TPTT The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra: ACT II
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
SCENE I. Messina. POMPEY's house.
SCENE II. Rome. The house of LEPIDUS.
SCENE III. The same. OCTAVIUS CAESAR's house.
SCENE IV. The same. A street.
SCENE V. Alexandria. CLEOPATRA's palace.
SCENE VI. Near Misenum.
SCENE VII. On board POMPEY's galley, off Misenum.
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
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SCENE VI. Near Misenum.
Flourish. Enter POMPEY and MENAS at one door, with drum and trumpet: at another, OCTAVIUS CAESAR, MARK ANTONY, LEPIDUS, DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, MECAENAS, with Soldiers marching
POMPEY
      Your hostages I have, so have you mine;
      And we shall talk before we fight.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
      Most meet
      That first we come to words; and therefore have we
5     Our written purposes before us sent;
      Which, if thou hast consider'd, let us know
      If 'twill tie up thy discontented sword,
      And carry back to Sicily much tall youth
      That else must perish here.
POMPEY
10    To you all three,
      The senators alone of this great world,
      Chief factors for the gods, I do not know
      Wherefore my father should revengers want,
      Having a son and friends; since Julius Caesar,
15    Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,
      There saw you labouring for him. What was't
      That moved pale Cassius to conspire; and what
      Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus,
      With the arm'd rest, courtiers and beauteous freedom,
20    To drench the Capitol; but that they would
      Have one man but a man? And that is it
      Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burthen
      The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant
      To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome
25    Cast on my noble father.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
      Take your time.
MARK ANTONY
      Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy sails;
      We'll speak with thee at sea: at land, thou know'st
      How much we do o'er-count thee.
POMPEY
30    At land, indeed,
      Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house:
      But, since the cuckoo builds not for himself,
      Remain in't as thou mayst.
LEPIDUS
      Be pleased to tell us--
35    For this is from the present--how you take
      The offers we have sent you.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
      There's the point.
MARK ANTONY
      Which do not be entreated to, but weigh
      What it is worth embraced.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
40    And what may follow,
      To try a larger fortune.
POMPEY
      You have made me offer
      Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must
      Rid all the sea of pirates; then, to send
45    Measures of wheat to Rome; this 'greed upon
      To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back
      Our targes undinted.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
MARK ANTONY
LEPIDUS
      That's our offer.
POMPEY
      Know, then,
50    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 of it by telling, you must know,
      When Caesar and your brother were at blows,
55    Your mother came to Sicily and did find
      Her welcome friendly.
MARK ANTONY
      I have heard it, Pompey;
      And am well studied for a liberal thanks
      Which I do owe you.
POMPEY
60    Let me have your hand:
      I did not think, sir, to have met you here.
MARK ANTONY
      The beds i' the east are soft; and thanks to you,
      That call'd me timelier than my purpose hither;
      For I have gain'd by 't.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
65    Since I saw you last,
      There is a change upon you.
POMPEY
      Well, I know not
      What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face;
      But in my bosom shall she never come,
70    To make my heart her vassal.
LEPIDUS
      Well met here.
POMPEY
      I hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed:
      I crave our composition may be written,
      And seal'd between us.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
75    That's the next to do.
POMPEY
      We'll feast each other ere we part; and let's
      Draw lots who shall begin.
MARK ANTONY
      That will I, Pompey.
POMPEY
      No, Antony, take the lot: but, first
80    Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery
      Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar
      Grew fat with feasting there.
MARK ANTONY
      You have heard much.
POMPEY
      I have fair meanings, sir.
MARK ANTONY
85    And fair words to them.
POMPEY
      Then so much have I heard:
      And I have heard, Apollodorus carried--
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      No more of that: he did so.
POMPEY
      What, I pray you?
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
90    A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.
POMPEY
      I know thee now: how farest thou, soldier?
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      Well;
      And well am like to do; for, I perceive,
      Four feasts are toward.
POMPEY
95    Let me shake thy hand;
      I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
      When I have envied thy behavior.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      Sir,
      I never loved you much; but I ha' praised ye,
100   When you have well deserved ten times as much
      As I have said you did.
POMPEY
      Enjoy thy plainness,
      It nothing ill becomes thee.
      Aboard my galley I invite you all:
105   Will you lead, lords?
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
MARK ANTONY
LEPIDUS
      Show us the way, sir.
POMPEY
      Come.
Exeunt all but MENAS and ENOBARBUS
MENAS
      (Aside) Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have
      made this treaty.--You and I have known, sir.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
110   At sea, I think.
MENAS
      We have, sir.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      You have done well by water.
MENAS
      And you by land.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      I will praise any man that will praise me; though it
115   cannot be denied what I have done by land.
MENAS
      Nor what I have done by water.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      Yes, something you can deny for your own
      safety: you have been a great thief by sea.
MENAS
      And you by land.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
120   There I deny my land service. But give me your
      hand, Menas: if our eyes had authority, here they
      might take two thieves kissing.
MENAS
      All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their hands are.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      But there is never a fair woman has a true face.
MENAS
125   No slander; they steal hearts.
DOMITIUS 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.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      If he do, sure, he cannot weep't back again.
MENAS
130   You've said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony
      here: pray you, is he married to Cleopatra?
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      Caesar's sister is called Octavia.
MENAS
      True, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.
MENAS
135   Pray ye, sir?
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      'Tis true.
MENAS
      Then is Caesar and he for ever knit together.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would
      not prophesy so.
MENAS
140   I think the policy of that purpose made more in the
      marriage than the love of the parties.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      I think so too. But you shall find, the band that
      seems to tie their friendship together will be the
      very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a
145   holy, cold, and still conversation.
MENAS
      Who would not have his wife so?
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      Not he that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony.
      He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the
      sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Caesar; and, as
150   I said before, that which is the strength of their
      amity shall prove the immediate author of their
      variance. Antony will use his affection where it is:
      he married but his occasion here.
MENAS
      And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard?
155   I have a health for you.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
      I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.
MENAS
      Come, let's away.
Exeunt
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