MARK ANTONY,				triumvirs.	TAURUS, lieutenant-general to Cæsar.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR,					CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to Antony.
M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS,					SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius' army.
SEXTUS POMPEIUS.					EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to    Cæsar.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS,				friends to Antony.
VENTIDIUS,					ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES,   attendants on Cleopatra.
EROS,
SCARUS,					A SOOTHSAYER.
DERCETAS,					A CLOWN.
DEMETRIUS,
PHILO,					CLEOPATRA, queen of Egypt.
MAECENAS,		friends to Cæsar.			OCTAVIA, sister to Cæsar and wife to Antony.
AGRIPPA,					CHARMIAN,		attendants on Cleopatra.
DOLABELLA,					IRAS,
PROCULEIUS,
THYREUS,					OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, MESSENGERS, and other                            ATTENDANTS.
GALLUS,
MENAS,		friends of Pompey.
MENECRATES,
VARRIUS,					SCENE--In several parts of the Roman empire.

Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.

PHILO.

NAY, but this dotage of our general's
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 on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gipsy's lust. [Flourish within.] Look
where they come:
Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.

Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, her LADIES, the
TRAIN, with EUNUCHS fanning her.

CLEOPATRA.

If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

MARK ANTONY.

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

CLEOPATRA.

I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved.
Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new
earth.

Enter an ATTENDANT.

ATTENDANT.

News, my good lord, from Rome.

MARK ANTONY.

Grates me:--the sum.

CLEOPATRA.

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.'

MARK ANTONY.

How, my love!

CLEOPATRA.

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?--
Call in the messengers.--As I am Egypt's queen,
Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Cæsar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame
When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds.--The messen-
gers!

MARK ANTONY.

Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair

[Embracing.

And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.

CLEOPATRA.

Excellent falsehood!
Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?--
I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony
Will be himself.

MARK ANTONY.

But stirr'd by Cleopatra.--
Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,
Let's not confound the time with conference
harsh:
There's not a minute of our lives should stretch
Without some pleasure now:--what sport to-
night?

-924-