Sold. Enter a Soldier of Cæsar's. Enobarbus, Antony Hath after thee sent all thy treasure, with Eno. I give it you. Sold. I tell you true. Mock not, Enobarbus; Out of the host; I must attend mine office, [Exit Soldier. Eno. I am alone the villain of the earth, Thou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid Thou dost so crown with gold! This blows1 my heart: If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean Shall outstrike thought; but thought will do't, I feel. I fight against thee!-No; I will go seek Some ditch, wherein to die; the foul'st best fits [Exit. SCENE VII. Field of Battle between the Camps. Alarum. Drums and trumpets. Enter AGRIPPA and others. Agr. Retire, we have engaged ourselves too far; Cæsar himself has work, and our oppression2 Exceeds what we expected. [Exeunt. Alarum. Enter ANTONY and SCARUS, wounded. Scar. O my brave emperor, this is fought indeed! 1 "This generosity (says Enobarbus) swells my heart, so that it will quickly break, if thought break it not." 2 "Our oppression" means the force by which we are oppressed or overpowered. Had we done so at first, we had driven them home Ant. Thou bleed'st apace. Scar. I had a wound here that was like a T, But now 'tis made an H. Ant. They do retire. Scar. We'll beat 'em into bench-holes; I have yet Room for six scotches more. Enter EROS. Eros. They are beaten, sir; and our advantage serves For a fair victory. Scar. Let us score their backs, And snatch 'em up, as we take hares, behind; 'Tis sport to maul a runner. Ant. Once for thy sprightly comfort, and tenfold I will reward thee For thy good valor. Come thee on. I'll halt after. [Exeunt. SCENE VIII. Under the Walls of Alexandria. Alarum. Enter ANTONY, marching; SCARUS and Forces. Ant. We have beat him to his camp; run one before, And let the queen know of our guests.2-To-morrow, Before the sun shall see us, we'll spill the blood That has to-day escaped. I thank you all; For doughty-handed are you; and have fought Not as you served the cause, but as it had been Each man's like mine; you have shown all Hectors. Enter the city; clip your wives, your friends: Tell them your feats; whilst they with joyful tears 1 The hole in a bench, ad levandum alvum. 2 Antony, after his success, intends to bring his officers to sup with Cleopatra. Wash the congealment from your wounds, and kiss Enter CLEOPATRA, attended. To this great fairy' I'll commend thy acts, [To SCARUS. Make her thanks bless thee.-O thou day o' the world, Chain mine armed neck; leap thou, attire and all, Through proof of harness to my heart, and there Ride on the pants triumphing. Cleo. Lord of lords! O infinite virtue! com'st thou smiling from Ant. My nightingale, We have beat them to their beds. What, girl? though gray Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet have we A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can 4 Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man ; Cleo. I'll give thee, friend, An armor all of gold; it was a king's. Ant. He has deserved it, were it carbuncled Like holy Phoebus' car.-Give me thy hand; Through Alexandria make a jolly march; Bear our hacked targets like the men that owe them.5 Had our great palace the capacity To camp this host, we all would sup together, And drink carouses to the next day's fate, 1 Fairy, in former times, did not signify only a diminutive, imaginary being, but an enchanter. 2 i. e. armor of proof (harnois, Fr.; arnese, Ital.). 3 i. e. the war. 4 At all plays of barriers, the boundary is called a goal; to win a goal is to be superior in a contest of activity. 5 "With spirit and exultation, such as become the brave warriors that own them." Which promises royal peril.-Trumpeters, That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together, Applauding our approach. SCENE IX. Cæsar's Camp. [Exeunt. Sentinels on their post. Enter ENOBARBUS. The night 1 Sold. If we be not relieved within this hour, 2 Sold. A shrewd one to us. Eno. This last day was O, bear me witness, night, 3 Sold. What man is this? 2 Sold. Stand close, and list him. Eno. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, When men revolted shall upon record Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did Before thy face repent! 1 Sold. 3 Sold. Enobarbus! Peace; Hark further. Eno. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, The poisonous damp of night disponge 3 upon me; That life, a very rebel to my will, May hang no longer on me. Throw my heart Against the flint and hardness of my fault; Which being dried with grief, will break to powder, And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony, Nobler than my revolt is infamous, Forgive me in thine own particular; A master-leaver, and a fugitive. O Antony! O Antony! [Dies. 2 Sold To him. Let's speak 1 Sold. Let's hear him, for the things he speaks May concern Cæsar. 3 Sold. Let's do so. But he sleeps. 1 Sold. Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his Was never yet for sleep. 2 Sold. Go we to him. 3 Sold. Awake, awake, sir; speak to us. 2 Sold. 1 Sold. The hand of death Demurely 2 wake the sleepers. [Drums afar off. Hear you, sir? hath raught him. Let us bear him note. Is fully out. 3 Sold. Come on, then; He may recover yet. [Exeunt, with the body. Our hour SCENE X. Between the two Camps. Enter ANTONY and SCARUS, with Forces, marching. Ant. Their preparation is to-day by sea; We please them not by land. Scar. For both, my lord. Ant. I would they'd fight i' the fire, or in the air; We'd fight there too. But this it is; our foot Upon the hills adjoining to the city, Shall stay with us. Order for sea is given; They have put forth the haven. Let's seek a spot,3 1 Raught is the ancient preterit of the verb to reach. 2 Demurely for solemnly. [Exeunt. 3 Some words appear to have been accidentally omitted in the old copy, which Malone has supplied by the phrase "Let's seek a spot." Rowe supplied the omission by the words "Further on." 4" Where we may but discover their numbers, and see their motions." |