 | The False One |  |
Scena Secunda.
Enter Photinus, Achillas, Septinius, Souldiers.Pho.
Ther's no retiring now, we are broke in:
The deed past hope of pardon: if we prosper
A will be stilde lawfull, and we shall give lawes
To those that now command us: stop not at
Or loyalty, or duty, bold Ambition,
To dare and power to do, gave the first difference
Betweene the King, and subject, Cæsars Motto,
Aut Cæsar aut Nihil, each of us must claime,
And use it as our owne.
Achil.
The deed is bloody
If we conclude in Ptolomies death.
Pho.
The better
The globe of Empire must be so manur.
Sep.
Rome, that from Romulus first tooke her name
Had her walls watered with a Crymson showr
Draind from a Brothers heart: nor was she rais'd
To this prodigious height, that overlooks
Three full parts of the Earth, that pay her tribute,
But by enlarging of her narrow bounds
By the Sack of Neighbour Cities, were made hers
Till they were Cemented with the Blood of those
That did possesse 'em: Cæsar, Ptolomy,
(Now I am steeld) to me are empty names
Esteem'd as Pompeys was.
Pho.
Well said Septinius,
Thou now art right againe.
Achil.
But what course take we
For the Princesse Cleopatra?
Pho.
Let her live
A while to make us sport: she shall authorize
Our undertakings to the ignorant people,
As if what we do were by her command:
But our triumvirat Government once confirm'd,
Shee beares her Brother company, that's my Province:
Leave me to work her.
Achil.
I will undertake
For Ptolomy.
Sep.
Cesar shall be my taske,
And as in Pompey I began a name,
I'le perfect it in Cæsar.
Enter (above) Cæsar, Ptolomy, Achoreus, Appollodorus, Anthony, Dollabella.
Pho.
'Tis resolv'd then
139
Achil.
See: they do appeare
As they desir'd a parley.
Pho.
I am proud yet
I have brought them to capitulate.
Ptol.
Now Photinus?
Pho.
Now Ptolomy?
Ptol.
No addition?
Pho.
We are equall,
Though Cæsars name were put into the scale,
In which our worth is weighd.
Cæsar.
Presumptuous Villaine,
Upon what grounds hast thou presum'd to raise
Thy servile hand against the King, or me,
That have a greater name?
Pho.
On those, by which
Thou didst presume to passe the Rubicon
Against the Laws of Rome; and at the name
Of traytor smile, as thou didst when Marcellus
The Consull, with the Senats full consent
Pronounc'd thee for an enemy to thy Country,
Yet thou wentst on, and thy rebellious Cause
Was crown'd with fair success: why should we fear then?
Think on that Cæsar.
Cæsar.
O the gods! be brav'd thus?
And be compelld to beare this from a slave
That would not brooke great Pompey his Superiour?
Achil.
Thy glories now have touch'd the highest point,
And must descend.
Pho.
Despaire, and thinke we stand
The Champions of Rome, to wreak her wrongs
Upon whose liberty thou hast set thy foote.
Sep.
And that the ghosts of all those noble Romans
That by thy sword fell in this Civill warre,
Expect revenge.
Ant.
Dar'st thou speak, and remember
There was a Pompey?
Pho.
There is no hope to scape us:
If that against the odds we have upon you
You dare come forth and fight, receive the honour
To dye, like Romans, if ye faint, resolve
To starve, like wretches: I disdain to change
Exit.
Another syllable with you.
Ant.
Let us dye nobly:
And rather fall upon each others sword
Then come into these villains hands.
Cæsar.
That Fortune
Which to this howre hath been a friend to Cæsar,
Though for a while she cloath her brow with frowns
Will smile again upon me; who will pay her,
Or sacrifice or vowes, if she forsake
Her best of works in me? or suffer him
Whom, with a strong hand she hath led triumphant
Through the whole Western world, & Rome acknowledgd
Her Soveraign Lord, to end in gloriously,
A life admir'd by all? the threatned danger
Must by a way more horrid, be avoided,
And I will run the hazard: Fire the Pallace,
And the rich Magazines that neighbour it,
In which the wealth of Ægypt is contain'd:
Start not, it shall be so; that while the people
Labour in quenching the ensuing flames,
Like Cæsar, with this handfull of my friends
Through fire, and swords, I force a passage to
My conquering Legions. King, if thou darst follow
Where Cæsar leads, or live, or dye a Free-man;
If not, stay here a bond-man to thy slave,
And dead, be thought unworthy of a grave.
Exeunt.
| The False One | |