ANT. The gods best know,

CLE. O, never was there Queen So mightily betray'd! Yet, at the first, I faw the treafons planted.

ANT. -Cleopatra,

CLE. Why fhould I think, you can be mine, and true, Though you in fwearing fhake the throned gods, Who have been falfe to Fulvia? Riotous madness, To be entangl'd with those mouth-made vows Which break themselves in fwearing!

ANT.-Most sweet Queen,

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

Blifs in our brows' bent; none our parts fo poor,
But was a race of heaven: They are so ftill,

Or thou, the greatest foldier of the world,

Art turn'd the greatest liar.

ANT. -How now, lady?

CLE. I would, I had thy inches; thou should'st know, There were a heart in Egypt.

ANT. -Hear me, Queen:

The ftrong neceffity of time commands.

Our fervices a while; but my full heart
Remains in use with you. Our Italy

Shines o'er with civil fwords: Sextus Pompeius
Makes his approaches to the port of Rome:
Equality of two domeftic powers

Breeds fcrupulous faction: The hated, grown to strength,
Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,

Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace

1

Into the hearts of fuch as have not thriv'd
Upon the present ftate, whose numbers threaten;
And quietness, grown fick of reft, would purge
By any defperate change: My more particular,
And that which moft with you should safe my going,
Is Fulvia's death.
[-dom,
CLE. Though age from folly could not give me free-
Is does from childishness; Can Fulvia die?
ANT. She's dead, my Queen:

Look here, and, at thy fovereign leifure, read
The garboils the awak'd; at the last, best:
See, when, and where she dy'd.

CLE. O moft falfe love!

Where be the facred vials thou fhould'ft fill
With forrowful water? Now I fee, I fee,
In Fulvia's death, how mine shall be receiv'd.
ANT. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advices: By the fire
That quickens Nilus' flime, I go from hence
Thy foldier, fervant; making peace, or war,
As thou affe&t'ft.

CLE. 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.

CLE. So Fulvia told me.

I prythee, turn afide, and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and fay, the tears
Belong to Egypt: Good now, play one scene

Of excellent diffembling; and let it look
Like perfect honour.

ANT. -You'll heat my blood; no more.

CLE. You can do better yet; but this is meetly. ANT. -Now, by my sword,

CLE. and target, Still he mends;

But this is not the beft: Look, prythee, Charmian, How this Herculean Roman does become

The carriage of his chafe.

ANT. I'll leave you, lady.

CLE. Courteous lord, one word. Sir, you and I must part,—but that's not it: Sir, you and I have lov'd, but there's not it; That you know well: Something it is I would,O, my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all-forgotten.

ANT. -But that your royalty

Holds idleness your fubject, I should take you
For idlenefs itself.

CLE.

Tis fweating labour,

To bear fuch idleness fo near the heart

As Cleopatra this. But, fir, forgive me ;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you: Your honour calls you hence ;
Therefore be deaf to my unpity'd folly,
And all the gods go with you! Upon your fword
Sit laurel'd victory! and smooth fuccefs
Be ftrew'd before your feet!

ANT. -Let us go. Come;

Our feparation fo abides, and flies,

That thou, refiding here, go'ft yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.

Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Rome. A Room in Cæfar's House. Enter Octavius CÆSAR, LEPIDUS, and their Trains. CAS. You may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæfar's natural vice to hate

One great competitor: From Alexandria

This is the news, He fishes, drinks, and waftes
The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra; nor the Queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or
Vouchfaf'd to think he had partners: You fhall find there
A man, who is the abstract of all faults

That all men follow.

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 blacknefs; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses.

CAS. You are too indulgent: Let us grant, it is not Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;

To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit

And keep the turn of tipling with a flave;

To reel the ftreets at noon, and stand the buffet

With knaves that smell of sweat: fay, this becomes him,

(As his compofure must be rare indeed,

Whom these things cannot blemish) yet muft Antony
No way excufe his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness: If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuoufnefs,

Full furfeits, and the drynefs of his bones,

B

Call on him for't: but, to confound fuch time,➡
That drums him from his sport, and fpeaks as loud
As his own ftate, and ours,-'tis to be chid

As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Enter a Meffenger.

LEP. Here's more news.

Mef. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, Moft noble Cajar, fhalt thou have report How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at fea; And it appears, he is belov'd of those That only have fear'd Cæfar: to the ports The discontents repair, and men's reports Give him much wrong'd.

CAS. I fhould have known no less:

It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he, which is, was wifh'd, until he were ;

And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd, 'till ne'er worth love,
Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

Goes to, and back, lacquying the varying tide,

To rot itself with motion.

Enter another Messenger.

Mef-Cafar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates, and Menas, famous pirates,

Make the fea ferve them; which they ear and wound With keels of every kind: Many hot inroads

They make in Italy; the borders maritime

Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt:
No veffel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon

Taken as feen; for Pompey's name strikes more,