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SCENE-Egypt, and dispersed in several Parts of

the Roman Empire.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

Alexandria. The Interior of CLEOPATRA'S Paluce.

Enter CANIDIUS and PHILO.

Can. Nay, but this dotage of our general O'erflows the measure; those, his goodly eyes, That, o'er the files and musters of the war, Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn The office, and devotion, of their view Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which, in the scuffles of great fights, hath burst The buckles of his breast, disowns all temper, And is become the bellows and the fan,

To cool a gipsy's passions. Look, they come.

[Flourish.

Enter ANTONY, Cleopatra, and their Train. Eunuchs fanning her.

Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transform'd

Into a wanton's fool. Behold!

Cle. If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon❜d.

Cle. I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved.

Ant. Then must thou needs find out new Heaven, new earth.

Enter an ATTENDANT.

Attend. News, my good lord, from Rome:
Ant. Grates me:-The sum?

Cle. Nay, hear them, Antony.

Fulvia, perchance, is angry; or, who knows
If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent
His powerful mandate to you-" Do this, or this;
Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that;
Perform❜t, or else we damn thee."

Ant. How, my love!

Cle. Perchance,-nay, and most like,You must not stay here longer; your dismission Is come from Cæsar; therefore, hear it, Antony.Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's, I would say;

both?

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Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen,
Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine
Is Cæsar's homager: so thy cheek pays shame
When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers!
[Calling
Ant. Let Rome in Tyber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space:
Kingdoms are clay; the nobleness of life

Is, to do thus.

Cle. Excellent falsehood!

[Kisses her hand.

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I seem the fool I am not; Antony

Will be himself.

Ant. Now, for the love of Love, and his soft hours, Let's not confound the time with conference harshi ;

There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now. What sport to-night? Cle. Hear the ambassadors.

Ant. Fie, wrangling queen!

Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives

To make itself in thee, fair and admired!

but thine. Come, come, my queen!

No messenger Speak not to us.

[To the ATTENDANT,

[Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and Train. Philo. Triumphant lady!But, since messengers, From many his contriving friends, in Rome, Petition his return, now Antony

Must leave her utterly.

Can. Never; he will not.

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: Other women cloy
The appetites they feed; but she makes hungry,
Where most she satisfies.

Philo. I am full sorry that he so approves
The common liar, who, we oft have heard,
Thus speaks of him at Rome. But I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!
[Exeunt severally.

SCENE II.

Alexandria. A Room in CLEOPATRA's Palace.

Enter ANTONY; PROCULEIUS following.

Pro. Fulvia, thy wife, first came into the field.
Ant. Against my brother Lucius ?

Pro. Ay:

But soon that war had end; and the time's state Made friends of them, joining their force 'gainst Cæsar;

Whose better issue in the war from Italy,

Upon the first encounter, drave them.

Ant. Well,

What worst?

Pro. The nature of bad news infects the teller. Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward. On; Things that are past are done, with me. 'Tis thus; Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, I hear him, as he flatter'd.

Pro. Labienus

Hath, with his Parthian force, extended Asia.
His conquering banner from Euphrates shook,
From Syria to Lydia, and Ionia;

Whilst

Ant. Antony, thou would'st say---

Pro. O, my lord!

Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue;

Name Cleopatra as she's call'd in Rome:

Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase, and taunt my faults,
With such full licence as both truth and malice,
Have power to utter.

From Sicyon how the news? Speak there.

Pro. The man from Sicyon. Is there such a one?
Attend. [Without.] He stays upon your will.
Ant. Let him appear:-And fare thee well awhile,
Pro. At your noble pleasure.

[Exit. Ant. These strong Egyptian fetters I must break, Or lose myself in dotage.

What are you?

Enter a MESSENGER.

Mes. Fulvia, thy wife, is dead.

Ant. Where died she?

Mes. In Sicyon :

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