So far ask pardon, as befits mine Honour

To stoop in such a case.

Lep. 'Tis nobly spoken.

Mec. If it might please you, to enforce no further
The griefs between ye: to forget them quite,
Were to remember, that the prefent need,

Speaks to atone you.

Lep. Worthily fpoken, Mecanas.

Eno. Or if you borrow one another's Love for the instant, you may when you hear no more words of Pompey return it again: you fhall have time to wrangle in, when you have nothing elfe to do.

Ant. Thou art a Soldier, only fpeak no more.

Eno. That truth fhould be filent, I had almoft forgot. Ant. You wrong this prefence, therefore speak no more. Eno. Go to then: your confiderate Stone. Caf. 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 differing in their acts. Yet if I knew, What Hoop fhould hold us ftaunch, from edge to edge Ath' World, I would pursue it.

Agr. Give me leave, Cafar.

Caf. Speak, Agrippa.

Agr. Thou haft a Sifter by thy Mother's fide, Admir'd Octavia! Great Mark Antony

Is now a Widower.

Caf. Say not fo, Agrippa; if Cleopatra heard you, your proof were well deferved of rafhness.

Ant. I am not married, Cafar; let me hear

Agrippa further fpeak.

Agr. To hold you in perpetual amity,

To make you Brothers, and to knit your Hearts
With an unflipping Knot, take Antony
Octavia to his Wife; whofe beauty claims
No worfe a Husband than the best of Men;
Whofe Virtue, and whofe general Graces speak
That which none else can utter. By this Marriage,
All little Jealoufies which now feem great,
And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing. Truths would be tales,

Where

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 ftudied, not a prefent Thought,
By duty ruminated.

Ant. Will Cafar fpeak?

Caf. Not 'till he hears how Antony is touch'd, With what is spoken already.

Ant. What power is in Agrippa, If I would fay Agrippa, be it so, To make this good?

Caf. The power of Cafar,
And his power unto Octavia.
Ant. May I never

To this good purpose, that fo fairly fhews,
Dream of impediment; let me have thy hand
Further this A& of Grace: and from this hour,
The Heart of Brothers govern in our Loves,
And fway our great Defigns.

Caf. There's my hand:

A Sifter I bequeath you, whom no Brother

Did ever love fo dearly. Let her live

To join our Kingdoms, and our Hearts, and never

Fly off our Loves again.

Lep. Happily, Amen.

Ant. I did not think to draw my Sword against Pompey, For he hath laid ftrange Courtefies, and great

Of late upon me.

I muft thank him only,

Left my remembrance fuffer ill report:

At heel of that defie him.

Lep. Time calls upon's,

Of us muft Pompey presently be fought,

Or else he feeks out us.

Ant. Where lyes he?

Caf. About the Mount-Mifenum.

Ant. What is his strength by Land?

Caf. Great, and increafing :

But by Sea he is an abfolute Mafter.
Ant. So is the Frame,

Would we had fpoke together. Hafte we for it,
Yet e'er we put our felves in Arms, dispatch we

The

The bufinefs we have talk'd of.

Caf. With moft gladness.

And do invite you to my Sifter's view,
Whither ftraight I'll lead you.

Ant. Let us, Lepidus, not lack your company.
Lep. Noble Antony, not fickness fhould detain me.

Manent Enobarbus, Agrippa, Mecenas.

Mec. Welcome from Ægypt, Sir.

[Exeunt.

Eno. Half the Heart of Cafar, worthy Mecanas. My Honourable Friend Agrippa.

Agr. Good Enobarbus.

Mec. We have caufe to be glad, that matters are fo well digested you stay'd well by't in Ægypt.

Eno. Ay Sir, we did fleep day out of countenance, and made the Night light with drinking.

Mec. Eight wild-Boars roafted whole at a breakfast: and but twelve Perfons there. Is this true?

Eno. This was but as a Fly by an Eagle: we had much more monftrous matter of Feaft, which worthily deserved noting.

Mec. She's a moft triumphant Lady, if report be square to her.

Eno. When she first met Mark Antony, the purs'd up Heart upon the River of Cydnus.

his

Agr. There the appear'd indeed or my reporter devis'd

well for her.

Eno. I will tell you;

The Barge fhe fat in, like a Burnish'd Throne
Burnt on the water; the Poop was beaten Gold,
Purple the Sails, and fo perfumed, that

The Winds were Love-fick.

With them the Oars were Silver,

Which to the tune of Flutes kept ftroke, and made
The water which they beat, to follow fafter,
As amorous of their ftrokes. For her own Perfon,
It beggar'd all defcription; fhe did lye

In her Pavillion, Cloth of Gold, of Tissue,
O'er-picturing that Venus, where we fee

The Fancy out-work Nature. On each fide her
Stood pretty dimpled Boys, like fmiling Cupids,

With divers-colour'd Fans, whofe wind did feem
To glow the delicate Cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did.
Agr. Oh rare for Antony.

Eno. Her Gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many Mere-maids tended her i'th' Eyes,
And made their bends adornings. At the Helm,
A feeming Mere-maid fteers; the Silken Tackles
Swell with the touches of those Flower-foft hands,
That yarely frame the Office. From the Barge
A ftrange invifible perfume hits the Senfe
Of the adjacent Wharfs. The City caft
Her People out upon her; and Antony
Enthron'd i'th' Market-place, did fit alone,
Whistling to th' Air; which but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
And made a gap in Nature.

Agr. Rare Egyptian!

Eno. Upon her landing, Antony fent to her,
Invited her to Supper: the replyed,

It should be better, he became her Gueft;
Which the entreated. Our Courteous Antony,
Whom ne'er, the word of no, Woman heard fpeak,
Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the Feast:
And for his Ordinary, pays his Heart,

For what his Eyes eat only.

Agr. Royal wench!

She made great Cafar lay his Sword to Bed,

He ploughed her, and she cropt.

Eno. I faw her once

Hop forty Paces through the publick Street.

And having loft her breath, fhe spoke, and panted,
That she did make defect, perfection,

And breathless power breath forth.

Mec. Now Antony must leave her utterly.

Eno. Never, he will not.

Age cannot wither her, nor cuftom fteal
Her infinite variety: Other Women cloy
The Appetites they feed, but the makes hungry,
Where most she fatisfies. For vileft things
Become themselves in her, that the holy Priests

Blefs

Bless her, when she is Riggish.

Mec. If Beauty, Wisdom, Modefty, can settle The Heart of Antony, Octavia is

A bleffed Lottery to him.

Agr. Let us go.

Good Enobarbus, make your felf my Guest,

Whilft you abide here.

Eno. Humbly, Sir, I thank you.

[Exeunt.

Enter Antony, Cæfar, Octavia between them.

Ant. The World, and my great Office, will sometimes Divide me from your Bofom.

Octa. All which time,

Before the Gods my Knee fhall bow in Prayers

To them for you.

Ant. Good Night Sir. My Octavia,

Read not my blemishes in the World's report:
I have not kept my fquare, but that to come
Shall all be done by th' Rule; good Night, dear Lady.
Octa. Good Night, Sir.

Caf. Good Night.

[Exeunt Cæfar and Octavia.

Enter Soothsayer.

Ant. Now Sirrah! do you wish your felf in Egypt ? Sooth. Would I had never come from thence, nor you thither.

Ant. If you can, your reafon?.

Sooth. I fee it in my motion, have it not in my tongue; hie you to Egypt again.

But yet

Ant. Say to me, whofe Fortune fhall rife higher, Cafar's or mine?

Sooth. Cafar's. Therefore, oh Antony, ftay not by his fide. Thy Damon, that's thy Spirit which keeps thee, is

Noble, Couragious, High, Unmatchable,

Where Cafar's is not. But near him thy Angel
Becomes a fear; as being o'erpower'd, and therefore

Make space enough between you.

Ant. Speak this no more.

Sooth. To none but thee, no more, but when to thee,

If thou doft play with him at any Game,

Thou art fure to lofe: And of that Natural luck

He beats thee 'gainst the odds. Thy Luftre thickens,
When he shines by: I fay again, thy Spirit