Alexandria. CÆSAR’S Camp. | |
| |
Enter CÆSAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECÆNAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and Others. | |
| Cæs. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; | |
| Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks | 4 |
| The pauses that he makes. | |
| Dol. Cæsar, I shall. [Exit. | |
| |
Enter DERCETAS, with the sword of ANTONY. | |
| Cæs. Wherefore is that? and what art thou that dar’st | 8 |
| 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 | 12 |
| 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, | 16 |
| I yield thee up my life. | |
| Cœs/ What is ’t thou sayst? | |
| Der. I say, O Cæsar, Antony is dead. | |
| Cœs. The breaking of so great a thing should make | 20 |
| 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 | 24 |
| 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, | 28 |
| 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 | 32 |
| With his most noble blood. | |
| Cœs/ Look you sad, friends? | |
| The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings | |
| To wash the eyes of kings. | 36 |
| Agr. And strange it is, | |
| That nature must compel us to lament | |
| Our most persisted deeds. | |
| Mec. His taints and honours | 40 |
| Wag’d equal with him. | |
| Agr. A rarer spirit never | |
| Did steer humanity; but you, gods, will give us | |
| Some faults to make us men. Cæsar is touch’d. | 44 |
| Mec. When such a spacious mirror’s set before him, | |
| He needs must see himself. | |
| Cœs/ O Antony! | |
| I have follow’d thee to this; but we do lance | 48 |
| 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, | 52 |
| 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, | 56 |
| 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,— | 60 |
| |
Enter an Egyptian. | |
| But I will tell you at some meeter season: | |
| The business of this man looks out of him; | |
| We’ll hear him what he says. Whence are you? | 64 |
| Egyp. 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 | 68 |
| To the way she’s forc’d to. | |
| Cœs/ Bid her have good heart; | |
| She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, | |
| How honourable and how kindly we | 72 |
| Determine for her; for Cæsar cannot live | |
| To be ungentle. | |
| Egyp. So the gods preserve thee! [Exit. | |
| Cœs. Come hither, Proculeius. Go and say, | 76 |
| 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 | 80 |
| 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. | 84 |
| Cæs. Gallus, go you along. [Exit GALLUS. | |
| Where’s Dolabella, | |
| To second Proculeius? | |
| Agr. & Mec. Dolabella! | 88 |
| Cæs. Let him alone, for I remember now | |
| How he’s employ’d; he shall in time be ready. | |
| Go with me to my tent; where you shall see | |
| How hardly I was drawn into this war; | 92 |
| How calm and gentle I proceeded still | |
| In all my writings. Go with me, and see | |
| What I can show in this. [Exeunt. | |
