But, since the cuckoo builds not for himself,
Remain in't as thou may'st.

Lep. Be pleas'd to tell us,

(For this is from the present, *) how you take The offers we have sent you.

Cas. There's the point.

Ant. Which do not be entreated to, but weigh What it is worth embraced.

Cæs. And what may follow,

To try a larger fortune.

Pom. You have made me offer
Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must

Rid all the sea of pirates; then, to send
Measures of wheat to Rome: This 'greed upon
To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back
Our target undinted.

Cas. Ant. Lep. That's our offer.

Pom. Know then,

I came before you here, a man prepared
To take this offer: But Mark Antony

Put me to some impatience: Though I lose
The praise of it by telling, You must know,
When Cæsar and your brothers were at blows,
Your mother came to Sicily, and did find
Her welcome friendly.

Ant. I have heard it, Pompey;

And am well studied for a liberal thanks,
Which I do owe you.

Pom. Let me have your hand:

I did not think, Sir, to have met you here.

Ant. The beds i' the east are soft; and thanks to you,

That call me, timelier than my purpose, hither;

For I have gain'd by it.

Caes. Since I saw you last,

There is a change upon you.

Pom. Well, I know not

What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face;

But in my bosom shall she never come,

To make my heart her vassal.

Lep. Well met here.

Pom. I hope so, Lepidus.-Thus we are agreed:

I crave, our composition may be written,

And sealed between us.

Cæs. That's the next to do.

Pom. We'll feast each other, ere we part; and let us

Draw lots who shall begin.

Ant. That will I, Pompey.

Pom. No, Antony, take the lot: but, first

Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery

Shall have the fame. I have heard, that Julius Cæsar

Grew fat with feasting there.

Ant. You have heard much.

* Present subject.

+ Target, shield.

Scores, marks.

Pom. I have fair meanings, Sir.
Ant. And fair words to them.
Pom. Then so much have I heard :-
And I have heard, Apollodorus carried-
Eno. No more of that :-He did so.
Pom. What, I pray you?

Eno. A certain queen to Cæsar in a mattress.

Pom. I know thee now;-How far'st thou, soldier?
Eno. Well;

And well am like to do; for I perceive

Four feasts are toward.

Pom. Let me shake thy hand;

I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
When I have envied thy behaviour.

Eno. Sir,

I never loved you much; but I have praised you,
When you have well deserved ten times as much
As I have said you did.

Pom. Enjoy thy plainness,

It nothing ill becomes thee.

Aboard my galley I invite you all :

Will you lead, lords?

Cas. Ant. Lep. Show us the way, Sir.

Pom. Come.

[Exeunt POMPEY, CÆSAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, Soldiers and Attendants.

Men. Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have made this treaty. -[Aside.]-You and I have known,* Sir.

Eno. At sea, I think.

Men. We have, Sir.

Eno. You have done well by water.

Men. And you by land.

Eno. I will praise any man that will praise me: though it cannot be denied what I have done by land.

Men. Nor what I have done by water.

Eno. Yes, something you can deny for your own safety: you have been a great thief by sea.

Men. And you by land.

Eno. There I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas: If our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kissing.

Men. All men's faces are true, whatsoe'er their hands are.
Eno. But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

Men. No slander; they steal hearts.

Eno. We came hither to fight with you.

Men. For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking.

Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.

Eno. If he do, sure, he cannot weep it back again.

Men. You have said, Sir. We looked not for Mark Antony; pray you, is he married to Cleopatra ?

Eno. Cæsar's sister is call'd Octavia.

Men. True, Sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.

Eno. But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.
Men. Pray you, Sir?

Eno. "Tis true.

Men. Then is Cæsar, and he, for ever knit together.

Eno. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophesy so.

Men. I think, the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage, than the love of the parties.

Eno. I think so too. But you shall find, the band that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation.*

Men. Who would not have his wife so ?

Eno. Not he, that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cæsar; and, as I said before, that which is the strength of their amity, shall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his affection where it is: he married but his occasion here.

Men. And thus it may be. Come, Sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.

Eno. I shall take it, Sir: we have used our throats in Egypt. Men. Come; let's away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VII.-On Board POMPEY'S Galley, lying near

Misenum.

Music. Enter two or three SERVANTS, with a Banquet.†

1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o' their plants are illrooted already, the least wind i' the world will blow them down. 2 Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured.

1 Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink.

2 Serv. As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out, no more; reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1 Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

2 Serv. Why, this is to have a name in great men's fellowship; I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service, as a partizan § I could not heave.

1 Serv. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks.

A Sennet sounded. Enter CÆSAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other captains.

Ant. Thus do they, Sir: [To CÆSAR). They take the flow o' the Nile.

By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know,

By the height, the lowness, or the mean, || if dearth,
Or foizon, follow: The higher Nilus swells,

The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman

* Behaviour.

§ Pike.

Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,

And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You have strange serpents there.

Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.

Ant. They are so.

Pom. Sit, and some wine.-A health to Lepidus.

Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out.

Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me, you'll be in till then. Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard, the Ptolemies' pyramises* are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that. Men. Pompey, a word.

Pom. Say in mine ear: What is't?

Men. Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain, And hear me speak a word.

Pom. Forbear me till anon.

This wine for Lepidus.

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile?

[Aside.

[Aside.

Ant. It is shaped, Sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath breadth it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.

Lep. What colour is it of?
Ant. Of its own colour too.
Lep. "Tis a strange serpent.

Ant. "Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.

Cas. Will this description satisfy him?

Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure.

Pom. [to MENAS aside.] Go, hang, Sir, hang! Tell me of that? away!

Do as I bid you.-Where's this cup I call'd for?

Men. If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me,

Rise from thy stool.

Pom. I think, thou'rt mad. The matter?

[Aside.

[Rises, and walks aside.

Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes.

Pom. Thou hast served me with much faith: What's else to say?

Be jolly, lords.

Ant. These quicksands, Lepidus,

Keep off them, for you sink.

Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world?

Pom. What say'st thou ?

Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That's twice.

Pom. How should that be?

Men. But entertain it, and,

Although thou think me poor, I am the man

Will give thee all the world.

Pom. Hast thou drunk well?

Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup.

Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove:

* Pyramids.

Whatever the ocean pales,* or sky inclips,†

Is thine, if thou wilt have't.

Pom. Show me which way.

Men. These three world-sharers, these competitors,‡
Are in thy vessel: let me cut the cable;

And, when we are put off, fall to their throats:
All there is thine.

Pom. Ah, this thou shouldst have done,

And not have spoke on't! In me, 'tis villany;
In thee it had been good service. Thou must know,
"Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;
Mine honour it. Repent, that e'er thy tongue
Hath so betray'd thine act: Being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done;
But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink.
Men. For this,

I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.

Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd,
Shall never find it more.

Pom. This health to Lepidus.

Ant. Bear him ashore. I'll pledge it for him, Pompey.
Eno. Here's to thee, Menas.

Men. Enobarbus, welcome.

Pom. Fill, till the cup be hid.

Eno. There's a strong fellow, Menas.

[Aside.

[Pointing to the Attendant who carries off LEPIDUS.

Men. Why?

Eno. He bears

The third part of the world, man; See'st not?

Men. The third part then is drunk: 'Would it were all, That it might go on wheels!

Eno. Drink thou; increase the re'els.

Men. Come.

Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.

Ant. It ripens towards it. Strike the vessels, § ho!

Here is to Cæsar.

Cæs. I could well forbear it.

It's monstrous labour, when I wash my brain,

And it grows fouler.

Ant. Be a child o' the time.

Cas. Possess it, I'll make answer: but I had rather fast

From all, four days, than drink so much in one.

Eno. Ha, my brave emperor!

Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals,
And celebrate our drink?

Pom. Let's ha't, good soldier.

Ant. Come, let us all take hands;

[TO ANTONY.

Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense

In soft and delicate Lethe.

Eno. All take hands.

Make battery to our ears with the loud music :

Confederates.