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ACT III.

SCENE I-A Plain in Syria.

Enter VENTIDIUS, as after conquest, with SILIUS and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead body of PACORUS borne before him.

Ven. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck ; and now Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death Make me revenger.-Bear the king's son's body Before our army :-Thy Pacorus," Orodes, Pays this for Marcus Crassus.

Sil. Noble Ventidius,

Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media,
Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither

The routed fly: So thy grand captain Antony
Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and
Put garlands on thy head.

Ven. O Silius, Šilius,

I have done enough: A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: For learn this, Silius ;
Better leave undone, than by our deeds acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away.
Cæsar, and Antony, have ever won

More in their officer, than person: Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour.
Who does i'the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
'Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,

But 'twould offend him; and in his offence

Should my performance perish.

Sil. Thou hast, Ventidius,

That without which a soldier, and his sword,

Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony?

[4] Struck---alludes to darting. Thou whose darts have so often struck others art struck now thyself. JOHNSON.

[5] Pacorus was the son of Orodes, king of Parthia.

STEEVENS.

6 Grant---for afford. It is badly and obscurely expressed; but the sense is this, "thou hast that, Ventidius, which, if thou didst want, there would be no distinction between thee and thy sword. You would be both equally cutting and senseless.”

Ven. 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 horse of Parthia,

We have jaded out o'the field.

Sil. Where is he now ?

Ven. He purposeth to Athens: whither with what haste

The weight we must convey with us will permit, We shall appear before him.-On, there; pass along. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Rome. An Anti-Chamber in CESAR's House. Enter AGRIPPA, and ENOBARBUS, meeting.

Agr. What, are the brothers parted?

Eno. They have despatch'd with Pompey, he is gone; The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps

To part from Rome; Cæsar is sad; and Lepidus,
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the green sickness.

Agr. 'Tis a noble Lepidus.

Eno. A very fine one: O, how he loves Cæsar!

Agr. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony !
Eno. Cæsar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men.
Agr. What's Antony? the god of Jupiter.

Eno. Spake you of Cæsar? How? the nonpareil!
Agr. O Antony! O thou Arabian bird !9

Eno. Would you praise Cæsar, say,--Cæsar ;-go no further.

Agr. Indeed, he ply'd them both with excellent praises.
Eno. But he loves Cæsar best :-Yet he loves Antony:
Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot
Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love
To Antony. But as for Cæsar,

Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.
Agr. Both he loves.

Eno. They are his shards, and he their beetle." So—

[Trampets.

This was wisdom or knowledge of the world. Ventidius had told him the reasons why he did not pursue his advantages; and his friend, by this compliment, acknow edges them to be of weight.

[8] Arabian bird---the phoenix.

WARBURTON.

JOHNSON.

[9] That is, they are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground. So, in Macbeth:

the shard-bone beetle."

STEEVENS.

This is to horse.-Adieu, noble Agrippa.

Agr. Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.
Enter CESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA.
Ant. No further, sir.

Cæs. You take from me a great part of myself;
Use me well in it.-Sister, prove such a wife
As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest band
Shall pass on thy approof.'-Most noble Antony,
Let not the piece of virtue, which is set
Betwixt us, as the cement of our love,

To keep it builded, be the ram, to batter
The fortress of it: for better might we

Have loved without this mean, if on both parts
This be not cherish'd.

Ant. Make me not offended

In your distrust.

Caes. I have said.

Ant. You shall not find,

Though you be therein curious,' the least cause
For what you seem to fear: So, the gods keep you,
And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends !
We will here part.

Caes. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well;
The elements be kind to thee, and make

Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well.

Oct. My noble brother!

Ant. The April's in her eyes: It is love's spring, And these the showers to bring it on :-Be cheerful. Oct. Sir, look well to my husband's house; andCas. What,

Octavia ?

Oct. I'll tell you in your ear.

Ant. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can

Her heart inform her tongue : the swan's down feather, That stands upon the swell at full of tide,

And neither way inclines.

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[Aside to AGRIP.

Eno. He were the worse for that, were he a horse ;

[1] As I will venture the greatest pledge of security, on the trial of thy conduct. JOHNSON. Band and bond, in our author's time, were synonymous.

[2] i. e. scrupulous. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: "For curious I cannot be with you."

STEEVENS.

MALONE.

A horse is said to have a cloud in his face, when he has a black or dark.

So is he, being a man.

Agr. Why, Enobarbus ?

When Antony found Julius Cæsar dead,

He cried almost to roaring: and he wept,
When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.

Eno. That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum ; What willingly he did confound, he wail'd:

Believe it, till I wept too.

Cæs. No, sweet Octavia,

You shall hear from me still; the time shall not
Out-go my thinking on you.

Ant. Come, sir, come;

I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love :
Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,

And give you to the gods.

Cas. Adieu; be happy!

Lep. Let all the number of the stars give light

To thy fair way y!

Cas. Farewell, farewell!

[Kisses OCTAVIA.

Ant. Farewell!

[Trumpets sound. Exeunt.

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Cleo. Go to, go to:-Come hither, sir

Enter a Messenger.

Alex. Good majesty,

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you,
But when you are well pleas'd.

Cleo. That Herod's head

I'll have: But how? when Antony is gone
Through whom I might command it. --Come thou near.
Mes. Most gracious majesty,-~-

Cleo. Didst thou behold

Octavia ?

Mes. Ay, dread queen.

Cleo. Where?

Mes. Madam, in Rome

I look'd her in the face; and saw her led

coloured spot in his forehead between his eyes. This gives him a sour look, and being supposed to indicate an ill-temper, is of course regarded as a great blemish.

STELVENS.

Between her brother and Mark Antony.
Cleo. Is she as tall as me ?*

Mes. She is not, madam.

Cleo. Didst hear her speak? Is she shrill-tongu'd, or low?

Mes. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low-voic'd. Cleo. That's not so good:-he cannot like her long." Char. Like her? O Isis! 'tis impossible.

Cleo. I think so, Charmian. Dull of tongue, and dwarfish!-

What majesty is in her gait? Remember,
If e'er thou lookd'st on majesty.

Mes. She creeps;

Her motion and her station are as one :
She shows a body rather than a life;
A statue, than a breather.

Cleo. Is this certain ?

Mes. Or I have no observance.

Char. Three in Egypt

Cannot make better note.

Cleo. He's very knowing,

I do perceiv't:-There's nothing in her yet:-
The fellow has good judgment.

Char. Excellent.

Cleo. Guess at her years, I pr'ythee.

Mes. Madam,

She was a widow.

Cleo. Widow ?--Charmian hark."

Mes. And I do think, she's thirty.

Cleo. Bear'st thou her face in mind? Is it long, or round? Mes. Round even to faultiness.

Cleo. For the most part too,

[4] This scene, says Dr. Grey, is a manifest allusion to the questions put by queen Elizabeth to sir James Melvil, concerning his mistress, the queen of Scots. STEEV. I see no probability that Shakespeare should here allude to a conversation that passed between Queen Elizabeth and a Scottish ambassador in 1564, the very year in which he was born, and does not appear to have been made public for above threescore years after his death; Melvil's Memoirs not being printed till 1683. Such enquiries, no doubt, are perfectly natural to rival females, whether queens or cinderwenches. RITSON.

[5] It has been justly observed that the poet had probably Queen Elizabeth here in his thoughts. The description given of her by a contemporary, about twelve years after her death, strongly confirms this supposition. "She was (says the Continuator of Stowe's Chronicle) tall of stature, strong in every limb and joynt, her fingers small and long, her voyce loud and shrill." MALONE.

[6] Station---in this instance, means the act of standing. So, in Hamlet: STEEVENS.

"A station like the herald Mercury."

[7] Cleopatra rejoices in this circumstance, as it sets Octavia on a level with her self, who was no virgin when she fell to the lot of Antony. STEEVENS.

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