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Mef. Cæfar, 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 ftrikes more,
Than could his war refifted.

Caf. Antony,

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

Did famine follow, whom thou fought'ft against
(Though daintily brought up) with patience more
T'han favages 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 pafture fheets,
'The barks of trees thou browsed'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

Drive him to Rome; time is it, that we twain

How can a Flag, or Rush, floating upon a Stream, and that has no Motion but what the Fluctuation of the Water gives it, be faid to Jash the Tide? This is making a Scourge of a weak ineffective Thing, All the old and giving it an active Vio'ence in its own Power. Editions read lacking. It is 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.

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

Did fhew ourselves i'th' field; and to that end
Affemble we immediate council; Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To-morrow, Cafar,

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

Caf. 'Till which encounter,

It is my business too.

Farewel.

Lep. Farewel, my Lord:

What you fhall 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.

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

Clo. 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 Highnefs' pleasure?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee fing. I take no pleafure 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.

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Cleo. Oh Charmian!

Where think'ft 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 myfelf
With most delicious poifon.. Think on me,
That am with Phabus' amorous pinces 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 brow;
There would he anchor his afpect, and die
With looking on his life.

Enter Alexas.

Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, 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 last 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 whose foot,
To mend the petty prefent, I will piece

Her opulent throne with Kingdoms. All the east,
Say thou, fhall call her miftrefs.

So, he nodded;

And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed,

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

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

Was beafly dumb by kim.]

Was

Was beaftly dumb'd by him.

Cleo. What, was he fad or merry?

Alex. Like to the time o' th' year, between th' ex

treams

Of hot and cold, he was nor fad, nor merry.
Cleo. Oh well-divided difpofition!

Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note him;
He was not fad, for he would fhine on those
That make their looks by his : He was not merry,
Which feem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy; but between both.
Oh heav'nly mingle! be'ft thou fad, or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes,

So does it no man elfe. Met'ft thou my posts?
Alex. Ay, Madam, twenty feveral meffengers.
Why do
you fend fo thick?

Cleo. Who's born that day,

When I forget to fend to Antony,

Shall die a beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.
Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I, Charmian,
Ever love Cæfar so?,

Char. Oh, that brave Cæfar!

Cleo. Be choak'd with fuch another emphafis! Say, the brave Antony.

Char. The valiant Cafar.

Cleo. By Ifis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæfar paragon again

My man of men.

Char. By your moft gracious pardon,

I fing but after you.

Cleo. My fallad days!

When I was green in judgment, cold in blood!

To fay, as I faid then,

But come away,

Alexas means, the Horfe made fuch a neighing, that if he had fpoke, he could not have been heard.

Was beaftly dumb'd by him.

fufpect, the Poet wrote:

i. e. put to filence. It is very ufual, as have more than once obferv'd, with Shakespeare, to coin Verbs out of Adjectives.

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Get

Get me ink and paper;

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He fhall have every day feveral greetings, or I'll un

people Ægypt.

[Exeunt.

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F the great Gods be juft, they fhall affift
The deeds of justest men.

Mene. Know, worthy Pompey,

That what they do delay, they not deny.

Pomp. While we are fuitors to their Throne, decays The thing we fue for.

Men. We, ignorant of ourfelves,

Beg often our own harms, which the wife powers
Deny us for our good; fo find we profit

By lofing of our prayers.

Pomp. I fhall do well:

The people love me, and the sea is mine;

My pow'r's a crefcent, and my auguring hope (8)
Says, it will come to th' full. Mark Antony

In Egypt fits at dinner, and will make

(8) My Powers are crefcent, and my auguring Hope Says, it will come to th' full.]

Thus the Editors implicitly one after another, with very peculiar Indolence. If one might afk them a Queftion in Grammar, what does the Relative it belong to? It cannot in Sense relate to Hope, nor in Concord to Powers. It is evident beyond a Doubt, that the Poet's Allufion is to the Moon: and that Pompey would fay, he is yet but a half-Moon, or Crefcent; but his Hopes tell him, that Crefcent will come to a full Orb. To this Effect, therefore, I have ventur'd to reform the Text. No

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