CAESAR.
’Tis done already, and messenger gone.
I have told him Lepidus was grown too cruel,
That he his high authority abused,
And did deserve his change. For what I have conquered
I grant him part; but then in his Armenia
And other of his conquered kingdoms, I
Demand the like.
MAECENAS.
He’ll never yield to that.
CAESAR.
Nor must not then be yielded to in this.
Enter Octavia with her train.
OCTAVIA.
Hail, Caesar, and my lord! Hail, most dear Caesar!
CAESAR.
That ever I should call thee castaway!
OCTAVIA.
You have not called me so, nor have you cause.
CAESAR.
Why have you stolen upon us thus? You come not
Like Caesar’s sister. The wife of Antony
Should have an army for an usher, and
The neighs of horse to tell of her approach
Long ere she did appear. The trees by th’ way
Should have borne men, and expectation fainted,
Longing for what it had not. Nay, the dust
Should have ascended to the roof of heaven,
Raised by your populous troops. But you are come
A market-maid to Rome, and have prevented
The ostentation of our love, which, left unshown,
Is often left unloved. We should have met you
By sea and land, supplying every stage
With an augmented greeting.
OCTAVIA.
Good my lord,
To come thus was I not constrained, but did it
On my free will. My lord, Mark Antony,
Hearing that you prepared for war, acquainted
My grieved ear withal, whereon I begged
His pardon for return.
CAESAR.
Which soon he granted,
Being an abstract ’tween his lust and him.