The horned herd! for I have savage cause;
And to proclaim it civilly, were like

A haltered neck, which does the hangman thank
For being yare1 about him.-Is he whipped?

Re-enter Attendants, with THYREUS.

1 Att. Soundly, my lord.

Ant. Cried he? and begged he pardon?
1 Att. He did ask favor.

Ant. If that thy father live, let him repent

Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry To follow Cæsar in his triumph, since

Thou hast been whipped for following him: henceforth,
The white hand of a lady fever thee,

Shake thou to look on't.-Get thee back to Cæsar,
Tell him thy entertainment. Look, thou say,
He makes me angry with him; for he seems
Proud and disdainful; harping on what I am;
Not what he knew I was. He makes me angry;
And at this time most easy 'tis to do't;

When my good stars, that were my former guides,
Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires
Into the abysm of hell. If he mislike

My speech, and what is done; tell him, he has
Hipparchus, my enfranchised bondman, whom
He may at pleasure whip, or hang, or torture,
As he shall like, to quit me. Urge it thou;
Hence, with thy stripes; begone. [Exit THYREUs.
Cleo. Have you done yet?

Ant.

Alack, our terrene moon

Is now eclipsed; and it portends alone

The fall of Antony!

Cleo.

I must stay his time.

Ant. To flatter Cæsar, would you mingle eyes

With one that ties his points ?3

1 i. e. ready, active.

2 To requite me.

3 i. e. with a menial attendant. Points were the laces with which our ancestors fastened their trunk-hose.

Not know me yet?

Cleo.

Ant. Cold-hearted toward me?

Ah, dear, if I be so,

Cleo.
From my cold heart let heaven engender hail,
And poison it in the source; and the first stone
Drop in my neck; as it determines,' so
Dissolve my life! The next Cæsarion smite!
Till, by degrees, the memory of my womb,
Together with my brave Egyptians all,
By the discandying of this pelleted storm,
Lie graveless; till the flies and gnats of Nile
Have buried them for prey!

Ant.
I am satisfied.
Cæsar sits down in Alexandria; where
I will oppose his fate. Our force by land
Hath nobly held; our severed navy too

Have knit again, and fleet,3 threatening most sealike. Where hast thou been, my heart?-Dost thou hear, lady?

If from the field I shall return once more
To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood;
I and my sword will earn our chronicle;
There is hope in it yet.

Cleo.

That's my brave lord! Ant. I will be treble-sinewed, hearted, breathed, And fight maliciously; for when mine hours Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives Of me for jests; but now, I'll set my teeth, And send to darkness all that stop me.-Come, Let's have one other gaudy" night: call to me All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more Let's mock the midnight bell.

Cleo.

It is my birthday. I had thought to have held it poor; but, since my lord Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra.

1 That is, as the hailstone dissolves or wastes away.

2 Cleopatra's son by Julius Cæsar.

3 To fleet and to float were anciently synonymous.

4 Nice is here equivalent to soft, or luxurious.

5 Feast days in the colleges of either university, are called gaudy days, as they were formerly in the Inns of Court.

VOL. VI.

22

Ant. We'll yet do well.

Cleo. Call all his noble captains to my lord.

Ant. Do so; we'll speak to them; and to-night I'll force

The wine peep through their scars.-Come on, my

queen;

There's sap in't yet.-The next time I do fight,
I'll make death love me; for I will contend

Even with his pestilent scythe.

[Exeunt ANT., CLEO., and Attendants. Eno. Now he'll outstare 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

Restores his heart. When valor preys on reason,
It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek
Some way to leave him.

[Exit.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. Cæsar's Camp at Alexandria.

Enter CESAR, reading a letter; AGRIPPA, MECENAS, and others.

Cæs. He calls me boy; and chides, as he had power

To beat me out of Egypt: my messenger

He hath whipped with rods; dares me to personal

combat,

Cæsar to Antony. Let the old ruffian know,

I have many other ways to die; mean time,
Laugh at his challenge.

Mec.

Cæsar must think,

1 i. e. the estridge falcon.

When one so great begins to rage, he's hunted
Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now
Make boot' of his distraction. Never anger

Made good guard for itself.

Cæs.
Let our best heads
Know, that to-morrow the last of many battles
We mean to fight.—Within our files there are
Of those that served Mark Antony but late,
Enough to fetch him in. See it be done;
And feast the army; we have store to do't,
And they have earned the waste. Poor Antony!

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and others.

Ant. He will not fight with me, Domitius.

Eno.

Ant. Why should he not?

No.

Eno. He thinks, being twenty times of better fortune, He is twenty men to one.

Ant.

To-morrow, soldier,

By sea and land I'll fight; or I will live,

Or bathe my dying honor in the blood

Shall make it live again. Woo't thou fight well?
Eno. I'll strike; and cry, Take all.2

Ant.

Well said; come on.Call forth my household servants; let's to-night

Enter Servants.

Be bounteous at our meal.-Give me thy hand;
Thou hast been rightly honest ;-so hast thou;-
And thou,—and thou,-and thou:-you have served
me well,

And kings have been your fellows.

Cleo.

1 i. e. take advantage of.

What means this?

2 Let the survivor take all; no composition; victory or death.

Eno. 'Tis one of those odd tricks, which sorrow

shoots

Out of the mind.

Ant.

And thou art honest too.
I wish I could be made so many men;
And all of you clapped up together in
An Antony; that I might do you service,
So good as you have done.

Serv.

The gods forbid !

[Aside.

Ant. Well, my good fellows, wait on me to-night. Scant not my cups; and make as much of me,

As when mine empire was your fellow too,

And suffered my command.

Cleo.

What does he mean?

Tend me to-night;

Eno. To make his followers weep.
Ant.

May be, it is the period of your duty.
Haply, you shall not see me more; or if,

1

A mangled shadow; perchance, to-morrow
You'll serve another master.
I look on you,

As one that takes his leave. Mine honest friends,
I 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!

Eno.

To give them this discomfort?
And I, an ass, am onion-eyed;
Transform us not to women.

Ant.

What mean you, sir, Look, they weep; for shame,

Ho, ho, ho! 3

Now the witch take me, if I meant it thus!

Grace grow where those drops fall! My hearty friends,

1 "Or if you see me more, you will see me a mangled shadow; only the external form of what I was."

2 i. e. "God reward you."

3 Steevens thinks that this exclamation of Antony's means stop, or desist. Ho! was an interjection, frequently used as a command to desist or leave off. Mr. Boswell says, "These words may have been intended to express an hysterical laugh."

4

"Here did she drop a tear; here, in this place,
I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace."

King Richard II.