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that seems to tie their friendship together, will be the very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation.2

Men. Who would not have his wife so?

Eno. 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 Cæsar; and, as 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. Men. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.

Eno. I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.

Men. Come; let's away.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

On Board Pompey's Galley, lying near Misenum.

Musick. Enter Two or Three Servants, with a Banquet.3

1 Serv. Here they'll be, man: Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already, the least wind i' the world will blow them down.

2

2 Serv. Lepidus is high-coloured.

1 Serv. They have made him drink alms-drink.

-conversation.] i. e. behaviour, manner of acting in com

mon life.

3

with a Banquet.] A banquet, in our author's time, frequently signified what we now call a desert; and from the following dialogue the word must here be understood in that sense. Some o' their plants-1 Plants, besides its common meaning, is here used for the foot, from the Latin.

4

They have made him drink alms-drink.] A phrase, amongst good fellows, to signify that liquor of another's share which his

2 Serv. As they pinch one another by the dispo sition, he cries out, no more; reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink.

1 Serv. But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

2 Serv. Why, this it 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 partizan" I could not heave.

1 Serv. To 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 CÆSAR, ANTONY, PomPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains.

Ant. Thus do they, sir: [To CESAR.] 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 foizon, follow: The higher Nilus swells,

8

The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman
Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,
And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You have strange serpents there.
Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.

Ant. They are so.

Pom. Sit, and some wine.-A health to Lepidus.

companion drinks to ease him. But it satirically alludes to Cæsar and Antony's admitting him into the triumvirate, in order to take off from themselves the load of envy.

7

a partizan-] A pike.

the mean,] i. e. the middle.

• Or foizon, follow:] Foizon is a French word signifying plenty,

abundance.

Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out.

Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me, you'll be in, till then.

Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard, the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that.

Men. Pompey, a word.

[Aside.

Pom.
Men. Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain,

Say in mine ear: what is't?

And hear me speak a word.

Pom.

This wine for Lepidus.

[Aside.

Forbear me till anon.

Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? Ant. It 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.

Lep. What colour is it of?

Ant. Of its own colour too.

Lep. "Tis a strange serpent.

Ant. "Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.
Cas. Will this description satisfy him?

Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure.

Do as I bid

Pom. [To MENAS aside.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away! you.-Where's this cup I call'd for? Men. If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me, Rise from thy stool. [Aside.

9 I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things;] Pyramis for pyramid was in common use in our author's time. From this word Shakspeare formed the English plural, pyramises, to mark the indistinct pronunciation of a man nearly intoxicated, whose tongue is now beginning to "split what it speaks."

Pom. I think, thou art mad. The matter? [Rises, and walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith: What's else to say?

Be jolly, lords.

Ant.

These quick-sands, Lepidus,

Keep off them, for you sink.

Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world?

Pom.

What say'st thou ?

Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world?

That's twice.

Pom. How should that be?

But entertain it, and,

Men.
Although thou think me poor, I am the man
Will give thee all the world.

Hast thou drunk well?

Pom.
Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the
Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove:
Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips,'
Is thine, if thou wilt have't.

Pom.

cup.

Show me which way.

Men. These three world-sharers, these competi

tors,2

Are in thy vessel: Let me cut the cable;

And, when we are put off, fall to their throats:
All there is thine.

Pom.
Ah, this thou should'st have done,
And not have spoke on't! In me, 'tis villainy;
In thee, it 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.

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or sky inclips,] i. e. embraces.

2 competitors,] i. e. confederates, partners.

Men. For this,

[Aside.

I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes3 more.—
Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd,
Shall never find it more.

Pom.

This health to Lepidus.

Ant. Bear him ashore.-I'll pledge it for him,

Pompey.

Eno. Here's to thee, Menas.

Men.

Enobarbus, welcome.

Pom. Fill, till the cup be hid.

Eno. There's a strong fellow, Menas.

[Pointing to the Attendant who carries off

LEPIDUS.

Men.

Eno.

Why?

He bears

The third part of the world, man; See'st not? Men. The third part then is drunk: 'Would it were all,

That it might go on wheels!

Eno. Drink thou; increase the reels.

Men. Come.

Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.

Ant. It ripens towards it.-Strike the vessels,* ho! Here is to Cæsar.

Cæs.

I could well forbear it.

It's monstrous labour, when I wash my brain,

And it

Ant.

grows fouler.

Be a child o' the time.

Cas. Possess it, I'll make answer: but I had

rather fast

From all, four days, than drink so much in one.

3 thy pall'd fortunes-] Palled is vapid, past its time of excellence; palled wine, is wine that has lost its original sprightliness. JOHNSON.

Strike the vessels,] i. e. chink the vessels one against the other, as a mark of our unanimity in drinking, as we now say, chink glasses.

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