SCENE ΧΙ.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, ENO-
BARBUS, CRARMIAN, and IRAS.

Cleo. What shall we do, Enobarbus?
Eno. Think, and die.

Cleo. Is Antony, or we, in fault for this?
Eno. Antony only, that would make his will
Lord of his reason. What although you fled
From that great face of war, whose several ranges
Frighted each other? why should he follow?
The itch of his affection should not then

Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point,
When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
The meered question : 'Twas a shame no less
Than was his loss, to course your flying flags,
And leave his navy gazing.
Cleo. Pr'ythee, peace.

Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS.

Ant. Is this his answer?

Eup. Ay, my lord.

Ant. The queen

Shall then have courtesy, so she will yield

Us up.

Eup. He says so.

Ant. Let her know it.

To the boy Cæsar send this grizled head,
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim

With principalities.

Cleo. That head, my lord ?

Ant. To him again; Tell him, he wears the rose

[6] Sir. T. Hanmer reads-Drink and die. I adhere to the old reading, which may be supported by the following passage in Julius Cæsar :

"

- all that he can do

Is to himself; take thought, and die for Cesar."

Mr. Tollet observes, that the expression of taking thought, in our old English writers, is equivalent to the being anxious or solicitious, or laying a thing much to heart. So, says he, it is used in our translations of The New Testament, Matthew vi. 25. &c. STEEV.--Think and die:-Consider what mode of ending your life is most preferable, and immediately adopt it. HENLEY.

[7] Mere-is a boundary, and the meered question, if it can mean any thing, may, with some violence of language, mean, the disputed boundary. JOHN.

Of youth upon him; from which, the world should note
Something particular: his coin, ships, legions,
May be a coward's; whose ministers would prevail
Under the service of a child, as soon

As i'the command of Cæsar: I dare him therefore
To lay his gay comparisons apart,
And answer me declin'd, sword against sword, 8
Ourselves alone: I'll write it; follow me.

[Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS.

Eno. Yes, like enough, high-battled Cæsar will
Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show 9
Against a sworder.-I see, men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffer all alike. That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Cæsar will
Answer his emptiness!-Cæsar, thou hast subdu'd
His judgment too.

Enter an Attendant.

Att. A messenger from Cæsar.

Cleo. What, no more ceremony?-See, my women!Against the blown rose may they stop their nose, That kneel'd unto the buds.-Admit him, sir.

Eno. Mine honesty, and I, begin to square. [Aside. The loyalty, well held to fools, does make Our faith mere folly: " - Yet, he, that can endure To follow with allegiance a fallen lord, Does conquer him that did his master conquer, And earns a place i'the story.

Enter THYREUS.

Cleo. Cæsar's will?
Thyr. Hear it apart.

Cleo. None but friends; say boldly.

Thyr. So, haply, are they friends to Antony. Eno. He needs as many, sir, as Cæsar has; Or needs not us. If Cæsar please, our master Will leap to be his friend: For us, you know, Whose he is, we are; and that's, Cæsar's.

[8] I require of Cesar not to depend on that superiority which the comparison of our different fortunes may exhibit to him, but to answer me man to man, in this decline of my age or power. JOHNS.

[9] Exhibited, like gladiators, to the public gaze:

HENLEY.

[1] Enobarbus is deliberating upon desertion, and finding it is more prudent to forsake a fool, and more reputable to be faithful to him, makes no positive conclusion. JOHNS.

Thyr. So.

Thus then, thou most renown'd; Cæsar entreats,
Not to consider in what case thou stand'st,

Further than he is Cæsar.2

Cleo. Go on: Right royal.

Thyr. He knows, that you embrace not Antony

As you did love, but as you fear'd him.

Cleo. O!

Thyr. The scars upon your honour, therefore, he
Does pity, as constrained blemishes,
Not as deserv'd.

Cleo. He is a god, and knows

What is most right: Mine honour was not yielded,

But conquer'd merely.

Eno. To be sure of that,

I will ask Antony.-Sir, sir, thou'rt so leaky,
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee.

Thyr. Shall I say to Cæsar

[Aside.

[Exit ENO.

What you require of him? For he partly begs
To be desir'd to give. It much would please him,
That of his fortunes you should make a staff

To lean upon :

But it would warm his spirits,
To hear from me you had left Antony,
And put yourself under his shrowd,
The universal landlord.

Cleo. What's your name?

Thyr. My name is Thyreus.

Cleo. Most kind messenger,

Say to great Cæsar this, In disputation
I kiss his conquering hand :3 tell him, I am prompt
To lay my crown at his feet, and there to kneel :
Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear
The doom of Egypt.

Thyr. 'Tis your noblest course.
Wisdom and fortune combating together,
If that the former dare but what it can,

No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay

[2] That is, "Cesar intreats, that at the same time you consider your desperate fortunes, you would consider he is Cesar:" That is, generous and forgiving, able and willing to restore them.

[3] The poet certainly wrote:

Say to great Cesar this. In deputation

I kiss his conqu'ring hand:

WARB.

That is, by proxy; I depute you to pay him that duty in my name, WARB. My duty on your hand.

Cleo. Your Cæsar's father

Oft, when he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in,
Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place,

As it rain'd kisses.

Re-enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.

Ant. Favours, by Jove that thunders !What art thou, fellow ?

Thyr. One, that but performs

The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest
To have command obey'd.

Eno. You will be whipp'd.

Ant. Approach, there :-Ay, you kite!-Now gods

and devils !

Authority melts from me: Of late, when I cry'd, ho!
Like boys unto a muss, 5 kings would start forth,
And cry, Your will? Have you no ears? I am

Enter Attendants.

Antony yet. Take hence this Jack, and whip him.
Eno. 'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp,

Than with an old one dying.

Ant. Moon and stars!

Whip him:-Were't twenty of the greatest tributaries
That do acknowledge Cæsar, should I find them
So saucy with the hand of she here, (What's her name,
Since she was Cleopatra?)-Whip him, fellows,
Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face,
And whine aloud for mercy: Take him hence.

Thyr. Mark Antony,

Ant. Tug him away: being whipp'd,

Bring him again:-This Jack of Cæsar's shall
Bear us an errand to him.--

[Exeunt Attend. with THYREUS.

You were half blasted ere I knew you :-Ha!

Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome,
Forborne the getting of a lawful race,
And by a gem of women, to be abus'd

By one that looks on feeders ?6

[4] Grant me the favour. JOHNS. [5] A muss, a scramble. POPE.

[6] A feeder, or an eater, was anciently the term of reproach for a servant. One who looks on feeders, is one who throws away her regard on servants, such as Antony would represent Thyreus to be. Thus, in Cymbeline:

"--that base wretch,

One bred of alms, and fester'd with cold dishes,

The very scraps o'the co urt." STEEV.

Cleo. Good my lord,

Ant. You have been a boggler ever :But when we in our viciousness grow hard, (O misery on't!) the wise gods seel our eyes; In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us Adore our errors; laugh at us, while we strut To our confusion.

Cleo. O, is it come to this?

Ant. I found you as a morsel, cold upon

Dead Cæsar's trencher: nay, you were a fragment
Of Cneius Pompey's; besides what hotter hours,
Unregister'd in vulgar fame, you have
Luxuriously pick'd out :-For, I am sure,
Though you can guess what temperance should be,
You know not what it is.

Cleo. Wherefore is this?

Ant. To let a fellow that will take rewards,

And say, God quit you! be familiar with
My play fellow, your hand; this kingly seal,
And plighter of high hearts!-O, that I were
Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar
The horned herd !7 for I have savage cause ;
And to proclaim it civilly, were like
A halter'd neck, which does the hangman thank
For being yare about him. Is he whipp'd?

Re-enter Attendants, with THYREUS.

1 Att. Soundly, my lord.

Ant. Cry'd he? and begg'd he pardon ? 1 Att. He did ask favour.

Ant. If that thy father live, let him repent Thou wast not made his daughter: and be thou sorry To follow Cæsar in his triumph, since

Thou hast been whipp'd for following him: henceforth,
The white hand of a lady fever thee,
Shake thou to look on't. Get thee back to Cæsar,
Tell him thy entertainment: Look, thou say,
He makes me angry with him: for he seems
Proud and disdainful; harping on what I am ;
Not what he knew I was: he makes me angry ;
And at this time most easy 'tis to do't;

[7] It is not without pity and indignation that the reader of this great poet meets so often with this low jest, which is too much a favourite to be left out of either mirth or fury. JOHNS.-The idea of the horned herd was caught from Psalm xxii. 12: "Many oxen are come about me: fat bulls of Basan close me in on every side." STEEV.

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VOL. VI.