Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the wine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne : 3
In thy wats our cares be drown'd ;
With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd;
Cup us, till the world go round;
Cup us, till the world go round !

Cas. What would you more?-Pompey, good night.

-Good brother,

Let me request you off: our graver business
Frowns at this levity.-Gentle lords, let's part;
You see, we have burnt our cheeks: Strong Enobarbe
Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue
Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost
Antick'd us all. What needs more words? Good night.
-Good Antony, your hand.

Pom. I'll try you o'the shore.

Ant. And shall, sir: give's your hand.

Pom. O, Antony,

You have my father's house,-But what? we are friends: Come, down into the boat.

Eno. Take heed you fall not.

[Exeunt Ром. CES. ANT. and Attendants.

Menas, I'll not on shore.

Men. No, to my cabin.

These drums !-these trumpets, flutes! what!-
Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell

To these great fellows: Sound, and be hang'd, sound out.

[A flourish of trumpets, with drums.

Eno. Ho, says 'a !-There's my cap.
Men. Ho!-noble captain!

Come!

)

[Exeunt.

[3] Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says a pink eye is a small eye, and quotes this passage for his authority. Pink syne, however, may mean red eyes: eyes inflamed with drinking, are very well appropriated to Bacchus. So, in Julius Cæsar :

"-such ferret and such fiery eyes."

It should be observed, however, that from the following passage in P. Holland's translation of the 11th Book of Pliny's Natural History, it appears that pink-eyed signified the smallness of eyes: "-also them that were pinke-eyed and had verie small eies, they termed ocella." STEEV.

[blocks in formation]

ACT IIL.

SCENE 1.-A Plain in Syria. Enter VENTIDIUS, as after conquest, with SILius and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead Body of PACORUS borne before him.

Ven. NOW, darting Parthia, art thou struck; 4 and now Pleas'd Fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death Make me revenger.-Bear the king's son's body Before our army :-Thy Pacorus, Orodes, Pays this for Marcus Crassus.

Sil. Noble Ventidius,

Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media,
Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither

The routed fly: So thy grand captain Antony
Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and
Put garlands on thy head.

Ven. O Silius, Silius,

I have done enough: A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: For learn this, Silius;
Better leave undone, than by our deeds acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away.
Cæsar, and Antony, have ever won
More in their officer, than person: Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour.
Who does i'the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,
But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.
Sil. Thou hast, Ventidius,

That without which a soldier, and his sword,

Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony?

[4] Struck-alludes to darting. Thou whose darts have so often struck others, art struck now thyself. JOHNSON.

[5] Pacorus was the son of Orodes, king of Parthia. [6] See note, Coriolanus, p. 96. MAL.

STEEV.

[7] Grant-for afford. It is badly and obscurely expressed; but the sense is this, "thou hast that, Ventidius, which, if thou didst want, there would be no distinction between thee and thy sword. You would be both equally

Ven. I'll humbly signify what in his name, That magical word of war, we have effected; How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks, The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia

We have jaded out o'the field.

Sil. Where is he now?

Ven. He purposeth to Athens: whither with what haste

The weight we must convey with us will permit,
We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass along.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Rome. An Ante-Chamber in CÆSAR'S House. Enter AGRIPPA, and ENOBARBUS, meeting.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted ?

Eno. They have despatch'd with Pompey, he is gone;

The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps
To part from Rome; Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus,
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the green sickness.

Agr. 'Tis Tis a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar!
Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony !
Eno. Cæsar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men.
Agr. What's Antony? the god of Jupiter.
Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How? the nonpareil!
Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird !8

Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say,-Cæsar;-go no

further.

Agr. Indeed, he ply'd them both with excellent praises. Eno. But he loves Cæsar best: -Yet he loves Antony: Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love To Antony. But as for Cæsar, Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.

Agr. Both he loves.

Eno. They are his shards, and he their beetle.9 So[Trumpets.

cutting and senseless." This was wisdom or knowledge of the world. Ventidius had told him the reasons why he did not pursue his advantages; and his friend, by this compliment, acknowledges them to be of weight.

[8] Arabian bird-the phoenix. JOHNS.

WARB.

[9] That is, they are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground. So, in Macbeth:

"--the shard-borne beetle."

STEEV.

This is to horse. - Adieu, noble Agrippa.
Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.

Enter CÆSAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA.

Ant. No further, sir.

Cas. You take from me a great part of myself; Use me well in it. -Sister, prove such a wife As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest band Shall pass on thy approof.-Most noble Antony, Let not the piece of virtue, which is set Betwixt us, as the cement of our love, To keep it builded, be the ram, to batter The fortress of it: for better might we Have loved without this mean, if on both parts This be not cherish'd.

Ant. Make me not offended

In your distrust.

Cas. I have said.

Ant. You shall not find,

Though you be therein curious, the least cause
For what you seem to fear: So, the gods keep you,
And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!
We will here part.

Cas. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well;
The elements be kind to thee, and make
Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well.

Oct. My noble brother !

Ant. The April's in her eyes: It is love's spring, And these the showers to bring it on :-Be cheerful. Oct. Sir, look well to my husband's house; andCes. What,

Octavia?

Oct. I'll tell you in your ear.

Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can Her heart inform her tongue: the swan's down feather,

That stands upon the swell at full of tide,

And neither way inclines.

Eno. Will Cæsar weep?

Agr. He has a cloud in's face.

[Aside to AGRIP.

Eno. He were the worse for that, were he a horse; 3

[1] As I will venture the greatest pledge of security, on the trial of thy conduct. JOHNS.-Band and bond, in our author's time, were synonymous. MAL.

[2] i.e. scrupulous. So, in The Taming of the Shrew:

"For curious I cannot be with you.

STEEV.

[3] A horse is said to have a cloud in his face, when he has a black or dark coloured spot in his forehead between his eyes. This gives him a sour

So is he, being a man.

Agr. Why, Enobarbus ?

When Antony found Julius Cæsar dead,
He cried almost to roaring: and he wept,
When at Philippi he found Brutus slain,

Eno.That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum;

What willingly he did confound, he wail'd :
Believe it, till I weep too.

Cas. No, sweet Octavia,

You shall hear from me still; the time shall not

Out-go my thinking on you..

Ant. Come, sir, come;

I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,

And give you to the gods.

Cas. Adieu; be happy!

Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light

To thy fair way!

Cas. Farewell, farewell!
Ant. Farewell!

[Kisses OCTAVIA.

[Trumpets sound. Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Enter CLEOPATRA,

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS.

Cleo. Where is the fellow?

Alex. Half afeard to come.

Cleo. Go to, go to :-Come hither, sir.

Enter a Messenger.

Alex. Good majesty,

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you,

But when you are well pleas'd.

Cleo. That Herod's head

I'll have: But how? when Antony is gone

Through whom I might command it. Come thou near.

Mes. Most gracious majesty,

Cleo. Didst thou behold

Octavia?

Mes. Ay, dread queen..

Cleo. Where?

Mes. Madam, in Rome

I look'd her in the face; and saw her led

look, and being supposed to indicate an ill-temper, is of course regarded as

a great blemish.

29*

STEEV.

VOL. VI.

« AnteriorContinua »