 | Antony and Cleopatra |  |
Scene the First.
Cæsars Tents.Enter Cæsar, Mecœnas, Agrippa.
Cæsar.
The Asians now with double Taxes prest,
His slothful Days and drunken Nights detest;
Buffoons and Players chiefly have his ear:
He dares not the free tongues of Romans hear.
To marry Whores to Fencers is his sport,
And with their Issue throng his loathed Court.
“Now lewd Cytheris has a greater Train,
Than his own Mother or his Wife maintain.
From such a Foe as this what can we fear!
In whom all symptoms of lost pow'r appear.
Mecœn.
The flatt'ring Greeks his easie nature praise;
But on the rest he heavy burthens lays.
In drunken Bounty, for a riotous treat,
He gave his Fav'rite Cook a spacious Street:
Men say no hour dares move without its Feast,
Which is for their fantastick pallats drest.
Now must the rising Sun their Riot view,
Which the next day prevents the Evening dew.
“In every draught they some rich Gem consume,
“And spend a private Fortune in one Room.
Cæs.
Empire, of pains and virtue, the slow fruit,
How ill dost thou with vice and riot suit?
Cinna was bloody, Marius unjust,
Tarquin and Appius raging in their Lust:
Lucullus was luxurious, loud his ease,
Thus on each man his single vice did seize!
But all these faults are in Antonius met.
Mecœn.
His Court with Asian Flatt'rers is fill'd,
And Lying Greeks the only Servants held.
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Whilst Romans only are thought fit to fight.
Agrip.
Example is a living Law, whose sway,
Men more than all the written Laws obey.
Princes of all men therefore shou'd take care,
How in their manners they the Crowd ensnare.
But above all his dotage on the Queen
Employs my wonder: was it ever seen
A Woman rul'd an Emperor till now?
What Horse the Mare, what Bull obeys the Cow?
Nature that Monster Love does disavow:
In all her kinds only fantastick Man
Finds ways of folly which no other can.
Mecœn.
He that will vilify the pow'r of Love,
In the first place let him our Gods reprove,
Who oft their heavenly Mansions have forsook,
And the mean shapes of Birds and Beasts have took,
To pursue Mortals in an amorous way,
And form their glorious Image in our clay.
Agrip.
The God that lov'd, what Nymph yet ever rul'd?
He was again a God, his Lust once cool'd:
Had womens will our good or ill procur'd,
The World had never half so long endur'd.
The high embrace fill'd all their spacious thought,
And proofs of kindness were no farther sought.
Cæs.
Th'unable sure, the ugly, or the old,
First in affairs of Love, made use of gold.
Then Princes to out-bid 'em threw in pow'r,
Now heart for heart's the Traffick of the Poor.
Agrip.
Women should sit like idle Passengers,
While the tall Ship some able Seamen steers.
Wisdom, high Courage, Piety are vain,
If o're the Wise and brave a Woman reign,
And this Antonius conduct has made plain.
Cæs.
'Tis time the insur'd World we should redeem
From a mans sway so lost in her esteem.
Agrip.
What is success in Arms if Conqu'ring Rome
By Troops of Asian Vices be o'recome.
Cæs.
To set all right I must be absolute;
My least commands None daring to dispute;
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But from a pow'r as able to oppress;
Whilst for the publick good my pow'r I use,
Seeing my end Men will the means excuse.
Th'Omnipotence of Gods, who thinks too great,
Since men below they with compassion treat.
Agrip.
But envy does all mortal pow'r attend:
Men fear the Means, and still suspect the end.
He that can hurt, who answers but he will:
Men pass in fear by sleeping Lyons still.
Empire is safest moderately great,
And death unseen does on Ambition wait.
Cæs.
He that can do no ill, can do no good,
And if in one, in both may be withstood.
The actions of a Tyrant I abhor,
But as things stand I cannot want the pow'r.
Agrip.
Our Laws the art of ruling best contain;
Mecœn.
Fools find it there, wise Princes in their Brain.
Agrip.
Pow'r long possest few Princes care to use,
But give it up for others to abuse:
From Phœbus self the World no hazard run,
But cou'd not bear one day his Vent'rous Son:
He through new wayes the flaming Chariot drove,
And all was fear below, and fire above.
Cæs.
I to no Phaeton will the reins commit,
Nor in inglorious ease a moment sit:
Ile see the Common-wealth no mischief take,
And do and suffer all things for her sake.
Mecœn.
Rome on your vertue leans her aged head,
As old Anchises on Æneas did,
And thinks she may with ease when propt by you.
Factions at Home, and Foes abroad subdue.
You, whom the general voice of Rome does hold,
Bolder than Youth, and wiser than the Old.
Agrip.
The name of Common-wealth is popular,
And every Cæsar may his Brutus fear.
Mecæn.
Romans that barb'rous Murder so reveng'd,
It shews the thoughts of a Republick chang'd.
Cæs.
Men die of Agues, too much heat or cold,
And others grow ridiculous old.
Ex. Cæs. Oct. Mec. manet Agrip.
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Ile seize the Empire, which Ile die or hold.
Agrip.
Born under Kings our Father freedom sought,
And with their blood the Godlike treasure bought,
We their vile issue in our chains delight,
And born to freedom for our Tyrants fight.
Exit. Agrip.
| Antony and Cleopatra | |