To spend upon his haters: If thou please
To take me to thee, as I was to him
I'll be to Cæsar; if thou pleasest not,

I yield thee up my life.

Cæs.

What is't thou say'st?

Der. I say, O Cæsar, Antony is dead.

Cæs. The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater crack: The round world should have shook Lions into civil streets,

And citizens to their dens: The death of Antony
Is not a single doom; in the name lay

A moiety of the world.

Der.

He is dead, Cæsar;

Not by a publick minister of justice,

Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand,

Which writ his honour in the acts it did,

Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,
Splitted the heart.-This is his sword,

I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd

With his most noble blood.

Cæs.

The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings

To wash the eyes of kings.9

Agr.

Look you sad, friends?

And strange it is,

His taints and honours

That nature must compel us to lament
Our most persisted deeds.

Mec.

Waged equal with him.

Agr.

A rarer spirit never

Did steer humanity: but you,
Some faults to make us men.

gods, will give us

Cæsar is touch'd.

Mec. When such a spacious mirror's set before him, He needs must see himself.

Cæs.

O Antony !

but it is a tidings

To wash the eyes of kings] That is, May the gods rebuke me, if this be not tidings to make kings weep. Mr. Malone omits a.

I have follow'd thee to this;- But we do lance
Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce
Have shown to thee such a declining day,
Or look on thine; we could not stall together
In the whole world: But yet let me lament,
With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,
That thou, my brother, my competitor
In top of all design, my mate in empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart

2

Where mine his thoughts did kindle, that our stars
Unreconciliable, should divide

Our equalness to this.3-Hear me, good friends,—
But I will tell you at some meeter season;

Enter a Messenger.

The business of this man looks out of him,
We'll hear him what he says.- Whence are you?

Mess. A poor Egyptian yet. The queen my mistress, Confin'd in all she has, her monument,

Of thy intents desires instruction;

That she preparedly may frame herself

To the way she's forced to.

Cæs.

Bid her have good heart;

She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,
How honourable and how kindly we

Determine for her: for Cæsar cannot live
To be ungentle.

Diseases in our bodies:] When we have any bodily complaint, that is curable by scarifying, we use the lancet; and if we neglect to do so, we are destroyed by it. Antony was to me a disease; and by his being cut off, I am made whole. We could not both have lived in the world together. MALONE.

2- his thoughts-] His is here used for its.

3 Our equalness to this.] That is, should have made us, in our equality of fortune, disagree to a pitch like this, that one of us must die.

Mess.

So the gods preserve thee!

[Exit.

Cæs. Come hither, Proculeius: Go, and say,
We purpose her no shame: give her what comforts
The quality of her passion shall require;

Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke
She do defeat us: for her life in Rome
Would be eternal in our triumph: Go,

And, with your speediest, bring us what she says,
And how you find of her.

Pro.

Cæsar, I shall.

Cæs. Gallus, go you along.

To second Proculeius?

Agr. Mec.

[Exit PROCUleius. Where's Dolabella,

[Exit GALLUS.

Dolabella!

Cæs. Let him alone, for I remember now
How he's employed; he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent; where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war;
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings: Go with me, and see
What I can show in this.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Alexandria. A Room in the Monument.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.

Cleo. My desolation does begin to make
A better life: 'Tis paltry to be Cæsar;
Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave,*
A minister of her will; And it is great
To do that thing that ends all other deeds;
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung,
The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's. 5

4

5

- fortune's knave,] The servant of fortune.

And it is great, &c.] The difficulty of the passage, if any

Enter, to the Gates of the Monument, PROCULEIUS, GALLUS, and Soldiers.

Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of Egypt; And bids thee study on what fair demands

Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

Cleo. [within.]

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. [within.]

What's thy name?

Antony

Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

That have no use for trusting. If your master
Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That majesty, to keep decorum, must

No less beg than a kingdom: if he please
To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,
He gives me so much of mine own, as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro.

Be of good cheer;

You are fallen into a princely hand, fear nothing:
Make your full reference freely to my lord,
Who is so full of grace, that it flows over
On all that need: Let me report to him
Your sweet dependancy: and you shall find
A conqueror, that will pray in aid for kindness,"
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

difficulty there be, arises only from this, that the act of suicide, and the state which is the effect of suicide, are confounded. Voluntary death, says she, is an act which bolts up change; it produces a state, Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung,

The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's.

Which has no longer need of the gross and terrene sustenance, in the use of which Cæsar and the beggar are on a level.

The speech is abrupt, but perturbation in such a state is surely natural. JOHNSON.

6

that will pray in aid for kindness,] Praying in aid is a term used for a petition made in a court of justice for the calling in of help from another that hath an interest in the cause in question.

Cleo. [within.]

Pray you, tell him

I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
The greatness he has got7. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly
Look him i'the face.

Pro.
This I'll report, dear lady.
Have comfort; for, I know, your plight is pitied
Of him that caus'd it.

Gal. You see how easily she may be surpriz'd; [Here PROCULEIUS, and two of the Guard, ascend the Monument by a Ladder placed against a Window, and having descended, come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the Gates. Guard her till Cæsar come.

[To PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit GALLUS. Iras. Royal queen!

Char. O Cleopatra ! thou art taken, queen!

Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

Pro.

Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this

Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo.

[Drawing a Dagger.

Hold, worthy lady, hold:

[Seizes and disarms her.

What, of death too

Cleopatra,

That rids our dogs of languish?

Pro.

Do not abuse my master's bounty, by
The undoing of yourself: let the world see
His nobleness well acted, which your death
Will never let come forth.

Cleo.
Where art thou, death?
Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen
Worth many babes and beggars! 8

The greatness he has got.] i. e. her crown which he has won. 8 Worth many babes and beggars!] Why, death, wilt thou not rather seize a queen, than employ thy force upon babes and beggars.