The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

  ALEXAS. Sovereign of Egypt, hail!  CLEOPATRA. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony!    Yet, coming from him, that great med'cine hath    With his tinct gilded thee.    How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?  ALEXAS. Last thing he did, dear Queen,    He kiss'd- the last of many doubled kisses-    This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart.  CLEOPATRA. Mine ear must pluck it thence.  ALEXAS. 'Good friend,' quoth he    'Say the firm Roman to great Egypt sends    This treasure of an oyster; at whose foot,    To mend the petty present, I will piece    Her opulent throne with kingdoms. All the East,    Say thou, shall call her mistress.' So he nodded,    And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed,    Who neigh'd so high that what I would have spoke    Was beastly dumb'd by him.  CLEOPATRA. What, was he sad or merry?  ALEXAS. Like to the time o' th' year between the extremes    Of hot and cold; he was nor sad nor merry.  CLEOPATRA. O well-divided disposition! Note him,    Note him, good Charmian; 'tis the man; but note him!    He was not sad, for he would shine on those    That make their looks by his; he was not merry,    Which seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay    In Egypt with his joy; but between both.    O heavenly mingle! Be'st thou sad or merry,    The violence of either thee becomes,    So does it no man else. Met'st thou my posts?  ALEXAS. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers.    Why do you send so thick?  CLEOPATRA. Who's born that day    When I forget to send to Antony    Shall die a beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.    Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I, Charmian,    Ever love Caesar so?  CHARMIAN. O that brave Caesar!  CLEOPATRA. Be chok'd with such another emphasis!    Say 'the brave Antony.'  CHARMIAN. The valiant Caesar!  CLEOPATRA. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth    If thou with Caesar paragon again    My man of men.  CHARMIAN. By your most gracious pardon,    I sing but after you.  CLEOPATRA. My salad days,    When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,    To say as I said then. But come, away!    Get me ink and paper.    He shall have every day a several greeting,    Or I'll unpeople Egypt. Exeunt

ACT II. SCENE I. Messina. POMPEY'S house

Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS, in warlike manner

  POMPEY. If the great gods be just, they shall assist    The deeds of justest men.  MENECRATES. Know, worthy Pompey,    That what they do delay they not deny.  POMPEY. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays    The thing we sue for.  MENECRATES. We, ignorant of ourselves,    Beg often our own harms, which the wise pow'rs    Deny us for our good; so find we profit    By losing of our prayers.  POMPEY. I shall do well.    The people love me, and the sea is mine;    My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope    Says it will come to th' full. Mark Antony    In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make    No wars without doors. Caesar gets money where    He loses hearts. Lepidus flatters both,    Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves,    Nor either cares for him.  MENAS. Caesar and Lepidus    Are in the field. A mighty strength they carry.  POMPEY. Where have you this? 'Tis false.  MENAS. From Silvius, sir.  POMPEY. He dreams. I know they are in Rome together,    Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,    Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip!    Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both;    Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,    Keep his brain fuming. Epicurean cooks    Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite,    That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour    Even till a Lethe'd dullness-

Enter VARRIUS

    How now, Varrius!  VARRIUS. This is most certain that I shall deliver:    Mark Antony is every hour in Rome    Expected. Since he went from Egypt 'tis    A space for farther travel.  POMPEY. I could have given less matter    A better ear. Menas, I did not think    This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm    For such a petty war; his soldiership    Is twice the other twain. But let us rear    The higher our opinion, that our stirring    Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck    The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony.  MENAS. I cannot hope    Caesar and Antony shall well greet together.    His wife that's dead did trespasses to Caesar;    His brother warr'd upon him; although, I think,    Not mov'd by Antony.  POMPEY. I know not, Menas,    How lesser enmities may give way to greater.    Were't not that we stand up against them all,    'Twere pregnant they should square between themselves;    For they have entertained cause enough    To draw their swords. But how the fear of us    May cement their divisions, and bind up    The petty difference we yet not know.    Be't as our gods will have't! It only stands    Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.    Come, Menas. Exeunt

SCENE II. Rome. The house of LEPIDUS

Enter ENOBARBUS and LEPIDUS

  LEPIDUS. Good Enobarbus, 'tis a worthy deed,    And shall become you well, to entreat your captain    To soft and gentle speech.  ENOBARBUS. I shall entreat him    To answer like himself. If Caesar move him,    Let Antony look over Caesar's head    And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,    Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard,    I would not shave't to-day.  LEPIDUS. 'Tis not a time    For private stomaching.  ENOBARBUS. Every time    Serves for the matter that is then born in't.  LEPIDUS. But small to greater matters must give way.  ENOBARBUS. Not if the small come first.  LEPIDUS. Your speech is passion;    But pray you stir no embers up. Here comes    The noble Antony.

Enter ANTONY and VENTIDIUS

ENOBARBUS. And yonder, Caesar.

Enter CAESAR, MAECENAS, and AGRIPPA

  ANTONY. If we compose well here, to Parthia.    Hark, Ventidius.  CAESAR. I do not know, Maecenas. Ask Agrippa.  LEPIDUS. Noble friends,    That which combin'd us was most great, and let not    A leaner action rend us. What's amiss,    May it be gently heard. When we debate    Our trivial difference loud, we do commit    Murder in healing wounds. Then, noble partners,    The rather for I earnestly beseech,    Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms,    Nor curstness grow to th' matter.  ANTONY. 'Tis spoken well.    Were we before our arinies, and to fight,    I should do thus. [Flourish]  CAESAR. Welcome to Rome.  ANTONY. Thank you.  CAESAR. Sit.  ANTONY. Sit, sir.  CAESAR. Nay, then. [They sit]  ANTONY. I learn you take things ill which are not so,    Or being, concern you not.  CAESAR. I must be laugh'd at    If, or for nothing or a little,    Should say myself offended, and with you    Chiefly i' the world; more laugh'd at that I should    Once name you derogately when to sound your name    It not concern'd me.  ANTONY. My being in Egypt, Caesar,    What was't to you?  CAESAR. No more than my residing here at Rome    Might be to you in Egypt. Yet, if you there    Did practise on my state, your being in Egypt    Might be my question.  ANTONY. How intend you- practis'd?  CAESAR. You may be pleas'd to catch at mine intent    By what did here befall me. Your wife and brother    Made wars upon me, and their contestation    Was theme for you; you were the word of war.  ANTONY. You do mistake your business; my brother never    Did urge me in his act. I did inquire it,    And have my learning from some true reports    That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather    Discredit my authority with yours,    And make the wars alike against my stomach,    Having alike your cause? Of this my letters    Before did satisfy you. If you'll patch a quarrel,    As matter whole you have not to make it with,    It must not be with this.  CAESAR. You praise yourself    By laying defects of judgment to me; but    You patch'd up your excuses.  ANTONY. Not so, not so;    I know you could not lack, I am certain on't,    Very necessity of this thought, that I,    Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought,    Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars    Which fronted mine own peace. As for my wife,    I would you had her spirit in such another!    The third o' th' world is yours, which with a snaffle    You may pace easy, but not such a wife.  ENOBARBUS. Would we had all such wives, that the men might goto    wars with the women!  ANTONY. So much uncurbable, her garboils, Caesar,    Made out of her impatience- which not wanted    Shrewdness of policy too- I grieving grant    Did you too much disquiet. For that you must    But say I could not help it.  CAESAR. I wrote to you    When rioting in Alexandria; you    Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts    Did gibe my missive out of audience.  ANTONY. Sir,    He fell upon me ere admitted. Then    Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want    Of what I was i' th' morning; but next day    I told him of myself, which was as much    As to have ask'd him pardon. Let this fellow    Be nothing of our strife; if we contend,    Out of our question wipe him.  CAESAR. You have broken    The article of your oath, which you shall never    Have tongue to charge me with.  LEPIDUS. Soft, Caesar!  ANTONY. No;    Lepidus, let him speak.    The honour is sacred which he talks on now,    Supposing that I lack'd it. But on, Caesar:    The article of my oath-  CAESAR. To lend me arms and aid when I requir'd them,    The which you both denied.  ANTONY. Neglected, rather;    And then when poisoned hours had bound me up    From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may,    I'll play the penitent to you; but mine honesty    Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power    Work without it. Truth is, that Fulvia,    To have me out of Egypt, made wars here;    For which myself, the ignorant motive, do    So far ask pardon as befits mine honour    To stoop in such a case.  LEPIDUS. 'Tis noble spoken.  MAECENAS. If it might please you to enforce no further    The griefs between ye- to forget them quite    Were to remember that the present need    Speaks to atone you.  LEPIDUS. Worthily spoken, Maecenas.  ENOBARBUS. Or, if you borrow one another's love for theinstant,    you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey, return itagain.    You shall have time to wrangle in when you have nothing elseto    do.  ANTONY. Thou art a soldier only. Speak no more.  ENOBARBUS. That truth should be silent I had almost forgot.  ANTONY. You wrong this presence; therefore speak no more.  ENOBARBUS. Go to, then- your considerate stone!  CAESAR. I do not much dislike the matter, but    The manner of his speech; for't cannot be    We shall remain in friendship, our conditions    So diff'ring in their acts. Yet if I knew    What hoop should hold us stanch, from edge to edge    O' th' world, I would pursue it.  AGRIPPA. Give me leave, Caesar.  CAESAR. Speak, Agrippa.  AGRIPPA. Thou hast a sister by the mother's side,    Admir'd Octavia. Great Mark Antony    Is now a widower.  CAESAR. Say not so, Agrippa.    If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof    Were well deserv'd of rashness.  ANTONY. I am not married, Caesar. Let me hear    Agrippa further speak.  AGRIPPA. To hold you in perpetual amity,    To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts    With an unslipping knot, take Antony    Octavia to his wife; whose beauty claims    No worse a husband than the best of men;    Whose virtue and whose general graces speak    That which none else can utter. By this marriage    All little jealousies, which now seem great,    And all great fears, which now import their dangers,    Would then be nothing. Truths would be tales,    Where now half tales be truths. Her love to both    Would each to other, and all loves to both,    Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke;    For 'tis a studied, not a present thought,    By duty ruminated.  ANTONY. Will Caesar speak?  CAESAR. Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd    With what is spoke already.  ANTONY. What power is in Agrippa,    If I would say 'Agrippa, be it so,'    To make this good?  CAESAR. The power of Caesar, and    His power unto Octavia.  ANTONY. May I never    To this good purpose, that so fairly shows,    Dream of impediment! Let me have thy hand.    Further this act of grace; and from this hour    The heart of brothers govern in our loves    And sway our great designs!  CAESAR. There is my hand.    A sister I bequeath you, whom no brother    Did ever love so dearly. Let her live    To join our kingdoms and our hearts; and never    Fly off our loves again!  LEPIDUS. Happily, amen!  ANTONY. I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst Pompey;    For he hath laid strange courtesies and great    Of late upon me. I must thank him only,    Lest my remembrance suffer ill report;    At heel of that, defy him.  LEPIDUS. Time calls upon's.    Of us must Pompey presently be sought,    Or else he seeks out us.  ANTONY. Where lies he?  CAESAR. About the Mount Misenum.  ANTONY. What is his strength by land?  CAESAR. Great and increasing; but by sea    He is an absolute master.  ANTONY. So is the fame.    Would we had spoke together! Haste we for it.    Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we    The business we have talk'd of.  CAESAR. With most gladness;    And do invite you to my sister's view,    Whither straight I'll lead you.  ANTONY. Let us, Lepidus,    Not lack your company.  LEPIDUS. Noble Antony,    Not sickness should detain me. [Flourish]                     Exeunt all but ENOBARBUS, AGRIPPA, MAECENAS  MAECENAS. Welcome from Egypt, sir.  ENOBARBUS. Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Maecenas! Myhonourable    friend, Agrippa!  AGRIPPA. Good Enobarbus!  MAECENAS. We have cause to be glad that matters are so well    digested. You stay'd well by't in Egypt.  ENOBARBUS. Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance andmade    the night light with drinking.  MAECENAS. Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, andbut    twelve persons there. Is this true?  ENOBARBUS. This was but as a fly by an eagle. We had much more    monstrous matter of feast, which worthily deserved noting.  MAECENAS. She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square toher.  ENOBARBUS. When she first met Mark Antony she purs'd up hisheart,    upon the river of Cydnus.  AGRIPPA. There she appear'd indeed! Or my reporter devis'd wellfor    her.  ENOBARBUS. I will tell you.    The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,    Burn'd on the water. The poop was beaten gold;    Purple the sails, and so perfumed that    The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,    Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made    The water which they beat to follow faster,    As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,    It beggar'd all description. She did lie    In her pavilion, cloth-of-gold, of tissue,    O'erpicturing that Venus where we see    The fancy out-work nature. On each side her    Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,    With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem    To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,    And what they undid did.  AGRIPPA. O, rare for Antony!  ENOBARBUS. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,    So many mermaids, tended her i' th' eyes,    And made their bends adornings. At the helm

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