To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unflipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his Wife; whofe Beauty claims
No worfe a Hufband than the beft of men;
Whose Virtue, and whofe general Graces speak
That which none else can utter. By this marriage,
All little jealoufies, which now feem great,

And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing. Truths would be but tales,
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both,
Would each to other, and all loves to both
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke,
For 'tis a ftudied, not a prefent thought,
By duty ruminated.

Ant. Will Cafar speak?

Caf. Not 'till he hears, how Antony is touch'd With what is fpoke already.

Ant. What Power is in Agrippa

(If I would fay, Agrippa, be it so,) To make this good?

Caf. The Power of Cæfar, and His Power unto Octavia.

Ant. May I never

To this good purpose, that so fairly fhews,
Dream of impediment! let me have thy hand;
Further this act of grace: and, from this hour,
The heart of brothers govern in our loves,
And fway our great defigns!

Caf. There is my hand:

A Sifter I bequeath you, whom no Brother
Did ever love fo dearly. Let her live

To join our kingdoms, and our Hearts, and never
Fly off our loves again!

Lep. Happily, amen.

Ant. I did not think to draw my fword 'gainst
Pompey,

For he hath laid ftrange courtefies and great
Of late upon me. I must thank him only,

K 6

Left

Left my remembrance fuffer ill report ;
At heel of that, defy him.

Lep. Time calls upon's:

Of us muft Pompey prefently be fought,
Or elfe he feeks out us.

Ant. Where lies he?

Caf. About the Mount Mifenum.
Ant. What is his ftrength by Land?
Caf. Great, and increafing: but by Seat
He is an abfolute Mafter.

Ant. So is the fame.

'Would, we had spoke together! hafte we for it;: Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we The business we have talk'd of.

Caf. With moft gladness;

And do invite you to my Sifter's view,
Whither ftraight I'll lead you.

Ant. Let us, Lepidus, not lack your company.
Lep. Noble Antony, not fickness fhould detain me.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Manent Enobarbus, Agrippa, Mecænas.

Mec 7ELCOME from Egypt, Sir.

WELCOME

Eno. Half the heart of Cæfar, worthy Mecanas my honourable friend, Agrippa! Agr. Good Enobarbus!

Mec. We have caufe to be glad, that matters are fo well digefted: you ftay'd well by't in Egypt.

Eno. Ay, Sir, we did fleep day out of countenance, and made the night light with drinking.

Mec. Eight wild boars roafted whole at a breakfaft, and but twelve perfons there;-Is this true?

Eno. This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had much more monftrous matter of feast, which worthily deferved noting.

Mec.

Mec. She's a moft triumphant Lady, if report be fquare to her,

Eno. When fhe firft met Mark Antony, fhe purs'd up his heart upon the river of Cydnus.

Agr. There the appear'd, indeed; or my reporter

devis'd well for her.

Eno. I will tell you;

The Barge fhe fat in, like a burnish'd Throne,
Burnt on the water; the poop was beaten gold,
Purple the fails, and fo perfumed, that

The Winds were love-fick with 'em; the oars were filver,

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water, which they beat, to follow fafter,
As amorous of their ftrokes. For her own person,
It beggar'd all description; he did lie
In her pavilion, cloth of gold, of tiffue,
O'er-picturing that Venus, where we fee

The Fancy out-work Nature. On each fide her,
Stood pretty dimpled Boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour'd fans, whofe wind did feem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid, did.

Agr. Oh, rare for Antony !

Eno. Her Gentlewomen, like the Nereids,
So many Mermaids, tended her i' th' eyes,

* And made their Bends adorings. At the helm,
A feeming Mermaid fteers; the filken tackles
Swell with the touches of these flower-soft hands,
That yarely frame the office.
From the Barge

And made their bends adornings.- -] This is Senfe indeed, and may be understood thus, her Maids bowed with fo good an Air, that it added new Graces to them. But this is not what Shakespear would fay. Cleopatra, in this famous Scene, personated Venus just rifing from the Waves: at which Time the Mythologists tell us, the Sea-deities furrounded the Goddefs to adore, and pay her homage. Therefore, we may be affured, he wrote,- -And made their bends adorings. They did her Observance in the Posture of Adoration, as if fhe had been Venus. Warb.

A flrange

A frange invifible perfume hits the fenfe
Of the adjacent wharfs. The City caft
Her People out upon her; and Antony,
Enthron'd i' th' Market-place, did fit alone,
Whistling to th' air; which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
And made a gap in Nature.

Agr. Rare Egyptian!

Eno. Upon her landing, Antony fent to her,
Invited her to fupper: the reply'd,

It should be better, he became her guest;
Which fhe intreated. Our courteous Antony,
Whom ne'er the word of No Woman heard speak,
Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast;
And for his ordinary, pays his heart,

For what his eyes eat only.

Agr. Royal Wench!

She made great Cæfar lay his fword to bed;
He plough'd her, and the cropt.

Eno. I faw her once.

Hop forty paces through the public fircet:
And having loft her breath, fhe spoke, and panted
That fhe did make defect, perfection,

And breathlefs power breathe forth.

Mec. Now Antony muft leave her utterly.
Eno. Never, he will not.

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed; but fhe makes hungry,
Where moft fhe fatisfies. For vileft things
Become themfelves in her, that the holy Priests
Blefs her, when, fhe is riggifh.

Mec. If beauty, wifdom, modefty, can settle
The heart of Antouy, Octavia is

* A bleft allott'ry to him.

Agr.

* A bleffed Lottery to him.] Methinks it is a very indifferent Compliment in Mecenas to call OƐlavia a Lottery, as if she might turn up

Blank

Agr. Let us go.

Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest,
Whilft you abide here.

Eno. Humbly, Sir, I thank you.

[Exeunt.

Enter Antony, Cæfar, Octavia between them.

Ant. The world, and my great office, will fome

times

Divide me from your bofom.

Octa. All which time,

Before the Gods my knee shall bow in prayers

To them for you.

Ant. Good night, Sir. My Odavia, Read not my blemishes in the world's

report: I have not kept my fquare, but That to come Shall all be done by th' rule; good-night, dear Lady. Ota. Good-night, Sir.

Caf. Good-night.

Ant.

[Exeunt Cæfar and Octavia.

Now

Enter Soothsayer.

JOW, firrah! do you wish yourself in
Egypt?

Sooth. 'Would I had never come from thence, nor you thither!

Ant. If you can, your

reafon ?

Sooth. I fee it in my Motion, have it not in my Tongue; but yet hie you to Egypt again.

Ant. Say to me, whose fortune shall rife higher, Cæfar's or mine?

Sooth. Cafar's.

by his fide.

-Therefore, oh Antony, ftay not

Thy Damon, that's thy fpirit which keeps thee, is

Blank, as well as prove a Prize to Antony. The Poet wrote, as I have reform'd the Text, Allotery, there being as much Difference between Lottery and Allotery, as between a prefent Defignation and a future Chance.

Warb.

Noble