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Cleo. Courteous lord, one word:

Sir, you and I muft part; (but that's not it,)
Sir, you and I have lov'd; (but there's not it;
That you know well;) fomething it is, I would:
Oh, my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all forgotten.

Ant. But that your Royalty

Holds Idleness your fubject, I should take you
For Idlenefs it self.

Cleo. 'Tis fweating labour,

To bear fuch idleness so near the heart;
As Cleopatra, this. But, Sir, forgive me;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you. Your Honour calls you hence,
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,

And all the Gods go with you! On your sword
Sit lawrell'd victory, and smooth success
Be ftrew'd before your feet!

Ant. Let us go: come,

Our feparation fo abides and flies,

That thou, refiding here, goeft yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to Cæfar's Palace in
Rome.

Enter Octavius Cæfar reading a letter, Lepidus, and attendants.

Caf. You may fees Lepidatural vice to hate
OU may fee, Lepidus, and henceforth know,

One great Competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news; he fishes, drinks, and waftes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manly
Than Cleopatra; nor the Queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he. Hardly gave audience,
Or did vouchfafe to think that he had Partners.
You fhall find there a man, who is the abstract
Of all faults all men follow.

VOL. VI.

Lep.

Lep. I must not think,

They're evils enough to darken all his goodness;
His faults in him feem (as the fpots of heav'n,
More fiery by night's blackness; ) hereditary,
Rather than purchaft; what he cannot change,
Than what he chufes.

Caf. You're 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 becomes him;

(As his compofure must be rare, indeed,

Whom these things cannot blemish;) yet must Antony

No way excufe his foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightnefs. If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuousness;
Full furfeits, and the drinefs of his bones,
Call on him for't. But to confound fuch time,
That drums him from his Sport, and speaks as loud
As his own State, and ours, 'tis to be chid:
As we rate boys, who, being mature

ledge,

in know

Pawn their experience to their prefent pleasure,
And fo rebel to judgment.

Enter a Mefenger.

Lep Here's more news.

Mef. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour,

Most noble Cafar, fhalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is ftrong at Sea,
And it appears, he is belov'd of those
That only have fear'd Cæfar: to the Ports
The Difcontents repair, and mens reports
Give him much wrong'd.

Caf. I fhould have known no less;

It hath been taught us from the primal State, (11)
That he, which is, was with'd, untill he were:
And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love,
Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,

Goes to, and back, lacquying the varying tide, (12)
'To rot it felf with motion.

Mef. Cæfar, I bring thee word,

Menecrates and Menas, famous Pirates,

Make the fea ferve them; which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind. Many hot inrodes
They make in Italy, the Borders maritime
Lack blood to think on't, and fluth youth revolt:
No vellel can peep forth, but 'tis as foon
Taken as seen: for Pompey's name ftrikes more,
Than could his war refifted.

Caf. Antony,

Leave thy lafcivious waffails; - When thou once

(11) It hath been taught us from the primal State,

That He, which is, was wish'd until he were:

And the ebb d Man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth Love,
Comes fear'd, by being lack'd.]

Let us examine the Senfe of this in plain Profe." The earliest Histo"ries inform us, that the Man in fupreme Command was always. "wifh'd to gain that Command, till he had obtain'd it. And he, "whom the multitude has contentedly feen in a low Condition, when "he begins to be wanted by them, becomes to be fear'd by them". But do the Multitude fear a Man, because they want him? Certainly, we must read;

Comes dear'd, by being lack'd. i. e. endear d, a Favourite to them. Befides, the Context requires this Reading; for it was not Fear, but Love, that made the People flock to Young Pompey, and that occafion'd this Reflexion.

(12) Goes to, and back, lathing the varying Tide,

To rot itself with Motion.]

Mr. Warburton.

How can a Flag, or Rufh, floating upon a Stream, and that has no Motion but what the Fluctuation of the Water gives it, be faid to lafh the Tide? This is making a Scourge of a weak ineffective Thing, and giving it an active Violence in its own power. All the old Editions read lacking. 'Tis true, there is no Senfe in that Reading; but the Addition of a fingle Letter will not only give us good Sense, but the genuine Word of our Author into the Bargain.

Lackying the varying Tide,

i. e. floating backwards and forwards with the Variation of the Tide, like a Page, or Lacquey, at his Waller's Heels.

Q 2

Wert

Wert beaten from Mutina, where thou flew'ft
Hirtius and Panfa Confuls, at thy heel

Did Famine follow, whom thou fought'ft against
(Though daintily brought up) with patience more
Than Savages could fuffer. Thou didst drink
The ftale of horses, and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at. Thy Palate then did deign

The rougheft berry on the rudeft hedge:

Yea, like the ftag, when fnow the paftureeets,
The barks of trees thou browfed'ft. On the Alps,
It is reported, thou didst eat ftrange flesh,
Which fome did die to look on; and all this,
(It wounds thine honour, that I fpeak it now,)
Was borne fo like a foldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not.

Lep. 'Tis pity of him.

Caf. Let his fhames quickly

Drive him to Rome; time is it, that we twain
Did fhew our felves i'th' field; and to that end
Affemble we immediate council; Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.

Lep. To morrow, Cæfar,

I fhall be furnish'd to inform you rightly,
Both what by fea and land I can be able,
To front this present time.

Caf. 'Till which encounter,

It is my business too. Farewel.

Lep. Farewel, my lord:

What you fhall know mean time of Stirs abroad,

I shall beseech you, let me be partaker.

Caf. Doubt it not, Sir, I knew it for my bond.

Farewel.

[Exeunt.

SCENE

SCENE changes to the Palice in Alexandria.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian.

Cleo.

CHarmian,

Char. Madam?

Cleo. Ha, ha

Char. Why, madam?

give me to drink Mandragoras.

Cleo. That I might fleep out this great gap of time,

My Antony is away.

Char. You think of him too much.

Cleo. O, 'tis treafon.

Char. Madam, I truft not fo.

Cleo. Thou, eunuch, Mardian,

Mar. What's your Highness' pleasure ?

Cleo. Not now to hear thee fing. I take no pleasure In ought an eunuch has; 'tis well for thee,

That, being unfeminar'd, thy freer thoughts
May not fly forth of Egypt. Haft thou affections?
Mar. Yes, gracious Madam.

Cleo. Indeed?

Mar. Not in deed, Madam; for I can do nothing But what indeed is honest to be done :

Yet have I fierce affections, and think,

What Venus did with Mars.

Cleo. Oh, Charmian!

Where think'st thou he is now? stands he, or fits he? Or does he walk? or is he on his horfe?

Oh happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony! Do bravely, horfe; for, wot'ft thou, whom thou mov'ft?

The demy Atlas of this earth, the arm

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 my self

With most delicious poifon. "Think on me, "That am with Phebus' amorous pinches black, "And wrinkled deep in time." Broad-fronted Cæfar, When thou waft here above the ground, I was

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