ARKCODEX
Act II, Scene 6
1Near Misenum.
2Flourish. Enter Pompey and Menas at one side, with drum and trumpet: at another, Caesar, Antony, Lepidus, Enobarbas, Mecaenas, with Soldiers marching.
3PompeyYour hostages I have, so have you mine;
And we shall talk before we fight.
4CaesarMost 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.
5PompeyTo 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.
6CaesarTake your time.
7AntonyThou 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.
8PompeyAt 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.
9LepidusBe pleased to tell us—
For this is from the present—how you take
The offers we have sent you.
10CaesarThere’s the point.
11AntonyWhich do not be entreated to, but weigh
What it is worth embraced.
12CaesarAnd what may follow,
To try a larger fortune.
13PompeyYou 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.
14Caesar
Antony
Lepidus That’s our offer.
15PompeyKnow, 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.
16AntonyI have heard it, Pompey;
And am well studied for a liberal thanks
Which I do owe you.
17PompeyLet me have your hand:
I did not think, sir, to have met you here.
18AntonyThe 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.
19CaesarSince I saw you last,
There is a change upon you.
20PompeyWell, 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.
21LepidusWell met here.
22PompeyI hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed:
I crave our composition may be written,
And seal’d between us.
23CaesarThat’s the next to do.
24PompeyWe’ll feast each other ere we part; and let’s
Draw lots who shall begin.
25AntonyThat will I, Pompey.
26PompeyNo, 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.
27AntonyYou have heard much.
28PompeyI have fair meanings, sir.
29AntonyAnd fair words to them.
30PompeyThen so much have I heard:
And I have heard, Apollodorus carried—
31EnobarbasNo more of that: he did so.
32PompeyWhat, I pray you?
33EnobarbasA certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.
34PompeyI know thee now: how farest thou, soldier?
35EnobarbasWell;
And well am like to do; for, I perceive,
Four feasts are toward.
36PompeyLet me shake thy hand;
I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
When I have envied thy behaviour.
37EnobarbasSir,
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.
38PompeyEnjoy thy plainness,
It nothing ill becomes thee.
Aboard my galley I invite you all:
Will you lead, lords?
39Caesar
Antony
Lepidus Show us the way, sir.
40PompeyCome. Exeunt all but Menas and Enobarbus.
41MenasAside. Thy father, Pompey, would ne’er have made this treaty.—You and I have known, sir.
42EnobarbasAt sea, I think.
43MenasWe have, sir.
44EnobarbasYou have done well by water.
45MenasAnd you by land.
46EnobarbasI will praise any man that will praise me; though it cannot be denied what I have done by land.
47MenasNor what I have done by water.
48EnobarbasYes, something you can deny for your own safety: you have been a great thief by sea.
49MenasAnd you by land.
50EnobarbasThere I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas: if our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kissing.
51MenasAll men’s faces are true, whatsome’er their hands are.
52EnobarbasBut there is never a fair woman has a true face.
53MenasNo slander; they steal hearts.
54EnobarbasWe came hither to fight with you.
55MenasFor my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.
56EnobarbasIf he do, sure, he cannot weep’t back again.
57MenasYou’ve said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony here: pray you, is he married to Cleopatra?
58EnobarbasCaesar’s sister is called Octavia.
59MenasTrue, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.
60EnobarbasBut she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.
61MenasPray ye, sir?
62Enobarbas’Tis true.
63MenasThen is Caesar and he for ever knit together.
64EnobarbasIf I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophesy so.
65MenasI think the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage than the love of the parties.
66EnobarbasI 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.
67MenasWho would not have his wife so?
68EnobarbasNot 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.
69MenasAnd thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health for you.
70EnobarbasI shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.
71MenasCome, let’s away. Exeunt.