For this is from the present35 — how you take
The offers we have sent you.
CAESAR There’s the point.
ANTONY Which do not be entreated to38, but weigh
What it is worth embraced39.
CAESAR And what may follow,
To try a larger fortune40.
POMPEY You have made me offer
Of Sicily, Sardinia, and I must
Rid all the sea of pirates. Then to send
Measures of wheat to Rome: this ’greed upon
To part46 with unhacked edges, and bear back
Our targes47 undinted.
CAESAR, ANTONY and LEPIDUS That’s our offer.
POMPEY Know, then,
I came before you here a man prepared
To take this offer. But Mark Antony
Put me to some impatience, though I lose
The praise of53 it by telling. You must know
When Caesar and your brother were at blows,
Your mother came to Sicily and did find
Her welcome friendly.
ANTONY I have heard it, Pompey,
And am well studied58 for a liberal thanks
Which I do owe you.
POMPEY Let me have your hand:
They shake hands
I did not think, sir, to have met you here.
ANTONY The beds i’th’east are soft, and thanks to you,
That called me timelier63 than my purpose hither,
For I have gained by’t.
CAESAR Since I saw you last, there’s a change upon you.
POMPEY Well, I know not
What counts67 harsh fortune casts upon my face,
But in my bosom shall she never come
To make my heart her vassal68.
LEPIDUS Well met here.
POMPEY I hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed:
I crave our composition72 may be written
And sealed between us73.
CAESAR That’s the next to do.
POMPEY We’ll feast each other ere we part, and let’s
Draw lots who shall begin.
ANTONY That will I, Pompey.
POMPEY No, Antony, take the lot78: but, first
Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery
Shall have the fame80. I have heard that Julius Caesar
Grew fat with feasting there81.
ANTONY You have heard much.
POMPEY I have fair83 meanings, sir.
ANTONY And fair words to them84.
POMPEY Then so much have I heard,
And I have heard, Apollodorus86 carried—
ENOBARBUS No more of that: he did so.
POMPEY What, I pray you?
ENOBARBUS A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.
POMPEY I know thee now. How far’st90 thou, soldier?
ENOBARBUS Well,
And well am like to do, for I perceive
Four feasts are toward93.
POMPEY Let me shake thy hand.
They shake hands
I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
When I have envied thy behaviour96.
ENOBARBUS Sir,
I never loved you much, but I ha’ praised ye
When you have well deserved ten times as much
As I have said you did.
POMPEY Enjoy thy plainness101,
It nothing ill becomes102 thee.
Aboard my galley103 I invite you all.
Will you lead, lords?
CAESAR, ANTONY and LEPIDUS Show’s the way, sir.
POMPEY Come.
Exeunt. Enobarbus and Menas remain
MENAS Thy father, Pompey, would ne’er have made
Aside
this treaty.—You and I have known108, sir.
To Enobarbus
ENOBARBUS At sea, I think.
MENAS We have, sir.
ENOBARBUS You have done well by water.
MENAS And you by land.
ENOBARBUS I will praise any man that will praise me, though it
cannot be denied what I have done by land.
MENAS Nor what I have done by water.
ENOBARBUS Yes, something you can deny for your own safety:
you have been a great thief by sea.
MENAS And you by land.
ENOBARBUS There I deny my land service. But give me your
hand, Menas. If our eyes had authority,
They shake hands
here they might take121 two thieves kissing.
MENAS All men’s faces are true122, whatsome’er their hands
are.
ENOBARBUS But there is never a fair woman has a true124 face.
MENAS No slander. They steal hearts.
ENOBARBUS We came hither to fight with you.
MENAS For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking.
Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.
ENOBARBUS If he do, sure he cannot weep’t back again.
MENAS You’ve said130, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony
here. Pray you, is he married to Cleopatra?
ENOBARBUS Caesar’s sister is called Octavia.
MENAS True, sir, she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.
ENOBARBUS But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.
MENAS Pray ye, sir?135
ENOBARBUS ’Tis true.
MENAS Then is Caesar and he forever knit together.
ENOBARBUS If I were bound to divine138 of this unity, I would not
prophesy so.
MENAS I think the policy of that purpose made more in140 the
marriage than the love of the parties.
ENOBARBUS I think so too. But you shall find, the band142 that
seems to tie their friendship together will be the very
strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold and still144
conversation145.
MENAS Who would not have his wife so?
ENOBARBUS Not he that himself is not so, which is Mark
Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish148 again: then shall the
sighs of Octavia blow the fire up149 in Caesar, and — as I said
before — that which is the strength of their amity shall
prove the immediate author151 of their variance. Antony will
use his affection where it is152. He married but his occasion
here.
MENAS And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I
have a health155 for you.
ENOBARBUS I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in
Egypt.
MENAS Come, let’s away.
Exeunt
[Act 2 Scene 7]
running scene 8
Location: on board Pompey’s galley, off Misena (Misenum) in southern Italy
* * *
Music plays. Enter two or three Servants with a banquet
FIRST SERVANT Here they’ll be, man. Some o’their plants1 are ill-rooted
already: the least wind i’th’world will blow them
down.
SECOND SERVANT Lepidus is high-coloured4.
FIRST SERVANT They have made him drink alms-drink5.
SECOND SERVANT As they pinch one another by the disposition6,
he cries out ‘No more’, reconciles them to his entreaty, and
himself to th’drink.
FIRST SERVANT But it raises the greater war between him and his
discretion10.
SECOND SERVANT Why, this it is to have a name in great men’s
fellowship11: I had as lief12 have a reed that will do me no service
as a partisan13 I could not heave.
FIRST SERVANT To be called into a huge sphere and not to be
seen to move in’t, are the holes where eyes should be, which
pitifully16 disaster the cheeks14.
A sennet sounded. Enter Caesar, Antony, Pompey, Lepidus, Agrippa, Maecenas, Enobarbus, Menas, with other Captains [and a Boy Singer]
ANTONY Thus do they, sir: they take17 the flow o’th’Nile
By certain scales18 i’th’pyramid. They know,
By th’height, the lowness, or the mean19, if dearth
Or foison20 follow. The higher Nilus swells,
The more it promises. As it ebbs, the seedsman
Upon the slime and ooze22 scatters his grain,
And shortly comes to harvest.
LEPIDUS You’ve strange serpents there?
ANTONY Ay, Lepidus.
LEPIDUS Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by
the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile26.
ANTONY They are so.
POMPEY Sit, and some wine! A health to
They sit and drink
Lepidus!
LEPIDUS I am not so well as I should be, but I’ll ne’er out31.
ENOBARBUS Not till you have slept.—I fear me you’ll be
Aside
in33 till then.
LEPIDUS Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies34’ pyramises
are very goodly things: without contradiction, I have heard
that.
MENAS Pompey, a word.
Aside to Pompey
POMPEY Say in mine ear what is’t.
Aside to Menas
MENAS Forsake39 thy seat, I do beseech thee,
Aside to Pompey
captain,
And hear me speak a word.
POMPEY Whispers in’s ear Forbear me till anon41.—
This wine for Lepidus!
LEPIDUS What manner o’thing is your crocodile?
ANTONY It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it hath
breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with it own
organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it, and the elements
once out of it, it transmigrates45.
LEPIDUS What colour is it of?
ANTONY Of it48 own colour too.
LEPIDUS ’Tis a strange serpent.
ANTONY ’Tis so. And the tears50 of it are wet.
CAESAR Will this description satisfy him?
Menas whispers again
ANTONY With the health that Pompey gives him,
else53 he is a very epicure.
Aside to Menas
POMPEY Go hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that?
Away!
Do as I bid you.—Where’s this cup I called for?
MENAS If for the sake of merit56 thou wilt
Aside to Pompey
hear me,
Rise from thy stool.
POMPEY I think thou’rt mad. The matter?58
Aside to Menas
Pompey and Menas step aside and converse apart
MENAS I have ever held my cap off59 to thy fortunes.
POMPEY Thou hast served me with much faith60. What’s
else to say?—
Be jolly, lords.
To the others
ANTONY These quicksands62, Lepidus,
Keep off them, for you sink.
MENAS Wilt thou be lord of all the world?
POMPEY What say’st thou?
MENAS Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That’s twice.
POMPEY How should that be?
MENAS But entertain68 it,
And, though thou think me poor, I am the man
Will give thee all the world.
POMPEY Hast thou drunk well?
MENAS No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup.
Thou art, if thou dar’st be, the earthly Jove:
Whate’er the ocean pales74 or sky inclips
Is thine, if thou wilt ha’t.
POMPEY Show me which way.
MENAS These three world-sharers, these competitors77,
Are in thy vessel. Let me cut the cable78,
And when we are put off79, fall to their throats:
All there is thine.
POMPEY Ah, this thou shouldst have done
And not have spoke on’t82. In me ’tis villainy:
In thee’t had been good service. Thou must know,
’Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour:
Mine honour, it84. Repent that e’er thy tongue
Hath so betrayed86 thine act: being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done,
But must condemn it now. Desist88, and drink.
Joins the others
MENAS For this, I’ll never follow thy palled89 fortunes
Aside
more:
Who seeks and will not take when once ’tis offered,
Shall never find it more91.
POMPEY This health to Lepidus!
They drink
ANTONY Bear him ashore. I’ll pledge93 it for him, Pompey.
ENOBARBUS Here’s to thee, Menas!
MENAS Enobarbus, welcome!
POMPEY Fill till the cup be hid96.
Points to an Attendant who is carrying off Lepidus
ENOBARBUS There’s a strong fellow, Menas.
MENAS Why?
ENOBARBUS A99 bears the third part of the world, man: see’st
not?
MENAS The third part then he is drunk: would it were all,
That it might go on wheels101!
ENOBARBUS Drink thou: increase the reels102.
MENAS Come.
POMPEY This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.
ANTONY It ripens towards it. Strike the vessels105, ho!
Here’s to Caesar!
CAESAR I could well forbear’t107.
It’s monstrous108 labour when I wash my brain
And it grow fouler109.
ANTONY Be a child o’th’time110.
CAESAR ‘Possess it’, I’ll make answer111.
But I had rather fast from all112 four days
Than drink so much in one.
ENOBARBUS Ha, my brave114 emperor!
To Antony
Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals115
And celebrate116 our drink?
POMPEY Let’s ha’t, good soldier.
Till that the conquering wine hath steeped our sense
In soft and delicate Lethe120.
ENOBARBUS All take hands:
Make battery to122 our ears with the loud music,
The while123 I’ll place you, then the boy shall sing.
The holding124 every man shall beat as loud
As his strong sides can volley125.
Music plays. Enobarbus places them hand in hand.
BOY The Song
Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Sings
Plumpy127 Bacchus with pink eyne!
In thy fats129 our cares be drowned,
With thy grapes our hairs be crowned.
Cup us130 till the world go round,
Cup us till the world go round!
CAESAR What would you more? Pompey, goodnight.
Good brother132,
Let me request you off133: our graver business
Frowns at this levity. Gentle lords, let’s part:
You see we have burnt our cheeks135. Strong Enobarb
Is weaker than the wine, and mine own tongue
Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise137 hath almost
Anticked138 us all. What needs more words? Goodnight.
Good Antony, your hand.
POMPEY I’ll try you140 on the shore.
ANTONY And shall, sir. Give’s your hand.
POMPEY O, Antony,
You have my father’s house. But what143, we are friends?
Come down into the boat.
ENOBARBUS Take heed you fall not.—
[Exeunt all but Enobarbus and Menas]
Menas, I’ll not on shore.
MENAS No, to my cabin.
These drums, these trumpets, flutes! What!147
Let Neptune148 hear we bid a loud farewell
To these great fellows. Sound and be hanged! Sound ou
t!
Sound a flourish, with drums
ENOBARBUS Ho, says a150. There’s my cap.
Throws his cap in the air
MENAS Ho! Noble captain, come.
Exeunt
[Act 3 Scene 1]
running scene 9
Location: Syria
* * *
Enter Ventidius as it were in triumph, the dead body of Pacorus borne before him, [with Silius and other Roman officers and soldiers]
VENTIDIUS Now, darting Parthia1, art thou struck, and now
Pleased fortune does of Marcus Crassus2’ death
Make me revenger. Bear the king’s son’s body
Before our army: thy Pacorus4, Orodes,
Pays this for Marcus Crassus.
SILIUS Noble Ventidius,
Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow8. Spur through Media,
Mesopotamia9, and the shelters whither
The routed fly. So thy grand captain Antony
Shall set thee on triumphant11 chariots and
Put garlands on thy head.
VENTIDIUS O Silius, Silius,
I have done enough. A lower place14, note well,
May make too great an act15. For learn this, Silius:
Better to leave undone, than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame when him we serve’s away.
Caesar and Antony have ever won
More in their officer than person18. Sossius,
One of my place20 in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,
Which he achieved by th’minute22, lost his favour.
Who does i’th’wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain’s captain, and ambition —
The soldier’s virtue — rather makes choice of25 loss,
Than gain which darkens26 him.
I could do more to do Antonius good,
But ’twould offend him, and in his offence28
Should my performance29 perish.
SILIUS Thou hast, Ventidius, that
Without the which a soldier and his sword
Grants scarce distinction30. Thou wilt write to Antony?
VENTIDIUS I’ll humbly signify what in his name,
That magical word of war, we have effected,
How with his banners and his well-paid ranks
The ne’er-yet-beaten horse36 of Parthia
We have jaded37 out o’th’field.
SILIUS Where is he now?
VENTIDIUS He purposeth39 to Athens, whither, with what haste
The weight40 we must convey with’s will permit,
We shall appear before him. On there, pass along!
Exeunt