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  • William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, Scene VII

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Scene VIIOn board Pompey’s galley, off MisenumMusic plays. Enter two or three Servants with a banquetFirst ServantHere they’ll be, man. Some o’ their plants are ill-rooted already: the least wind i’ the world will blow them down.Second ServantLepidus is high-coloured.First ServantThey have made him drink alms-drink.Second ServantAs they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out ‘No more;’ reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.First ServantBut it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.Second ServantWhy, this is to have a name in great men’s fellowship: I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service as a partisan I could not heave.First ServantTo be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in’t, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks.A sennet sounded. Enter Octavius Caesar, Mark Antony, Lepidus, Pompey, Agrippa, Mecaenas, Domitius Enobarbus, Menas, with other captainsMark AntonyTo Octavius CaesarThus do they, sir: they take the flow o’ the Nile By certain scales i’ the pyramid; they know, By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth Or foison follow: the higher Nilus swells, The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain, And shortly comes to harvest.LepidusYou’ve strange serpents there.Mark AntonyAy, Lepidus.LepidusYour serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.Mark AntonyThey are so.PompeySit,—and some wine! A health to Lepidus!LepidusI am not so well as I should be, but I’ll ne’er out.Domitius EnobarbusNot till you have slept; I fear me you’ll be in till then.LepidusNay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies’ pyramises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that.MenasAside to PompeyPompey, a word.PompeyAside to MenasSay in mine ear: what is’t?MenasAside to PompeyForsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain, And hear me speak a word.PompeyAside to MenasForbear me till anon. This wine for Lepidus!LepidusWhat manner o’ thing is your crocodile?Mark AntonyIt is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is just so 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.LepidusWhat colour is it of?Mark AntonyOf it own colour too.Lepidus’Tis a strange serpent.Mark Antony’Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.Octavius CaesarWill this description satisfy him?Mark AntonyWith the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure.PompeyAside to MenasGo hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away! Do as I bid you. Where’s this cup I call’d for?MenasAside to PompeyIf for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me, Rise from thy stool.PompeyAside to MenasI think thou’rt mad. The matter?Rises, and walks asideMenasI have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes.PompeyThou hast served me with much faith. What’s else to say? Be jolly, lords.Mark AntonyThese quick-sands, Lepidus, Keep off them, for you sink.MenasWilt thou be lord of all the world?PompeyWhat say’st thou?MenasWilt thou be lord of the whole world? That’s twice.PompeyHow should that be?MenasBut entertain it, And, though thou think me poor, I am the man Will give thee all the world.PompeyHast thou drunk well?MenasNow, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. Thou art, if thou darest be, the earthly Jove: Whate’er the ocean pales, or sky inclips, Is thine, if thou wilt ha’t.PompeyShow me which way.MenasThese three world-sharers, these competitors, Are in thy vessel: let me cut the cable; And, when we are put off, fall to their throats: All there is thine.PompeyAh, this thou shouldst have done, And not have spoke on’t! In me ’tis villany; In thee’t had been good service. Thou must know, ‘Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour; Mine honour, it. Repent that e’er thy tongue Hath so betray’d thine act: being done unknown, I should have found it afterwards well done; But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink.MenasAsideFor this, I’ll never follow thy pall’d fortunes more. Who seeks, and will not take when once ’tis offer’d, Shall never find it more.PompeyThis health to Lepidus!Mark AntonyBear him ashore. I’ll pledge it for him, Pompey.Domitius EnobarbusHere’s to thee, Menas!MenasEnobarbus, welcome!PompeyFill till the cup be hid.Domitius EnobarbusThere’s a strong fellow, Menas.Pointing to the Attendant who carries off LepidusMenasWhy?Domitius EnobarbusA’ bears the third part of the world, man; see’st not?MenasThe third part, then, is drunk: would it were all, That it might go on wheels!Domitius EnobarbusDrink thou; increase the reels.MenasCome.PompeyThis is not yet an Alexandrian feast.Mark AntonyIt ripens towards it. Strike the vessels, ho? Here is to Caesar!Octavius CaesarI could well forbear’t. It’s monstrous labour, when I wash my brain, And it grows fouler.Mark AntonyBe a child o’ the time.Octavius CaesarPossess it, I’ll make answer: But I had rather fast from all four days Than drink so much in one.Domitius EnobarbusHa, my brave emperor!To Mark AntonyShall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals, And celebrate our drink?PompeyLet’s ha’t, good soldier.Mark AntonyCome, let’s all take hands, Till that the conquering wine hath steep’d our sense In soft and delicate Lethe.Domitius EnobarbusAll take hands. Make battery to our ears with the loud music: The while I’ll place you: then the boy shall sing; The holding every man shall bear as loud As his strong sides can volley.Music plays. Domitius Enobarbus places them hand in handThe Song.Come, thou monarch of the vine, Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne! In thy fats our cares be drown’d, With thy grapes our hairs be crown’d: Cup us, till the world go round, Cup us, till the world go round!Octavius CaesarWhat would you more? Pompey, good night. Good brother, Let me request you off: our graver business Frowns at this levity. Gentle lords, let’s part; You see we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarb Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost Antick’d us all. What needs more words? Good night. Good Antony, your hand.PompeyI’ll try you on the shore.Mark AntonyAnd shall, sir; give’s your hand.PompeyO Antony, You have my father’s house,—But, what? we are friends. Come, down into the boat.Domitius EnobarbusTake heed you fall not.Exeunt all but Domitius Enobarbus and MenasMenas, I’ll not on shore.MenasNo, to my cabin. These drums! these trumpets, flutes! what! Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell To these great fellows: sound and be hang’d, sound out!Sound a flourish, with drumsDomitius EnobarbusHo! says a’ There’s my cap.MenasHo! Noble captain, come.Exeunt

William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, Act II

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William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, Scene II

  • William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, Scene II

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  • Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses
  • Current Events This Week: January 2023
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  • Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
  • The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales