Now, for the love of love, and his soft hours,

Let's not confound the timewithconference harsh:

There's not a minute of our lives should stretch 15 Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than belov'd.

Without some pleasure now: What sportto-night?

Cleo. Hear the embassadors.

Ant. Fye, wrangling queen !

Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd!
No messenger, but thine;-And all alone,
To-night, we'll wander through the streets, and

note

The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
Last night you did desire it:-Speak not to us.

[Exeunt Ant. and Cleop. with their train.
Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius priz'd so slight?
Phil. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony,
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony.

Char. I had rather heat my liver with drinking'.
Aler. Nay, hear him.

Char. Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and 20 widow them all! let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage! find me to marry with Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress!

Sooth. You shall out-live the lady whom you

25 serve.

Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs'. [fortune,

Sooth. You have seen and prov'da fairer former Than that which is to approach.

30 Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pry'thee, how many boys and wenches must I have?

Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And foretell every wish, a million.

Dem. I am full sorry, That he approves the common liar', who Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! 35 Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch.

SCENE II.

Another part of the Palace.

[Excunt.

Aler. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes.

Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers.
Alex. We'll know all our fortunes.

40 Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night,
shall be drunk to bed.

Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth

Enter Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer.
Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any
thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's
the soothsayer that you prais'd so to the queen?
O! that I knew this husband, which, you say, 45 famine.

must change his horns with garlands.

Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot sooth-say.

[know things?

Char, Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear. 50 Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune.

Alex. Soothsaver.

Sooth. Your will?

Char. Is this the man? - Is't you, sir, that
Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy,

1 To know. * But here signifies unless. 3 Meaning, that he proves the common lyar, fame, in his case to be a true reporter. Dr. Johnson doubts, whether change in this place may not signify merely to dress, or to dress with changes of garlands; certain it is, that change of clothes in the time of Shakspeare signified variety of them. A heated liver is supposed to make a pimpled face. * Herod was always one of the personages in the mysteries of our early stage, on which he was constantly represented as a fierce, haughty, blustering tyrant; so that Herod of Jewry became a common proverb, expressive of turbulence and rage. Thus Hamlet says of a ranting player, that he "out-herods Herod." -The meaning then is, Charmian wishes for a son, who may arrive to such power and dominion, that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke. ' A proverbial expression. * A fairer fortune may mean, a more reputable one.-Her answer then implies, that belike all her children will be bastards, who have no right to the name of their father's family. * The meaning is, If you had as many wombs as you will have wishes, and I should foretell all those wishes, I should foretell a million of children. It is an ellipsis very frequent in conversation;-I should shame you, and tellall; that is, and if I should tell all. And is for and if, which was anciently, and is still provincially used for if.

2

Sooth.

!

Sooth. Your fortunes are alike.

Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars.
Sooth. I have said.

Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she?

Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it?

Iras. Not in my husband's nose.

Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend!

Alexas, come, his fortune, his fortune. -O, let 10 With such full licence, as both truth and malice

him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, 'till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave,

[tongue:
Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general
Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome:
Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase; and taunt my faults

weeds,

Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer

of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to

Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth
[us,
When our quick winds lie still2; and our ill, told
Is as our earing. Fare thee well a while.
[Exit.
Ant. From Sicyon how the news? Speak there.
1 Att. The man from Sicyon.-Is there such an
2 Att. He stays upon your will.
[one?
Ant. Let him appear.-

fifty-fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this 15 Mes. At your noble pleasure.

prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more

weight; good Isis, I beseech thee!

see a handsome man loose-wiv'd, so it is a deadly 20 These strong Ægyptian fetters I must break,

sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded:

Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune

him accordingly.

Char. Amen.

Enter a second Messenger.

Or lose myself in dotage. What are you?

2 Mes. Fulvia thy wife is dead.
Ant. Where died she?

Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make 25 2 Mes. In Sicyon:

me a cuckold, they would make themselves

whores, but they'd do't.

Eno. Hush! here comes Antony.

Char. Not he, the queen.

Enter Cleopatra.

Cleo. Saw you my lord?

Eno. No, lady.

Cleo. Was he not here?

Char. No, madam.

den

Her length of sickness, with what else more serious
Importeth thee to know, this bears. [Gires a letter.
Ant. Forbear me.-
[Exit Messenger.
There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:

30 What our contempts do often hurl from us,
We wish it ours again; the present pleasure,
By revolution 'lowering, does become

Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sud-35

[bus,A Roman thought hath struck him. - EnobarEno. Madam. [Alexas?

Cleo. Seck him, and bring hiin hither. Where's

The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone; [on.
The hand could 4 pluck her back, that shov'dher
I must from this enchanting queen break off;
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,
My idleness doth hatch.-How now, Enobarbus?
Enter Enobarbus.

Eño. What's your pleasure, sir?

Alex. Here, at your service.-My lord approaches. 40 Ant. I must with haste from hence.

Enter Antony, with a Messenger, and Attendants.

Cleo. We will not look upon him: Go with us.

1i.e. seized. 2 The sense is, that man, not agitated by censure, like soil not ventilated by quick winds, produces more evil than good. i. e. by regular repetition. * Could for would. Could, would, and should, are very often indiscriminately used in the old plays. i. e. for less reason; upon meaner motives..

if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well as Say, I am dancing; if in mirth, report, Jove.

Ant. 'Would I had never seen her!

Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been 5 blest withal, would have discredited your travel.

That I am sudden sick: Quick, and return.

10

wife of a man from him, it shews to man the tai

Enter Antony.

lors of the earth; comforting therein, that when 15 But here comes Antony.

old robes are worn out, there are members to

Cleo. I am sick, and sullen,

[pose,

make new1. If there were no more women but

Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case

Ant. I am sorry to give breathing to my pur-
Cleo. Help me away, dear Charmian, I shall

to be lamented: this grief ief is crown'd with con

It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature [fall;

solation; your old smock brings forth a new 20 Will not sustain it.

Eno. And the business you have broach'd here, 25 What says the marry'd woman?-You may go;

Have notice what we purpose: I shall break
The cause of our expedience to the queen,
And get her love to part. For not alone
The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches',
Do strongly speak to us; but the letters too
Of many our contriving friends in Rome
Petition us at home: Sextus Pompeiuş
Hath given the dare to Cæsar, and comniands
The empire of the sea: our slippery people
(Whose love is never link'd to the deserver,
"Till his deserts are past) begin to throw
Pompey the great, and all his dignities
Upon his son; who, high in name and power,
Higher than both in blood and life, stands up

For the main soldier: whose quality, going on,
Thesideso'theworldmaydanger:much is breeding,

Ant. Cleopatra,

[true,

Cleo. Why should I think, you can be mine, and 35 Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness, To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in swearing!

Ant. Most sweet queen,

[going,

40 Cleo. Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your
But bid farewell, and go: when you su'd staying,
Then was the time for words: No going then;-
Eternity was in our lips, and eyes;

Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, 45 But was a race * of heaven: They are so still,

Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he 55 Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius I did not send you';-If you find him şad,

Makes his approaches to the port of Rome;

The meaning is this; "As the gods have been pleased to take away your wife Fulvia, so they have provided you with a new one in Cleopatra; in like manner as the tailors of the earth, when your old garments are worn out, accommodate you with new ones." 2 Expedience for expedition. i. e. things that touch me more sensibly. 4 i. e. wish us at home. Alluding to an old idle notion, that the hair of a horse dropped into corrupted water, will turn to an animal. • You must go as if you 'came without my order or knowledge. i. e. in the arch of our eye-brows.

5

had a smack or flavour of heaven.--The race of wine is the taste of the soil.

i. e.

Equality

Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace
Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd

Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge
By any desperate change: My more particular,

5 For idleness itself'.

Cleo. 'Tis sweating labour,

To bear such idleness so near the heart
As úleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not

And that which most with you should safe mygoing, 10 Eye well to you: Your honour calls you hence;

Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me

Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read 15 Ant. Let us go. Come;

Is Fulvia's death.

[freedom,

Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,

It does from childishness: - Can Fulvia die?

Ant. She's dead, my queen:

And all the gods go with you! Upon your sword
Sit laurell'd victory! and smooth success
Be strew'd before your feet!

Our separation so abides, and flies,

That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me,

The garboils' she awak'd; at the last, best:

See, when, and where she died.

Cleo. O most false love!

Where be the sacred vials thou should'st fill
With sorrowful water1? Now I see, I see,
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' slime, I go from hence,
Thy soldier, servant; making peace, or war,
As thou affect'st.

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

Ant. My precious queen, forbear;
And give true evidence to his love, which stands
An honourable trial.

Cleo. And target. Still

he mends;

And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.

SCENE IV.
Casar's Palace in Rome.

Enter Octavius Cæsar, Lepidus, and Attendants.
Cas. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth
[know,

25 It is not Cæsar'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

30 More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall

find there

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

35 Lep. I must not think, there are

Evils enough to darken all his goodness:
His faults, in him, seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd'; what he cannot change,

140 Than what he chooses.

[not

Cas. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;

To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit

But this is not the best: Look, pr'ythee, Charmian, And keep the turn of tippling with a slave;

How this Herculean Roman does become

The carriage of his chafe.

Ant. I'll leave you, lady.

Cleo. Courteous lord, one word.

Sir, you and I must part, but that's not it:

:

(As his composure must be rare indeed, [tony Whom these things cannot blemish!) yetmust AnSir, you and I have lov'd, but there's not it; 50 No way excuse his foils, when we do bear so great weight in his lightness 10: If he fill'd

That you know well; Something it is I would,

i. e. the commotion she occasioned. -The word is derived from the old French garbouil, which Cotgrave explains by by hurlyburly, great stir. 2 Alluding to the lacrymatory vials, or bottles of tears, which the Romans sometimes put into the urn

of

3 So for as.

a friend.
Antony traced his descent from Anton, a son of Hercules.

4 i, e. to me, • The

the queen of Ægypt. plain meaning is, My forgetfulness makes me forget myself. But she expresses it by calling forgetfulness Antony; because forgetfulness had forgot her, as Antony had done. ' i, e, according to Warburton, "But that your charms hold me, who am the greatest fool on earth, in chains, I should have adjudged you to be the greatest." * Cleopatra may perhaps here allude to Antony having before called her, in the first scene, " wrangling queen, whom every thing becomes." meaning, according to Mr. Malone, is, " As the stars or spots of heaven are not obscured, but rather rendered more bright, by the blackness of the night; so neither is the goodness of Antony eclipsed by his evil qualities, but, on the contrary, his faults seem enlarged and aggravated by his

virtues." i. e. trifling levity.

9 The

His

As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge2,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And so rebel to judgement.

[hour, 10 To let me be partaker.

15

It is my business too. Farewell.

Lep. Farewell, my lord: What you shall know

mean time

Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,

Cas. Doubt it not, sir; I knew it for my bond.

SCENE V.

The Palace in Alexandria.

[Exeunt.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian.

Enter a Messenger.

Lep. Here's more news. :

Mes. Thy biddings have been done; and every

Most noble Cæsar, shalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
And it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports
The discontents repair, and men's reports
Give him much wrong'd.

Cas. I should have known no less :-
It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he, which is, was wish'd, until he were;
And the ebb'dman, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love,
'Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, [body,
Goes to, and back, lackying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion.

Mes. Cæsar, I bring thee word,
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates, [wound
Make the sea serve them; which they ear and
With keels of every kind: Many hot inroads
They make in Italy; the borders maritime

Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth re

volt:

No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon

Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more,
Than could his war resisted.

Cas. Antony,

Leave thy lascivious wassels. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer: Thou didst drink
The stale of horses', and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then
did deign

The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsedst: on the Alps,
It is reported, thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on: And all this
(It wounds thine honour, that I speak it now)
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy check
So much as lank'd not.

Cleo. Charmian,

Char. Madam.

30 In aught an eunuch has: "Tis well for thee,
That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts
May not fly forth of Ægypt. Hast thou affections?
Mar. Yes, gracious madam.
Cleo. Indeed?

[thing

35 Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do no-
But what in deed is honest to be done:
Yet have I fierce affections, and think,
What Venus did with Mars.

Cleo. O Charmian!

[he?

40 Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits
Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?

O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou

mov'st?

45 The demy Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of man. He's speaking now,
Or murmuring, 'Where's my serpent of old Nile?"
For so he calls me;-Now I feed myself
With most delicious poison: Think on me,
50 That am with Phœbus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time! Broad-fronted Cæsar,
When thou wast here above the ground, I was
A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey
Would stand, and make his eyes grow in my
brow;

55

There would he anchor his aspect, and die
With looking on his life.

Enter Alexas.

Alex. Sovereign of Ægypt, hail!

To ear is to

Call on him, is visit him for it. 2 i. e. boys old enough to know their duty. plow. * i. e. turn pale at the thought of it. Flush youth is youth ripened to manhood; youth whose blood is at the flow. • Wassel is here put for intemperance in general. 'All these circumstances of Antony's distress are taken literally from Plutarch. * A plant of which the infusion was supposed to procure sleep. A burgonet is a kind of helmet.

Cleo.