I came before you here, a man prepar'd
To take this offer: but Mark Antony

Puts me to fome impatience.Though I lofe
The praife of it by telling, you must know,
When Cæfar and your brother were at blows,
Your mother came to Sicily, and did find
Her welcome friendly.

Ant. I have heard it, Pompey,

And am well ftudied for a liberal thanks,,
Which I do owe you.

Pom. Let me have your hand ::

I did not think, Sir, to have met you here.

Ant. The beds i' th' caft are soft; and thanks to you, That call'd me timelier than my purpofe hither:

For I've gain'd by it..

Caf. Since I faw you laft,

There is a change upon you.

Pom. Well, I know not

What counts hard fortune cafts upon my face;

But in my bofom fhe fhall never come,

To make my heart her vassal.

Lep. Well met here.

Pom. I hope fo, Lepidus; thus we are agreed: I crave our compofition may be written

And feal'd between us..

Caf. That's the next to do.

Pom. We'll feat each other ere we part, and let's Draw lots who shall begin.

Ant. That I will, Pompey.

Pom. No, Antony, take the lot:

But, firft or laft, your fine Ægyptian cookery
Shall have the fame. I've heard, that Julius Cæfar

Grew fat with feafting there.

Ant. You have heard much.

Pom. I have fair meaning, Sir.
Ant. And fair words to them.
Pom. Then fo much have I heard.

And I have heard Apollodorus carried-
Eno. No more of that: he did fo.

Pom. What, I pray you?

Eno. A certain Queen to Cæfar in a mattress. Pom. I know thee now; how far'ft thou, Soldier?

[To Enobarbus.

no

Eno. Well;

And well am like to do; for I perceive
Four feafts are toward.

Pom. Let me shake thy hand,

I never hated thee: I have feen thee fight,
When I have envied thy behaviour.

Eno. Sir,

I never lov'd you much; but I ha' prais'd' ye,
When you have well deferv'd ten times as much
As I have faid you did.

Pom. Enjoy thy plainness,

It nothing ill becomes thee;

Aboard my galley I invite you all.

Will you lead, Lords?

All. Shew's the way, Sir.

Pom. Come. [Exeunt. Manent Enob. and Menas Men. Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have made You and I have known, Sir. [To Enob. [this treaty. Eno. At fea, I think.

Men. We have, Sir.

Eno. "You have done well by water.

Men. "And you by land.

Eno. "I will praise any man that will praise me, tho❞ it cannot be denied what I have done by land.

Men. Nor what I have done by water.

Eno. Yes, fomething you can deny for your own fafety you have been a great thief by sea. Men. And you by land.

Eno. There I deny my land-fervice; but give me your hand, Menas, if our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kiffing.

are.

Men. All mens' faces are true, whatfoe'er their hands

Eno. But there is ne'er a fair woman has a true face.. Men. No flander-they steal hearts.

Eno. We came hither to fight with you.

Men. For my part, I am forry it is turn'd to a drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune. Eno. If he do, fure he cannot weep't back again. Men. You've faid, Sir; we look'd not for Mark An

tony here. Pray you, is he married to Cleopatra ?

Eno. Cæfar's fifter is called Octavia.

Men.

Men. True, Sir, fhe was the wife of Caius Marcellus. Eno. But now fhe is the wife of Marcus Antonius. Men. Pray ye, Sir?

Eno. 'Tis true.

Men. Then is Cæfar and he for ever knit together. Eno. If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophefy fo.

Men. I think the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage, than the love of the parties.

Eno. I think fo too. But you fhall find, the band that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very ftrangler of their amity. Octavia is of a holy, cold, and ftill conversation,

Men. Who would not have his wife fo?

Eno. Not he that himself is not fo; which is Mark Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again; then fhall the fighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Cæfar, and as I faid before, that which is the strength of their amity, fhall prove the immediate author of their variance. Antony will ufe his affection where it is: he married but his occafion here.

Men. And thus it may be. Come, Sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you,

Eno. I fhall take it, Sir; we have us'd our throats in Egypt.

Men. Come, let's away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VII. On board Pompey's galley.

Mufic plays. Enter two or three Servants with a banquet.

1 Ser. Here they'll be, man: fome o' their plants are ill rooted already, the leaft wind i' th' world will blow them down.

2 Ser. Lepidus is high-colour'd.

1 Ser. They have made him drink alms-drink.

2 Ser. As they pinch one another by the difpofition *, he cries out, No more; reconciles them to his intreaty, and himself to th' drink.

I Ser. But it raises the greater war between him and his difcretion.

2 Ser

†. A phrase equivalent to that now in use, of touching one in a fore place.

2 Ser. Why, this it is to have a name in great mens” fellowship: I had as lieve have a reed that will do me no fervice, as a partizan I could not heave.

1 Ser. To be call'd into a huge fphere, and not to be feen to move in't, are the holes where eyes fhould be, which pitifully difafter the cheeks,

Trumpets. Enter Cafar, Antony, Pompey, Lepidus, Agrippa, Mecanas, Enobarbus, Menas, with other Cap

tains.

Ant. Thus do they, Sir: they take the flow o' th' Nile By certain fcale i' th' pyramid; they know By th' height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth, Or foifon, follow. The higher Nilus fwells, The more it promises; as it ebbs, the feedsman Upon the flime and ooze scatters his grain, And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You've ftrange serpents there.

Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your ferpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your fun; fo is your crocodile.

Ant. They are fo

Pom. Sirrah, fome wine! a health to Lepidus.
Lep. I am not fo as I fhould be:

But I'll ne'er out.

Eno. Not till you have flept; I fear me you'll be in till then.

Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemy's pyramifis are very goodly things; without contradiction I have heard that.

Men. Pompey, a word.

Pom. Say in mine ear, what is't?

[Afide.

Men. Forfake thy feat, I do beseech thee, Captain,

And hear me fpeak a word.

Pom. Forbear me till anon.

This wine for Lepidus.

[Whispers.

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile ?

Ant. It is fhap'd, Sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath breadth; it is juft fo high as it is, and moves with its own organs. It lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates. Lep. What colour is it of?

Ant.

Ant. Of its own colour too.

Lep. 'Tis a strange serpent.

Ant. 'Tis fo, and the tears of it are wet.
Caf. Will this description fatisfy him?

Ant. With the healths that Pompey gives him, elfe he

is a very epicure.

Pom. Go hang, Sir, hang! tell me of that? away ! Do as I bid you. Where's the cup I call'd for? Men. If for the fake of merit thou wilt hear me, Rife from thy ftool.

Pom. I think thou'rt mad; the matter?

Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou haft ferv'd me with much faith: what's

Be jolly, Lords.

Ant. Thefe quick-fands, Lepidus,

Keep off them, 'fore you fink.

[elfe to fay?

Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world?

Pom. What fay'ft thou?

Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? that's

twice.

Pom. How fhall that be?

Men. But entertain it;

And though you think me poor,

Will give thee all the world.

Pom. Haft thou drunk well?

I am the man

Men. No, Pompey; I have kept me from the cup, Thou art, if thou dar'ft be, the earthly Jove: Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips,

Is thine, if thou wilt ha't.

Pom. Shew me which way.

Men. These three world-sharers, these competitors, Are in thy veffel. Let me cut the cable : And when we are put off, fall to their throats: All then is thine.

Pom. Ah, this thou shouldst have done,

And not have spoken on't. In me 'tis villany,
In thee 't had been good fervice: thou must know,
'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;
Mine honour, it: repent that e'er thy tongue
Hath fo betray'd thine act. Being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done;
But muit condemn it now. Defift, and drink.

Men.