MENAS,

MENECRATES, friends to Sextus Pompeius.
VARRIUS,

TAURUS, lieutenant-general to Cæsar.

CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to Antony.

SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius's army.

EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Cæsar.

ALEXAS,

MARDIAN, a eunuch,

SELEUCUS,

DIOMEDES,

A Soothsayer.

A Clown.

attendants on Cleopatra.

CLEOPATRA, queen of Egypt.

OCTAVIA, sister to Cæsar, and wife to Antony.

CHARMIAN,

IRAS, }

attendants on Cleopatra.

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE: In several parts of the Roman Empire.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

ACT FIRST.

Scene I.

Alexandria. A room in Cleopatra's palace.
Enter Demetrius and Philo.

Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war

Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
The office and devotion of their view

Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan

To cool a gipsy's lust.

Flourish. Enter Antony, Cleopatra, her Ladies, the train, with Eunuchs fanning her.

Look, where they come :

Take but good note, and you shall see in him

The triple pillar of the world transform'd

Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.

Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon❜d.

Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved.

ΙΟ

Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new

earth.

Enter an Attendant.

Att. News, my good lord, from Rome.
Ant.

Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony:

Grates me: the sum.

Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knows

If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent
His powerful mandate to you, 'Do this, or this;
Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that;
Perform 't, or else we damn thee.'

Ant.
How, my love!
Cleo. Perchance! nay, and most like:

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You must not stay here longer, your dismission
Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony.
Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's I would say?

both?

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Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen, Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine Is Cæsar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers! Ant. Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch.

Cleo.

Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair

[Embracing.

And such a twain can do 't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.

Excellent falsehood!

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony

Will be himself.

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Ant.

But stirr'd by Cleopatra.
Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,

Let's not confound the time with conference harsh: There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now. What sport to-night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors.

Ant.

Fie, wrangling queen!
Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admired!
No messenger but thine; and all alone

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To-night we 'll wander through the streets and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
Last night you did desire it. Speak not to us.
[Exeunt Ant. and Cleo. with their train.

Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius prized so slight?
Phi. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony,
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony.

I am full sorry

Dem.
That he approves the common liar, who
Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!

Scene II.

The same. Another room.

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[Exeunt.

Enter Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where 's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen?

O, that I knew this husband, which, you say,

must charge his horns with garlands!

Alex. Soothsayer!

Sooth. Your will?

Char. Is this the man? Is 't you, sir, that know things? Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy

A little I can read.

Alex.

Show him your hand.

ΙΟ

Enter Enobarbus.

Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough

Cleopatra's health to drink.

Char. Good sir, give me good fortune.

Sooth. I make not, but foresee.

Char. Pray then, foresee me one.

Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are.
Char. He means in flesh.

Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old.

Char. Wrinkles forbid!

Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive.
Char. Hush!

Sooth. You shall be more beloving than beloved.
Char. I had rather heat my liver with drinking.
Alex. Nay, hear him.

Char. Good now, some excellent fortune!

Let me

be married to three kings in a forenoon, and
widow them all: let me have a child at fifty, to
whom Herod of Jewry may do homage: find me
to marry me with Octavius Cæsar, and companion
me with my mistress.

Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve.
Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs.

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