Oct. Do so, good 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 :
All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He, only in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man!

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, order'd honourably.-
So, call the field to rest; and let's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

ORIGINAL TEXT.

[Exeunt.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

TAURUS, Lieutenant-General to Cæsar.

CANIDIUS, Lieutenant-General to Antony.

SILIUS, an Officer in Ventidius' Army.

EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from Antony to Cæsar. 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, and IRAs, Attendants on Cleopatra.

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, dispersed in several Parts of the Roman Empire.

SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace.

Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.

Philo.

AY, 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 hath 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 bourn how far to be belov'd.
Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven,

new earth.

Enter an Attendant.

Att. News, my good lord, from Rome...

Ant.

Grates me.-The sum? Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony:

Fulvia, perchance, is angry; or, who knows
If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent
His pow'rful mandate to you, Do this, or this;
Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that;
Perform't, or else we damn thee.

Ant.

How, my love! Cleo. Perchance-nay, and most likeYou must not stay here longer, your dismission Is come from Cæsar; therefore hear it, Antony. Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's, I would say.

Both ?

Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's Queen,
Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Cæsar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame,
When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds.-The messengers!
Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt! and the wide arch
Of the rang'd empire fall! here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man; the nobleness of life
Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair,

[Embracing.
And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.

Cleo.

-Excellent Falsehood!

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I'll seem the fool I am not. [Aside.] Antony
Will be himself.

Ant.

But stirr'd by Cleopatra...

Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours,
Let's not confound the time with conference harsh;