Servant —
Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
Universal Anthology - v05
—
That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true :
If then thy spirit look upon us now,
Shall it not grieve thee, dearer than thy death, To see thy Antony making his peace,
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes,
Most noble ! in the presence of thy corse ? Had I
as many eyes as thou hast wounds,
Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,
It would become me better, than to close
In terms of friendship with thine enemies.
Pardon me, Julius ! — Here wast thou bayed, brave hart Here didst thou fall ; and here thy hunters stand, Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe.
O world! thou wast the forest to this hart; —
And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
How like a deer, stricken by many princes,
Dost thou here lie !
Cassius —
Mark Antony,
Antony — Pardon me, Caius Cassius, The enemies of Caesar shall say this ;
Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.
Cassius —
1 blame you not for praising Caesar so ;
But what compact mean you to have with us ? Will you be pricked in number of our friends ; Or shall we on, and not depend on you ?
Antony —
Therefore I took your hands ; but was, indeed, Swayed from the point, by looking down on Caesar. Friends am
Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons, Why, and wherein, Caesar was dangerous.
I with you all, and love you all ;
Brutus —
Or else were this a savage spectacle :
Our reasons are so full of good regard, That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, You should be satisfied.
Antony — That's all I seek : And am moreover suitor, that Imay Produce his body to the market place ;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, Speak in the order of his funeral.
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JULIUS CiESAR.
Brutus —
You shall, Mark Antony.
Cassius — Brutus, a word with you. —
You know not what you do ; Do not consent, That Antony speak in his funeral :
Know you how much the people may be moved By that which he will utter ?
[Aside.
Brutus — By your pardon; I will myself into the pulpit first,
And show the reason of our Caesar's death : What Antony shall speak, I will protest
He speaks by leave and by permission ; And that we are contented, Caesar shall Have all true rites, and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more, than do us wrong.
Cassius —
I know not what may fall ;
I like it not.
Brutus —
Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar ; And say, you do't by our permission ;
Else shall you not have any hand at all
About his funeral : And you shall speak
In the same pulpit whereto I am going,
After my speech is ended.
Brutus —
Prepare the body then, and follow us.
Antony — Be it so ; I do desire no more.
[Exeunt aM but Antony.
Antony —
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man,
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood ! Over thy wounds now do I prophesy —
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue ; — A curse shall light upon the limbs of men ; Domestic fury, and fierce civil strife,
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use.
And dreadful objects so familiar,
JULIUS CESAR. 215
That mothers shall but smile, when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war; All pity choked with custom of fell deeds :
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate" by his side, come hot from hell, Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice, Cry, Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men groaning for burial.
Scene II. — The Forum.
Brutus and a throng of Citizens. Brutus goes into the Rostrum.
Citizen —
The noble Brutus is ascended : Silence !
Brutus —
Be patient till the last.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause; and be silent that ye may hear; believe me for mine honor; and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom ; and awake your senses that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand, why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer, — Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves ; than that Caesar were dead to live all free men ? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him ; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him : There is tears, for his love ; joy, for his fortune; honor, for his valor; and death, for his am bition. Who is here so base that would be a bondman ? If any, speak ; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I
pause for a reply.
Citizens — None, Brutus, none. [Several speaking at once.
Brutus — Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Caesar, than you should do to Brutus. The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol: his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor his offenses enforced, for which he suffered death.
Enter Antony and others, with Cesar's body.
Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony : Who, though he
216 JULIUS CJESAR.
had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth: As which of you shall not? With this I depart : That as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death.
Citizens —
Live, Brutus, live ! live !
1 Citizen —
Bring him with triumph home unto his house.
2 Citizen —
Give him a statue with his ancestors.
3 Citizen —
Let him be Caesar.
4 Citizen — Caesar's better parts Shall now be crowned in Brutus.
1 Citizen —
We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamors.
Peace; silence! Brutus speaks.
[Exit.
4 Citizen —
'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.
Brutus —
My countrymen,
2 Citizen — 1 Citizen —
Peace, ho ! Brutus —
Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony :
Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech Tending to Caesar's glories : which Mark Antony, By our permission, is allowed to make.
I do entreat you not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.
Citizens —
Stay, ho ! and let us hear Mark Antony.
3 Citizen —
Let him go up into the public chair ; We'll hear him : — Noble Antony, go up.
Antony —
For Brutus' sake, I am beholden to you.
4 Citizen —
What does he say of Brutus ?
5 Citizen — He says, for Brutus' sake, He finds himself beholden to us all.
1 Citizen —
This Caesar was a tyrant.
JULIUS CESAR.
5 Citizen — Nay, that's certain : We are blessed that Rome is rid of him.
2 Citizen —
Peace ; let us hear what Antony can say.
Antony —
You gentle Romans,
Citizens — Peace, ho ! let us hear him. Antony —
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil, that men do, lives after them ;
The good is oft interred with their bones ;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you, Caesar was ambitious ;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault ;
And grievously hath Caesar answered it. Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest, (Tor Brutus is an honorable man ;
So are they all, all honorable men ;)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me :
But Brutus says he was ambitious ;
And Brutus is an honorable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill :
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious ?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff :
Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ;
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see, that on the Lupercal,
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition ? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ;
And, sure, he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause ; What cause withholds you then to mourn for him ? O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason ! — bear with me ; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
1 Citizen —-
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
218
JULIUS CESAR.
2 Citizen —
If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrongs.
3 Citizen — Has he, masters ? I fear, there will a worse come in his place.
4 Citizen —
Marked ye his words ? He would not take the crown
Therefore, 'tis certain, he was not ambitious. 1 Citizen —
If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 2 Citizen —
Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 8 Citizen —
There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 4 Citizen —
Now mark him, he begins again to speak. Antony —
But yesterday, the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world : now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.
0 masters ! if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
1 should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honorable men :
I will not do them wrong ;
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you, Than I will wrong such honorable men.
But here's a parchment, with the seal of Caesar,
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will :
Let but the commons hear this testament,
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,)
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood ;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills Bequeathing as rich legacy,
Unto their issue.
Citizen —
We'll hear the will read Mark Antony.
Citizens —
The will, the will we will hear Caesar's will.
Antony —
Have patience, gentle friends, must not read it; It not meet you know how Caesar loved you. You are not wood, you are not stones, but men
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JULIUS CESAR. 219
And being men, hearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad : "lis good you know not that you are his heirs, For if you should, O, what would come of it !
4 Citizen —
Read the will ; we will hear Antony, You shall read us the will Caesar's will.
Antony —
Will you be patient Will you stay awhile
have o'ershot myself, to tell you of it.
fear, wrong the honorable men, Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar
Citizen —
They were traitors Honorable men
Citizens —
The will the testament
do fear it.
Citizen —
They were villains, murderers The will read the will
Antony —
You will compel me then to read the will Then make ring about the corpse of Caesar, And let me show you him that made the will.
Shall— descend Citizens
Come down. Citizen —
Descend. Citizen —
And will you give me leave
[2Ze comes down from the pulpit
You shall have leave. Citizen —
A ring stand round. Citizen —
Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
Citizen — — Room for Antony
most noble Antony.
Antony —
Nay, press not so upon me stand far off.
Citizens —
Stand back room bear back
Antony —
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle remember The first time ever Caesar put on
'Twas on summer's evening in his tent; That day he overcame the Nervii —
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220
JULIUS C^SAR.
Look ! in this place, ran Cassius' dagger through : See, what a rent the envious Casca made : Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabbed : And, as he plucked his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel Judge, you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him This was the most unkindest cut of all
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquished him then burst his mighty heart And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.
what a fall was there, my countrymen
Then and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.
O, now you weep and, perceive, you feel
The dint of pity these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what, weep you, when you but behold Our Caesar's vesture wounded Look you here, Here himself, marred, as you see, with traitors.
Citizen —
piteous spectacle
Citizen — noble Caesar
Citizen — woeful day
Citizen —
traitors, villains
Citizen —
most bloody sight
Citizen —
We will be revenged.
Citizens —
Revenge about, — seek, — burn, — fire, — kill, — slay — let
not traitor live. Antony —
Peace there — Hear the noble Antony.
Citizen — We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with
him.
Stay, countrymen. Citizen —
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JULIUS CESAR. 221
Antony —
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They, that have done this deed, are honorable ;
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it ; they are wise and honorable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts ;
I am no orator, as Brutus is :
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend : and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him.
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood :
I tell you that, which you yourselves do know ;
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me : But were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Caesar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
I only speak right on;
Citizens —
We'll mutiny.
1 Citizen —
We'll burn the house of Brutus.
2 Citizen —
Away then, come, seek the conspirators.
Antony —
Yet hear me, countrymen, yet hear me speak.
Citizens —
Peace, ho ! Hear Antony, most noble Antony.
Antony —
Why, friends, you go to do you know not what: Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves ?
Alas, you know not : —
You have forgot the will I told you of.
Citizens — — Most true ;
the will ;
—
let's stay, and hear the will.
Antony —
Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.
2 Citizen —
Most noble Caesar ! — we'll revenge his death.
I must tell you then :
—
222 JULIUS CESAR.
5 Citizen —
O royal Caesar !
Antony —
Hear me with patience.
Citizens — Peace, ho !
Antony —
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbors, and new-planted orchards, On this side Tyber : he hath left them you, And to your heirs forever ; common pleasures, To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Caesar : When comes such another ?
1 Citizen— — Never, never;
Come, away, away : We'll burn his body in the holy place,
And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.
Take up the body. 2 Citizen —
Go, fetch fire. S Citizen —
Pluck down benches. 4 Citizen —
Pluck down forms, windows, anything.
Antony —
Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt !
Servant —
Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
Antony —
Where is he ?
Servant —
He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house.
[Exeunt Citizens with the body.
Enter A Servant.
How now, fellow ?
Antony —
And thither will I straight to visit him : He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us anything.
Servant —
I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius
Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome.
Antony —
Belike they had some notice of the people,
How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 223
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. By PLUTARCH.
[Plutabch : A Greek writer of biographies and miscellaneous works ; born about a. d. 50. He came of a wealthy and distinguished family and received a careful philosophical training at Athens under the Peripatetic philosopher Ammonius. After this he made several journeys, and stayed a considerable time in Rome, where he enjoyed friendly intercourse with persons of distinction, and conducted the education of the future Emperor Hadrian. He died about a. d. 120 in his native town, in which he held the office of archon and priest of the Pythian Apollo. His fame as an author is founded upon the celebrated " Parallel Lives," consisting of the biographies of forty-six Greeks and Romans, divided into pairs. Each pair contains the life of a Greek and a Roman, and generally ends with a comparison of the two. Plutarch's other writings, short treatises on a great variety of subjects, are grouped under the title of "Morals. "]
The grandfather of Antony was the famous pleader, whom Marius put to death for having taken part with Sylla. His father was Antony, surnamed of Crete, not very famous or dis tinguished in public life, but a worthy good man, and particu larly remarkable for his liberality, as may appear from a single example. He was not very rich, and was for that reason checked in the exercise of his good nature by his wife. A friend that stood in need of money came to borrow of him. Money he had none, but he bade a servant bring him water in a silver basin, with which, when it was brought, he wetted his face, as if he meant to shave, and, sending away the servant upon another errand, gave his friend the basin, desiring him to turn it to his purpose. And when there was afterwards a great inquiry for it in the house, and his wife was in a very ill humor, and was going to put the servants one by one to the search, he acknowledged what he had done, and begged her pardon.
Antony grew up a very beautiful youth, but by the worst of misfortunes he fell into the acquaintance and friendship of Curio, a man abandoned to his pleasures, who, to make Antony's dependence upon him a matter of greater necessity, plunged him into a life of drinking and dissipation, and led him through a course of such extravagance, that at that early age he ran into debt to the amount of two hundred and fifty talents [$300,000]. For this sum, Curio became his surety ; on hearing which, the elder Curio, his father, drove Antony out of his house. After this, for some short time he took part with Clodius, the most insolent and outrageous demagogue of the time, in his course of
224 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
violence and disorder; but getting weary before long of his madness, and apprehensive of the powerful party forming against him, he left Italy and traveled into Greece, where he spent his time in military exercises and in the study of eloquence. He took most to what was called the Asiatic taste in speaking, which was then at its height, and was in many ways suitable to his ostentatious, vaunting temper, full of empty flourishes and unsteady efforts for glory. . . .
In all the great and frequent skirmishes and battles, he gave continual proofs of his personal valor and military conduct. Nor was his humanity towards the deceased Archelaus less taken notice of. He had been formerly his guest and acquaintance, and as he was now compelled, he fought him bravely while alive ; but on his death, sought out his body and buried it with royal honors. The consequence was that he left behind him a great name among the Alexandrians, and all who were serving in the Roman army looked upon him as a most gallant soldier.
He had also a very good and noble appearance ; his beard was well grown, his forehead large, and his nose aquiline, giving him altogether a bold, masculine look, that reminded people of the faces of Hercules in paintings and sculptures. It was moreover an ancient tradition that the Antonys were descended from Hercules, by a son called Anton; and this opinion he thought to give credit to also by the fashion of his dress.
What might seem to some very insupportable, his vaunt ing, his raillery, his drinking in public, sitting down by the men as they were taking their food, and eating, as he stood, off the common soldiers' tables, made him the delight and pleasure of the army. In love affairs also he was very agree able : he gained many friends by the assistance he gave them in theirs, and took other people's raillery upon his own with good humor. And his generous ways, his open and lavish hand in gifts and favors to his friends and fellow-soldiers, did a great deal for him in his first advance to power, and after he had become great, long maintained his fortunes when a thousand follies were hastening their overthrow. One instance of his
liberality I must relate. He had ordered payment to one of his friends of twenty-five decies [over $1,000,000] ; and his steward, wondering at the extravagance of the sum, laid all the silver in a heap, as he should pass by. Antony, seeing the heap, asked what it meant ; his steward replied, " The money you have ordered to be given to your friend. " So, perceiv
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 225
ing the man's malice, said he : "I thought the decies had been much more : 'tis too little ; let it be doubled. "
When the Roman state finally broke up into two hostile factions, the aristocratical party joining Pompey, who was in the city, and the popular side seeking help from Caesar, who was at the head of an army in Gaul, Curio, the friend of Antony, having changed his party and devoted himself to Caesar, brought over Antony also to his service. . . .
Antony was not long in getting the hearts of the soldiers, joining with them in their exercises, and for the most part living amongst them, and making them presents to the utmost of his abilities ; but with all others he was unpopular enough. He was too lazy to pay attention to the complaints of persons who were injured ; he listened impatiently to petitions, and he had an ill name for familiarity with other people's wives. In short, the government of Caesar (which, so far as he was con cerned himself, seemed like anything rather than a tyranny) got a bad repute through his friends. And of these friends, Antony, as he had the largest trust and committed the great est errors, was thought the most deeply in fault. . . .
This triumvirate was very hateful to the Romans, and Antony most of all bore the blame, because he was older than Caesar and had greater authority than Lepidus ; and withal he was no sooner settled in his affairs, but he turned to his luxurious and dissolute way of living. Besides the ill reputation he gained by his gen eral behavior, it was some considerable disadvantage to him his living in the house of Pompey the Great, who had been as much admired for his temperance and his sober, citizenlike habits of life, as ever he was for having triumphed three times. They could not without anger see the doors of that house shut against magistrates, officers, and envoys, who were shamefully refused admittance, while it was filled inside with players, jug glers, and drunken flatterers, upon whom were spent the great est part of the wealth which violence and cruelty procured. For they did not limit themselves to the forfeiture of the estates of such as were proscribed, defrauding the widows and families, nor were they contented with laying on every possible kind of tax and imposition ; but hearing that several sums of money were as well by strangers as citizens of Rome deposited
with the vestal virgins, they went and took the money away by force. When it was manifest that nothing would ever be enough for Antony, Caesar at last called for a division of property.
vol. v. — 16
226
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Leaving Lucius Censorinus in Greece, he crossed over into Asia, and there laid his hands on the stores of accumulated wealth, while kings waited at his door, and queens were rival ing one another, who should make him the greatest presents or appear most charming in his eyes. Thus, whilst Caesar in Rome was wearing out his strength amidst seditions and wars, Antony, with nothing to do amidst the enjoyments of peace, let his passions carry him easily back to the old course of life that was familiar to him. A set of harpers and pipers, Anaxenor and Xuthus, the dancing man, Metrodorus, and a whole Bacchic rout of the like Asiatic exhibitors, far outdoing in license and buffoonery the pests that had followed him out of Italy, came in and possessed the court ; the thing was past patience, wealth of all kinds being wasted on objects like these. The whole of Asia was like the city in Sophocles, loaded, at one time,
with incense in the air, Jubilant songs, and outcries of despair.
When he made his entry into Ephesus, the women met him dressed up like Bacchantes, and the men and boys like Satyrs and Fauns, and throughout the town nothing was to be seen but spears wreathed about with ivy, harps, flutes, and psalteries, while Antony in their songs was Bacchus, the Giver of Joy, and the Gentle. And so indeed he was to some, but to far more the Devourer and the Savage ; for he would deprive persons of worth and quality of their fortunes to gratify villains and flatterers, who would sometimes beg the estates of men yet living, pretending they were dead, and, obtaining a grant, take possession. He gave his cook the house of a Magnesian citizen, as a reward for a single highly successful supper; and at last, when he was proceeding to lay a second whole tribute on Asia, Hybreas, speaking on behalf of the cities, took courage, and told him broadly, but aptly enough for Antony's taste, " if you can take two yearly tributes, you can doubtless give us a couple of summers and a double harvest time ; " and put it to him in the plainest and boldest way, that Asia had raised two hundred thousand talents for his service: " If this has not been paid to you, ask your collectors for it ; if it has, and is all gone, we are ruined men. "
These words touched Antony to the quick, who was simply ignorant of most things that were done in his name ; not that he was so indolent, as he was prone to trust frankly in all
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 227
about him. For there was much simplicity in his character ; he was slow to see his faults, but when he did see them, was extremely repentant, and ready to ask pardon of those he had injured ; prodigal in his acts of reparation, and severe in his punishments, but his generosity was much more extravagant than his severity ; his raillery was sharp and insulting, but the edge of it was taken off by his readiness to submit to any kind of repartee ; for he was as well contented to be rallied, as he was pleased to rally others. And this freedom of speech was, indeed, the cause of many of his disasters. He never imagined those who used so much liberty in their mirth would natter or deceive him in business of consequence, not knowing how common it is with parasites to mix their flattery with boldness, as confec tioners do their sweetmeats with something biting, to prevent the sense of satiety. Their freedoms and impertinences at table were designed expressly to give to their obsequiousness in council the air of being not complaisance, but conviction.
Such being his temper, the last and crowning mischief that could befall him came in the love of Cleopatra, to awaken and kindle to fury passions that as yet lay still and dormant in his nature, and to stifle and finely corrupt any elements that yet made resistance in him of goodness and a sound judgment. He fell into the snare thus. When making preparation for the Parthian war, he sent to command her to make her personal appearance in Cilicia, to answer an accusation that she had given great assistance, in the late wars, to Cassius. Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her face, and remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, but he felt convinced that Antony would not so much as think of giving any molestation to a woman like this ; on the contrary, she would be the first in favor with him. So he set himself at once to pay his court to the Egyptian, and gave her his advice, " to go," in the Homeric style, to Cilicia, " in her best attire," and bade her fear nothing from Antony, the gentlest and kindest of soldiers.
She had some faith in the words of Dellius, but more in her own attractions ; which, having formerly recommended her to Caesar and the young Cnaeus Pompey, she did not doubt might prove yet more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a girl, young and ignorant of the world; but she was to meet Antony in the time of life when women's beauty is most splendid, and their intellects are in full maturity.
\
228 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
She made great preparation for her journey, of money, gifts and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her own magic arts and charms.
She received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to summon her, but she took no account of these orders ; and at last, as if in mockery of them, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes. The perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part running out of the city to see the sight. The market place was quite emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal, while the word went through all the multitude, that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus, for the common good of Asia. On her arrival, Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should come to her ; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of lights ; for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares, and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has seldom been equaled for beauty.
The next day, Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance ; but he found he was altogether beaten in both, and was so well convinced of that he was himself the first to jest and mock at his poverty of wit, and his rustic awkwardness. She, perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross, and savored more of the soldier than the courtier, rejoined in the same taste, and fell into at once, without any sort of reluctance or reserve. For her actual beauty, said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the con tact of her presence, you lived with her, was irresistible
it if
it,
;
it is
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 229
the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another ; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an interpreter ; to most of them she spoke her self, as to the ^Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many others, whose language she had learnt ; which was all the more surprising because most of the kings, her predecessors, scarcely gave themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of them quite abandoned the Macedonian.
Antony was so captivated by her, that, while Fulvia his wife maintained his quarrels in Rome against Caesar by actual force of arms, and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labi- enus (the king's generals having made him commander in chief), were assembled in Mesopotamia, and ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyments, that most costly, as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time.
They had a sort of company, to which they gave a particular name, calling it that of the Inimitable Livers. The members entertained one another daily in turn, with an extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a physician of Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in Alexandria, used to tell my grandfather Lamprias, that having some acquaintance with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a young man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for supper. So he was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of all things; but particularly, seeing eight wild boars roasting whole, says he, "Surely you have a great number of guests. " The cook laughed at his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to sup, but that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if anything was but one minute ill timed, it was spoiled ; " And," said he, " maybe Antony will sup just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that," he continued, "it is not one, but many suppers must be had in readiness, a* it is impossible to guess at his hour. "
230 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
This was Philotas' story ; who related besides, that he afterwards came to be one of the medical attendants of Antony's eldest son by Fulvia, and used to be invited pretty often, among other companions, to his table, when he was not supping with his father. One day another physician had talked loudly, and given great disturbance to the company, whose mouth Philotas stopped with this sophistical syllogism : " In some states of fever the patient should take cold water ; every one who has a fever is in some state of fever ; therefore in a fever cold water should always be taken. " The man was quite struck dumb, and Antony's son, very much pleased, laughed aloud, and said, "Philotas, I make you a present of all you see there," pointing to a sideboard covered with plate. Philotas thanked him much, but was far enough from ever imagining that a boy of his age could dispose of things of that value. Soon after, however, the plate was all brought to him, and he was desired to set his mark upon it ; and when he put it away from him, and was afraid to accept the present, "What ails the man ? " said he that brought it ; "do you know that he who gives you this is Antony's son, who is free to give it, if it were all gold? but if you will be advised by me, I would counsel you to accept of the value in money from us ; for there may be amongst the rest some antique or famous piece of workmanship, which Antony would be sorry to part with. " These anecdotes, my grandfather told us, Philotas used frequently to relate.
To return to Cleopatra ; Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but she had a thousand. Were Antony serious or disposed to mirth, she had at any moment some new delight or charm to meet his wishes ; at every turn she was upon him, and let him escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him, drank with him, hunted with him ; and when he exercised in arms, she was there to see. At night she would go rambling with him to disturb and torment people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he often came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten severely, though most people guessed who it was.
However, the Alexandrians in general liked it all well enough, and joined good-humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome, and keeping his comedy for them.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 231
It would be trifling without end to be particular in his follies,
but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out one day to
angle with Cleopatra, and, being so unfortunate as to catch
nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret orders
to the fishermen to dive under water, and put fishes that had
been already taken upon his hooks ; and these he drew so fast
that the Egyptian perceived it. But, feigning great admira
tion, she told everybody how dexterous Antony was, and invited
them next day to come and see him again. So, when a number
of them had come on board the fishing boats, as soon as he had
let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand with
his divers, and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus.
and Canopus ; your game is cities, provinces, and kingdoms. " *******
Antony, feeling his line give, drew up the" prey, and when, as
may be imagined, great laughter ensued, Leave," said Cleo
patra, " the fishing rod, general, to us poor sovereigns of Pharos
When Octavia returned from Athens, Caesar, who considered she had been injuriously treated, commanded her to live in a separate house ; but she refused to leave the house of her hus band, and entreated him unless he had already resolved, upon other motives, to make war with Antony, that he would on her account let it alone ; it would be intolerable to have it said of the two greatest commanders in the world, that they had involved the Roman people in a civil war, the one out of passion for, the other out of resentment about, a woman. And her be havior proved her words to be sincere. She remained in An tony's house as if he were at home in it, and took the noblest and most generous care, not only of his children by her, but of those by Fulvia also. She received all the friends of Antony that came to Rome to seek office or upon any business, and did her utmost to prefer their requests to Caesar ; yet this her honorable deportment did but, without her meaning it, damage the reputa tion of Antony ; the wrong he did to such a woman made him
contempt of his country.
hated. *******
Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less unpopular ; it seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and
When it was resolved to stand to a fight at sea, they set fire to all the Egyptian ships except sixty ; and of these the best and largest, from ten banks down to three, he manned
232 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
with twenty thousand full-armed men, and two thousand archers. Here it is related that a foot captain, one that had fought often under Antony, and had his body all mangled with wounds, exclaimed : " O my general, what have our wounds and swords done to displease you, that you should give your confidence to rotten timbers ? Let Egyptians and Phoenicians contend at sea, give us the land, where we know well how to die upon the spot or gain the victory. " To which he answered nothing, but, by his look and motion of his hand seeming to bid him be of good courage, passed forwards, having already, it would seem, no very sure hopes, since when the masters proposed leaving the sails behind them, he commanded they should be put aboard, " For we must not," said he, " let one enemy escape. "
That day and the three following the sea was so rough they could not engage. But on the fifth there was a calm, and they fought, — Antony commanding with Publicola the right, and Cœlius the left squadron, Marcus Octavius and Marcus Insteius the center. Caesar gave the charge of the left to Agrippa, commanding in person on the right. As for the land forces, Canidius was general for Antony, Taurus for Caesar, both armies remaining drawn up in order along the shore. Antony in a small boat went from one ship to another, encouraging his soldiers, and bidding them stand firm, and fight as steadily on their large ships as if they were on land. The masters he ordered that they should receive the enemy lying still as if they were at anchor, and maintain the entrance of the port, which was a narrow and difficult passage. Of Caesar they relate, that, leaving his tent and going round, while it was yet dark, to visit the ships, he met a man driving an ass, and asked him his name. He answered him that his own name was " Fortunate, and my ass," says he, " is called Conqueror. " And afterwards, when he disposed the beaks of the ships in that place in token of his victory, the statue of this man and his ass in bronze were placed amongst them. After examining the rest of his fleet, he went in a boat to the right wing, and looked with much admiration at the enemy lying perfectly still in the straits, in all appearance as if they had been at anchor. For some considerable length of time he actually thought they were so, and kept his own ships at rest, at a distance of about eight furlongs from them. But about noon a breeze sprang up from the sea, and Antony's men, weary of expecting the enemy so long, and trusting to their
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 233
large tall vessels, as if they had been invincible, began to advance the left squadron. Caesar was overjoyed to see them move, and ordered his own right squadron to retire, that he might entice them out to sea as far as he could, his design being to sail round and round, and so with his light and well- manned galleys to attack these huge vessels, which their size and their want of men made slow to move and difficult to manage.
When they engaged, there was no charging or striking of one ship by another, because Antony's, by reason of their great bulk, were incapable of the rapidity required to make the stroke effectual, and, on the other side, Caesar's durst not charge head to head on Antony's, which were all armed with solid masses and spikes of brass ; nor did they like even to run in on their sides, which were so strongly built with great squared pieces of timber, fastened together with iron bolts, that their vessels' beaks would easily have been shattered upon them. So that the engagement resembled a land fight, or, to speak yet more properly, the attack and defense of a fortified place ; for there were always three or four vessels of Caesar's about one of An tony's, pressing them with spears, javelins, poles, and several inventions of fire, which they flung among them, Antony's men using catapults also, to pour down missiles from wooden towers. Agrippa drawing out the squadron under his command to out flank the enemy, Publicola was obliged to observe his motions, and gradually to break off from the middle squadron, where some confusion and alarm ensued, while Arruntius engaged them. But the fortune of the day was still undecided, and the battle equal, when, on a sudden, Cleopatra's sixty ships were seen hoisting sail and making out to sea in full flight, right through the ships that were engaged. For they were placed behind the great ships, which, in breaking through, they put into disorder. The enemy was astonished to see them sailing off with a fair wind towards Peloponnesus. Here it was that Antony showed to all the world that he was no longer actuated by the thoughts and motives of a commander or a man, or in deed by his own judgment at all, and what was once said as a jest, that the soul of a lover lives in some one else's body, he proved to be a serious truth. For, as if he had been born part of her, and must move with her wheresoever she went, as soon as he saw her ship sailing away, he abandoned all that were fighting and spending their lives for him, and put himself
234 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
aboard a galley of five banks of oars, taking with him only Alexander of Syria and Scellias, to follow her that had so well begun his ruin and would hereafter accomplish it.
She, perceiving him to follow, gave the signal to come aboard. So, as soon as he came up with them, he was taken into the ship. But without seeing her or letting himself be seen by her, he went forward by himself, and sat alone, with out a word, in the ship's prow, covering his face with his two hands. In the mean while, some of Caesar's light Liburnian ships, that were in pursuit, came in sight. But on Antony's commanding to face about, they all gave back except Eurycles the Laconian, who pressed on, shaking a lance from the deck, as if he meant to hurl it at him. Antony, standing at the prow, demanded of him, " Who is this that pursues Antony ? " " I am," said he, " Eurycles, the son of Lachares, armed with Caesar's fortune to revenge my father's death. " Lachares had been condemned for a robbery, and beheaded by Antony's orders. However, Eurycles did not attack Antony, but ran with his full force upon the other admiral galley (for there were two of them), and with the blow turned her round, and took both her and another ship, in which was a quantity of rich plate and furniture. So soon as Eurycles was gone, Antony returned to his posture, and sat silent, and thus he remained for three days, either in anger with Cleopatra, or wishing not to upbraid her, at the end of which they touched at Taenarus. Here the women of their company succeeded first in bringing them to speak, and afterwards to eat and sleep together. And, by this time, several of the ships of burden and some of his friends began to come in to him from the rout, bringing news of his fleet's being quite destroyed, but that the land forces, they thought, still stood firm. So
that he sent messengers to Canidius to march the army with all speed through Macedonia into Asia. And, designing him self to go from Taenarus into Africa, he gave one of the merchant ships, laden with a large sum of money, and vessels of silver and gold of great value, belonging to the royal col lections, to his friends, desiring them to share it amongst them, and provide for their own safety. They refusing his kindness with tears in their eyes, he comforted them with all the goodness and humanity imaginable, entreating them to leave him, and wrote letters in their behalf to Theophilus, his steward, at Corinth, that he would provide for their secu
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 235
rity, and keep them concealed till such time as they could make their peace with Caesar. This Theophilus was the father of Hipparchus, who had such interest with Antony, who was the first of all his freedmen that went over to Caesar, and who settled afterwards at Corinth. In this posture were affairs with Antony.
But at Actium, his fleet, after a long resistance to Caesar, and suffering the most damage from a heavy sea that set in right ahead, scarcely, at four in the afternoon, gave up the contest, with the loss of not more than five thousand men killed, but of three hundred ships taken, as Caesar himself has recorded. Only a few had known of Antony's flight; and those who were told of it could not at first give any belief to so incredible a thing as that a general who had nineteen entire legions and twelve thousand horse upon the seashore, could abandon all and fly away ; and he, above all, who had so often experienced both good and evil fortune, and had in a thousand wars and battles been inured to changes. His soldiers, how ever, would not give up their desires and expectations, still fancying he would appear from some part or other, and showed such a generous fidelity to his service, that when they were thoroughly assured that he was fled in earnest, they kept them selves in a body seven days, making no account of the messages that Caesar sent to them. But at last, seeing that Canidius himself, who commanded them, was fled by night, and that all their officers had quite abandoned them, they gave way, and made their submission to the conqueror. . . .
Cleopatra was busied in making a collection of all varieties of poisonous drugs, and, in order to see which of them were the least painful in the operation, she had them tried upon prison ers condemned to die. But, finding that the quick poisons always worked with sharp pains, and that the less painful were slow, she next tried venomous animals, and watched with her own eyes whilst they were applied, one creature to the body of another. This was her daily practice, and she pretty well satisfied herself that nothing was comparable to the bite of the asp, which, without convulsion or groaning, brought on a heavy drowsiness and lethargy, with a gentle sweat on the face, the senses being stupefied by degrees ; the patient, in appear ance, being sensible of no pain, but rather troubled to be dis turbed or awakened, like those that are in a profound natural sleep. . . .
236
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Caesar would not listen to any proposals for Antony, but he made answer to Cleopatra, that there was no reasonable favor which she might not expect, if she put Antony to death, or expelled him from Egypt. He sent back with the ambassadors his own freedman, Thyrsus, a man of understanding, and not at all ill-qualified for conveying the messages of a youthful general to a woman so proud of her charms and possessed with the opinion of the power of her beauty.
That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true :
If then thy spirit look upon us now,
Shall it not grieve thee, dearer than thy death, To see thy Antony making his peace,
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes,
Most noble ! in the presence of thy corse ? Had I
as many eyes as thou hast wounds,
Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,
It would become me better, than to close
In terms of friendship with thine enemies.
Pardon me, Julius ! — Here wast thou bayed, brave hart Here didst thou fall ; and here thy hunters stand, Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe.
O world! thou wast the forest to this hart; —
And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
How like a deer, stricken by many princes,
Dost thou here lie !
Cassius —
Mark Antony,
Antony — Pardon me, Caius Cassius, The enemies of Caesar shall say this ;
Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.
Cassius —
1 blame you not for praising Caesar so ;
But what compact mean you to have with us ? Will you be pricked in number of our friends ; Or shall we on, and not depend on you ?
Antony —
Therefore I took your hands ; but was, indeed, Swayed from the point, by looking down on Caesar. Friends am
Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons, Why, and wherein, Caesar was dangerous.
I with you all, and love you all ;
Brutus —
Or else were this a savage spectacle :
Our reasons are so full of good regard, That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, You should be satisfied.
Antony — That's all I seek : And am moreover suitor, that Imay Produce his body to the market place ;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, Speak in the order of his funeral.
214
JULIUS CiESAR.
Brutus —
You shall, Mark Antony.
Cassius — Brutus, a word with you. —
You know not what you do ; Do not consent, That Antony speak in his funeral :
Know you how much the people may be moved By that which he will utter ?
[Aside.
Brutus — By your pardon; I will myself into the pulpit first,
And show the reason of our Caesar's death : What Antony shall speak, I will protest
He speaks by leave and by permission ; And that we are contented, Caesar shall Have all true rites, and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more, than do us wrong.
Cassius —
I know not what may fall ;
I like it not.
Brutus —
Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar ; And say, you do't by our permission ;
Else shall you not have any hand at all
About his funeral : And you shall speak
In the same pulpit whereto I am going,
After my speech is ended.
Brutus —
Prepare the body then, and follow us.
Antony — Be it so ; I do desire no more.
[Exeunt aM but Antony.
Antony —
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man,
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood ! Over thy wounds now do I prophesy —
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue ; — A curse shall light upon the limbs of men ; Domestic fury, and fierce civil strife,
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use.
And dreadful objects so familiar,
JULIUS CESAR. 215
That mothers shall but smile, when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war; All pity choked with custom of fell deeds :
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate" by his side, come hot from hell, Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice, Cry, Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men groaning for burial.
Scene II. — The Forum.
Brutus and a throng of Citizens. Brutus goes into the Rostrum.
Citizen —
The noble Brutus is ascended : Silence !
Brutus —
Be patient till the last.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause; and be silent that ye may hear; believe me for mine honor; and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom ; and awake your senses that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand, why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer, — Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves ; than that Caesar were dead to live all free men ? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him ; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him : There is tears, for his love ; joy, for his fortune; honor, for his valor; and death, for his am bition. Who is here so base that would be a bondman ? If any, speak ; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I
pause for a reply.
Citizens — None, Brutus, none. [Several speaking at once.
Brutus — Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Caesar, than you should do to Brutus. The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol: his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor his offenses enforced, for which he suffered death.
Enter Antony and others, with Cesar's body.
Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony : Who, though he
216 JULIUS CJESAR.
had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth: As which of you shall not? With this I depart : That as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death.
Citizens —
Live, Brutus, live ! live !
1 Citizen —
Bring him with triumph home unto his house.
2 Citizen —
Give him a statue with his ancestors.
3 Citizen —
Let him be Caesar.
4 Citizen — Caesar's better parts Shall now be crowned in Brutus.
1 Citizen —
We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamors.
Peace; silence! Brutus speaks.
[Exit.
4 Citizen —
'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.
Brutus —
My countrymen,
2 Citizen — 1 Citizen —
Peace, ho ! Brutus —
Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony :
Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech Tending to Caesar's glories : which Mark Antony, By our permission, is allowed to make.
I do entreat you not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.
Citizens —
Stay, ho ! and let us hear Mark Antony.
3 Citizen —
Let him go up into the public chair ; We'll hear him : — Noble Antony, go up.
Antony —
For Brutus' sake, I am beholden to you.
4 Citizen —
What does he say of Brutus ?
5 Citizen — He says, for Brutus' sake, He finds himself beholden to us all.
1 Citizen —
This Caesar was a tyrant.
JULIUS CESAR.
5 Citizen — Nay, that's certain : We are blessed that Rome is rid of him.
2 Citizen —
Peace ; let us hear what Antony can say.
Antony —
You gentle Romans,
Citizens — Peace, ho ! let us hear him. Antony —
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil, that men do, lives after them ;
The good is oft interred with their bones ;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you, Caesar was ambitious ;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault ;
And grievously hath Caesar answered it. Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest, (Tor Brutus is an honorable man ;
So are they all, all honorable men ;)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me :
But Brutus says he was ambitious ;
And Brutus is an honorable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill :
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious ?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff :
Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ;
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see, that on the Lupercal,
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition ? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ;
And, sure, he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause ; What cause withholds you then to mourn for him ? O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason ! — bear with me ; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
1 Citizen —-
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
218
JULIUS CESAR.
2 Citizen —
If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrongs.
3 Citizen — Has he, masters ? I fear, there will a worse come in his place.
4 Citizen —
Marked ye his words ? He would not take the crown
Therefore, 'tis certain, he was not ambitious. 1 Citizen —
If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 2 Citizen —
Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 8 Citizen —
There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 4 Citizen —
Now mark him, he begins again to speak. Antony —
But yesterday, the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world : now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.
0 masters ! if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
1 should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, Who, you all know, are honorable men :
I will not do them wrong ;
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you, Than I will wrong such honorable men.
But here's a parchment, with the seal of Caesar,
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will :
Let but the commons hear this testament,
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,)
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood ;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills Bequeathing as rich legacy,
Unto their issue.
Citizen —
We'll hear the will read Mark Antony.
Citizens —
The will, the will we will hear Caesar's will.
Antony —
Have patience, gentle friends, must not read it; It not meet you know how Caesar loved you. You are not wood, you are not stones, but men
I rather choose
;
is
;
it, ;a
it, I
4
JULIUS CESAR. 219
And being men, hearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad : "lis good you know not that you are his heirs, For if you should, O, what would come of it !
4 Citizen —
Read the will ; we will hear Antony, You shall read us the will Caesar's will.
Antony —
Will you be patient Will you stay awhile
have o'ershot myself, to tell you of it.
fear, wrong the honorable men, Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar
Citizen —
They were traitors Honorable men
Citizens —
The will the testament
do fear it.
Citizen —
They were villains, murderers The will read the will
Antony —
You will compel me then to read the will Then make ring about the corpse of Caesar, And let me show you him that made the will.
Shall— descend Citizens
Come down. Citizen —
Descend. Citizen —
And will you give me leave
[2Ze comes down from the pulpit
You shall have leave. Citizen —
A ring stand round. Citizen —
Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
Citizen — — Room for Antony
most noble Antony.
Antony —
Nay, press not so upon me stand far off.
Citizens —
Stand back room bear back
Antony —
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle remember The first time ever Caesar put on
'Twas on summer's evening in his tent; That day he overcame the Nervii —
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220
JULIUS C^SAR.
Look ! in this place, ran Cassius' dagger through : See, what a rent the envious Casca made : Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabbed : And, as he plucked his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel Judge, you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him This was the most unkindest cut of all
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquished him then burst his mighty heart And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.
what a fall was there, my countrymen
Then and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.
O, now you weep and, perceive, you feel
The dint of pity these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what, weep you, when you but behold Our Caesar's vesture wounded Look you here, Here himself, marred, as you see, with traitors.
Citizen —
piteous spectacle
Citizen — noble Caesar
Citizen — woeful day
Citizen —
traitors, villains
Citizen —
most bloody sight
Citizen —
We will be revenged.
Citizens —
Revenge about, — seek, — burn, — fire, — kill, — slay — let
not traitor live. Antony —
Peace there — Hear the noble Antony.
Citizen — We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with
him.
Stay, countrymen. Citizen —
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JULIUS CESAR. 221
Antony —
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They, that have done this deed, are honorable ;
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it ; they are wise and honorable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts ;
I am no orator, as Brutus is :
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend : and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him.
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood :
I tell you that, which you yourselves do know ;
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me : But were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Caesar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
I only speak right on;
Citizens —
We'll mutiny.
1 Citizen —
We'll burn the house of Brutus.
2 Citizen —
Away then, come, seek the conspirators.
Antony —
Yet hear me, countrymen, yet hear me speak.
Citizens —
Peace, ho ! Hear Antony, most noble Antony.
Antony —
Why, friends, you go to do you know not what: Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves ?
Alas, you know not : —
You have forgot the will I told you of.
Citizens — — Most true ;
the will ;
—
let's stay, and hear the will.
Antony —
Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal.
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.
2 Citizen —
Most noble Caesar ! — we'll revenge his death.
I must tell you then :
—
222 JULIUS CESAR.
5 Citizen —
O royal Caesar !
Antony —
Hear me with patience.
Citizens — Peace, ho !
Antony —
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbors, and new-planted orchards, On this side Tyber : he hath left them you, And to your heirs forever ; common pleasures, To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Caesar : When comes such another ?
1 Citizen— — Never, never;
Come, away, away : We'll burn his body in the holy place,
And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.
Take up the body. 2 Citizen —
Go, fetch fire. S Citizen —
Pluck down benches. 4 Citizen —
Pluck down forms, windows, anything.
Antony —
Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt !
Servant —
Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.
Antony —
Where is he ?
Servant —
He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house.
[Exeunt Citizens with the body.
Enter A Servant.
How now, fellow ?
Antony —
And thither will I straight to visit him : He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us anything.
Servant —
I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius
Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome.
Antony —
Belike they had some notice of the people,
How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 223
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. By PLUTARCH.
[Plutabch : A Greek writer of biographies and miscellaneous works ; born about a. d. 50. He came of a wealthy and distinguished family and received a careful philosophical training at Athens under the Peripatetic philosopher Ammonius. After this he made several journeys, and stayed a considerable time in Rome, where he enjoyed friendly intercourse with persons of distinction, and conducted the education of the future Emperor Hadrian. He died about a. d. 120 in his native town, in which he held the office of archon and priest of the Pythian Apollo. His fame as an author is founded upon the celebrated " Parallel Lives," consisting of the biographies of forty-six Greeks and Romans, divided into pairs. Each pair contains the life of a Greek and a Roman, and generally ends with a comparison of the two. Plutarch's other writings, short treatises on a great variety of subjects, are grouped under the title of "Morals. "]
The grandfather of Antony was the famous pleader, whom Marius put to death for having taken part with Sylla. His father was Antony, surnamed of Crete, not very famous or dis tinguished in public life, but a worthy good man, and particu larly remarkable for his liberality, as may appear from a single example. He was not very rich, and was for that reason checked in the exercise of his good nature by his wife. A friend that stood in need of money came to borrow of him. Money he had none, but he bade a servant bring him water in a silver basin, with which, when it was brought, he wetted his face, as if he meant to shave, and, sending away the servant upon another errand, gave his friend the basin, desiring him to turn it to his purpose. And when there was afterwards a great inquiry for it in the house, and his wife was in a very ill humor, and was going to put the servants one by one to the search, he acknowledged what he had done, and begged her pardon.
Antony grew up a very beautiful youth, but by the worst of misfortunes he fell into the acquaintance and friendship of Curio, a man abandoned to his pleasures, who, to make Antony's dependence upon him a matter of greater necessity, plunged him into a life of drinking and dissipation, and led him through a course of such extravagance, that at that early age he ran into debt to the amount of two hundred and fifty talents [$300,000]. For this sum, Curio became his surety ; on hearing which, the elder Curio, his father, drove Antony out of his house. After this, for some short time he took part with Clodius, the most insolent and outrageous demagogue of the time, in his course of
224 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
violence and disorder; but getting weary before long of his madness, and apprehensive of the powerful party forming against him, he left Italy and traveled into Greece, where he spent his time in military exercises and in the study of eloquence. He took most to what was called the Asiatic taste in speaking, which was then at its height, and was in many ways suitable to his ostentatious, vaunting temper, full of empty flourishes and unsteady efforts for glory. . . .
In all the great and frequent skirmishes and battles, he gave continual proofs of his personal valor and military conduct. Nor was his humanity towards the deceased Archelaus less taken notice of. He had been formerly his guest and acquaintance, and as he was now compelled, he fought him bravely while alive ; but on his death, sought out his body and buried it with royal honors. The consequence was that he left behind him a great name among the Alexandrians, and all who were serving in the Roman army looked upon him as a most gallant soldier.
He had also a very good and noble appearance ; his beard was well grown, his forehead large, and his nose aquiline, giving him altogether a bold, masculine look, that reminded people of the faces of Hercules in paintings and sculptures. It was moreover an ancient tradition that the Antonys were descended from Hercules, by a son called Anton; and this opinion he thought to give credit to also by the fashion of his dress.
What might seem to some very insupportable, his vaunt ing, his raillery, his drinking in public, sitting down by the men as they were taking their food, and eating, as he stood, off the common soldiers' tables, made him the delight and pleasure of the army. In love affairs also he was very agree able : he gained many friends by the assistance he gave them in theirs, and took other people's raillery upon his own with good humor. And his generous ways, his open and lavish hand in gifts and favors to his friends and fellow-soldiers, did a great deal for him in his first advance to power, and after he had become great, long maintained his fortunes when a thousand follies were hastening their overthrow. One instance of his
liberality I must relate. He had ordered payment to one of his friends of twenty-five decies [over $1,000,000] ; and his steward, wondering at the extravagance of the sum, laid all the silver in a heap, as he should pass by. Antony, seeing the heap, asked what it meant ; his steward replied, " The money you have ordered to be given to your friend. " So, perceiv
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 225
ing the man's malice, said he : "I thought the decies had been much more : 'tis too little ; let it be doubled. "
When the Roman state finally broke up into two hostile factions, the aristocratical party joining Pompey, who was in the city, and the popular side seeking help from Caesar, who was at the head of an army in Gaul, Curio, the friend of Antony, having changed his party and devoted himself to Caesar, brought over Antony also to his service. . . .
Antony was not long in getting the hearts of the soldiers, joining with them in their exercises, and for the most part living amongst them, and making them presents to the utmost of his abilities ; but with all others he was unpopular enough. He was too lazy to pay attention to the complaints of persons who were injured ; he listened impatiently to petitions, and he had an ill name for familiarity with other people's wives. In short, the government of Caesar (which, so far as he was con cerned himself, seemed like anything rather than a tyranny) got a bad repute through his friends. And of these friends, Antony, as he had the largest trust and committed the great est errors, was thought the most deeply in fault. . . .
This triumvirate was very hateful to the Romans, and Antony most of all bore the blame, because he was older than Caesar and had greater authority than Lepidus ; and withal he was no sooner settled in his affairs, but he turned to his luxurious and dissolute way of living. Besides the ill reputation he gained by his gen eral behavior, it was some considerable disadvantage to him his living in the house of Pompey the Great, who had been as much admired for his temperance and his sober, citizenlike habits of life, as ever he was for having triumphed three times. They could not without anger see the doors of that house shut against magistrates, officers, and envoys, who were shamefully refused admittance, while it was filled inside with players, jug glers, and drunken flatterers, upon whom were spent the great est part of the wealth which violence and cruelty procured. For they did not limit themselves to the forfeiture of the estates of such as were proscribed, defrauding the widows and families, nor were they contented with laying on every possible kind of tax and imposition ; but hearing that several sums of money were as well by strangers as citizens of Rome deposited
with the vestal virgins, they went and took the money away by force. When it was manifest that nothing would ever be enough for Antony, Caesar at last called for a division of property.
vol. v. — 16
226
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Leaving Lucius Censorinus in Greece, he crossed over into Asia, and there laid his hands on the stores of accumulated wealth, while kings waited at his door, and queens were rival ing one another, who should make him the greatest presents or appear most charming in his eyes. Thus, whilst Caesar in Rome was wearing out his strength amidst seditions and wars, Antony, with nothing to do amidst the enjoyments of peace, let his passions carry him easily back to the old course of life that was familiar to him. A set of harpers and pipers, Anaxenor and Xuthus, the dancing man, Metrodorus, and a whole Bacchic rout of the like Asiatic exhibitors, far outdoing in license and buffoonery the pests that had followed him out of Italy, came in and possessed the court ; the thing was past patience, wealth of all kinds being wasted on objects like these. The whole of Asia was like the city in Sophocles, loaded, at one time,
with incense in the air, Jubilant songs, and outcries of despair.
When he made his entry into Ephesus, the women met him dressed up like Bacchantes, and the men and boys like Satyrs and Fauns, and throughout the town nothing was to be seen but spears wreathed about with ivy, harps, flutes, and psalteries, while Antony in their songs was Bacchus, the Giver of Joy, and the Gentle. And so indeed he was to some, but to far more the Devourer and the Savage ; for he would deprive persons of worth and quality of their fortunes to gratify villains and flatterers, who would sometimes beg the estates of men yet living, pretending they were dead, and, obtaining a grant, take possession. He gave his cook the house of a Magnesian citizen, as a reward for a single highly successful supper; and at last, when he was proceeding to lay a second whole tribute on Asia, Hybreas, speaking on behalf of the cities, took courage, and told him broadly, but aptly enough for Antony's taste, " if you can take two yearly tributes, you can doubtless give us a couple of summers and a double harvest time ; " and put it to him in the plainest and boldest way, that Asia had raised two hundred thousand talents for his service: " If this has not been paid to you, ask your collectors for it ; if it has, and is all gone, we are ruined men. "
These words touched Antony to the quick, who was simply ignorant of most things that were done in his name ; not that he was so indolent, as he was prone to trust frankly in all
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 227
about him. For there was much simplicity in his character ; he was slow to see his faults, but when he did see them, was extremely repentant, and ready to ask pardon of those he had injured ; prodigal in his acts of reparation, and severe in his punishments, but his generosity was much more extravagant than his severity ; his raillery was sharp and insulting, but the edge of it was taken off by his readiness to submit to any kind of repartee ; for he was as well contented to be rallied, as he was pleased to rally others. And this freedom of speech was, indeed, the cause of many of his disasters. He never imagined those who used so much liberty in their mirth would natter or deceive him in business of consequence, not knowing how common it is with parasites to mix their flattery with boldness, as confec tioners do their sweetmeats with something biting, to prevent the sense of satiety. Their freedoms and impertinences at table were designed expressly to give to their obsequiousness in council the air of being not complaisance, but conviction.
Such being his temper, the last and crowning mischief that could befall him came in the love of Cleopatra, to awaken and kindle to fury passions that as yet lay still and dormant in his nature, and to stifle and finely corrupt any elements that yet made resistance in him of goodness and a sound judgment. He fell into the snare thus. When making preparation for the Parthian war, he sent to command her to make her personal appearance in Cilicia, to answer an accusation that she had given great assistance, in the late wars, to Cassius. Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her face, and remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, but he felt convinced that Antony would not so much as think of giving any molestation to a woman like this ; on the contrary, she would be the first in favor with him. So he set himself at once to pay his court to the Egyptian, and gave her his advice, " to go," in the Homeric style, to Cilicia, " in her best attire," and bade her fear nothing from Antony, the gentlest and kindest of soldiers.
She had some faith in the words of Dellius, but more in her own attractions ; which, having formerly recommended her to Caesar and the young Cnaeus Pompey, she did not doubt might prove yet more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a girl, young and ignorant of the world; but she was to meet Antony in the time of life when women's beauty is most splendid, and their intellects are in full maturity.
\
228 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
She made great preparation for her journey, of money, gifts and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her own magic arts and charms.
She received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to summon her, but she took no account of these orders ; and at last, as if in mockery of them, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes. The perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part running out of the city to see the sight. The market place was quite emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal, while the word went through all the multitude, that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus, for the common good of Asia. On her arrival, Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should come to her ; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of lights ; for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares, and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has seldom been equaled for beauty.
The next day, Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance ; but he found he was altogether beaten in both, and was so well convinced of that he was himself the first to jest and mock at his poverty of wit, and his rustic awkwardness. She, perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross, and savored more of the soldier than the courtier, rejoined in the same taste, and fell into at once, without any sort of reluctance or reserve. For her actual beauty, said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the con tact of her presence, you lived with her, was irresistible
it if
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ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 229
the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another ; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an interpreter ; to most of them she spoke her self, as to the ^Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many others, whose language she had learnt ; which was all the more surprising because most of the kings, her predecessors, scarcely gave themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of them quite abandoned the Macedonian.
Antony was so captivated by her, that, while Fulvia his wife maintained his quarrels in Rome against Caesar by actual force of arms, and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labi- enus (the king's generals having made him commander in chief), were assembled in Mesopotamia, and ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyments, that most costly, as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time.
They had a sort of company, to which they gave a particular name, calling it that of the Inimitable Livers. The members entertained one another daily in turn, with an extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a physician of Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in Alexandria, used to tell my grandfather Lamprias, that having some acquaintance with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a young man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for supper. So he was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of all things; but particularly, seeing eight wild boars roasting whole, says he, "Surely you have a great number of guests. " The cook laughed at his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to sup, but that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if anything was but one minute ill timed, it was spoiled ; " And," said he, " maybe Antony will sup just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that," he continued, "it is not one, but many suppers must be had in readiness, a* it is impossible to guess at his hour. "
230 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
This was Philotas' story ; who related besides, that he afterwards came to be one of the medical attendants of Antony's eldest son by Fulvia, and used to be invited pretty often, among other companions, to his table, when he was not supping with his father. One day another physician had talked loudly, and given great disturbance to the company, whose mouth Philotas stopped with this sophistical syllogism : " In some states of fever the patient should take cold water ; every one who has a fever is in some state of fever ; therefore in a fever cold water should always be taken. " The man was quite struck dumb, and Antony's son, very much pleased, laughed aloud, and said, "Philotas, I make you a present of all you see there," pointing to a sideboard covered with plate. Philotas thanked him much, but was far enough from ever imagining that a boy of his age could dispose of things of that value. Soon after, however, the plate was all brought to him, and he was desired to set his mark upon it ; and when he put it away from him, and was afraid to accept the present, "What ails the man ? " said he that brought it ; "do you know that he who gives you this is Antony's son, who is free to give it, if it were all gold? but if you will be advised by me, I would counsel you to accept of the value in money from us ; for there may be amongst the rest some antique or famous piece of workmanship, which Antony would be sorry to part with. " These anecdotes, my grandfather told us, Philotas used frequently to relate.
To return to Cleopatra ; Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but she had a thousand. Were Antony serious or disposed to mirth, she had at any moment some new delight or charm to meet his wishes ; at every turn she was upon him, and let him escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him, drank with him, hunted with him ; and when he exercised in arms, she was there to see. At night she would go rambling with him to disturb and torment people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he often came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten severely, though most people guessed who it was.
However, the Alexandrians in general liked it all well enough, and joined good-humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome, and keeping his comedy for them.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 231
It would be trifling without end to be particular in his follies,
but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out one day to
angle with Cleopatra, and, being so unfortunate as to catch
nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret orders
to the fishermen to dive under water, and put fishes that had
been already taken upon his hooks ; and these he drew so fast
that the Egyptian perceived it. But, feigning great admira
tion, she told everybody how dexterous Antony was, and invited
them next day to come and see him again. So, when a number
of them had come on board the fishing boats, as soon as he had
let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand with
his divers, and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus.
and Canopus ; your game is cities, provinces, and kingdoms. " *******
Antony, feeling his line give, drew up the" prey, and when, as
may be imagined, great laughter ensued, Leave," said Cleo
patra, " the fishing rod, general, to us poor sovereigns of Pharos
When Octavia returned from Athens, Caesar, who considered she had been injuriously treated, commanded her to live in a separate house ; but she refused to leave the house of her hus band, and entreated him unless he had already resolved, upon other motives, to make war with Antony, that he would on her account let it alone ; it would be intolerable to have it said of the two greatest commanders in the world, that they had involved the Roman people in a civil war, the one out of passion for, the other out of resentment about, a woman. And her be havior proved her words to be sincere. She remained in An tony's house as if he were at home in it, and took the noblest and most generous care, not only of his children by her, but of those by Fulvia also. She received all the friends of Antony that came to Rome to seek office or upon any business, and did her utmost to prefer their requests to Caesar ; yet this her honorable deportment did but, without her meaning it, damage the reputa tion of Antony ; the wrong he did to such a woman made him
contempt of his country.
hated. *******
Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less unpopular ; it seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and
When it was resolved to stand to a fight at sea, they set fire to all the Egyptian ships except sixty ; and of these the best and largest, from ten banks down to three, he manned
232 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
with twenty thousand full-armed men, and two thousand archers. Here it is related that a foot captain, one that had fought often under Antony, and had his body all mangled with wounds, exclaimed : " O my general, what have our wounds and swords done to displease you, that you should give your confidence to rotten timbers ? Let Egyptians and Phoenicians contend at sea, give us the land, where we know well how to die upon the spot or gain the victory. " To which he answered nothing, but, by his look and motion of his hand seeming to bid him be of good courage, passed forwards, having already, it would seem, no very sure hopes, since when the masters proposed leaving the sails behind them, he commanded they should be put aboard, " For we must not," said he, " let one enemy escape. "
That day and the three following the sea was so rough they could not engage. But on the fifth there was a calm, and they fought, — Antony commanding with Publicola the right, and Cœlius the left squadron, Marcus Octavius and Marcus Insteius the center. Caesar gave the charge of the left to Agrippa, commanding in person on the right. As for the land forces, Canidius was general for Antony, Taurus for Caesar, both armies remaining drawn up in order along the shore. Antony in a small boat went from one ship to another, encouraging his soldiers, and bidding them stand firm, and fight as steadily on their large ships as if they were on land. The masters he ordered that they should receive the enemy lying still as if they were at anchor, and maintain the entrance of the port, which was a narrow and difficult passage. Of Caesar they relate, that, leaving his tent and going round, while it was yet dark, to visit the ships, he met a man driving an ass, and asked him his name. He answered him that his own name was " Fortunate, and my ass," says he, " is called Conqueror. " And afterwards, when he disposed the beaks of the ships in that place in token of his victory, the statue of this man and his ass in bronze were placed amongst them. After examining the rest of his fleet, he went in a boat to the right wing, and looked with much admiration at the enemy lying perfectly still in the straits, in all appearance as if they had been at anchor. For some considerable length of time he actually thought they were so, and kept his own ships at rest, at a distance of about eight furlongs from them. But about noon a breeze sprang up from the sea, and Antony's men, weary of expecting the enemy so long, and trusting to their
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 233
large tall vessels, as if they had been invincible, began to advance the left squadron. Caesar was overjoyed to see them move, and ordered his own right squadron to retire, that he might entice them out to sea as far as he could, his design being to sail round and round, and so with his light and well- manned galleys to attack these huge vessels, which their size and their want of men made slow to move and difficult to manage.
When they engaged, there was no charging or striking of one ship by another, because Antony's, by reason of their great bulk, were incapable of the rapidity required to make the stroke effectual, and, on the other side, Caesar's durst not charge head to head on Antony's, which were all armed with solid masses and spikes of brass ; nor did they like even to run in on their sides, which were so strongly built with great squared pieces of timber, fastened together with iron bolts, that their vessels' beaks would easily have been shattered upon them. So that the engagement resembled a land fight, or, to speak yet more properly, the attack and defense of a fortified place ; for there were always three or four vessels of Caesar's about one of An tony's, pressing them with spears, javelins, poles, and several inventions of fire, which they flung among them, Antony's men using catapults also, to pour down missiles from wooden towers. Agrippa drawing out the squadron under his command to out flank the enemy, Publicola was obliged to observe his motions, and gradually to break off from the middle squadron, where some confusion and alarm ensued, while Arruntius engaged them. But the fortune of the day was still undecided, and the battle equal, when, on a sudden, Cleopatra's sixty ships were seen hoisting sail and making out to sea in full flight, right through the ships that were engaged. For they were placed behind the great ships, which, in breaking through, they put into disorder. The enemy was astonished to see them sailing off with a fair wind towards Peloponnesus. Here it was that Antony showed to all the world that he was no longer actuated by the thoughts and motives of a commander or a man, or in deed by his own judgment at all, and what was once said as a jest, that the soul of a lover lives in some one else's body, he proved to be a serious truth. For, as if he had been born part of her, and must move with her wheresoever she went, as soon as he saw her ship sailing away, he abandoned all that were fighting and spending their lives for him, and put himself
234 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
aboard a galley of five banks of oars, taking with him only Alexander of Syria and Scellias, to follow her that had so well begun his ruin and would hereafter accomplish it.
She, perceiving him to follow, gave the signal to come aboard. So, as soon as he came up with them, he was taken into the ship. But without seeing her or letting himself be seen by her, he went forward by himself, and sat alone, with out a word, in the ship's prow, covering his face with his two hands. In the mean while, some of Caesar's light Liburnian ships, that were in pursuit, came in sight. But on Antony's commanding to face about, they all gave back except Eurycles the Laconian, who pressed on, shaking a lance from the deck, as if he meant to hurl it at him. Antony, standing at the prow, demanded of him, " Who is this that pursues Antony ? " " I am," said he, " Eurycles, the son of Lachares, armed with Caesar's fortune to revenge my father's death. " Lachares had been condemned for a robbery, and beheaded by Antony's orders. However, Eurycles did not attack Antony, but ran with his full force upon the other admiral galley (for there were two of them), and with the blow turned her round, and took both her and another ship, in which was a quantity of rich plate and furniture. So soon as Eurycles was gone, Antony returned to his posture, and sat silent, and thus he remained for three days, either in anger with Cleopatra, or wishing not to upbraid her, at the end of which they touched at Taenarus. Here the women of their company succeeded first in bringing them to speak, and afterwards to eat and sleep together. And, by this time, several of the ships of burden and some of his friends began to come in to him from the rout, bringing news of his fleet's being quite destroyed, but that the land forces, they thought, still stood firm. So
that he sent messengers to Canidius to march the army with all speed through Macedonia into Asia. And, designing him self to go from Taenarus into Africa, he gave one of the merchant ships, laden with a large sum of money, and vessels of silver and gold of great value, belonging to the royal col lections, to his friends, desiring them to share it amongst them, and provide for their own safety. They refusing his kindness with tears in their eyes, he comforted them with all the goodness and humanity imaginable, entreating them to leave him, and wrote letters in their behalf to Theophilus, his steward, at Corinth, that he would provide for their secu
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rity, and keep them concealed till such time as they could make their peace with Caesar. This Theophilus was the father of Hipparchus, who had such interest with Antony, who was the first of all his freedmen that went over to Caesar, and who settled afterwards at Corinth. In this posture were affairs with Antony.
But at Actium, his fleet, after a long resistance to Caesar, and suffering the most damage from a heavy sea that set in right ahead, scarcely, at four in the afternoon, gave up the contest, with the loss of not more than five thousand men killed, but of three hundred ships taken, as Caesar himself has recorded. Only a few had known of Antony's flight; and those who were told of it could not at first give any belief to so incredible a thing as that a general who had nineteen entire legions and twelve thousand horse upon the seashore, could abandon all and fly away ; and he, above all, who had so often experienced both good and evil fortune, and had in a thousand wars and battles been inured to changes. His soldiers, how ever, would not give up their desires and expectations, still fancying he would appear from some part or other, and showed such a generous fidelity to his service, that when they were thoroughly assured that he was fled in earnest, they kept them selves in a body seven days, making no account of the messages that Caesar sent to them. But at last, seeing that Canidius himself, who commanded them, was fled by night, and that all their officers had quite abandoned them, they gave way, and made their submission to the conqueror. . . .
Cleopatra was busied in making a collection of all varieties of poisonous drugs, and, in order to see which of them were the least painful in the operation, she had them tried upon prison ers condemned to die. But, finding that the quick poisons always worked with sharp pains, and that the less painful were slow, she next tried venomous animals, and watched with her own eyes whilst they were applied, one creature to the body of another. This was her daily practice, and she pretty well satisfied herself that nothing was comparable to the bite of the asp, which, without convulsion or groaning, brought on a heavy drowsiness and lethargy, with a gentle sweat on the face, the senses being stupefied by degrees ; the patient, in appear ance, being sensible of no pain, but rather troubled to be dis turbed or awakened, like those that are in a profound natural sleep. . . .
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ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Caesar would not listen to any proposals for Antony, but he made answer to Cleopatra, that there was no reasonable favor which she might not expect, if she put Antony to death, or expelled him from Egypt. He sent back with the ambassadors his own freedman, Thyrsus, a man of understanding, and not at all ill-qualified for conveying the messages of a youthful general to a woman so proud of her charms and possessed with the opinion of the power of her beauty.
