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? 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; 1 2 or sky inclips,] i. e. embraces. competitors,] i. e. confederates, partners. Mine honour, it. Repent, that e'er thy tongue 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, 3 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. 4 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, 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; As his strong sides can volley. [Musick plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand in hand. SONG. Come, thou monarch of the vine, With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd; Cup us, till the world go round! Caes. What would you more?-Pompey, good night. Let me request you off: our graver business 6 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. You have my father's house, -But what? we are friends: 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. 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', Sil. Noble Ventidius, Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm, The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony Ven. O Silius, Silius, I have done enough: A lower place, note well, Cæsar, and Antony, have ever won More in their officer, than person: Sossius, Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour. I could do more to do Antonius good, But 'twould offend him; and in his offence Sil. Thou hast, Ventidius, That without which a soldier, and his sword, Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to An 7— 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 |