ACT V.

SCENE I.-CESAR'S Camp before Alexandria.

Enter CESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECENAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and Others.

Cas. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocks us by

The pauses that he makes.

Dol. Cæsar, I shall.

[Exit DOLABElla,

Enter DERCETAS, with the Sword of ANTONY.

Cas. Wherefore is that? and what art thou, that dar'st

Appear thus to us?

Der. I am call'd Dercetas ;

Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy

Best to be serv'd: whilst he stood up, and spoke,

He was my master; and I wore my life,

To spend upon his haters: If thou please

To take me to thee, as I was to him
I'll be to Cæsar; if thou pleasest not,
I yield thee up my life.

Cas. What is't thou say'st?

Der. I say, O Cæsar, Antony is dead.

Cas. The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater crack: The round world should have shook Lions into civil streets,

And citizens to their dens :-The death of Antony

Is not a single doom; in the name lay
A moiety of the world.

Der. He is dead, Cæsar;

Not by a public minister of justice,

Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand,

Which writ his honour in the acts it did,

Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,
Splitted the heart.--This is his sword,

I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd
With his most noble blood.

Cæs. Look you sad, friends?

The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.

Agr. And strange it is,

That nature must compel us to lament

Our most persisted deeds.

Mec. His taints and honours

Waged equal with him.

Agr. A rarer spirit never

Did steer humanity: but you,
Some faults to make us men.

gods, will give us

Cæsar is touch'd.

Mec. When such a spacious mirror's set before him, He needs must see himself.

Cas. O Antony!

I have follow'd thee to this;-But we do lance
Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce

Have shown to thee such a declining day,
Or look on thine; we could not stall together
In the whole world: But yet let me lament,
With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,
That thou, my brother, my competitor

In top of all design, my mate in empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart

Where mine his thoughts did kindle,-that our stars,
Unreconciliable, should divide

Our equalness to this.-Hear me, good friends,-
But I will tell you at some meeter season;

Enter a Messenger.

The business of this man looks out of him,
We'll hear him what he says.-Whence are you?
Mess. A poor Egyptian yet. The queen my mistress,
Confin'd in all she has, her monument,

Of thy intents desires instruction;

That she preparedly may frame herself
To the way she's forced to.

Cas. Bid her have good heart;

She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,
How honourable and how kindly we

Determine for her: for Cæsar cannot live

To be ungentle.

Mess. So the gods preserve thee!

[Exit.

Cas. Come hither, Proculeius; Go, and say,

We purpose her no shame: give her what comforts

The quality of her passion shall require;

Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke

She do defeat us: for her life in Rome

Would be eternal in our triumph: Go,

And, with your speediest, bring us what she says,
And how you find of her.

Pro. Cæsar, I shall.

[Exit PROCULeius.

Cas. Gallus, go you along.-Where's Dolabella,

To second Proculeius?

Agr. Mec. Dolabella!

[Exit GALLUS.

Cas. Let him alone, for I remember now

How he's employed; he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent; where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war;

How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings: Go with me, and see
What I can show in this.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Alexandria. A Room in the Monument.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.

Cleo. My desolation does begin to make
A better life: 'Tis paltry to be Cæsar;
Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave,
A minister of her will; And it is great

To do that thing that ends all other deeds;
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung,
The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's.

Enter, to the Gates of the Monument, PROCULEius,
GALLUS, and Soldiers.

Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of Egypt; And bids thee study on what fair demands

Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

Cleo. [Within.] What's thy name?
Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. [Within.] Antony

Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

That have no use for trusting. If your master
Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That majesty, to keep decorum, must

No less beg than a kingdom: if he please

To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,
He gives me so much of mine own, as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro. Be of good cheer;

You are fallen into a princely hand, fear nothing:
Make your full reference freely to my lord,

Who is so full of grace, that it flows over
On all that need: Let me report to him
Your sweet dependancy; and you shall find
A conqueror, that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. [Within.] Pray you, tell him

I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly
Look him i'the face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.

Have comfort; for, I know, your plight is pitied
Of him that caus'd it.

Gal. You see how easily she may be surpriz'd;
Here PROCULEIUS, and two of the Guard, ascend
the Monument by a Ladder placed against a Win-
dow, and, having descended, come behind CLEOPA-
TRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the
Gates.

Guard her till Cæsar come.

[TO PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit GALLUS.