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Pom. [to MENAS aside.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away!

Do as I bid you.-Where's this cup I call'd for?
Men. If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me,
Rise from thy stool.

Pom.

I think, thou'rt mad. The matter?

[A side.

[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 ?

That's

Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world?

twice.

Pom. How should that be?

Men.

But entertain it, and,

Although thou think me poor, I am the man

Will give thee all the world.

Pom.

Hast thou drunk well?

Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. 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.

Show me which way.

Men. These 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.

Pom.

Ah, this thou should'st have done,

And not have spoken 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;

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or sky inclips,] i. e. embraces.

competitors,] i. e. confederates, partners.

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.

Men. For this,

Desist, and drink.

[Aside.

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.

Pom.

This health to Lepidus.

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

Pompey.

Eno. Here's to thee, Menas.

Men.

Pom. Fill, till the cup be hid.

Enobarbus, welcome.

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 grows fouler.

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Ant.

Be a child o'the time.

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

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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.

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

fast

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

Eno. Ha, my brave emperor!

Shall we dance now the Egyptian bacchanals,
And celebrate our drink?

Pom.

[to ANTONY.

Let's ha't, good soldier.

Ant. Come, let us all take hands;

'Till that the conquering wine hath steeped our sense In soft and delicate lethe.

Eno.

All take hands.

Make battery to our ears with the loud musick :

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.

[Musick plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand

in hand.

SONG.

Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with pink eyne° :
In thy vats 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!

Caes. What 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;

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5 The holding every man shall bear,] To bear the burden, or, as it is here called, the holding of a song, is the phrase at this day. with pink eyne:] Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says a pink eye is a small eye, and quotes this passage for his authority. Pink eyne, however, may be red eyes: eyes inflamed with drinking, are very well appropriated to Bacchus.

You see, we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarbe 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?

night.

Good Antony, your hand.

Pom.

Good

I'll try you o'the shore.

O, Antony,

Ant. And shall, sir: give's your hand.
Pom.

You have my father's house, -But what? we are friends:
Come, down into the boat.

Eno.

Take heed you fall not.[Exeunt POMPEY, CESAR, ANT. and Attendants.

Menas, I'll not on shore.

Men.

No, 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.

[A Flourish of Trumpets, with Drums.

Eno. Ho, says 'a !-There's my cap.

[blocks in formation]

Enter VENTIDIUS, as after conquest, with SILIUS, and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead Body of PACORUS borne before him,

Ven. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck; and now Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death

Make me revenger.-Bear the king's son's body

Before our army:-Thy Pacorus, Orodes',
Pays this for Marcus Crassus.

Sil.

Noble Ventidius,

Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media,
Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither

The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony
Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and
Put garlands on thy head.

Ven.

O Silius, Silius,

I have done enough: A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: For learn this, Silius;
Better leave undone †, than by our deed acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve's away.

Cæsar, and Antony, have ever won

More in their officer, than person: Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour.
Who does i'the wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain, which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,

But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

Sil.

Thou hast, Ventidius,

That without which a soldier, and his sword,

Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to An

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tony?

Thy Pacorus, Orodes,] Pacorus was the son of Orodes, king of Parthia.

"Better to leave," &c.-MALONE.

That without which a soldier, and his sword,

Grants scarce distinction.] Grant, for afford. It is badly and obscurely expressed; but the sense is this: Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there would be no distinction between thee

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