ACT III, SCENE I

79

VENTIDIUS

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' th' field.

SILIUS

Where is he now?

VENTIDIUS

He purposeth to Athens: whither, with what haste
The weight we must convey with 's will permit,
We shall appear before him. On, there; pass along!

Exeunt.

SCENE II

ROME. AN ANTECHAMBER IN CESAR'S HOUSE

Enter AGRIPPA at one door, ENOBARBUS at another.

AGRIPPA

What, are the brothers parted?

ENOBARBUS

They have dispatch'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.

AGRIPPA

'T is a noble Lepidus.

ENOBARBUS

A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar!

AGRIPPA

Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!

ENOBARBUS

Cæsar? Why, he 's the Jupiter of men.

AGRIPPA

What's Antony? The god of Jupiter.

ENOBARBUS

Spake you of Cæsar? How! the nonpareil !

AGRIPPA

O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!

ENOBARBUS

Would you praise Cæsar, say « Cæsar: » go no further.

AGRIPPA

Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.

ENOBARBUS

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,

Knee down, kneel down, and wonder.

AGRIPPA

Both he loves.

ENOBARBUS

They are his shards, and he their beetle. (Trumpets within.) So;

This is to horse. Adieu, noble Agrippa.

AGRIPPA

Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.

As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest 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 lov'd without this mean, if on both parts
This be not cherish'd.

ANTONY

Make me not offended

In your distrust.

CÆSAR

I have said.

ANTONY

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.

CÆSAR

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

Antony and Cleopatra.

OCTAVIA

My noble brother!

The April's in her eyes

ANTONY

it is love's spring,

And these the showers to bring it on. Be cheerful.

OCTAVIA

Sir, look well to my husband's house; and

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.

ENOBARBUS, aside to Agrippa.

Will Cæsar weep?

AGRIPPA, aside to Enobarbus.

He has a cloud in 's face.

ENOBARBUS, aside to Agrippa.

He were the worse for that, were he a horse;

So is he, being a man.

AGRIPPA, aside to Enobarbus.

Why, Enobarbus,

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

ENOBARBUS, aside to Agrippa.

That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum; What willingly he did confound he wail'd,

Believe 't, till I wept too.

CÆSAR

No, sweet Octavia,

You shall hear from me still; the time shall not

Out-go my thinking on you.

ANTONY

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.