ACT III Mess. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low-voic'd.
Sc. III CLEO. That's not so good. He cannot like her long.
CHAR. Like her! O Isis ! 'tis impossible.
Cleo. I think so, Charmian: dull of tongue, and
dwarfish !
What majesty is in her gait? Remember,
If e'er thou look’dst on majesty.
MESS.
She creeps;
Her motion and her station are as one:
She shews a body rather than a life,
A statue than a breather.
CLEO.
Is this certain ?
MESS. Or I have no observance.
CHAR.
Three in Egypt
Cannot make better note.
CLEO.
He's very knowing;
I do perceive't. There's nothing in her yet:
The fellow has good judgment.
CHAR.
Excellent.
CLEO. Guess at her years, I pr’ythee.
MESS.
Madam,
She was a widow-
CLEO.
Widow ! Charmian, hark.
MESS. And I do think she's thirty.
CLEO. Bear'st thou her face in mind ? is 't long or round?
MEss. Round even to faultiness.
Cleo. For the most part, too, they are foolish that are so.
Her hair, what colour?
MESS. Brown, Madam; and her forehead
As low as she would wish it.
CLEO.
There's gold for thee.
Thou must not take my former sharpness ill :
I will employ thee back again; I find thee
Most fit for business : go make thee ready;
Our letters are prepar’d.
[Exit Messenger. CHAR.
A proper man.
CLEO. Indeed, he is so: I repent me much
That so I harried him. Why, methinks, by him,
This creature's no such thing.
CHAR.
Nothing, Madam.
CLEO. The man hath seen some majesty, and should ACT III know.
Sc. III CHAR. Hath he seen majesty ? Isis else defend,
And serving you so long!
CLEO. I have one thing more to ask him yet, good
Charmian :
But 'tis no matter; thou shalt bring him to me
Where I will write. All may be well enough.
CHAR. I warrant you, Madam.
[exeunt.
SCENE IV. Athens. A Room in ANTONY's House.
Enter ANTONY and OCTAVIA.
Ant. Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that,
That were excusable, that, and thousands more
Of semblable import—but he hath wag'd
New wars 'gainst Pompey; made his will, and read it
To public ear:
Spoke scantly of me: when perforce he could not
But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly
He vented them; most narrow measure lent me:
When the best hint was given him, he not took 't,
Or did it from his teeth.1
OcТА. .
O, my good Lord,
Believe not all; or, if you must believe,
Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady,
If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
Praying for both parts :
The good Gods will mock me presently,
When I shall pray, 0, bless my Lord and husband !
Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud,
O, bless my brother! Husband win, win brother,
Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway
'Twixt these extremes at all. ANT.
Gentle Octavia, Let
your best love draw to that point which seeks Best to preserve it: if I lose mine honour, I lose myself; better I were not your's Than your's so branchless. But, as you requested, 1 from the teeth outwards ; insincerely.
Yourself shall go between 's: the mean time, Lady,
I'll raise the preparation of a war
Shall stain your brother. Make your soonest haste;
So
your
desires are your's.
OcТА.
Thanks to
ту
Lord.
The Jove of power make me, most weak, most weak,
Your reconciler! Wars 'twixt you twain would be
As if the World should cleave, and that slain men
Should solder up the rift.
Ant. When it appears to you where this begins,
Turn your displeasure that way; for our faults
Can never be so equal, that your love
Can equally move with them. Provide your going ;
Choose your own company, and command what cost
Your heart has mind to.
[exeunt.
Enter ENOBARBUS and EROS, meeting.
ENO. How now, Friend Eros !
EROS. There's strange news come, Sir.
Eno. What, Man?
Eros. Cæsar and Lepidus have made wars upon Pompey.
ENO. This is old : what is the success?
EROS. Cæsar, having made use of him in the wars 'gainst
Pompey, presently denied him rivality; would not let
him partake in the glory of the action : and, not resting
here, accuses him of letters he had formerly wrote to
Pompey; upon his own appeal, seizes him: so the poor
third is up, till death enlarge his confine. Eno. Then, World, thou hast a pair of chaps, no more;
And, throw between them all the food thou hast,
They 'll grind the one the other. Where's Antony?
Eros. He's walking in the garden, thus; and spurns
The rush that lies before him ; cries Fool Lepidus!
And threats the throat of that his officer
That murder'd Pompey.
ENO.
Our great navy's rigg’d.
Eros. For Italy and Cæsar. More, Domitius;
i by showing how he misjudged me.
My Lord desires you presently: my news
20 ACT III I might have told hereafter.
Sc. V ENO.
"Twill be naught; But let it be. Bring me to Antony. Eros. Come, Sir.
[exeunt.
SCENE VI. Rome. CÆSAR's House.
Enter CÆSAR, AGRIPPA, and MECÆNAS.
Cæs. Contemning Rome, he has done all this and more
In Alexandria; here's the manner oft:
l' the Market Place, on a tribunal silver'd,
Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold
Were publicly enthron’d; at the feet sat
Cæsarion, whom they call my father's son,
And all the unlawful issue that their lust
Since then hath made between them. Unto her
He
gave the stablishment of Egypt; made her Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia,
Absolute Queen.
MEC.
This in the public eye
?
Cæs. I' the common show-place, where they exercise.
His sons he there proclaim'd the Kings of Kings;
Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia,
He
gave to Alexander; to Ptolemy he assign'd
Syria, Cilicia, and Phænicia: she
In the habiliments of the Goddess Isis
That day appear’d; and oft before gave audience,
As 'tis reported, so.
Mec.
Let Rome be thus
Inform’d.
AGR. Who, queasy with his insolence
Already, will their good thoughts call from him.
CÆS. The People know it; and have now receiv'd
His accusations. AGR.
Who does he accuse?
CÆs. Cæsar: and that, having in Sicily
Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him
His part o'the Isle: then does he say he lent me
Some shipping unrestor'd: lastly, he frets
That Lepidus of the Triumvirate
Should be depos'd; and, being, that we detain
All his revenue.
AGR.
Sir, this should be answer'd.
CÆs. 'Tis done already, and the messenger gone.
I have told him, Lepidus was grown too cruel ;
That he his high authority abus’d,
And did deserve his change: for what I have conquer'd,
I grant him part; but then, in his Armenia,
And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I
Demand the like.
Mec.
He'll never yield to that.
CÆs. Nor must not, then, be yielded to in this.
Enter OCTAVIA with her Train.
OCTA. Hail, Cæsar, and my Lord ! hail, most dear Cæsar !
CÆs. That ever I should call thee cast-away!
OCTA. You have not call'd me so, nor have you cause.
CÆs. Why have you stoln upon us thus? You come
not
Like Cæsar's sister : the wife of Antony
Should have an army for an usher, and
The neighs of horse to tell of her approach
Long ere she did appear; the trees by the way
Should have borne men; and expectation fainted,
Longing for what it had not; nay, the dust
Should have ascended to the roof of Heaven,
Rais'd by your populous troops. But you are come 50
A market-maid to Rome; and have prevented
The ostentation of our love, which left unshewn
Is often left unlov’d: we should have met you
By sea and land; supplying every stage
With an augmented greeting.
OcТА.
Good my Lord,
To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did it
On my free will. My Lord, Mark Antony,
Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted
My grieved ear withal : whereon I begg'd
His pardon for return.
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