Pro.

O, temperance, lady!
Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir;
If idle talk will once be necessary,9

I'll not sleep neither: This mortal house I'll ruin,
Do Cæsar what he can. Know, sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;
Nor once be chástis'd with the sober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up,
And show me to the shouting varletry

Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
Be gentle grave to me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro.

You do extend

These thoughts of horror further than
Find cause in Cæsar.

What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows,
And he hath sent for thee: as for the queen,†
I'll take her to my guard.

Pro.

So, Dolabella,

It shall content me best: be gentle to her. -
To Cæsar I will speak what you shall please,

If you'll employ me to him.

Cleo.

[TO CLEOPATRA.

Say, I would die.

[Exeunt PROCULEIUS, and Soldiers.

Dol. Most noble empress, you have heard of me?

Cleo. I cannot tell.

Dol.

Assuredly, you know me.

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Cleo. No matter, sir, what I have heard, or known.

will once be necessary,] Once may mean sometimes.

+ Mr. Malone omits as.

You laugh, when boys, or women, tell their dreams; Is't not your trick?

Dol.

I understand not, madam. Cleo. I dream'd, there was an emperor Antony ;O, such another sleep, that I might see

But such another man!

Dol.

If it might please you,—

Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck A sun, and moon; which kept their course, and lighted The little O, the earth.

Dol.

Most sovereign creature,

Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm
Crested the world1: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas,
That grew the more by reaping: His delights
Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above
The element they liv'd in: In his livery

Walk'd crowns, and crownets; realms and islands were
As plates2 dropp'd from his pocket.

Dol.

Cleopatra,

Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be, such a man As this I dream'd of?

Dol.

Gentle madam, no.

Cleo. You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. But, if there be, or ever were one such,

Crested the world:] Alluding to some of the old crests in heraldry, where a raised arm on a wreath was mounted on the helmet.

2 As plates-] Mr. Steevens justly interprets plates to mean silver money. It is a term in heraldry. The balls or roundels in an escutcheon of arms, according to their different colours, have different names. If gules, or red, they are called torteauxes; if or, or yellow, bezants; if argent, or white, plates, which are buttons of silver without any impression, but only prepared for the stamp.

It's past the size of dreaming: Nature wants stuff
To vie strange forms3 with fancy; yet, to imagine
An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite.*

Dol.

Hear me, good madam :
Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it
As answering to the weight: 'Would I might never
O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel,

By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots
My very heart at root.

Cleo.

I thank you, sir.

Know you, what Cæsar means to do with me?
Dol. I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.
Cleo. Nay, pray you, sir,-

Dol.

Though he be honourable,

Madam, he will;

Cleo. He'll lead me then in triumph?

Dol.

I know it.

Within. Make way there,-Cæsar.

3 To vie strange forms-] To vie was a term at cards.

4

yet, to imagine

An Antony, were nature's piece'gainst fancy,

Condemning shadows quite.] The word piece is a term appropriated to works of art. Here nature and fancy produce each their piece, and the piece done by nature had the preference. Antony was in reality past the size of dreaming; he was more by nature than fancy could present in sleep.

Cleo.

Sir, the gods

Will have it thus; my master and my lord

I must obey.

Cæs.

Take to you no hard thoughts:

The record of what injuries you did us,

Though written in our flesh, we shall remember

As things but done by chance.

Cleo.

Sole sir o'the world,

I cannot project' mine own cause so well
To make it clear; but do confess, I have
Been laden with like frailties, which before
Have often sham'd our sex.

Cæs.

Cleopatra, know, We will extenuate rather than enforce:

If you apply yourself to our intents,

(Which towards you are most gentle,) you shall find A benefit in this change; but if you seek

To lay on me a cruelty, by taking

Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself
Of my good purposes, and put your children
To that destruction which I'll guard them from,
If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

Cleo. And may, through all the world: 'tis yours; and

we

Your 'scutcheons, and your signs of conquest, shall
Hang in what place you please.

lord.

Here, my good

Cæs. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.
Cleo. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,

I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;

Not petty things admitted.

Sel. Here, madam.

Where's Seleucus?

Cleo. This is my treasurer; let him speak, my lord, Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd

To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.
Sel. Madam,

I cannot project -] i. e. I cannot shape or form my cause, &c.

I had rather seel my lips, than, to my peril,
Speak that which is not.

Cleo.

What have I kept back?

Sel. Enough to purchase what you have made known. Cas. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve

Your wisdom in the deed.

Cleo.

How pomp

See, Cæsar! O, behold,

is follow'd mine will now be yours;

And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine.

The ingratitude of this Seleucus does

Even make me wild: O slave, of no more trust

Than love that's hir'd! What, goest thou back? thou

shalt

Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes, Though they had wings: Slave, soul-less villain, dog! O rarely base !7

Cæs.

Good queen, let us entreat you.

Cleo. O Cæsar, what a wounding shame is this; That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me,

Doing the honour of thy lordliness

To one so meek, that mine own servant should
Parcel the sum of my disgraces by

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8

Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar,
That I some lady trifles have reserv'd,
Immoment toys, things of such dignity
As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
Some nobler token I have kept apart.
For Livia, and Octavia, to induce
Their mediation; must I be unfolded

6 seel my lips,] It means, close up my lips as effectually as the eyes of a hawk are closed. To seel hawks was the technical term. 7 Orarely base !] i. e. base in an uncommon degree.

8 Parcel the sum of my disgraces by —] The meaning either is, “that this fellow should add one more parcel or item to the sum of my disgraces, namely, his own malice;" or, "that this fellow should tot up the sum of my disgraces, and add his own malice to the account. modern friends—] Modern means here, as it generally does in these plays, common or ordinary.

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