University of Virginia Library

SCENE 5.

Cæsar, Cleopatra, Charmion, Antonius, Lepidus, Achoreus.
Cleop.
Rather then You to this expos'd should be,
With my own Ruine I would set you free.
Sacrifice me, Sir, to your Happiness;
For that's the greatest that I can possess.
Though far unworthy to be Cæsars Bride,
Yet He'll remember one that for him Dy'd.

Cæsar.
Those empty projects, Queen, are all now left
To a great Heart of other Help bereft;
Whose keene desires her want of Strength confess,
Could she perform more, she would wish it less.
The Gods will these vain Auguries disprove,
Nor can they my Felicity remove.
If your Love stronger then your Grief appears,
And will for Cæsars sake dry up your Tears;
And that a Brother, who deserv'd them not,
May for a faithful Lover be forgot.
You may have heard, with what Regret of mine
His Safety to Despair he did resigne.
How much I sought his Reason to redeem
From those vain Terrors that surrounded him,
Which he disputed to his latest Breath,
And cast away his Life for fear of Death.
O shame for Cæsar! Who so eminent!
And so sollicitous for your Content!
Yet by the Cruel Fortune of this Day
Could not the First of your Commands Obey:
But vainly we resist the Gods, who will
Their Just Decrees on guilty men fulfill.
And yet his Fall your Happiness procures,
Since by his Death Ægypt is wholly Yours.

Cleop.
I know I gain another Diadem,
For which none can be blam'd but Heav'n and Him;
But as the Fate of humane things is such,
That Joy and Trouble do each other touch,
Excuse me, if the Crown conferr'd by You
As it obliges, Does afflict me too.
And if to see a Brother justly kill'd
To Nature I as well as Reason yield.
No sooner on my Grandeur I reflect,
But my Ambition by my Blood is checkt.
I meet my Fortune with a secret Groan,
Nor dare without Regret ascend the Throne.

Acho.
The Court is full, Sir, People crowding in,
Who with great shouts demand to see their Queen,
And many signes of their impatience give,
That such a Blessing they so late receive.

Cæsar.
Let them so just a Happiness obtain,
And by that Goodness, Queen, commence your reign.
O may the Gods so favour my Desire,
That in their Joy your Sorrow may expire;
That no Idea in your Soul may be,
But of the Wounds which you have given me:
Whilst my Attendants and your Courtiers may
Prepare to morrow for a glorious day.
When all such Noble Offices may own,
Pompey t'appease, and Cleopatra Crown.
To her a Throne, to him let's Altars Build,
And to them both Immortal Honours yield.

Exeunt.
After which a Grand Masque is Danc'd before Cæsar and Clepatra, made (as well as the other Dances and the Tunes to them) by M. John Ogilby.