ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in CLEOPATRA's Palace. Enter THYREUS and DOLABELLA; sent from CÆSAR. Flourish. Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and their Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love, indeed, tell me how much. Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. Enter an ATTENDANT. Atten. News, my good lord, from Rome. Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry: Or, who knows Ant. How, my love? Cleo. Perchance! nay, and most like :- Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, Cleo. Excellent falshood! Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?— Will be himself. Ant. But, stirr'd by Cleopatra, Now for the love of love, and his soft hours; Let's not confound the time with conference harsh : There's not a minute of our lives would stretch Without some pleasure now: What sport to-night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes-to chide, to laugh, [Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and Trains. Dol. Triumphant lady!-Fame, I see, is true. Thyr. Too true: since she first met Mark Antony Upon the river Cydnus, he has been hers. Dol. There she appear'd indeed; or my reporter Devis'd well for her. Thyr. I will tell you, sir. The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were silver; Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made In her pavilion (cloth of gold, of tissue), The fancy outwork nature; on each side her Dol. O, rare for Antony! Thyr. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids, So many mermaids, tended her i'the eyes, And made their bends adornings: at the helm A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle Swells with the touches of those flower-soft hands, That yarely frame the office. From the barge, A strange invisible perfume hits the sense Dol. Rare Egyptian ! Thyr. Upon her landing, Antony sent to her, It should be better, he became her guest; Dol. Royal wench! She made great Julius lay his sword to bed; Thyr. Never! he will not: Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale The appetites they feed; but she makes hungry, Dol. Well, I am sorry, He too approves the common liar, who [Exeunt severally. SCENE II. An Apartment in the Palace. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and ALEX AS, meeting ENOBARBUS. Cleo. He was disposed to mirth; but, on the sud den, A Roman thought hath struck him. Enobarbus,Enob. Madam. Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither.-Where's Alexas? Alexas. Here, lady, at your service. My lord approaches. Enter ANTONY, with a MESSENGER; ATTENDANTS following. Cleo. We will not look upon him; go with us. [Exeunt CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, ALEXAS, Mess. Fulvia, thy wife, came first into the field. Mess. Ay; but soon That war had end; and the time's state made friends Of them, jointing their forces against Cæsar ; Whose better issue in the war from Italy, Upon the first encounter, drave them, Ant. Well, What worst? |