be ever known to patience: My dearest sister! [Exeunt.

SCENE VII.-ANTONY'S camp, ncar the promontory of Actium.

Enter CLEOPATRA and ENOBARBUS.

Cleo. I will be even with thee, doubt it not.
Eno. But why, why, why?

Cleo. Thou hast forspoke my being in these
wars;

And say'st, it is not fit.

Eno. Well, is it, is it?

Cleo. Is't not? Denounce against us, why should not we Be there in person?

Eno. [Aside. Well, I could reply:If we should serve with horse and mares together, The horse were merely lost; the mares would bear A soldier, and his horse.

Cleo. What is't you say?

Eno. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony; Take from his heart, take from his brain, from

his time,

What should not then be spar'd. He is already Traduc'd for levity; and 'tis said in Rome, That Photinus an eunuch, and your maids,

The kings o'the earth for war: He hath as- Manage this war. sembled

Bocchus, the king of Lybia; Archelaus,

Of Cappadocia ; Philadelphos, king

Of Paphlagonia; the Thracian king, Adallas:
King Malchus of Arabia; king of Pont;

Cleo. Sink Rome; and their tongues rot, That speak against us! A charge we bear i'the war, And, as the president of my kingdom, will Appear there for a man. Speak not against it; I will not stay behind.

Eno. Nay, I have done : Here comes the emperor.

Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS.

Ant. Is't not strange, Canidius,
That from Tarentum, and Brundusium,
He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea,

And take in Toryne?-You have heard on't,
sweet?

Cleo. Celerity is never more admir'd,

Than by the negligent.

Ant. A good rebuke,

This sword, and these my wounds? Let the

Egyptians,

And the Phoenicians, go a ducking; we
Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,
And fighting foot to foot.

Ant. Well, well, away.

[Exeunt Antony, Cleopatra, and Enobarbus.

Sold. By Hercules, I think, I am i'the right. Can. Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows

Not in the power on't: So our leader's led,

Which might have well becom❜d the best of men, And we are women's men.

To taunt at slackness.-Canidius, we

Will fight with him by sea.

Cleo. By sea! What else?

Can Why will my lord do so?
Ant. For he dares us to't.

Eno. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight.
Can. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia,
Where Cæsar fought with Pompey: But these
offers,

Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off;
And so should you.

Eno. Your ships are not well mann'd :
Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people
Ingross'd by swift impress: in Caesar's fleet
Are those that often have 'gainst Pompey fought:
Their ships are yare; yours, heavy. No disgrace
Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,
Being prepar'd for land.

Ant. By sea, by sea.

Eno. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away
The absolute soldiership you have by land;
Distract your army, which doth most consist
Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted
Your own renowned knowledge; quite forego
The way which promises assurance; and
Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard,
From firm security.

Ant. I'll fight at sea.

Cleo. I have sixty sails, Caesar none better. Ant. Our overplus of shipping will we burn; And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium

Beat the approaching Cæsar. But if we fail,

Enter a Messenger.

We then can do't at land.-Thy business? Mess. The news is true, my lord; he is descried;

Cæsar has taken Toryne.

Ant. Can he be there in person? 'tis impossible; Strange, that his power should be.-Canidius, Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land, And our twelve thousand horse:-We'll to our ship;

Enter a Soldier.

Away, my Thetis !-How now, worthy soldier?
Sold. O noble emperor, do not fight by sea;
Trust not to rotten planks: Do you misdoubt

Sold. You keep by land

The legions and the horse whole, do you not?
Can. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius,
Publicola, and Cælius, are for sea:

But we keep whole by land. This speed of Cæ

sar's

SCENE VIII.—A plain near Actium.

Enter CASAR, TAURUS, Officers, and Others.
Cæs. Taurus,-
Taur. My lord.

Cas. Strike not by land; keep whole :
Provoke not battle, till we have done at sea.
Do not exceed the prescript of this scroll:
Our fortune lies upon this jump. [Exeunt.
Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.

Ant. Set we our squadrons on yon side o'the
hill,

In eye of Cæsar's battle; from which place
We may the number of the ships behold,
And so proceed accordingly.

[Exeunt.

Enter CANIDIUS, marching with his Land Army one way over the Stage; and TAURUS, the lieutenant of CESAR, the other way. After their going in, is heard the noise of a sea-fight.

Alarum. Re-enter ENOBARBUS.
Eno. Naught, naught, all naught! I can be-
hold no longer :

The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,
With all their sixty, fly, and turn the rudder;
To see't, mine eyes are blasted.

Enter SCARUS.

Scar. Gods, and goddesses, All the whole synod of them! Eno. What's thy passion?

Scar. The greater cantle of the world is lost With very ignorance; we have kiss'd away Kingdoms and provinces.

Eno. How appears the fight?

Scar. On our side like the token'd pestilence, Where death is sure. Yon' ribald-rid nag of Egypt,

Whom leprosy o'ertake! i'the midst o'the fight,
When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd,
Both as the same, or rather ours the elder,—
The brize upon her, like a cow in June,
Hoists sails and flies.

Eno. That I beheld: mine eyes
Did sicken at the sight on't, and could not
Endure a further view.

Scar. She once being loof'd,

The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,

Claps on his sea-wing, and, like a doting mallard,

Leaving the fight in height, flies after her:
I never saw an action of such shame;
Experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before
Did violate so itself.

Ant. I have fled myself; and have instructed

cowards

To run, and show their shoulders.-Friends, be gone;

I have myself resolv'd upon a course,
Which has no need of you; be gone:
My treasure's in the harbour, take it.-0,
I follow'd that I blush to look upon :
My very hairs do mutiny; for the white
Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them
For fear and doting.-Friends, be gone; you shall
Have letters from me to some friends, that will
Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad,
Nor make replies of loathness: take the hint
Which my despair proclaims; let that be left
Which leaves itself: to the sea-side straightway:
I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a little: 'pray you now:-
Nay, do so; for indeed, I have lost command,
Therefore I pray you:-I'll see you by and by.
[Sits down.

Enter EROS, and CLEOPATRA, led by CHAR-
MIAN and IRAS.

O Juno!

Iras. Do, most dear queen.
Char. Do! Why, what else?
Cleo. Let me sit down.
Ant. No, no, no, no, no.
Eros. See you here, sir?
Ant. O fye, fye, fye.
Char. Madam,—

Iras. Madam; O good empress !—
Eros. Sir, sir,-

Ant. Yes, my lord, yes:-He, at Philippi, kept
His sword even like a dancer, while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and 'twas I,
That the mad Brutus ended: he alone
Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had
In the brave squares of war: Yet now-No

matter.

Ant. Egypt, thou knew'st too well,
My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings,
And thou should'st tow me after: O'er my spirit
Thy full supremacy thou knew'st; and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

Cleo. O, my pardon.
Ant. Now I must

To the young man send humble treaties, dodge
And palter in the shifts of lowness; who
With half the bulk o'the world play'd as I pleas'd,
Making and marring fortunes. You did know,
How much you were my conqueror; and that
My sword, made weak by my affection, would
Obey it on all cause.

Cleo. O pardon, pardon.

Ant. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates
All that is won and lost Give me a kiss;
Even this repaysme.—We sent our schoolmaster,
Is he come back?-Love, I am full of lead :-
Some wine, within there, and our viands:-
Fortune knows,

We scorn her most, when most she offers blows. [Exeunt.

SCENE X.-CESAR's camp, in Egypt. Enter CESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, and

others.

Cleo. What shall we do, Enobarbus ?
Eno. Think, and die.

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?
Eno. Antony only, that would make his will
Lord of his reason. What although you fled
From that great face of war, whose several ranges
Frighted each other? why should he follow?
The itch of his affection should not then

Cæs. Let him appear that's come from An- Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point,

tony.

Know you him?

Dol. Cæsar, 'tis his schoolmaster:

An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
He sends so poor a pinion of his wing,

Which had superfluous kings for messengers,
Not many moons gone by.

Enter EUPHRÓNIUS.

Caes. Approach, and speak.

Eup. Such as I am, I come from Antony:

I was of late as petty to his ends,
As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf
To his grand sea.

Cas. Be it so; Declare thine office.

Eup. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and
Requires to live in Egpyt: which not granted,
He lessens his requests; and to thee sues
Tolet him breathe between the heavens and earth,
A private man in Athens: This for him.
Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness;
Submits her to thy might; and of thee craves
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
Now hazarded to thy grace.

Caes. For Antony,

I have no ears to his request. The queen
Of audience, nor desire, shall fail; so she
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,
Or take his life there: This if she perform,
She shall not sue unheard. So to them both.
Eup. Fortune pursue thee!
Caes. Bring him through the bands.
[Exit Euphronius.

VOL. II.

When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
The mered question: 'Twas a shame no less
Than was his loss, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.

Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS.
Ant. Is this his answer?

Eup. Ay, my lord.

Ant. The queen

Shall then have courtesy, so she will yield
Us up.

Eup. He says so.

Ant. Let her know it.

To the boy Cæsar send this grizzled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim
With principalities.

Cleo. That head, my lord?

Ant. To him again; Tell him, he wears the

rose

Of youth upon him; from which the world should note

Something particular: his coin, ships, legions, May be a coward's; whose ministers would prevail

Under the service of a child, as soon

As i'the command of Cæsar: I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,
And answer me declin'd, sword against sword,
Ourselves alone: I'll write it; follow me.

[Exeunt Antony and Euphronius. Eno. Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show,

Against a sworder.-I see, men's judgments are |
A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffer all alike. That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Cæsar will
Answer his emptiness!-Cæsar, thou hast sub-
du'd

His judgment too.

Enter an Attendant.

Att. A messenger from Cæsar.

Cleo. What, no more ceremony?-See, my women!

Against the blown rose may they stop their nose,
That kneel'd unto the buds.-Admit him, sir.
Eno. Mine honesty, and I, begin to square.
Aside.
The loyalty, well held to fools, does make
Our faith mere folly: Yet he, that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fallen lord,
Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i'the story.

Enter THYREUS.

Cleo. Cæsar's will?

Thyr. Hear it apart.

Cleo. None but friends; say boldly.

Thyr. So, haply, are they friends to Antony. Eno. He needs as many, sir, as Cæsar has; Or needs not us. If Cæsar please, our master Will leap to be his friend: For us, you know, Whose he is, we are; and that's, Cæsar's. Thyr. So.

Thus, then, thou most renown'd; Cæsar entreats, Not to consider in what case thou stand'st, Further than he is Cæsar.

Cleo. Go on: Right royal.

Say to great Cæsar this; In disputation
I kiss his conqu'ring hand: tell him, I am prompt
To lay my crown at his feet, and there to kneel :
Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear
The doom of Egypt.

Thyr. 'Tis your noblest course.
Wisdom and fortune combating together,
If that the former dare but what it can,
No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay
My duty on your hand.

Cleo. Your Caesar's father

Oft, when he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in,
Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place,
As it rain'd kisses.

Re-enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.
Ant. Favours, by Jove that thunders!—
What art thou, fellow?

Thyr. One, that but performs

The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest To have command obey'd.

Eno. You will be whipp'd.

Ant. Approach, there :-Ay, you kite!—Now gods and devils!

Authority melts from me: Of late, when I cry'd, ho!

Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth, And cry, Your will? Have you no ears? I am

Whip him :-Were't twenty of the greatest tributaries

That do acknowledge Cæsar, should I find them

Thyr. He knows, that you embrace not An- So saucy with the hand of she here, (What's her

Aside.

I will ask Antony.-Sir, sir, thou'rt so leaky,
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee. [Exit Enobarbus.
Thyr. Shall I say to Cæsar
What you require of him? for he partly begs
To be desir'd to give. It much would please him,
That of his fortunes you should make a staff
To lean upon : but it would warm his spirits,
To hear from me you had left Antony,
And put yourself under his shroud,
The universal landlord.

Cleo. What's your name?

Thyr. My name is Thyreus."

Cleo. Most kind messenger,

name,

Since she was Cleopatra ?)—Whip him, fellows, Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face, And whine aloud for mercy: Take him hence. Thyr. Mark Antony,

Ant. Tug him away: being whipp'd, Bring him again :-This Jack of Caesar's shall Bear us an errand to him.

[Exeunt Attend, with Thyress. You were half blasted ere I knew you:-Ha! Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome, Forborne the getting of a lawful race, And by a gem of women, to be abus'd By one that looks on feeders?

Cleo. Good my lord,

Ant. You have been a boggler ever:But when we in our viciousness grow hard, (O misery on't!) the wise gods seel our eyes; In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make

Adore our errors; laugh at us, while we strut To our confusion.

Cleo. O, is it come to this?

Ant. I found you as a morsel, cold upon Dead Cæsar's trencher: nay, you were a fragment

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The Plays of Shakspeare, Band 2