The while, I'll place you: Then the boy shall sing:
The holding* every man shall bear, as loud

As his strong sides can volley.

[Music plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand in hand.
SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne,t
In thy vats our cares be drown'd;
With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd;
Cup us, till the world go round;
Cup us, till the world go round.

Cas. What would you more?-Pompey, good night. Good

brother,

Let me request you off: our graver business
Frowns at this levity. Gentle lords, let's part;

You see, we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarbe

Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue

Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost

Antick'd us all. What needs more words? Good night.-
Good Antony, your hand.

Pom. I'll try you o' the shore.

Ant. And shall, Sir: give's your hand.

Pom. O, Antony,

You have my father's house,-But what? we are friends:
Come, down into the boat.

Eno. Take heed you fall not.

[Exeunt POMPEY, CÆSAR, ANTONY, and Attendants.

Menas, I'll not on shore.

Men. No, to my cabin.

These drums!-these trumpets, flutes! what!

Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell

To these great fellows: Sound, and be hang'd, sound out.

Eno. Ho, says 'a!-There's my cap.

[A flourish of trumpets, with drums.

[Exeunt.

Men. Ho!-noble captain!

Come.

ACT III.

SCENE I-A Plain in Syria.

Enter VENTIDIUS, as after conquest, with SILIUS, and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead body of PACORUS borne before him.

Ven. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck; and now Pleased fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death'

Make me revenger.-Bear the king's son's body

Before our army:-Thy Pacorus, Ŏrodes,

Pays this for Marcus Crassus.

Sil. Noble Ventidius,

* Burden, chorus.

† Eyes.

Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media,
Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither

The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony
Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and
Put garlands on thy head.

Ven. 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.
Cæsar, and Antony, have ever won

More in their officer, than person: Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achieved by the minute, lost his favour.
Who does i' the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,

But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

Sil. Thou hast, Ventidius,

That without which a soldier, and his sword,

Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony?

Ven. I'll humbly signify what in his name,

That magical word of war, we have effected;"

How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks,
The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia

We have jaded out o' the field.

Sil. Where is he now ?

Ven. He purposeth to Athens: whither with what haste

The weight we must convey with us will permit,

We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass along.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II-Rome. An Antichamber in CESAR'S House.

Enter AGRIPPA, and ENOBARBUS, meeting.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted?

Eno. They have despatch'd with Pompey, he is gone;

The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps

To part from Rome: Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus,
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the green-sickness.

Agr. 'Tis a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar!

Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!
Eno. Cæsar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men.

Agr. What's Antony? The god of Jupiter.
Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How? the nonpareil !
Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!*

* The phoenix.

Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say-Cæsar; go no farther.
Agr. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.
Eno. But he loves Cæsar best ;-Yet he loves Antony.
Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot
Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love
To Antony. But as for Cæsar,

Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.

Agr. Both he loves.

Eno. They are his shards,* and he their beetle. So,

This is to horse.-Adieu, noble Agrippa.
Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.

[Trumpets.

Enter CESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA. Ant. No farther, Sir.

Cas. You take from me a great part of myself;
Use me well in it.-Sister, prove such a wife

As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest band+
Shall pass on thy approof.-Most noble Antony,
Let not the piece of virtue, which is set
Betwixt us, as the cement of our love,
To keep it builded, be the ram to batter
The fortress of it: for better might we

Have loved without this mean, if on both parts
This be not cherish'd.

Ant. Make me not offended

In your distrust.

Cæs. I have said.

Ant. You shall not find,

Though you be therein curious, § the least cause
For what you seem to fear: So, the gods keep you,
And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!
We will here part.

Cas. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well;
The elements be kind to thee, and make

Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well,

Oct. My noble brother!-

Ant. The April 's in her eyes: It is love's spring, And these the showers to bring it on. Be cheerful. Oct. Sir, look well to my husband's house, andCas. What,

Octavia ?

Oct. I'll tell you in your ear.

Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can

Her heart inform her tongue: the swan's down feather

That stands upon the swell at full of tide,

And neither way inclines.

Eno. Will Cæsar weep?

Agr. He has a cloud ín's face.

[Aside to AGRIPPA.

Eno. He were the worse for that, were he a horse;

So is he, being a man.

Agr. Why, Enobarbus ?

* Wings.

† Bond.

+ Octavia.

§ Scrupulous.

When Antony found Julius Cæsar dead,
He cried almost to roaring: and he wept,
When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.

Eno. That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum;
What willingly he did confound,* he wailed:
Believe it, till I weep too.

Cas. No, sweet Octavia,

You shall hear from me still; the time shall not

Out-go my thinking on you.

Ant. Come, Sir, come;

I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,

And give you to the gods.

Cas. Adieu; be happy!

Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light

To thy fair way!

Cæs. Farewell, farewell!

Ant. Farewell!

SCENE III.-Alexandria.

[Kisses OCTAVIA. [Trumpets sound. Exeunt.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS.

Cleo. Where is the fellow?

Alex. Half afeard to come.

Cleo. Go to, go to:-Come hither, Sir.

Alex. Good majesty,

Enter a MESSENGER.

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you,
But when you are well pleas'd.

Cleo. That Herod's head

I'll have; but how? when Antony is gone

Through whom I might command it.-Come thou near.
Mess. Most gracious majesty,-

Cleo. Didst thou behold

Octavia ?

Mess. Ay, dread queen.
Cleo. Where ?

Mess. Madam, in Rome.

I look'd her in the face, and saw her led

Between her brother and Mark Antony.

Cleo. Is she as tall as me?

Mess. She is not, madam.

Cleo. Didst hear her speak? Is she shrill-tongued, or low? Mess. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low voiced.

Cleo. That's not so good:-he cannot like her long.

Char. Like her? O Isis! 'tis impossible.

Cleo. I think so, Charmian: Dull of tongue and dwarfish!— What majesty is in her gait? Remember,

If e'er thou look'st on majesty.

Mess. She creeps;

Her motion and her station † are as one:

She shows a body rather than a life;

A statue, than a breather.

Cleo. Is this certain ?

Mess. Or I have no observance.

Char. Three in Egypt

Cannot make better note.

Cleo. He's very knowing,

I do perceive 't:-There's nothing in her yet:-
The fellow has good judgment.

Char. Excellent.

Cleo. Guess at her years, I pr'ythee.

Mess. Madam,

She was a widow.

Cleo. Widow ?-Charmian, hark.

Mess. And I do think she's thirty.

Cleo. Bear'st thou her face in mind? is it long or round ?
Mess. Round, even to faultiness.

Cleo. For the most part too,

They are foolish that are so.-Her hair, what colour?
Mess. Brown, madam: And her forehead is as low
As she would wish it.

Cleo. There is gold for thee.

Thou must not take my former sharpness ill:

I will employ thee back again; I find thee
Most fit for business: Go, make thee ready;
Our letters are prepared.

Char. A proper man.

Cleo. Indeed, he is so: I repent me much, That so I harry'd him.

[Exit MESSENGER.

Why, methinks, by him,

This creature's no such thing.

Char. O, nothing, madam.

Cleo. The man hath seen some majesty, and should know.
Char. Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend,

And serving you so long!

Cleo. I have one think more to ask him yet, good Charmian :—

But 'tis no matter, thou shalt bring him to me

Where I will write: All may be well enough.

Char. I warrant you, madam.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV-Athens. A Room in ANTONY'S House.

Enter ANTONY and OCTAVIA.

Ant. Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that,—

That were excusable, that, and thousands more

Of semblable* import-but he hath waged

New wars 'gainst Pompey; made his will, and read it
To public ear:

Spoke scantly of me: when perforce he could not +
But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly

He vented them; most narrow measure lent me :
When the best hint was given him, he not took 't,
Or did it from his teeth. +

* Similar.

+ Could not help.

Indistinct, through his teeth.