Mar. As well as I can, madam.

Cleo. And when good will is show'd, though it come too short,

The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now :-
Give me mine angle, We'll to the river: there,
My musick playing far off, I will betray
Tawny-finn'd fishes; my bended hook shall pierce
Their slimy jaws; and, as I draw them up,
I'll think them every one an Antony,
And say, Ah, ha! you're caught.
Char.

'Twas merry, when You wager'd on your angling; when your diver Did hang a salt-fish on his hook, which he

In state of health, thou say'st; and, thou say'st, free.

Mess. Free, madam! no; I made no such report:

He's bound unto Octavia.

I will not hurt him: These hands do lack nobility, that they strike A meaner than myself; since I myself Have given myself the cause. — Come hither, sir. Re-enter Messenger.

Though it be honest, it is never good

To bring bad news: Give to a gracious message An host of tongues; but let ill tidings tell Themselves, when they be felt.

Mess.

Cleo. Is he married?

I have done my duty.

I cannot hate thee worser than I do,

If thou again say, Yes.

Cleo. The gods confound thee! dost thou hold there still?

Mess. Should I lie, madam?

Cleo.
O, I would, thou didst;
So half my Egypt were submerg'd, and made
A cistern for scal'd snakes! Go, get thee hence :
Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me
Thou would'st appear most ugly. He is mar-
ried?

Mess. I crave your highness' pardon.
Cleo.

He is married?

Men. Nor what I have done by water. Eno. Yes, something you can deny for your own safety you have been a great thief by sea. Men. And you by land.

But give

Eno. There I deny my land service. me your hand, Menas: If our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kissing.

Men. All men's faces are true, whatsoe'er their hands are.

Eno. But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

Men. No slander; they steal hearts.
Eno. We came hither to fight with you.

Men. For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.

Eno. If he do, sure, he cannot weep it back again.

Men. You have said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony here; Pray you, is he married to Cleopatra ?

Eno. Cæsar's sister is call'd Octavia.

Men. True, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.

Eno. But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius. Men. Pray you, sir?

Eno. 'Tis true.

Men. Then is Cæsar, and he, for ever knit together.

Eno. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophecy so.

Men. I think, the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage, than the love of the parties.

Eno. I think so too. But you shall find, the band that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation.

Men. Who would not have his wife so?

Eno. Not he, that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cesar; and, as I said before, that which is the strength of their amity, shall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will use his affection where it is; he married but his occasion here. Men. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.

Eno. I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.

Men. Come; let's away.

SCENE VII.

- On board Pompey's Galley, lying near Misenum.

Musick. Enter Two or Three Servants, with banquet.

1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already, the least wind i' the world will blow them down.

2 Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured.

1 Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink. 2 Serv. As they pinch one another by the dispo sition, he cries out, no more; reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1 Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

2 Serv. Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship: I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service, as a partizan I could not heave.

1 Serv. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks. A senet sounded. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other captains.

Ant. Thus do they, sir: [To CESAR.] They take the flow o' the Nile

By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know,
By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth,
Or foizon, follow: The higher Nilus swells,
The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman
Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,
And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You have strange serpents there.
Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.

This wine for Lepidus.

[Asile.

Forbear me till anon.

Where's this cup I call'd for?

Are in thy vessel: Let me cut the cable;

And, when we are put off, fall to their throats:
All there is thine.

Pom.
Ah, this thou should'st have done,
And not have spoke on't! In me, 'tis villainy;
In thee, it had been good service. Thou must know,
'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;
Mine honour, it. Repent, that e'er thy tongue
Hath so betray'd thine act: Being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done;
But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink.
Men. For this,

[Aside.

Let me request you off: our graver business
Frowns at this levity. Gentle lords, let's part;
You see, we have burnt our cheeks: strong Eno-
barbe

Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue
Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost
Antick'd us all. What needs more words? Good
night. -
Good Antony, your hand.

Pom.

I'll try you o' the shore. Ant. And shall, sir: give's your hand. Pom. O, Antony, You have my father's house, But what? we are

friends: Come, down into the boat. Eno.

Take heed you fall not. [Exeunt POMPEY, CÆSAR, ANTONY, and Attendants.

LEPIDUS.

Why?

He bears

Menas, I'll not on shore.
Men.
These drums!

The third part of the world, man; See'st not?

No, to my cabin. these trumpets, flutes! what!

That it might go on wheels!

Eno. Drink thou; increase the reels.

Men. Come.

Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.

Men. Come.

Here is to Cæsar.

Ho!-noble captain! [Exeunt

I have done enough: A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: For learn this, Silius;
Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away.
Cæsar, and Antony, have ever won
More in their officer, than person: Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour.
Who does i' the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,
But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

Eno. Cæsar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men. Agr. What's Antony? The god of Jupiter. Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How? the nonpareil Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird! Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say, — Cæsar ;go no further.

Agr. Indeed, he ply'd them both with excellent

praises.

Eno. But he loves Cæsar best; - Yet he loves Antony:

Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets,

cannot

Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love
To Antony. But as for Cæsar,

Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.
Agr.

Both he loves.

Eno. They are his shards, and he their beetle. [Trumpets.

So, This is to horse

Adieu, noble Agrippa.

Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA Ant. No further, sir.

Cæs. You take from me a great part of myself; Use me well in it. Sister, prove such a wife As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest bavil Shall pass on thy approof. Most noble Antony, Let not the piece of virtue, which is set Betwixt us, as the cement of our love, To keep it builded, be the ram, to batter The fortress of it: for better might we Have loved without this mean, if on both parts This be not cherish'd.

I have said.

Cæs.

Ant.

You shall not find,