Mar. As well as I can, madam.

Cleo. And when good will is show'd, though it come too short,

The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now:Give me mine angle,-We'll to the river: there, My music playing far off, I will betray

Tawny finn'd fishes; my bended hook shall pierce Their slimy jaws; and, as I draw them up,

I'll think them every one an Antony,

And say, Ah! ah! you're caught.

Char.

'Twas merry, when
You wager'd on your angling; when your diver
Did hang a salt fish on his hook, which he
With fervency drew up.

Cleo.

That time!0 times!

I laugh'd him out of patience; and that night
I laugh'd him into patience; and next morn,
Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed;
Then put my tires* and mantles on him, whilst
I wore his sword Philippan.

ACT III.

AMBITION JEALOUS OF A TOO SUCCESSFUL FRIEND.

O Silius, Silius,

I have done enough: A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: For learn this, Silius;
Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away.
WHAT OCTAVIA'S ENTRANCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
Why have you stol'n upon us thus? You come not
Like Česar's sister: The wife of Antony
Should have an army for an usher, and

The neighs of horse to tell of her approach,
Long ere she did appear; the trees by the way,
Should have borne men; and expectation fainted,
Longing for what it had not: nay the dust
Should have ascended to the roof of heaven,
Rais'd by your populous troops: But you are come
A market-maid to Rome: and have prevented

* Head-dress.

The ostent* of our love, which, left unshown
Is often left unlov'd: we should have met you
By sea, and land; supplying every stage
With an augmented greeting.

Women are not,

WOMEN.

In their best fortunes, strong; but want will perjure The ne'er touch'd vestal.

FORTUNE FORMS OUR JUDGMENTS.

I see men's judgments are

A parcelf of their fortunes: and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffer all alike.

LOYALTY.

Mine honesty, and I, begin to square.‡
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.

WISDOM SUPERIOR TO FORTUNE.

Wisdom and fortune combating together,
If that the former dare but what it can,
No chance may shake it.

VICIOUS PERSONS INFATUATED BY HEAVEN

Good, my lord,

But when we in our viciousness grow hard,

(0 misery on't!) the wise gods seal§ our eyes;
In our own filth, drop our clear judgments, make us
Adore our errors; laugh at us, while we strut
To our confusion.

FURY EXPELS FEAR.

Now he'll out-stare the lightning. To be furious,
Is to be frighted out of fear: and in that mood,
The dove will peck the estridge;|| and I see still,
A diminution in our captain's brain

Restore his heart: When valour preys on reason,
It eats the sword it fights with.

* Show, token. + Quarrel.

† Are of a piece with them.
§ Close up.
Il Ostrich.

ACT IV.

A MASTER TAKING LEAVE OF HIS SERVANTS.

Tend me to-night;

May be it is the period of your duty:

Haply, you shall not see me more; or if,
A mangled shadow. perchance, to-morrow
You'll serve another master. I look on you,
As one that takes his leave. Mine honest friends,
turn you not away; but, like a master ·
Married to your good service, stay till death:
Tend me to-night two hours, I ask no more,
And the gods yield† you for't!

EARLY RISING THE WAY TO EMINENCE.

This morning, like a spirit of a youth That means to be of note, begins betimes.

ANTONY TO CLEOPATRA, AT HIS RETURN WITH VICTORY.

O thou day o' the world,

Chain mine arm'd neck: leap thou, attire and all, Through proof of harness to my heart, and there Ride on the pants triumphing.

LOATHED LIFE.

O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, The poisonous damp of night disponge§ upon me; That life, a very rebel of my will,

May hang no longer on me.

ANTONY'S DESPONDENCY.

O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more:
Fortune and Antony part here; even here

Do we shake hands. All come to this?-The hearts
T'hat spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Cesar; and this pine is bark'd,
'That overtopp'd them all.

DEPARTING GREATNESS.

The soul and body rivell not more in parting Than greatness going off.

Armour of proof.

§ Discharge, as a sponge when squeezed discharges the moisture it has imbibed.

| Split.

ANTONY'S REFLECTIONS ON HIS FADED GLORY.
Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish:
A vapour, sometimes, like a bear, or lion,
A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock,

A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon't, that nod unto the world,

And mock our eyes with air: Thou hast seen these signs;

They are black vesper's pageants.

Eros.

Ay, my lord.

Ant. That, which is now a horse, even with a

thought,

The rack dislimns; and makes it indistinct,
As water is in water.

Eros.

It does, my lord.
Ant. My good knavet Eros, now thy captain is
Even such a body; here I am Antony;

Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
I made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,
Whose heart, I thought, I had, for she had mine:
Which, while it was mine, had annex'd unto't
A million more, now lost,-she, Eros, has
Pack'd cards with Cesar, and false play'd my glory
Unto an enemy's triumph.-

Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.

DESCRIPTION OF CLEOPATRA'S SUPPOSED DEATH.

Death of one person can be paid but once; And that she has discharged: What thou would'st do. Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake

Was Antony! most noble Antony!

Then in the midst a tearing groan did break
The name of Antony; it was divided

Between her heart and lips: she render'd life,
Thy name so buried in her.

CLEOPATRA'S REFLECTIONS

ON THE

DEATH or

ANTONY.

It were for me

To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods;

* The fleeting clouds.

† Servant.

To tell them, that this world did equal theirs,
Till they had stolen our jewel. All's but naught:
Patience is sottish; and impatience does
Become a dog that's mad: Then is it sin,

To rush into the secret house of death,

Ere death dare come to us?-How do you, women? What, what? good cheer? Why, how now, Chai mian?

My noble girls!-Ah, women, women! look,

Our lamp is spent, it's out;-Good sirs, take heart:We'll bury him: and then, what's brave,what's noble, Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,

And make death proud to take us. Come, away: This case of that huge spirit now is cold.

ACT V.

DEATH.

My desolation does begin to make
A better life: 'Tis paltry to be Cesar;
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 shackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung,
The beggar's nurse and Cesar's.

CLEOPATRA'S DREAM, AND DESCRIPTION OF ANTONY.
Cleo. I dream'd, there was an emperor Antony;-
O, such another sleep, that I might see

But such another man!

Dol.

If it might please you,

Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck A sun, and moon; which kept their course, and

lighted

The little O, the earth.

Dol.

Most sovereign creature,Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm Crested the world: his voice was propertied

As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends:

Servant