Oct. SCENE I.-The Plains of Philippi. Ant. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know, Mess. Enter a Messenger. Prepare you, generals: The enemy comes on in gallant show; Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, And something's to be done immediately. Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, Oct. Upon the right hand I, keep thou the left. [March. Bru. Words before blows: Is it so, country- Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do. Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, Cas. Antony, The posture of your blows are yet unknown; Not stingless too. For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony, So I hope; I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. Join'd with a masker and a reveller. [Exeunt OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, and their Army. Cas. Why now, blow, wind; swell, billow; and swim, bark! The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. Lucilius; hark, a word with you. My lord. Cas. Messala, Mes. Cas. What says my general? Messala, Ant. Villains, you did not so, when your vile If we do lose this battle, then is this daggers Hack'd one another in the sides of Cæsar: You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Cesar's feet, Cas. Flatterers!-Now, Brutus, thank yourself: Oct. Come, come, the cause: If arguing make us The proof of it will turn to redder drops. I draw a sword against conspirators; • Summon. The very last time we shall speak together: Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy, For fear of what might fall, so to prevent Cas. Bru. No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome; 1 Foremost. If we do meet again, why we shall smile; Bru. Why then, lead on.-O, that a man might know The end of this day's business, ere it come! [Exeunt. Pin. Fly further off, my lord, fly further off; Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord! Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off. Cas. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius; Are those my tents, where I perceive the fire? Tit. They are, my lord. Cas. Titinius, if thou lov'st me, Mount thou my horse, and hide thy spurs in him, Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops, And here again; that I may rest assur'd, Whether yond' troops are friend or enemy. Tit. I will be here again, even with a thought. [Exit. Cas. Go, Pindarus, get higher on that hill;" My sight was ever thick; regard Titinius, And tell me what thou not'st about the field.[Exit PINDARUS. This day I breathed first: time is come round, And where I did begin, there I shall end; My life is run his compass.-Sirrah, what news? Pin. [Above.] O my lord! Cas. What news? Pin. Titinius is Enclosed round about with horsemen, that Make to him on the spur:-yet he spurs on.Now they are almost on him; now, Titinius!Now some 'light:-0, he 'lights too-he's ta'enand, hark! [Shout. They shout for joy. Cas. Come down, behold no more.O, coward that I am, to live so long, To see my best friend ta'en before my face! Enter PINDARUS. Come hither, sirrah: In Parthia did I take thee prisoner; Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine oath! Now be a freeman; and with this good sword, [Dies. Pin. So I am free, yet would not so have been, Mes. It is but change, Titinius; for Octavius Tit. These tidings will well comfort Cassius. All disconsolate, But Cassius is no more.-O setting sun! Mistrust of my success hath done this deed. Mes. Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. O hateful error, melancholy's child! Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men The things that are not? O error, soon conceiv'd, Thou never com'st unto a happy birth, But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee. Tit. What, Pindarus! Where art thou, Pindarus? Tit. [Exit MESSALA. Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius? Did I not meet thy friends, and did not they Put on my brows this wreath of victory, And bid me giv't thee? Didst thou not hear their shouts? Alas! thou hast misconstrued every thing. [Dies. Alarum. Re-enter MESSALA, with BRUTUS, young He is slain. Cato. Bru. O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails. [Low Alarums. Brave Titinius! Cato. To this dead man, than you shall see me pay.- SCENE IV. Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter, fighting, Soldiers of both Armies; then BRUTUS, CATO, LUCILIUS, and others. Bru. Yet, countrymen, O yet hold up your heads! Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with me? I will proclaim my name about the field: I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend; [Charges the Enemy. Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus. [Exit, charging the Enemy. CATO is over powered, and falls. Luc. O young and noble Čato, art thou down? Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; And may'st be honor'd, being Cato's son. 1 Sold. Yield, or thou diest. Luc. Only I yield to die, There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight: [Offering Money. Kill Brutus, and be honor'd in his death. 1 Sold. We must not.-A noble prisoner! 2 Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 1 Sold. I'll tell the news.-Here comes the general: Enter ANTONY. Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. Ant. Where is he? Luc. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough; Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you, [Exeunt. SCENE V.-Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS. Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Ch. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain. Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.[Whispering. Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace, then, no words. Cli. I'll rather kill myself. [Whispers him. Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius! Dar. Cli. O, Dardanius! Dar. O, Clitus! I do such a deed? Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius: list a word. Vol. What says my lord? Bru. Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night: at Sardis, once; And, this last night, here in Philippi' fields. I know my hour is come. Not so, my lord. Vol. Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes; Our enemies have beat us to the pit: It is more worthy to leap in ourselves, Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, Thou know'st, that we two went to school together; Even for that our love of old I pray thee, Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it. Vol. That's not an oflice for a friend, my lord. [Alarum still. Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here. Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; Hence; I will follow thee. Thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it: Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cesar, now be still, I kill'd not thee with half so good a will. [He runs on his Sword, and dies. Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and their Army. Oct. What man is that? Mes. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy The conquerors can but make a fire of him; Luc. So Brutus should be found.-I thank thee, That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true. Brutus, Oct. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them.1 Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer2 me to you. Oct. Do so, Messala. Mes. How died my master, Strato? Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master. Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all: Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, Receive into my service. [Exeunt. Recommend. PROCULEIUS, THYREUS, GALLUS, MENAS, MENECRATES,Friends of Pompey. VARRIUS, TAURUS, Lieutenant-General to Cæsar. SILIUS, an Officer in Ventidius's Army. EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from Antony to Casar. ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES, Attendants on Cleopatra. A Soothsayer. A Clown. CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt. OCTAVIA, Sister to Cæsar, and Wife to Antony. CHARMIAN, IRAS, Attendants on Cleopatra. Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE, dispersed; in several parts of the Roman Empire. ACT I. SCENE I.—Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's | Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony. 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 had burst The buckles on his breast, reneges' all temper; And is become the bellows and the fan, To cool a gipsy's lust. Look, where they come! Flourish. Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Trains; Eunuchs fanning her. 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 bourn2 how far to be belov'd. new earth. Enter an Attendant. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates3 me:-The sum? Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony. 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. How, my love! Cleo. Perchance,-nay, and most like, You must not stay here longer, your dismission Ant. There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Fye, wrangling queen! [Exeunt ANT. and CLEOP. with their Train. Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius priz'd so slight? • Summons. • Know. • Consume. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly: wine enough, Enter ANTONY, with a Messenger and Attendants. Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Sooth. I make not, but foresce. Chur. 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. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. 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. Sooth. You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches must I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile every wish, a million. Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think, none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Alex. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot sooth say. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.-Pr'ythee tell her but a worky-day fortune. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. But how? but how? give me particulars. Sooth. I have said. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose. Char. Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas, come, his fortune, his fortune.-O, let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse! and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! Fame. Shall be bastards. An Egyptian goddess. Cleo. We will not look upon him: Go with us. But soon that war had end, and the time's state Whose better issue in the war, from Italy, Ant. What worst? Well, Mess. The nature of bad news infects the teller. Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward.-On: Things that are past, are done with me.-'Tis thus: Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, I hear him as he flatter'd. Ant. Mess. Antony, thou wouldst say O, my lord. Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue; Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome; When our quick winds3 lie still; and our ills told us, one. 2 Att. He stays upon your will. Ant. Let him appear,- Or lose myself in dotage.-What are you? Where died she? 2 Mess. In Sicyon: Her length of sickness, with what else more serious Importeth thee to know, this bears. [Gives a letter. Ant. Forbear me.[Exit Messenger. There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it: What our contempts do often hurl from us, We wish it ours again; the present pleasure, By revolution lowering, does become The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone, The hand could pluck her back, that shov'd her on. I must from this enchanting queen break off; Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know, My idleness doth hatch.-How now! Enobarbus! |