CLEOPATRA

Caesar’s will?

THIDIAS

Hear it apart.

CLEOPATRA

None but friends; say boldly.

THIDIAS

So haply are they friends to Antony.

ENOBARBUS

He needs as many, sir, as Caesar has,

Or needs not us. If Caesar please, our master

Will leap to be his friend. For us, you know,

Whose he is, we are: and that is Caesar’s.

THIDIAS

So. (To Cleopatra) Thus, then, thou most renowned:

Caesar entreats

Not to consider in what case thou stand’st

Further than he is Caesar.

CLEOPATRA

Go on; right royal.

THIDIAS

He knows that you embraced not Antony

As you did love, but as you feared him.

CLEOPATRA 0.

THIDIAS

The scars upon your honour therefore he

Does pity as constrained blemishes,

Not as deserved.

CLEOPATRA

He is a god, and knows

What is most right. Mine honour was not yielded,

But conquered merely.

ENOBARBUS (aside)

To be sure of that

I will ask Antony. Sir, sir, thou art so leaky

That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for

Thy dearest quit thee.

Exit

THIDIAS

Shall I say to Caesar

What you require of him?—For he partly begs

To be desired to give. It much would please him

That of his fortunes you should make a staff

To lean upon. But it would warm his spirits

To hear from me you had left Antony,

And put your self under his shroud,

The universal landlord.

CLEOPATRA

What’s your name?

THIDIAS

My name is Thidias.

CLEOPATRA

Most kind messenger,

Say to great Caesar this in deputation:

I kiss his conqu’ring hand. Tell him I am prompt

To lay my crown at’s feet, and there to kneel

Till from his all-obeying breath I hear

The doom of Egypt.

THIDIAS

’Tis your noblest course.

Wisdom and fortune combating together,

If that the former dare but what it can,

No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay

My duty on your hand.

He kisses Cleopatra’s hand

CLEOPATRA

Your Caesar’s father oft,

When he hath mused of taking kingdoms in,

Bestowed his lips on that unworthy place,

As it rained kisses.

Enter Antony and Enobarbus

ANTONY

Favours, by Jove that thunders!

What art thou, fellow?

THIDIAS

One that but performs

The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest

To have command obeyed.

ENOBARBUS

You will be whipped.

ANTONY (calling)

Approach, there!—Ah, you kite! Now, gods and

devils,

Authority melts from me of late. When I cried ‘Ho!’,

Like boys unto a muss kings would start forth,

And cry ‘Your will?’—Have you no ears? I am

Antony yet.

Enter servants

Take hence this jack, and whip him.

ENOBARBUS ⌈aside to Thidias⌉

’Tis better playing with a lion’s whelp

Than with an old one dying.

ANTONY

Moon and stars!

Whip him! Were’t twenty of the greatest tributaries

That do acknowledge Caesar, should I find them

So saucy with the hand of she here—what’s her name

Since she was Cleopatra? Whip him, fellows,

Till like a boy you see him cringe his face,

And whine aloud for mercy. Take him hence.

THIDIAS

Mark Antony—

ANTONY

Tug him away. Being whipped,

Bring him again. This jack of Caesar’s shall

Bear us an errand to him.

Exeunt servants with Thidias

You were half blasted ere I knew you. Ha,

Have I my pillow left unpressed in Rome,

Forborne the getting of a lawful race,

And by a gem of women, to be abused

By one that looks on feeders?

CLEOPATRA Good my lord—

ANTONY You have been a boggler ever.

But when we in our viciousness grow hard—

O misery on’t!—the wise gods seel our eyes,

In our own filth drop our clear judgements, make us

Adore our errors, laugh at’s while we strut

To our confusion.

CLEOPATRA

O, is’t come to this?

ANTONY

I found you as a morsel cold upon

Dead Caesar’s trencher; nay, you were a fragment

Of Gnaeus Pompey’s, besides what hotter hours

Unregistered in vulgar fame you have

Luxuriously picked out. For I am sure,

Though you can guess what temperance should be,

You know not what it is.

CLEOPATRA

Wherefore is this?

ANTONY

To let a fellow that will take rewards

And say ’God quit you’ be familiar with

My playfellow your hand, this kingly seal

And plighter of high hearts! O that I were

Upon the hill of Basan to outroar

The hornèd herd! For I have savage cause,

And to proclaim it civilly were like

A haltered neck which does the hangman thank

For being yare about him.

Enter a Servant with Thidias

Is he whipped?

SERVANT Soundly, my lord.

ANTONY Cried he, and begged a pardon?

SERVANT He did ask favour.

ANTONY (to Thidias)

If that thy father live, let him repent

Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry

To follow Caesar in his triumph, since

Thou hast been whipped for following him. Henceforth

The white hand of a lady fever thee,

Shake thou to look on’t. Get thee back to Caesar;

Tell him thy entertainment. Look thou say

He makes me angry with him, for he seems

Proud and disdainful, harping on what I am,