Achil. Thou shalt command in chief all our strong forces; And cry for doing daily bloody murders, Take thou example, and go ask forgiveness; And if thou servest an use, must not all justify Call up the thing, thou namest thy conscience, it? Sept. I am rogue enough. Pho. Thou wilt be more and baser; A poor rogue's all rogues, open to all shames; Nothing to shadow him. Dost thou think crying Can keep thee from the censure of the multitude? Or to be kneeling at the altar, save thee? 'Tis poor and servile! Wert thou thine own sacrifice, 'Twould seem so low, people would spit the fire out. Achil. Keep thyself glorious still, though ne'er so stained, And that will lessen it, if not work it out. Sept. I'll stop mine ears. Achil. Will shew so in a soldier, So simply and so ridiculously, so tamely Pho. If people would believe thee, it were some honesty; And for thy penitence would not laugh at thee, Pho. Nay, more than that, thy misery, Achil. He begins to hearken. Thy misery so great, men will not bury thee. Pho. Why does this conquering Cæsar Labour through the world's deep seas of toils and troubles, Dangers, and desperate hopes? to repent afterwards? Why does he slaughter thousands in a battle, And whip his country with the sword? to cry for it? Thou killedst great Pompey: He'll kill all his kindred, And justify it; nay, raise up trophies to it. When thou hearest him repent (he is held most holy too), And let it work; then 'twill seem well, Septimius. Sept. He does all this, Achil. Yes, and is honoured for it; Nay, called the honoured Cæsar: So mayst thou be; Thou wert born as near a crown as he, Pho. And desperate bloody tricks got him this credit. Casar. For the young king, I know not Of blasphemy to doubt her: Ugly treason Ant. Let us seize on him then; Dol. If he have power, Use it to your security, and let His honesty acquit him; if he be false, It is too great an honour he should die Cesar. He comes, and I Shall do as I find cause. SCENE II. Enter PHOTINUS, ACHILLAS, SEPTIMIUS, and Soldiers. Pho. There's no retiring now; we are broke in; The deed past hope of pardon. If we prosper, To dare, and power to do, gave the first difference Achil. The deed is bloody, If we conclude in Ptolomy's death. The globe of empire must be so manured. name, Had her walls watered with a crimson shower, Drained from a brother's heart; nor was she raised Eater PTOLOMY, ACHOREUS, and APOLLODORUS. To this prodigious height, that overlooks Ptol. Let not great Cæsar Impute the breach of hospitality To you, my guest, to me! I am contemned, And my rebellious subjects lift their hands Against my head; and 'would they aimed no ther, Provided, that I fell a sacrifice Three full parts of the earth, that pay her tribute, fur-Now I am steeled, to me are empty names, To gain you safety! That this is not feigned, I now had led them on, and given fair gloss them; But I, that yet taste of the punishment In being false to Pompey, will not make A second fault to Cæsar, uncompelled: with With such as have not yet shook off obedience, I vield myself to you, and will take part In all your dangers. Cesar. This pleads your excuse, And I receive it. Achor. If they have any touch Of justice, or religion, I will use The authority of our gods, to call them back From their bad purpose. Apol. This part of the palace Is vet defensible; we may make it good Till your powers rescue us. Casar. Cæsar besieged? Oh, stain to my great actions! 'Twas my custom, To be first in the chase; nor walls, nor bulwarks Pho. Well said, Septimius! Thou now art right again. Achil. But what course take we For the princess Cleopatra? Pho. Let her live A while, to make us sport; she shall authorize As if what we do were by her command: Leave me to work her. Achil. I will undertake For Ptolomy. Sept. Cæsar shall be my task; And as in Pompey I began a name, I'll perfect it in Cæsar! Enter above, CESAR, PTOLOMY, ACHOREUS, Pho. 'Tis resolved then; I have brought them to capitulate. Though Cæsar's name were put into the scale, In which our worth is weighed. Pho. On those, by which Thou didst presume to pass the Rubicon And must descend. Pho. Despair, and think we stand That by thy sword fell in this civil war, Ant. Darest thou speak, and remember Pho. There's no hope to escape us: If that, against the odds we have upon you, Ant. Let us die nobly; Where Cæsar leads; or live, or die, a freeman! SCENE III. Enter SEPTIMIUS. Sept. I feel my resolution melts again, And that I am not knave alone, but fool, In all my purposes. This devil Photinus Employs me as a property, and, grown useless, Will shake me off again: He told me so, When I killed Pompey; nor can I hope better, When Cæsar is dispatched. Services done For such as only study their own ends, Too great to be rewarded, are returned With deadly hate: I learned this principle In his own school. Yet still he fools me; well; And yet he trusts me: Since I in my nature Was fashioned to be false, wherefore should I, That killed my general, and a Roman, one, To whom I owed all nourishments of life, Be true to an Egyptian? To save Cæsar, And turn Photinus' plots on his own head, (As it is in my power) redeem my credit, And live, to lie, and swear again in fashion, Oh, 'twere a master-piece! Ha! curse me! Cæsar? How has he got off? Enter CESAR, PTOLOMY, ANTONY, Dolabella, And shews the city like a second Troy; [Exeunt Pho. Achil. Sept. Make spoil of all: Only Achillas' troops And rather fall upon each other's sword, Make good their guard; break through them, we Than come into these villains' hands. are safe. Cæsar. That fortune, Which to this hour hath been a friend to Cæsar, Though for a while she cloathe her brow with frowns, Will smile again upon me: Who will pay her Her sovereign lord, to end ingloriously I'll lead you like a thunder-bolt! Casar. Who's this? the dog Septimius? Dol. You barked but now; fawn you so soon? What I'll deliver is for Cæsar's safety, Ant. Good from a mouth like thine, Sept. I am an altered man, Altered indeed; and I will give you cause Dol. Rogue, I grant thee. For your escape. Ant. I'll trust the devil sooner, And make a safer bargain. Sept. I am trusted With all Photinus' secrets. passage smooth And with a masculine constancy deride My virtues, not a mistress: Then we forsake Nay, grant they had slaved my body, my free mind, Like to the palm-tree walling fruitful Nile, |