SCENE VI. Near Misenum. Antony and Cleopatra  Shakespeare homepage  |  Antony and Cleopatra  | Act 2, Scene 6 

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 Flourish. Enter POMPEY and MENAS at one door,  with drum and trumpet: at another, OCTAVIUS CAESAR,  MARK ANTONY, LEPIDUS, DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, MECAENAS, with Soldiers marching  POMPEY  Your hostages I have, so have you mine; 

 And we shall talk before we fight. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  Most meet 

 That first we come to words; and therefore have we 

 Our written purposes before us sent; 

 Which, if thou hast consider'd, let us know 

 If 'twill tie up thy discontented sword, 

 And carry back to Sicily much tall youth 

 That else must perish here. 

 POMPEY  To you all three, 

 The senators alone of this great world, 

 Chief factors for the gods, I do not know 

 Wherefore my father should revengers want, 

 Having a son and friends; since Julius Caesar, 

 Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted, 

 There saw you labouring for him. What was't 

 That moved pale Cassius to conspire; and what 

 Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus, 

 With the arm'd rest, courtiers and beauteous freedom, 

 To drench the Capitol; but that they would 

 Have one man but a man? And that is it 

 Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burthen 

 The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant 

 To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome 

 Cast on my noble father. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  Take your time. 

 MARK ANTONY  Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy sails; 

 We'll speak with thee at sea: at land, thou know'st 

 How much we do o'er-count thee. 

 POMPEY  At land, indeed, 

 Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house: 

 But, since the cuckoo builds not for himself, 

 Remain in't as thou mayst. 

 LEPIDUS  Be pleased to tell us-- 

 For this is from the present--how you take 

 The offers we have sent you. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  There's the point. 

 MARK ANTONY  Which do not be entreated to, but weigh 

 What it is worth embraced. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  And what may follow, 

 To try a larger fortune. 

 POMPEY  You have made me offer 

 Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must 

 Rid all the sea of pirates; then, to send 

 Measures of wheat to Rome; this 'greed upon 

 To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back 

 Our targes undinted. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  MARK ANTONY  LEPIDUS  That's our offer. 

 POMPEY  Know, then, 

 I came before you here a man prepared 

 To take this offer: but Mark Antony 

 Put me to some impatience: though I lose 

 The praise of it by telling, you must know, 

 When Caesar and your brother were at blows, 

 Your mother came to Sicily and did find 

 Her welcome friendly. 

 MARK ANTONY  I have heard it, Pompey; 

 And am well studied for a liberal thanks 

 Which I do owe you. 

 POMPEY  Let me have your hand: 

 I did not think, sir, to have met you here. 

 MARK ANTONY  The beds i' the east are soft; and thanks to you, 

 That call'd me timelier than my purpose hither; 

 For I have gain'd by 't. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  Since I saw you last, 

 There is a change upon you. 

 POMPEY  Well, I know not 

 What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face; 

 But in my bosom shall she never come, 

 To make my heart her vassal. 

 LEPIDUS  Well met here. 

 POMPEY  I hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed: 

 I crave our composition may be written, 

 And seal'd between us. 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  That's the next to do. 

 POMPEY  We'll feast each other ere we part; and let's 

 Draw lots who shall begin. 

 MARK ANTONY  That will I, Pompey. 

 POMPEY  No, Antony, take the lot: but, first 

 Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery 

 Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar 

 Grew fat with feasting there. 

 MARK ANTONY  You have heard much. 

 POMPEY  I have fair meanings, sir. 

 MARK ANTONY  And fair words to them. 

 POMPEY  Then so much have I heard: 

 And I have heard, Apollodorus carried-- 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  No more of that: he did so. 

 POMPEY  What, I pray you? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress. 

 POMPEY  I know thee now: how farest thou, soldier? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Well; 

 And well am like to do; for, I perceive, 

 Four feasts are toward. 

 POMPEY  Let me shake thy hand; 

 I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight, 

 When I have envied thy behavior. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Sir, 

 I never loved you much; but I ha' praised ye, 

 When you have well deserved ten times as much 

 As I have said you did. 

 POMPEY  Enjoy thy plainness, 

 It nothing ill becomes thee. 

 Aboard my galley I invite you all: 

 Will you lead, lords? 

 OCTAVIUS CAESAR  MARK ANTONY  LEPIDUS  Show us the way, sir. 

 POMPEY  Come. 



 Exeunt all but MENAS and ENOBARBUS  MENAS  [Aside]  Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have 

 made this treaty.--You and I have known, sir. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  At sea, I think. 

 MENAS  We have, sir. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  You have done well by water. 

 MENAS  And you by land. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  I will praise any man that will praise me; though it 

 cannot be denied what I have done by land. 

 MENAS  Nor what I have done by water. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Yes, something you can deny for your own 

 safety: you have been a great thief by sea. 

 MENAS  And you by land. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  There I deny my land service. But give me your 

 hand, Menas: if our eyes had authority, here they 

 might take two thieves kissing. 

 MENAS  All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their hands are. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  But there is never a fair woman has a true face. 

 MENAS  No slander; they steal hearts. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  We came hither to fight with you. 

 MENAS  For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking. 

 Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  If he do, sure, he cannot weep't back again. 

 MENAS  You've said, sir. We looked not for Mark Antony 

 here: pray you, is he married to Cleopatra? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Caesar's sister is called Octavia. 

 MENAS  True, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius. 

 MENAS  Pray ye, sir? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  'Tis true. 

 MENAS  Then is Caesar and he for ever knit together. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would 

 not prophesy so. 

 MENAS  I think the policy of that purpose made more in the 

 marriage than the love of the parties. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  I think so too. But you shall find, the band that 

 seems to tie their friendship together will be the 

 very strangler of their amity: Octavia is of a 

 holy, cold, and still conversation. 

 MENAS  Who would not have his wife so? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Not he that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony. 

 He will to his Egyptian dish again: then shall the 

 sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in Caesar; and, as 

 I said before, that which is the strength of their 

 amity shall prove the immediate author of their 

 variance. Antony will use his affection where it is: 

 he married but his occasion here. 

 MENAS  And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? 

 I have a health for you. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt. 

 MENAS  Come, let's away. 



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