Cæf. Look you sad, friends : (8)
The Gods rebuke me, but it is a tiding
To wash the eyes of Kings!

Agr. And strange it is,
That nature must compel us to lament
Our most persisted deeds.

Mec. His taints and honours
Weigh'd equal in him.

Agr. A rarer fpirit never
Did Iteer humanity; but you Gods will give us
Some faults to make us men. Cæfar is touch'd.

Mec. When such a spacious mirror's set before him, He needs must see himself.

Cel. O Antony ! I've follow'd thee to this but we do lance Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce Have shewn to thee such a declining day, Or look on thine; we could not stall together In the whole world. But yet let me lament With tears as soveraign as the blood of hearts, That thou my brother, my competitor In top of all design, my mate in Empire, Friend and companion in the front of war, The arm of mine own body, and the heart Where mine its thoughts did kindle; that our stars, Unreconcileable, thould have divided Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends, But I will tell you at fome meeter seafon. The business of this man looks out of him, We'll hear him what he says. Whence are you?

(58) Look you, fad Friends.). I observd in the Appendix to my SHAKESPEAR È restor'd, that it was requifite to transpose this Comma. Oétavius's Friends probably would avoid shewing any con cern on the News of Antony's Death, left it should give Displeasure to Cafar: which Cafar observing, it shews a noble Humanity in him to bid them share in such a Sorrow, and to tell them it is a Calamity, that ought to draw Tears even from the Eyes of Princes. Young Prince Henry, upon his Pather's Death, speaks just in the fame man ñer to his Brothers; and tho he would not have them mix Fear with their Affliction, he encourages them in their Sorrow.

Yet be fad, good Brother's ;
For, to speak Truth, it very well becomes you. z Henry W.

Enter

Enter an Ægyptian.
Ægypt. A poor Ægyptian yet; the Queen my

mistress,
Confind in all the has, (her Monument)
Of thy intents desires instruction ;
That she preparedły may frame her self
To th’ way she's forc'd to.

Cef. Bid her have good heart ;
She foon fhall know of us, by fome of ours,
How honourably and how kindly wé
Determine for her. For Cæfar cannot live,
To be ungentle.

Ægypt. May the Gods preserve thee! [Exit.
Cæs. Come hither, Proculeius; go, and say,
We purpose her no shame ; give her what comforts
The quality of her paffion shall require ;
Left in her Greatness by some mortal stroke
She do defeat us: for her life in Rome
Would be eternal in our triumph. Go,
And with your speedieft bring us what she says,
And how you find of her.
Pro. Cæfar, I lhall.

[Exit Proculeius. Cæf. Gallus, go you along ;- where's Dolabella, To second Proculeius?

[Exit Gallus.
All. Dolabella!
Cef. Let him alone; for I remember

now,
How he's employ'd: he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my Tent, where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war;
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and fee
What I can shew in this.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Monument.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, Mardian, and Se

leucus, above. Cleo. Y does to A better life; 'tis paltry to be Cæfar:

Not

MY

Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave,
A minister of her Will, and it is great
To do that thing, that ends all other deeds ;
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which leeps, and never palates more the dugg :-(59)
The beggar's nurse, and Cefar's.

Enter Proculeius.

Pro. Cæfar sends Greeting to the Queen of Ægypt,
And bids thee study on what fair demands
Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

Cleo. What's thy name?
Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. Antony
Did tell me of you, bad me trust you, but
I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,
That have no use for trusting. If your master
Would have a Queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That Majesty, to keep decorum, must
No less beg than a Kingdom; if he 'please
(59) Which sleeps, and never palates more the Dung,

The Beggar's Nurse, and Cæsar's.]
Our Poet has made Antony say, at the Beginning of this Tragedy, that

the dungy Earth alike Feeds Beast, as Man: but how are we to understand here, palating the Dung? The Text is certainly corrupt, and must be slightly help'd ; and tho' then we can't make it ftri&ly grammatical, we shall come at the Poet's detach'd and separate Allufions. I read,

Which sleeps and never palates more the Dug: rll explain the whole of Cleopatra's Reflections, as they lie, by a short Paraphrase. “ 'Tis Great in us to do that Action, (i. e. give our “ felves Death,) which puts an End to all other Actions; and which “ prevents and disappoints Accidents and Change of Fortune. “ While in Life, like flumbering Children, we palate and tamper for the Dug; but in the sleep of Death, we hone no more after

transitory Enjoyments. Death rocks us all into a fast and unbroken “ sleep; and is equally a Nurse to the Beggar, in this respect, as it is

to Cæsar". The Close of this Reflection is just what Horace has express'd by a different Image.

Pallida Mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,
Regumque turres.

Lib. I. Ode. 4.
Mr. Warburton.

To

1

To give me conquer'd Egypt for my Son,
He gives me so much of mine own, as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro. Be of good cheer :
You're faln into a princely hand, fear nothing ;
Make your full ref'rence freely to my lord,
Who is so full of grace, that it flows over
On all that need. Let me report to him
Your sweet dependency, and you shall find
A Conqu’ror that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneeld to.

Cleo. Pray you, tell him,
I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
The Greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly
Look him i'th' face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.
Have comfort, for, I know, your plight is pity'd
Of him that caus'd it.

[Here Gallus, and Guard, ascend the Monument by ch

Ladder, and enter at a back-Window.
Gall. You see, how easily she may be surpriz'd. (60)
Pro. Guard her, 'till Cæfar come.
Iras. O Royal Queen!
Char. Oh Cleopatra ! thou art taken, Queen.
Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

[Drawing a Dagger. [The Monument is open'd; Proculeius ruses in, and

difarms the Queen.

(60) Char. You fee, how easily she may be surpriz'd,] Here Charmian, who is fo faithful as to die with her Mistress, by the stupidity of the Editors is made to countenance and give Directions for her being surpriz’d by Cæsar's Messengers. But this Blunder is for want of knowing, or observing, the historical Fact. When Cæfar sent Proculeius to the Queen, he fent Gallus after him with new Instructions : and while one amused Cleopatra with Propositions from Cæfar, thro' Crannies of the Monument; the other scaled it by a Ladder, enter'd at a Window backward, and made Cleopatra, and those with her, Prisoners. I have reform'd the. Passage therefore, (as, I am perswaded, the Author design'd it :) from the Authority of Plutarch.

VOL. VI.

Y

Pro.

Pro. Hold, worthy lady, hold:
Do not your self such wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.
Cleo. What, of death too, that rids our dogs of lan-

guish
Pro. Do not abuse my master's bounty, by
Th’undoing of your self; let the world see
His Nobleness well acted, which your death
Will never let come forth.

Cleo. Where art thou, Death?'
Come hither, come: oh come, and take a Queen
Worth many babes and beggars.

Pro. Oh temperance, lady!

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, Sir :
If idle talk will once be necessary,
I'll not sleep neither. This mortal house I'll ruin,
Do Cæfar what he can, Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's Court,
Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye
Of dull Oétavia, Shall they hoift me up,
And shew me to the shouting varlotry
Of cens'ring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt
Be gentle Grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark nak’d, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My Country's high Pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains !

Pro. You do extend
These thoughts of horror further than you thall
Find cause in Cæfar.

Enter Dolabella.
Dol. Proculeius,
What thou hast done thy master Cæfar knows,
And he hath sent for thee: as for the Queen,
I'll take her to my guard.

Pro. So, Dolabella,
It shall content me beft; be gentle to her
To Cæfar I will speak what you shall please,
If you'll employ me to him.

Cleo,