if it be, the makes a fhower of rain as well as Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report
Jove.
That I am fudden fick : Quick, and return.

Ant. 'Would I had never seen her!

Eno. O, fir, you had then left unfeen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been bleft withal, would have difcredited your travel. Ant. Fulvia is dead.

Eno. Sir?

Ant. Fulvia is dead.

Eno. Fulvia?

Ant. Dead.

Eno. Why, fir, give the gods a thankful facri

(Exit Ain. Char. Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly,

You do not hold the method to enforce
The like from him.

Cleo. What should I do, I do not?

Char. In each thing give him way, cross him in

Enter Antony.

But here comes Antony.

Cleo. I am fick, and fullen.

fice. When it pleafeth their deities to take the In time we hate that which we often fear.
wife of a man from him, it fhews to man the tai-
lors of the earth; comforting therein, that when
old robes are worn out, there are members to
make new. If there were no more women but
Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the cafe to
be lamented: this grief is crown'd with confola-
tion; your old (mock brings forth a new petticoat:
--and, indeed, the tears live in an onion, that
fhould water this forrow.

Ant. The bufinefs the hath broach'd in the state,
Cannot endure my absence.

Ant. I am forry to give breathing to my purpose.---
Cleo. Help me away, dear Charmian, I thail fail;
It cannot be thus long, the fides of nature
Will not sustain it.

Ant. Now, my dearest queen,-
Cleo, Pray you, ftand farther from me.
Ant. What's the matter?

[new.

Cleo. I know, by that fame eye, there's fome good Eno. And the bufinefs you have broach'd here What fays the marry'd woman ?—You may gɔ: cannot be without you; efpecially that of Cleo-'Would, the had never given you leave to come! patra's, which wholly depends on your abode. Let her not fay, 'tis I that keep you here,

Ant. No more light aufwers. Let our officers
Have notice what we purpote: I shall break
The caufe of our expedience 2 to the queen,
And get her love to part. For not alone

I have no power upon you; hers you are.
Ant. The gods best know,-
Cleo. O, never was there queen
So mightily betray'd! Yet, at the first,

The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches 3, I faw the treasons planted.

Do ftrongly speak to us; but the letters too
Of many our contriving friends in Rome
Petition 4 us at home: Sextus Pompeius
Hath given the dare to Cæfar, and commands
The empire of the fea: our flippery people
(Whofe love is never link'd to the deferver,
'Till his deferts are past) begin to throw
Pompey the great, and all his dignities
Upon his fon; who, high in name and power,
Higher than both in blood and life, ftands up
For the main foldier: whofe quality, going on,
The fides o' the world may danger: much is breeding,
Which, like the courfer's hair 5, hath yet but life,
And not a ferpent's poifon. Say, our pleature,
To fuch whofe place is under us, requires
Our quick remove from hence.

Ant, Cleopatra,—

(trae,

Cleo. Why thould I think, you can be mine, and Though you in fwearing thake the throned gods, Who have been falfe to Fulvia? Riotous mainrís, To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themfelves in fwearing!

Ant. Molt fweet queen,—

Cleo. Nay, pray you, feek no colour for your
But bid farewel, and go: when you fu'd itayam,
Then was the time for words: No gong then
Eternity was in our lips, and eyes;

Blifs in our brows' bent 7; none our parts fo poci
But was a race of heaven: They are to it
Or thou, the greatest foldier of the world,
Are turn'd the greatest liar.

Ant. How now, Lady!

Cite. I would, I had thy inches; thou shou There were a heart in Ægypt.

Ant. Hear me, queen :

The ftrong necellity of time commands
Our fervices a while; but my full heart
Remains in ufe with you. Our Italy
Shines o'er with civil fwords: Sextus Pompe I
Makes his approaches to the port of Rome :

The meaning is this: "As the gods have been pleafed to take away your wife Fulvia, fo thes have provided you with a new one in Cleopatra; in like manner as the tailors of the earth, when vint old garments are worn out, accommodate you with new ones." 2 Expedience for expedit 3 i. e. things that touch me more fenfibly. 41. e. with us at home. 5 Alluding to an nie seë notion, that the hair of a horfe dropped into corrupted water, will turn to an ar mål. inuit go as if you came without my order or knowledge.

7 i. e. in the arch of our eye-beel

3 i. c. had a (mack or flavour of heaven. The race of wine is the tale of the feil.

Eq

Equality of two domestic powers

Breeds fcrupulous faction: The hated, grown to
ftrength,

Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace
Into the hearts of fuch as have not thriv'd
Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
And quietnefs, grown sick of rest, would purge
By any desperate change: My more particular,
And that which most with you should safe my going,
Is Fulvia's death.
[freedom,
Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me
It does from childishness :-Can Fulvia die ?

Ant. She's dead, my queen :

Look here, and, at thy fovereign leifure, read
The garboils fhe awak'd; at the laft, best:
See, when, and where fhe died.

Cleo. O moft falfe love!

Where be the facred vials thou shouldft fill
With forrowful water 2? Now I fee, I fee,
In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be.
Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar❜d to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advice: By the fire,
That quickens Nilus' flime, I go from hence,
Thy foldier, fervant making peace, or war,

As thou affect'it.

Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come ;
But let it be. I am quickly ill, and well;
So 3 Antony loves.

Ant. My precious queen, forbear;

And give true evidence to his love, which stands
An honourable trial.

Cleo. So Fulvia told me.

I pr'ythee, turn afide, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and fay, the tears
Belong to Egypt 4. Good now, play one scene
Of excellent diffembling; and let it look
Like perfect honour.

Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more.
Cleo. You can do better yet; but this is meetly.
Ant. Now, by my fword,---

Cleo. And target.-Still he mends;

But this is not the best: Look, pr'ythee, Charmian,
How this Herculean 5 Roman does become
The carriage of his chafe.

Ant. I'll leave you, lady.

*Clea. Courteous lord, one word.

Sir, you and I must part,--but that's not it :
Sir, you and I have lov'd,--but there's not it;
That you know well :-Something it is I would,

O, my oblivion is a very Antony,
And I am all-forgotten 6.

Ant. But that your royalty

Holds idlenefs your fubject, I should take you
For idlenefs itself 7.

Clen. 'Tis fweating labour,

To bear fuch idleness fo near the heart
As Cleopatra this. But, fir, forgive me ;
Since my becomings 8 kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you: Your honour calls you hence;
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,
And all the gods go with you! Upon your sword
Sit laurell'd victory! and smooth fuccefs
Be ftrew'd before your feet!

Ant. Let us go. Come;
Our feparation fo abides, and flies,

That thou, refiding here, go'st yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away.
[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.
Cæfar's Palace in Rome.

Enter Octavius Cæfar, Lepidus, and Attendants.
Ceef. You may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate
One great competitor: From Alexandria

This is the news; He fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he hardly gave audience, or
Vouchfaf'd to think he had partners: You shall
find there

A man, who is the abftract of all faults
That all men follow.

Lep. I must not think, there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness:
His faults, in him, feem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd9; what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.
[not

Caef. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is
Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;
To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave ;
To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet
With knaves that fimell of fweat: fay, this becomes
him,

[tony

(As his compofure must be rare indeed,
Whom these things cannot blemish) yet muft An-
No way excufe his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness 10: If he fill'd

6 The

1 i. e. the commotion fhe occafioned. The word is derived from the old French garbouil, which Cotgrave explains by hurlyburly, great flir. 2 Alluding to the lachrymatory vials, or bottles of tears, which the Romans fometimes put into the urn of a friend. 3 So for as. 4 i. e. to me, the queen of Egypt. 5 Antony traced his defcent from Anton, a fon of Hercules. plain meaning is, My forgetfulness makes me forget myself. But the expreffes it by calling forge fulnes Antony; becaule forgetfulness had forgot her, as Antony had done. "But that your charms hold me, who am the greateft fool on earth, in chains, I should have adjudged 7 i. c. according to Warburton, you to be the greatest.” 8 Cleopatra may perhaps here allude to Antony having before called her, in the firft scene," wrangling queen, whom every thing becomes." 9 The meaning, according to Mr. Malone, is, As the itars or fpots of heaven are not obfcured, but rather rendered more bright, by the blackness of the night, fo neither is the goodnefs of Antony eclipfed by his evil quali ties, but, on the contrary, his faults feem enlarged and aggravated by his virtues." 10 i, e. trifling levity,

Ddd 2

His

Lack blood 4 to think on't, and flush youth 5 re- That, being unfeminar'd, thy freer thoughts [ons?

Leave thy lafcivious waffels 6. When thou once
Waft beaten from Modena, where thou flew'st
Hirtius and Panfa, confuls, at thy heel
Did famine follow; whom thou fought it against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than favages could fuffer: Thou didft drink
The ftale of horfes 7, and the gilded puddle
Which beafts 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'it: 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 borne fo like a foldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

2 i. e. boys old enough to know their duty. to plow. 4 i. e. turn pale at the thought of it. 5 Flush youth is youth ripened to whole blood is at the flow. 6 Waffel is here put for intemperance in general. cumitances of Antony's diflrefs are taken literally from Plutarch. 8 A plant of which the infufon was fuppofed to procure fleep. A burgonet is a kind of helmet.

Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony !
Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath
With his tinct gilded thee -

How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?
Alex. Laft thing he did, dear queen,
He kifs'd, the laft of many doubled kifles,
This orient pearl;-His fpeech fticks in my heart.
Cleo. Mine car must pluck it thence.
Alex. Good friend, quoth he,
Say," the firm Roman to great Ægypt fends
"This treasure of an oyfter: at whofe 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 2 steed,
Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have spoke
Was beaftly dumb'd 3 by him.

Cleo. What, was he fad, or merry?

Alex. Like to the time o' the year between the

extreamis

Of hot and cold; he was nor fad, nor merry.
Cleo. O well-divided difpofition !—Note him,
Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note

him:

He was not fad; for he would fhine on thofe
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:
O heavenly 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 fo?

Char. O that brave Cæfar!

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

Char. The valiant Cæfar!

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

Men. Know, worthy Pompey,
That what they do delay, they not deny.
Pamp. Whiles we are fuitors to their throne, de-
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 thall do well:

He lofes hearts: Lepidus flatters both,
Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves,
Nor either cares for him.

Men. Cæfar and Lepidus are in the field;
A mighty strength they carry.

Pomp. Where have you this? 'tis falfe.
Men. From Silvius, fir.

Pomp. He dreams; I know, they are in Rome

together,

Looking for Antony: But all the charms of love,
Salt Cleopatra, foften thy wan lip!

Let witchcraft join with beauty, luft with both
Tie up the libertine in a field of feafts,
Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks,
Sharpen with cloylefs fauce his appetite;
That fleep and feeding may prorogue his honour,
Even 'till a Lethe'd dulnefs-How now, Varrius ?
Enter Varrius.

The people love me, and the fea is mine;
My power's a crefcent, and my auguring hope
Says, it will come to the full.
In Egypt fits at dinner, and will make
Var. This is most certain that I fhall deliver :
No wars without doors: Criar gets money, where Mark Antony is every hour in Rome

Mark Antony

2 Arm

1 Alluding to the philosopher's ftone, which, by its touch, converts bafe metal into gold. The alchemiits call the matter, whatever it be, by which they perform tranfmutation, a medicine. gaunt perhaps means, a horfe fo flender that a man might clafp him, and therefore formed for expedition. In Chaucer's defcription of a King of Thrace in the Knight's Tale, armgrete is ufed to fignity as big as the arm; arm-gaunt therefore may mean as s flender as the arm. We ftill fay, in vulgar compariton, as long as my arin, as thick as my leg, &c. 31. e. put to filence by him.

4 The mean

ing is, Thole were my fallad days, when I was green in judgement; but your blood is as cold as my judgement, if you have the fame opinion of things now as I had then. 5 By fending out meffengers. • The meaning is, While we are praying, the thing for which we pray is lofing its value. Expected;

Dad 3

This amorous furfeiter would have don'd his helm Our trivial difference loud, we do commit

1 To den is do on, to put on. 2 Hope for expect. undreffed, without fhew of refpe&t. 5 i. e. Let not ill humour be added to the fubject of our differ 6 To practife means to employ unwarrantable arts or stratagems.

7 i. e. my theme or fubject of converfation. 8 i. e. The pretence of the war was on your account; they took up arms in your name, and you were made the theme and fubject of their infurrection. make ufe of my name as a pretence for the war. fame caufe as you to be offended with me.