SCENE IV.
Enter (severally) Arsino, Eros, Cleopatra.
Ars. We are lost.
Eros. Undone.
Ars. Confusion, Fire, and Swords,
And fury in the Souldiers face more horrid
Circle us round.
Eros. The Kings Command they laugh at,
And jeer at Cæsars threats.
Ars. My Brother seiz'd on
By the Roman, as thought guilty of the tumult,
And forc'd to bear him company, as mark'd out
For his protection or revenge.
Eros. They have broke
Into my Cabinet; my Trunks are ransack'd.
Ars. I have lost my jewels too: but that's the least:
The barbarous Rascals, against all humanity,
Or sense of pity, have kill'd my little Dog,
And broke my Monkeys Chain.
Eros. They rifled me:
But that I could endure, would they proceed no further.
Ars. O my Sister!
Eros. My Queen, my Mistress!
Ars. Can you stand unmov'd
When the Earth-quake of Rebellion shakes the City,
And the Court trembles?
Cleo. Yes, Arsino,
And with a Masculine Constancy deride
Fortunes worst malice, as a Servant to
My Vertues, not a Mistress; then we forsake
The strong Fort of our selves, when we once yield,
Or shrink at her assaults; I am still my self,
And though disrob'd of Soveraignty, and ravish'd
Of ceremonious duty, that attends it,
Nay, grant they had slav'd my Body, my free mind
Like to the Palm-tree walling fruitful Nile,
Shall grow up straighter and enlarge it self
'Spight of the envious weight that loads it with:
Think of thy Birth (Arsino) common burdens
Fit common Shoulders; teach the multitude
By suffering nobly what they fear to touch at;
The greatness of thy mind does soar a pitch,
Their dim eyes (darkened by their narrow souls)
Cannot arrive at.
Ars. I am new created,
And owe this second being to you (best Sister)
For now I feel you have infus'd into me
Part of your fortitude.
Eros. I still am fearful;
I dare not tell a lie; you that were born
Daughters and Sisters unto Kings, may nourish
Great thoughts, which I, that am your humble handmaid
Must not presume to rival.
Cleo. Yet (my Eros)
Though thou hast profited nothing by observing
The whole course of my life, learn in my death,
Though not to equal, yet to imitate
Thy fearless Mistress.
Enter Photinus.
Eros. O, a man in Arms!
His Weapon drawn too?
Cleo. Though upon the point
Death sate, I'll meet it, and outdare the danger.
Pho. Keep the Watch strong, and guard the passage sure
That leads unto the Sea.
Cleo. What Sea of rudeness
Breaks in upon us? or what Subjects Breath
Dare raise a storm, when we command a calm?
Are Duty and Obedience fled to Heaven?
And in their room ambition and pride
Sent into Egypt? That Face speaks thee, Photinus,
A thing thy Mother brought into the World;
My Brother's and my Slave: but thy behaviour,
Oppos'd to that, an insolent intruder
Upon that Soveraignty thou shouldst bow to.
If in the Gulph of base ingratitude,
All loyalty to Ptolomy the King
Be swallowed up, remember who I am,
Whose Daughter and whose Sister; or suppose
That is forgot too; let the name of Cæsar
Which Nations quake at, stop the desperate madness
From running headlong on to thy Confusion.
Throw from thee quickly those rebellious Arms,
And let me read submission in thine Eyes;
Thy wrongs to us we will not only pardon,
But be a ready advocate to plead for thee
To Cæsar, and my Brother.
Pho. Plead my Pardon?
To you I bow, but scorn as much to stoop thus
To Ptolomy or Cæsar, Nay, the gods,
As to put off the figure of a man,
And change my Essence with a sensual Beast;
All my designs, my counsels, and dark ends
Were aim'd to purchase you.
Cleo. How durst thou, being
The scorn of baseness, nourish such a thought?
Pho. They that have power are royal; and those base
That live at the devotion of another.
What birth gave Ptolomy, or fortune Cæsar,
By Engines fashion'd in this Protean Anvil
I have made mine; and only stoop at you,
Whom I would still preserve free to command me;
For Cæsar's frowns, they are below my thoughts,
And but in these fair Eyes I still have read
The story of a supream Monarchy,
To which all hearts with mine gladly pay tribute,
Photinus's Name had long since been as great
As Ptolomies e'r was, or Cæsars is,
This made me as a weaker tye to unloose
The knot of Loyalty, that chain'd my freedom,
And slight the fear that Cæsars threats might cause,
That I and they might see no Sun appear
But Cleopatra in the Egyptian Sphear.
Cleo. O Giant-like Ambition! marryed to
Cymmerian darkness! inconsiderate Fool,
(Though flatter'd with self-love) could'st thou believe,
Were all Crowns on the Earth made into one,
And that (by Kings) set on thy head; all Scepters,
Within thy grasp, and laid down at my feet,
I would vouchsafe a kiss to a no-man?
A guelded Eunuch?
Pho. Fairest, that makes for me,
And shews it is no sensual appetite,
But true love to the greatness of thy Spirit,
That when that you are mine shall yield me pleasures,
Hymen, though blessing a new married Pair
Shall blush to think on, and our certain issue,
The glorious splendor of dread Majesty,
Whose beams shall dazel Rome, and aw the world,
My wants in that kind others shall supply,
And I give way to it.
Cleo. Baser than thy Birth;
Can there be gods, and hear this, and no thunder
Ram thee into the Earth?
Pho. They are asleep,
And cannot hear thee;
Or with open Eyes,
Did Jove look on us, I would laugh and swear
That his artillery is cloy'd by me:
Or if that they have power to hurt, his Bolts
Are in my hand.
Cleo. Most impious!
Pho. They are dreams,
Religious Fools shake at: yet to assure thee,
If Nemesis, that scourges pride and scorn,
Be any thing but a name, she lives in me;
For by my self (an oath to me more dreadful
Than Stix is to your gods) weak Ptolomy dead,
And Cæsar (both being in my toil) remov'd,
The poorest Rascals that are in my Camp
Shall in my presence quench their lustful heat
In thee, and young Arsino, while I laugh
To hear you howl in vain:
I deride those gods,
That you think can protect you.
Cleo. To prevent thee,
In that I am the Mistress of my Fate;
So hope I of my sister to confirm it.
I spit at thee, and scorn thee.
Pho. I will tame
That haughty courage, and make thee stoop too.
Cleo. Never,
I was born to command, and will dye so.
Enter Achillas, and Souldiers, with the Body of Ptolomy.
Pho. The King dead? this is a fair entrance to
Our future happiness.
Ars. Oh my dear Brother!
Cleo. Weep not, Arsino, common women do so,
Nor lose a tear for him, it cannot help him;
But study to dye nobly.
Pho. Cæsar fled!
'Tis deadly aconite to my cold heart,
It choaks my vital Spirits: where was your care?
Did the Guards sleep?
Achil. He rowz'd them with his Sword;
We talk of Mars, but I am sure his Courage
Admits of no comparison but it self,
And (as inspir'd by him) his following friends
With such a confidence as young Eagles prey
Under the large wing of their fiercer Dam,
Brake through our Troops and scatter'd them, he went on
But still pursu'd by us, when on the sudden,
He turn'd his head, and from his Eyes flew terrour;
Which strook in us no less fear and amazement,
Than if we had encounter'd with the lightning
Hurl'd from Jove's cloudy Brow.
Cleo. 'Twas like my Cæsar.
Achil. We faln back, he made on, and as our fear
Had parted from us with his dreadful looks,
Again we follow'd; but got near the Sea;
On which his Navy anchor'd; in one hand
Holding a Scroll he had above the waves,
And in the other grasping fast his Sword,
As it had been a Trident forg'd by Vulcan
To calm the raging Ocean, he made away
As if he had been Neptune, his friends like
So many Tritons follow'd, their bold shouts
Yielding a chearful musick; we showr'd darts
Upon them, but in vain, they reach'd their ships
And in their safety we are sunk; for Cæsar
Prepares for War.
Pho. How fell the King?
Achil. Unable
To follow Cæsar, he was trod to death
By the Pursuers, and with him the Priest
Of Isis, good Achoreus.
Ars. May the Earth
Lye gently on their ashes.
Pho. I feel now,
That there are powers above us; and that 'tis not
Within the searching policies of man
To alter their decrees.
Cleo. I laugh at thee;
Where are thy threats now, Fool, thy scoffs and scorns
Against the gods? I see calamity
Is the best Mistress of Religion,
And can convert an Atheist. [Shout within.
Pho. O they come,
Mountains fall on me! O for him to dye
That plac'd his Heaven on Earth, is an assurance
Of his descent to Hell; where shall I hide me?
The greatest daring to a man dishonest,
Is but a Bastard Courage, ever fainting. [Exit.
Enter Cæsar, Sceva, Antony, Dolabella.
Cæs. Look on your Cæsar; banish fear, my fairest,
You now are safe.
Sce. By Venus, not a kiss
Till our work be done; the Traitors once dispatch'd
To it, and we'll cry aim.
Cæs. I will be speedy. [Exeunt.
Cleo. Farewel again, Arsino; how now, Eros?
Ever faint-hearted?
Eros. But that I am assur'd,
Your Excellency can command the General,
I fear the Souldiers, for they look as if
They would be nibling too.
Cleo. He is all honour,
Nor do I now repent me of my favours,
Nor can I think that Nature e'r made a Woman
That in her prime deserv'd him.
Enter Cæsar, Sceva, Antonie, Dolabella, Souldiers, with the Heads.
Ars. He's come back,
Pursue no further; curb the Souldiers fury.
Cæs. See (beauteous Mistris) their accursed heads
That did conspire against us.
Sce. Furies plague 'em,
They had too fair an end to dye like Souldiers,
Pompey fell by the Sword, the Cross or Halter
Should have dispatch'd them.
Cæs. All is but death, good Sceva,
Be therefore satisfied: and now my dearest,
Look upon Cæsar, as he still appear'd
A Conquerour, and this unfortunate King
Entomb'd with honour, we'll to Rome, where Cæsar
Will shew he can give Kingdoms; for the Senate,
(Thy Brother dead) shall willingly decree
The Crown of Egypt (that was his) to thee. [Exeunt omnes.