SCENE VII. On board Pompey's Galley, lying near Misenum.

When you have well deserv'd 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?

Musick.

Enter Two or Three Servants, with a banquet.

1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o' their plants are ill-rooted 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 it 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 senet sounded. Enter CESAR, ANTON, POмPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECANAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other captains.

Ant. Thus do they, sir: [To CESAR.] They take the flow o' the Nile

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 here; 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 prophecy 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.

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
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.

[Aside. Say in mine ear: what is't? Men. Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain, [Aside. And hear me speak a word. Pom. This wine for Lepidus.

Forbear me till anon.

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath breadth it is just so high at 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!

I could well forbear it.

Ant.

Be a child o' the time.

Cæs. Possess it, I'll make answer: but I had

From all four days, than drink so much in one.
Eno. Ha, my brave emperor [To ANTONT.
Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals,
And celebrate our drink?

Pom.

Eno.

All take hands. Make battery to our ears with the loud musick : — 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.

[Musick plays. ENOBARBUS places them

hand in hand.

SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne:
In thy vats our cares be drown'd;
With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd;
round;
go
Cup us, till the world
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 Eno-
barbe

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.

You have my father's house, friends:

Come, down into the boat.
Eno.

-

O, Antony, But what? we are

Take heed you fall not. [Exeunt POMPEY, CÆSAR, ANTONY, and Attendants.

Menas, I'll not on shore.
Men.
These drums!

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

No, to my cabin. these trumpets, flutes! what!

Ant. It ripens towards it.

Strike the vessels, ho!

Men. Come.

Ho!noble captain!

[Exeunt.

Here is to Cæsar.

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 achiev'd 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?

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! Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say, Cæsar;go no further.

Agr. Indeed, he ply'd 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. [Trumpets.

So,

-

This is to horse Adieu, noble Agrippa.

Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell. Enter CAESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA Ant. No further, sir.

Caes. 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.

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. Octa. 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. Octa. Sir, look well to my husband's house; and-Cæs. What,

Octavia ?

Oct. I'll tell you in your 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.

Oct.
O my good lord,
Believe not all; or, if you must believe,
Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady,
If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
Praying for both parts:

And the good gods will mock me presently,
When I shall pray, 0, bless my lord and husband!
Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud,

O, bless my brother! Husband win, win brother,
Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway
"Twixt these extremes at all.