The matter of this speech: for't cannot be
We shall remain in friendship, our conditions
Yet, if I knew

So differing in their acts.

What hoop would hold us ftaunch, from edge to edge O' th' world, I would purfue it.

Agr. Give me leave, Cæfar,

Caf. Speak, Agrippa.

Agr. Thou haft a fifter by the mother's fide, Admir'd Octavia! great Mark Antony

Is now a widower.

Caf. Say not fo, Agrippa;

If Cleopatra heard you, your approof
Were well deferv'd of rashness.

Ant. I am not married, Cæfar; let me hear
Agrippa further fpeak.

Agr. To hold you in perpetual amity,

To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unflipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife: whofe beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men ;
Whofe virtue and whofe general graces speak
That which none elfe 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 studied, not a prefent thought,
By duty ruminated.

Ant. Will Cæfar speak?

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

Ant. What power is in Agrippa

(If I would fay, " Agrippa, be it fo,")

To make this good?

Caf. The power of Cæfar, and

His power unto Octavia,

Ant. May I never

To this good purpose, that fo 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 designs!

Caf. There is my hand.

A fifter 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 Pom

For he hath laid ftrange courtefies and great

Of late upon me. I must thank him only,

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

Lep. Time calls upon's.

Of us must Pompey prefently be fought,
Or else he feeks out us.

Ant. Where lies he?.

Caf. About the mount Mifenum.
Ant. What is his ftrength by land?
Caf Great, and increasing: but by fea
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, difpatch we
The business we have talked of.

Caf. With molt gladness;

And do invite you to my filter's view,
Whither straight I'll lead you.

Ant. Let us, Lepidus, not lack your company.

[pey,

Lep. Noble Antony, not fickness fhould detain me.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

s a ENE III.

Manent Enobarbus, Agrippa, Mecenas..

Mec. Welcome from Egypt, Sir.

Eno. Half the heart of Cæfar, worthy Mecænas! my honourable friend Agrippa !

Agr. Good Enobarbus !

Mec. We have caule to be glad that matters are fo well digested: you flay'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 roasted whole at a breakfast, 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 feaft, which worthily deferved noting.

Mec. She's a moft triumphant lady, if report be square to her.

Ano. When the first met Mark Antony, the purs'd up his heart upon the river of Cydnus.

Agr. There the appeared 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

[filver,

The winds were love-fick with 'em; th' oars were "Which to the tune of flutes kept roke, and madẹ "The waters which they beat, to follow fafter, "As amorous of their ftrokes. For her own person, "It beggar'd all defcription; she did lie

"In her pavilion, cloth of gold, of tissue,

O'er-picturing that Venus*, where we fee

"The fancy out-work Nature. On each fide her,
"Stood pretty dimpled boys, like fmiling 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 those flower-soft hands, "That yarely frame the office. From the barge A ftrange invifible perfume hits the fenfe Of the adjacent wharfs. The city caft Her people out upon her; and Antony, Inthron'd i' th' market-place, did fit alone, Whistling to th' air; which, but for vacancy,

* Meaning the Venus of Protogenes mentioned by Pliny, l. 35. c. 18.

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: She reply'd,

It should be better he became her guest ;
Which the intreated. Our courteous Antony,
Whom ne'er the word of No woman heard fpeak,
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 Cælar lay his sword to bed:
He plough'd her, and the cropt.

Eno, I faw her once

Hop forty paces through the public street:

And having loft her breath, the fpoke, and panted, That fhe did make defect, perfection,

And breathless power breathe forth.

Mec. Now Antony must 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 the makes hungry,
Where most the fatisfies. For vileft things
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests
Blefs her when the is riggifh.

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

A blessed allott'ry to him.

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 fometimes 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 Octavia,

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.
Octa, Good night, Sir.

Caf. Good night.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt Cæfar and Octavia,

Enter Soothsayer.

Ant. Now, firrah! do you with yourself in Egypt ? Sooth. 'Would I had never come from thence, nor you thither.

Ant. If you can, your reason?

Sooth. I fee it in my motion *; have it not in my tongue; but yet hie you to Egypt again.

Ant. Say to me, whofe fortune fhall rife higher, Cæfar's or mine.

Sooth. Cæfar's-Therefore, oh Antony, ftay not by his fide.

Thy dæmon, that's thy fpirit which keeps thee, is
Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable,

Where Cæfar's is not. But near him thy angel

Becomes a fear †, as being o'erpower'd; and therefore Make space enough between you.

Ant. Speak this no more.

Sooth. To none but thee; no more, but when to

If thou doft play with him at any game,

[thee.

Thou'rt fure to lofe: And of that natural luck,

He beats thee 'gainst the odds. Thy luftre thickens, When he fhines by. I fay again, thy fpirit

Is all afraid to govern thee near him.

But, he away, 'tis noble.

Ant. Get thee gone:

Say to Ventidius, I would speak with him. [Exit Sooth
He fhall to Parthia ;-be it art, or hap,

He hath spoke true. The very dice obey him;
And, in our sports, my better cunning faints
Under his chance; if we draw lots, he fpeeds;
His cocks do win the battle ftill of mine,
When it is all to nought; and his quails ever

i, e. The divinitory agitation,

ti. e. A fearful thing. The abstract for the concrete.

Lucian relates, that at Athens quail fighting was exhibited at fhews: And many other ancient authors mention it as a sport much in ufe.