Antony and Cleopatra - Act 2 - Scene 6

SCENE VI. Near Misenum.

    Flourish. Enter POMPEY and MENAS at one door, with drum and trumpet: at another, OCTAVIUS CAESAR, MARK ANTONY, LEPIDUS, DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, MECAENAS, with Soldiers marching

POMPEY

    Your hostages I have, so have you mine;
    And we shall talk before we fight.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

    Most meet
    That first we come to words; and therefore have we
    Our written purposes before us sent;
    Which, if thou hast consider'd, let us know
    If 'twill tie up thy discontented sword,
    And carry back to Sicily much tall youth
    That else must perish here.

POMPEY

    To you all three,
    The senators alone of this great world,
    Chief factors for the gods, I do not know
    Wherefore my father should revengers want,
    Having a son and friends; since Julius Caesar,
    Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,
    There saw you labouring for him. What was't
    That moved pale Cassius to conspire; and what
    Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus,
    With the arm'd rest, courtiers and beauteous freedom,
    To drench the Capitol; but that they would
    Have one man but a man? And that is it
    Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burthen
    The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant
    To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome
    Cast on my noble father.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

    Take your time.

MARK ANTONY

    Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy sails;
    We'll speak with thee at sea: at land, thou know'st
    How much we do o'er-count thee.

POMPEY

    At land, indeed,
    Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house:
    But, since the cuckoo builds not for himself,
    Remain in't as thou mayst.

LEPIDUS

    Be pleased to tell us--
    For this is from the present--how you take
    The offers we have sent you.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

    There's the point.

MARK ANTONY

    Which do not be entreated to, but weigh
    What it is worth embraced.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

    And what may follow,
    To try a larger fortune.

POMPEY

    You have made me offer
    Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must
    Rid all the sea of pirates; then, to send
    Measures of wheat to Rome; this 'greed upon
    To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back
    Our targes undinted.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR MARK ANTONY LEPIDUS

    That's our offer.

POMPEY

    Know, then,
    I came before you here a man prepared
    To take this offer: but Mark Antony
    Put me to some impatience: though I lose
    The praise of it by telling, you must know,
    When Caesar and your brother were at blows,
    Your mother came to Sicily and did find
    Her welcome friendly.

MARK ANTONY

    I have heard it, Pompey;
    And am well studied for a liberal thanks
    Which I do owe you.

POMPEY

    Let me have your hand:
    I did not think, sir, to have met you here.

MARK ANTONY

    The beds i' the east are soft; and thanks to you,
    That call'd me timelier than my purpose hither;
    For I have gain'd by 't.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

    Since I saw you last,
    There is a change upon you.

POMPEY

    Well, I know not
    What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face;
    But in my bosom shall she never come,
    To make my heart her vassal.

LEPIDUS

    Well met here.

POMPEY

    I hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed:
    I crave our composition may be written,
    And seal'd between us.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR

    That's the next to do.

POMPEY

    We'll feast each other ere we part; and let's
    Draw lots who shall begin.

MARK ANTONY

    That will I, Pompey.

POMPEY

    No, Antony, take the lot: but, first
    Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery
    Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar
    Grew fat with feasting there.

MARK ANTONY

    You have heard much.

POMPEY

    I have fair meanings, sir.

MARK ANTONY

    And fair words to them.

POMPEY

    Then so much have I heard:
    And I have heard, Apollodorus carried--

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    No more of that: he did so.

POMPEY

    What, I pray you?

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.

POMPEY

    I know thee now: how farest thou, soldier?

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    Well;
    And well am like to do; for, I perceive,
    Four feasts are toward.

POMPEY

    Let me shake thy hand;
    I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
    When I have envied thy behavior.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    Sir,
    I never loved you much; but I ha' praised ye,
    When you have well deserved ten times as much
    As I have said you did.

POMPEY

    Enjoy thy plainness,
    It nothing ill becomes thee.
    Aboard my galley I invite you all:
    Will you lead, lords?

OCTAVIUS CAESAR MARK ANTONY LEPIDUS

    Show us the way, sir.

POMPEY

    Come.

    Exeunt all but MENAS and ENOBARBUS

MENAS

    [Aside] Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have
    made this treaty.--You and I have known, sir.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    At sea, I think.

MENAS

    We have, sir.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    You have done well by water.

MENAS

    And you by land.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    I will praise any man that will praise me; though it
    cannot be denied what I have done by land.

MENAS

    Nor what I have done by water.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    Yes, something you can deny for your own
    safety: you have been a great thief by sea.

MENAS

    And you by land.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    There I deny my land service. But give me your
    hand, Menas: if our eyes had authority, here they
    might take two thieves kissing.

MENAS

    All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their hands are.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

MENAS

    No slander; they steal hearts.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    We came hither to fight with you.

MENAS

    For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking.
    Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    If he do, sure, he cannot weep't back again.

MENAS

    You've said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony
    here: pray you, is he married to Cleopatra?

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    Caesar's sister is called Octavia.

MENAS

    True, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.

MENAS

    Pray ye, sir?

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    'Tis true.

MENAS

    Then is Caesar and he for ever knit together.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would
    not prophesy so.

MENAS

    I think the policy of that purpose made more in the
    marriage than the love of the parties.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    I think so too. But you shall find, the band that
    seems to tie their friendship together will be the
    very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a
    holy, cold, and still conversation.

MENAS

    Who would not have his wife so?

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

    Not he that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony.
    He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the
    sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Caesar; and, as
    I said before, that which is the strength of their
    amity shall prove the immediate author of their
    variance. Antony will use his affection where it is:
    he married but his occasion here.

MENAS

    And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard?
    I have a health for you.

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS

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

MENAS

    Come, let's away.

    Exeunt