Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power, Tit. No, this was he, Messala, But Cassius is no more. O setting sun! So in his red blood Cassius' day is set; Mistrust of my success hath done this deed. Mes. Mistrust of good success hath done this O hateful error, melancholy's child! [Charges the enemy. Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus. [Exit, charging the enemy. CATO is overpowered, and falls. Luc. O young and noble Cato, art thou down? Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; Tit. What, Pindarus! Where art thou, Pin- And may'st be honour'd being Cato's son. darus? Mes. Seek him, Titinius: whilst I go to meet Tit. And bid me giv't thee? Didst thou not hear their Look, whe'r he have not crown'd dead Cassius! Luc. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough; Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus: Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe, SCENE V.-Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS. Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, Bru. Are yet two Romans living such as these?—He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain. The last of all the Romans, fare thee well! It is impossible, that ever Rome tears - Friends, I owe more Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: Slaying is the word; Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world I'll rather kill myself. Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius! Dar. C. O, Dardanius! [Whispers hen I do such a deed? Not so, my lord. It is more worthy, to leap in ourselves, Good Volumnius, Thou know'st, that we two went to school together; Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest, Cli. Fly, my lord, fly. Bru. Hence; I will follow thee. [Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and VOLUMNIUS. I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord: Thou art a fellow of a good respect; Brutus, I thank thee, That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true. Mes. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators, save only he, Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar; Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, [Exeunt. J. THYREUS, GALLUS, MENAS, MENECRATES, VARRIUS, } friends of Pompey. TAURUS, lieutenant-general to Cæsar. SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius's army. EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Cæsar. ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES; attendants on Cleopatra. A Soothsayer. A Clown. CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt. OCTAVIA, sister to Cæsar, and wife to Antony. CHARMIAN and IRAS, attendants on Cleopatra. Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants SCENE,-dispersed; in several parts of the Roman Empire. ACT I. SCENE I.-Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes, That o'er the files and musters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, The office and devotion of their view Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper; And is become the bellows, and the fan, To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come ! Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. Enter an Attendant. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates me:- The sum Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry; Or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent His powerful mandate to you, Do this, or this; Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that; Perform't, or else we damn thee. Ant. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance, nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your dismission Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony, Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's, I would say?— Both? Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen, sengers. Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair, [Embracing. And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind On pain of punishment, the world to weet, We stand up peerless. Excellent falsehood! Cleo. Ant. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough, Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Aler. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs. Sooth. You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike my children shall have no names: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches must I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile every wish, a million. Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch, Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Aler. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot sooth say. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.Pr'ythee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. Sooth. I have said. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose. Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas, come, his fortune, his fortune. — O, let beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a fou] knave uncuckolded: Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen." Alex. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but they'd do't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Not he, the queen, I must from this enchanting queen break off; Eno. What's your pleasure, sir? Eno. Why, then, we kill all our women: We see how mortal an unkindness is to them; if they suffer our departure, death's the word. Ant. I must be gone. Eno. Under a compelling occasion, let women die: It were pity to cast them away for nothing; though, between them and a great cause, they should be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly; I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment: I do think, there is mettle in death, which commits some loving act upon her, she hath such a celerity in dying. Ant. She is cunning past man's thought. Eno. Alack, sir, no; her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love: We cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacks can report this cannot be cunning in her; if it be, she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove. : Ant. 'Would I had never seen her! Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been blessed withal, would have discredited your travel. Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Sir? Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Fulvia? Ant. Dead. Eno. Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein, that when old robes are worn out, there are members to make new. If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented; this grief is crowned with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new petticoat: --and, indeed, the tears live in an onion, that should water this sorrow. Ant. The business she hath broached in the state, Cannot endure my absence.. Eno. And the business you have broached here cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode. Ant. No more light answers. Let our officers Have notice what we purpose. I shall break The cause of our expedience to the queen, And get her love to part. For not alone The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, Do strongly speak to us; but the letters too Of many our contriving friends in Rome Petition us at home: Sextus Pompeius Hath given the dare to Caesar, and commands The empire of the sea: our slippery people (Whose love is never link'd to the deserver, Till his deserts are past,) begin to throw Pompey the great, and all his dignities, Upon his son; who, high in name and power, Higher than both in blood and life, stands up For the main soldier: whose quality, going on, The sides o'the world may danger: Much is breeding, Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, |