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Antony and Cleopatra

Act I, Scene 4

Rome. OCTAVIUS CAESAR's house.
 
[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, reading a letter, LEPIDUS, and their Train]
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
       ,         ,      ,            ,           ,
      You may | see Le|pidus,| and hence|forth^know,
               ,   ,         ,   2     ,         ,
      It is / not Cae|sar's na|tural vice,| to hate
            ,         ,    2     ,     ,    ,  2
      Our great | compet|itor. from | Alex|andria
        ,             ,         ,         ,            ,
      This is | the news:| he fish|es, drinks,| and wastes
            ,        ,        x        ,    ,   ,   ,
      The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike  ????
            ,   ,      ,        ,          ,
      Than Cleopatra: nor the queen of Ptolemy  ????
            ,     ,         ,    ,    2       ,  2
      More wom|anly | than he.| Hardly gave^|audience
           ,     ,         ,              ,         ,
      Or vouch|safe to | think he | had part|ners. You
              ,         2   ,     ,    2       T    T    .  T        ,   ->
      Shall find | there a man,| who is the | abstracts of all || faults,
              ,         ,
      That | all men | follow.
 
LEPIDUS
                                2      ,      ,
                               I must not | think
             ,     x     ,       ,     ,        ,
      There are, evils enow to darken all his goodness:    ????
             ,         ,      ,             ,           x
      His faults | in him,| seem as | the spots | of heaven,
             x           ,        ,            ,     x
      More fiery | by night's | blackness;| hered|itary,
       ,              ,           ,        ,         ,
      Rather | than purch|ased: what | he can|not change,
             ,         ,
      Than what | he choos|es.  \\
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
       ,         ,      ,                ,       2    ,
      You are | too in|dulgent.| Let's^grant | it is not
         ,        ,   ,    2       ,    2     ,
      Amiss | to tum|ble on the | bed of Pto|lemy,
           ,        ,       ,        ,         ,
      To give | a king|dom for | a mirth,| to sit
            ,          ,        ,          ,        ,
      And keep | the turn | of tip|pling with | a slave,
           ,           ,           ,          ,            x
      To reel | the streets | at noon,| and stand | the buffet
              ,            ,          ,      ,      2     ,
      With knaves | that smell | of sweat:| say this be|comes him
        ,           ,        ,         ,        ,
      (As his | compos|ure must | be rare | indeed,
             ,             ,       ,         ,          ,    2 ->
      Whom these | things^can|not blem|ish) yet | must Ant||ony
       ,      2    ,          ,           ,        ,
      No | way^excuse | his soils,| when we | do bear
           ,        ,              ,          ,         ,
      So great | weight in | his light|ness. If | he filled
           ,     ,         ,       ,    2    ,
      His vac|ancy | with his | volup|tuousness,
        ,   ,                    ,        ,         ,
      Full surf/eits, and | the dry|ness of | his bones,
        ,              x      ,            ,            ,
      Call on | him for it.| but to | confound | such^time,
             ,           ,          ,            ,          ,
      That drums | him from | his sport,| and speaks | as loud
                ,    ,           ,      ,            ,
      As his / own state,| and ours,| 'tis to | be chid:
       .  T   T    T     ,    3  3     ,         ,
      As we rate boys,| who being ma|ture in | knowledge,
        ,       2    ,  2       ,          ,          ,
      Pawn their ex|perience | to their | present | pleasure,
           ,      ,         ,
      And so | rebel | to judg|ment.
 
[Enter a Messenger]
 
LEPIDUS
                                              ,    ,
                                    Here's^/more news.
 
MESSENGER
           ,          ,           ,         ,       ,
      Thy bid|dings have | been^done,| and eve|ry hour,
            ,      ,         ,            ,        ,
      Most nob|le Cae|sar, shalt | thou have | report
            ,       ,      ,             ,         ,
      How 'tis | abroad.| Pompey | is strong | at sea,
           ,       ,      ,          ,          ,
      And it | appears,| he is | beloved | of those
            ,              ,    ,        ,         ,
      That on|ly have / feared Cae|sar: to | the ports
           ,       ,         ,          ,         ,
      The dis|contents | repair,| and men's | reports
        ,          T     T
      Give him | much wronged.
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
                               T         2       ,          ,
                               I | should have known | no less,
           ,            ,          ,         ,        ,
      It hath | been taught | us from | the prim|al state
            ,          ,          ,        ,         ,
      That he | which is | was wished,| until | he were:
         2      ,      ,
      And the ebbed | man,
                                   ,             T    T     T
                          Nere*| loved, till | nere worth love,
               ,         ,        ,           ,       ,    ->
      Comes^feared,| by be|ing lacked.| This com|mon bo||dy,
        ,      2   ,   2      ,      ,           ,
      Like | to a vag|abond^flag | upon | the stream,
            ,         ,      ,   2          ,    2    ,
      Goes^to,| and back,| lackeying | the var|ying tide
          ,        ,          ,       o
      To rot | itself | with mo|tion.
 
MESSENGER
       ,           ,            ,    oo
      Caesar | I bring | thee word,|      (tetra with prev)
       ,    ,    2       ,       ,        ,
      Mene|crates and | Menas | famous | pirates  ??
        ,          ,    ,                        ,          ,
      Makes the | sea serve / them, which^|they ear | and wound
             ,         ,       ,     ,      T   T  T
      With keels | of eve|ry kind.| Many | hot inroads
             ,        ,   ,        ,        ,     ,
      They make | in It|aly,| the bord|ers mar|itime  (hex with prev)
        T    T    .   T       2            ,     ,         ,
      Lack blood to think | on it, and / flush youth | revolt,
          ,              ,    ,           ,         ,
      No ves|sel can / peep forth:| but 'tis | as soon
        x          ,          ,           T     T      T
      Taken as | seen: for | Pompey's | name strikes more
             ,          ,       ,
      Than could | his war | resist|ed.
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
                                        ,    ,
                                       Ant|ony,
        ,             ,   2    ,    ,                  ,
      Leave thy | lasciv|ious was|sails. When | thou once
             ,       ,       ,       ,             ,
      Wast beat|en from | Moden|a, where | thou slewst
       ,  2          ,       ,        ,         ,
      Hirtius,| and Pan|sa cons|uls, at | thy heel
           ,       ,         ,             ,          ,
      Did fam|ine fol|low, whom | thou foughtst | against,
                ,            ,     ,         ,          ,
      (Though daint|ily / brought up)| with pa|tience more
            ,    ,           ,         ,            ,
      Than sav|ages | could suf|fer. Thou | didst drink
            ,         ,        ,          ,        x
      The stale | of hors|es, and | the gild|ed puddle
               ,                x          ,        ,          ,
      Which beasts | would cough at.| Thy pal|ate then | did deign
            ,        ,       ,        ,        ,
      The rough|est ber|ry, on | the rud|est hedge.
       T     T   .    T           ,          ,         ,
      Yea, like the stag,| when snow | the past|ure sheets,
            ,          ,             ,       ,        __
      The barks | of trees | thou browsed.| On the | Alps,
       ,   2    ,         ,           T     T      T
      It is re|ported | thou didst | eat strange flesh,
              ,         ,         ,               ,    ,
      Which some | did die | to look | on: and / all this
             ,            ,       ,        ,         ,
      (It wounds | thine^hon|or that | I speak | it now)
            ,      T   T  .  T          ,          ,
      Was borne | so like a sol|dier, that | thy cheek
           ,          ,      ,
      So much | as lanked | not.
 
LEPIDUS
                                        ,      ,
                                'Tis | pity | of him.
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
       ,         ,      ,
      Let his shames quickly  ????
        ,            ,          ,       ,
      Drive him to Rome, 'tis time we twain  ????
            ,          ,       2      ,          ,         ,
      Did show | ourselves | in the field,| and to | that end
           x      ,     ,  2       ,        ,
      Assemble | we im|mediate | council,| Pompey
         T     T  T      x     2
      Thrives in our | idleness.
 
LEPIDUS
                                      ,        ,
                                  To|morrow | Caesar,
      ,      2       ,          ,      ,          ,
      I shall be | furnished | to in|form you | rightly
             ,        ,          ,       ,         x
      Both^what | by sea | and land | I can | be able
           ,           ,         ,
      To front | this pres|ent time.  \\
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
Till which encounter, it is my business too. Farewell.
 
LEPIDUS
            ,         ,      ,     2          T    T   T
      Farewell | my lord,| what you shall | know meantime
           ,        ,     ,             ,          ,
      Of stirs | abroad,| I shall | beseech | you sir
        2     ,    ,      ,
      To let me | be par|taker.  \\
 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR
        T    T   T        ,        ,         ,
      Doubt not sir,| I knew | it for | my bond.
 
[Exeunt]

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