Pau. True, too true, my lord:
If, one by one, you wedded all the world,
Or, from the all that are, took fomething good,
To make a perfect woman; fhe, you kill'd,
Would be unparallel'd.

Leo. I think fo. Kill'd!

She I kill'd! I did fo: but thou ftrik'ft me
Sorely, to fay I did; it is as bitter

Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: now, good
Say fo but feldom.

Cle. Not at all, good lady:

[now,

You might have spoke a thoufand things, that

would

Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd
Your kindness better.

Love more rich for what it gives.

§ 15. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

HIS

Antony's Softnefs.

captain's heart,

SHAKSPEARE.

Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles in his breaft, reneges all temper;
And is become the bellows, and the fan,
To cool a giply's luft.

Love, the Nobleness of Life.

Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fali! here is my pace;
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beaft as man: the noblenefs of life
is, to do thus; when fuch a mutual pair,
And fuch a twain can do 't ; in which, I bind

Leo. I might have look'd upon my queen's full On pain of punishment, the world to weet,

Would the begin a fect, might quench the zeal
Of all profeffors elfe; make profelytes
Of who the but bid follow.

Anguish of Recollection for a loft Friend.
Pr'ythce, no more; cease, thou know'st,
He dies to me again, when talk'd of: fure,
When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy fpeeches
Will bring me to confider that, which may
Unfurnish me of reafon.

Effects of Beauty.

The bleifed gods Purge all infection from our air, whilst you Do climate here!

A Statue.

What was he, that did make it? See, my lord, Would you not deem it breath'd? and that thofe veins

There is an air comes from her: What fine chifel

Could ever yet cut breath:-Let no man mock
For I will kifs her.

We stand up peerlets.

Lover's Praife.

Fie, wrangling queen!

Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whofe every paffion fully trives

To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd!

Great Minds refpe&t Truth.

Mef. The nature of bad news infects the teller.
Aut. When it concerns the fool, or coward.-
On :

Things that are paft are done, with me 'tis thus:
Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death,
I hear him as he flatter'd.

Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue;
Name Cleopatra as the 's call'd in Rome:
Rail thou in Fulvia's phrafe; and tunt my faults
With fuch full licence, as both truth and malice
Have pow'r to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds
When our quick winds lie ftiil; and our ills told us,
Is as our caring.

Things loft valued.
Forbear me.-
There's a great fpirit gone! Thus did I defire it:
What our contempts do often hurl from us,
We wish it ours again; the prefent pleasure,
By revolution lowering, docs become
The oppofite of itfelf: the 's good, being gone;"
The hand could pluck her back, that fhov'd her on.
The Mutability of the People.

me,Whofe love is never lak'd to the deferver,
Our flippery people
Till his deferts are paft) begin to throw
Pompey the Great, and all his dignities,
Upon his fon; who, high in name and pow'r,
Higher than both in blood and life, ftands up
For the main foldier.

Affliction to a penitent Mind, pleafing.
Pau. I am forry, Sir, I have thus far ftirr'd you;
But I could afflict you further.

Leo. Do, Paulina;

Or thou, the greateft foldier of the world,
Art turn'd the greatest liar.

Cleopatra's anxious Tenderness.

Ant. I'll leave you, lady.

Ches. Courteous lord, one word.

Sir, you and I muft part-but that's not it :

Cleopatra on the Absence of Antony.

O Charmian,

Wherethink it thou he is now? ftands he? or fits he?
Or does he walk? or is he on his horfe?

O happy horfe, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horfe! for wot't thou whom thou
mov'ft?

Sir, you and I have lov'd-but there 's not it ;-
That you know well: fomething it is I would-The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
O, my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all-forgotten.

Cleopatra's Wishes for Antony on parting.

Your honour calls you hence;
Therefore be deaf to my unpity'd folly,
And all the gods go with you! Upon your fword
Sit laurel'd victory! and finooth fuccefs
Be ftrew'd before your feet!

Antony's Vices and Virtues.

Lep. I must not think

There are evils enough to darken all his goodness
His faults, in him, feem as the fpots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blacknefs; hereditary,
Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change,

Than what he chooses.

Caf. You are too indulgent. Let us grant, it

is not

Amifs to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;
To give a kingdom for a mirth; to fit
And keep the turn of tipling with a flave;
To reel the streets at noon, and ftand the buffet
With knaves that smell of fweat: fay, this

comes him,

And burgonet of man. He 's fpeaking now,
Or murmuring, "Where's my ferpent of old Nile?"
For fo he calls me; now I feed myself
With most delicious poison: think on me
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time! Broad-fronted Cæfar,
When thou waft here above the ground, I was
A morfel for a monarch; and great Pompey
Would ftand, and make his eyes grow in my brow;
There would he anchor his afpect, and die
With looking on his life.

Meffengers from Lovers, grateful.

How much unlike art thou Mark Antony! Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee.

Antony's Love and Difpofition.

Ale. Good friend, quoth he,

Say," the firm Ronian to great Egypt fends
This treasure of an oyfter; at whofe foot,
To mend the petty prefent, I will piece
be-Her opulent throne with kingdoms: all the east,
Say thou, fhall call her miftrefs." So he nodded,
And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed,
Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have
Was beaftly dumb'd by him.
[fpoke

(As his compofure must be rare indeed,
Whom thefe things cannot blemish) yet muft
Antony

No way excufe his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightnefs. If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuoufnefs,
Full furfeits, and the drynefs of his bones,
Call on him for 't: but to confound fuch time,
That drums him from his fport, and fpeaks as loud
As his own ftate, and ours-'tis to be chid
As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their prefent pleafure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Cle. Whst, was he fad, or merry?
Ale. Like to the time o' th' year, between the

him,

He was not fad; for he would fhine on thofe
which feem'd to tell them, his remembrance lay
That make their looks by his he was not merry;
In Egypt with his joy: but between both
O heavenly mingle-Be't thou fad or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes;
So does it no man elfe.

The Vanity of buman Wiftes.

Pom. If the great gods be juft, they shall affift
The deeds of jufteft men.

Men. Know, worthy Pompey,
That what they do delay, they not deny.
Pom. Whiles we are fuitors to their throne,
The thing we fue for.
[decays

Men. We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wife pow'rs
Deny us for our good; fo find we profit,
By lofing of our prayers.

Pompey's Wife for Antony's Captivity in Pleasure.

Pem. I know, they are in Rome together, Looking for Antony: but all the charms of love,

Salt

Defcription of Cleopatra's failing down the Cydnus.I
The barge fhe fat in, like a burnifh'd throne,
Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold,
Purple the fails, and fo perfumed, that
The winds were love-fick with them: th' oars
were filver;

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 description: she did lie
In her pavilion (cloth of gold, of tiflue),
O'er-picturing that Venus, where we see
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.

Apr. O are for Antony!

Eno. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids,
So many mermaids, tended her 1' th' cyes,
And made their bands adornings. At the helm,
A feeming mermaid freers; the filken tackle
Swell with the touches of thofe flow'r-foft hands,
That yarely frame the office. From the barge
A ftrange invifi le perfume hits the fente
. Of the adjacent wharf. The city caft
Her people our upon her; and Antony,
Enthron'd i'th male t-place, did fit alone,
Whistling to th' all, which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to graze & Cleopatia too,
And made a g. in natare,

Cleopatra's infinite Power in pleafing.
Age cannot wither her, nor cuftom itale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed; but the makes hungry,
Where moft the fatisfies. For vileft things
Becomes themfelves in her, that the holy pricfts
Blefs her when the is riggifh.

The unfettled Humour of Lovers.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexar. Cleo. Give me fome mufic; mufic, moody food Of us that trade in love.

Omnes. The mufic, ho!

Enter Mardian the Eunuch.

Cico. Let it alone: let 's to billiards: come,
Charmian.

Char. My arm is fore, beft play with Mardian.
Cleo. As well a woman with an euruch play'd,
As with a woman; come--you'll play with me, fir?
Mar. As well as I can, madam. [too short,

Cleo. And when good will is thew'd,tho' it come
The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now:-
My mufic playing far off, I will betray
Give me mine angle-we 'll to the river: there,
Tawny-finn'd fithes; my bended hook fhall pierce
Their flimy jaws; and, as I draw them up,
I'll think them every one an Antony,
And fay, Ah ha! you are caught.

Char. 'Twas merry, when

You wager'd on your angling; when your diver
Did hang a falt-fish on his hook, which he
With fervency drew up.

Cleo. That time!-O times!

laugh'd him out of patience; and that night
I laugh'd him into patience: and next morn,
Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed,
Then put iny tires and mantles on him, whilst
I wore his fword Philippan.

Ambition, jealous of a too fuccessful Friend.
O Silius, Silius!

I have done enough: a lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: for learn this, Silius;
Better to leave undone, than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame,when him we ferve's away.
O&avia's Entrance, what it should have been.
Why have you ftoi'n upon us thus? You come
Like Cæfar's fifter: the wife of Antony
Should have an army for an ufher, and

[not

The neighs of horfe to tel of her approach,
Long ere the did appear: the trees by th' way
Should have borne inen; and expectation fainted,
Longing for what it had not: nay, the duft
Should have afcended to the roof of heaven,
Rais'd by your populous troops. But you are come
The oftentation of our love, which, left unthewn,
A market-maid to Rome; and have prevented
Is often left unlov'd; we should have met you
By fea, and land; fupplying ev'ry ftage
With an augmented greeting.

Women.
Women are not

In their beft fortunes ftrong; but want will perjure
The ne'er-touch'd veftal.

Fortune