Achil. Thou shalt command in chief all our strong forces;

And cry for doing daily bloody murders, Take thou example, and go ask forgiveness;

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.
To go complaining thus, and thus repenting,
Like a poor girl that had betrayed her maiden-
head-

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,
(As sure they will) and beat thee, for thy poverty;
If they'd allow thy foolery, there were some hope.
Sept. My foolery?

Pho. Nay, more than that, thy misery,
Thy monstrous misery.

Achil. He begins to hearken.

Thy misery so great, men will not bury thee.
Sept. That this were true!

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,
Sept. He was poor.

Pho. And desperate bloody tricks got him this

credit.

Casar. For the young king, I know not
How he may be misled; but for his sister,
Unequalled Cleopatra, 'twere a kind

Of blasphemy to doubt her: Ugly treason
Durst never dwell in such a glorious building;
Nor can so clear and great a spirit as hers is
Adinit of falsehood.

Ant. Let us seize on him then;
And leave her to her fortune.

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
By your victorious hand.

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,
Twill be stiled lawful, and we shall give laws
To those, that now command us: Stop not at
Or loyalty, or duty; bold ambition

To dare, and power to do, gave the first difference
Between the king and subject. Cæsar's motto,
Aut Cesar aut nikil, each of us must claim,
And use it as our own.

Achil. The deed is bloody,

If we conclude in Ptolomy's death.
Pho. The better;

The globe of empire must be so manured.
Sept. Rome, that from Romulus first took her

name,

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

To gain you safety! That this is not feigned,
The boldness of my innocence may confirm you:
Had I been privy to their bloody plot,

I now had led them on, and given fair gloss
To their bad cause, by being present

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,
An army routed, as my feet had wings,

To be first in the chase; nor walls, nor bulwarks
Could guard those, that escaped the battle's fury,
From this strong arm; and I to be enclosed!
My heart! my heart! But 'tis necessity,
To which the gods must yield, and I obey,
'Till I redeem it by some glorious way. [Ercunt.

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
Our undertakings to the ignorant people,

As if what we do were by her command:
But, our triumvirate government once confirmed,
She bears her brother company: That's my pro-
vince;

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,
APOLLODORUS, ANTONY, and DOLABELLA.

Pho. 'Tis resolved then;
We'll force our passage.
Achil. See, they do appear,
As they desired a parley.
Pho. I am proud yet

I have brought them to capitulate.
Ptol. Now, Photinus?
Pho. Now, Ptolomy?
Ptol. No addition?
Pho. We are equal,

Though Cæsar's name were put into the scale,

In which our worth is weighed.
Casar. Presumptuous villain !
Upon what grounds hast thou presumed to raise
Thy servile hand against the king? or me,
That have a greater name?

Pho. On those, by which

Thou didst presume to pass the Rubicon
Against the laws of Rome; and, at the name
Of traitor, smile, as thou didst, when Marcellus,
The consul, with the senate's full consent,
Pronounced thee for an enemy to thy country:
Yet thou went'st on, and thy rebellious cause
Was crowned with fair success. Why should we
fear, then?

And must descend.

Pho. Despair, and think we stand
The champions of Rome, to wreak her wrongs,
Upon whose liberty thou hast set thy foot.
Sept. And that the ghosts of all those noble
Romans,

That by thy sword fell in this civil war,
Expect revenge.

Ant. Darest thou speak, and remember
There was a Pompey?

Pho. There's no hope to escape us:

If that, against the odds we have upon you,
You dare come forth and fight, receive the honour
To die like Romans; if ye faint, resolve
To starve like wretches! I disdain to change
Another syllable with you.

Ant. Let us die nobly;

Where Cæsar leads; or live, or die, a freeman!
If not, stay here a bondman to thy slave,
And, dead, be thought unworthy of a grave!
Exeunt.

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,
ACHOREUS, APOLLODORUS, and soldiers.
Casar. The fire has took,

And shews the city like a second Troy;
The navy too is scorched; the people greedy
To save their wealth and houses, while their
soldiers

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
Or sacrifice, or vows, if she forsake
Her best of works in me? or suffer him,
Whom with a strong hand she hath led triumphant
Through the whole western world, and Rome ac-
knowledged

Her sovereign lord, to end ingloriously
A life admired by all? The threatened danger
Must, by a way more horrid, be avoided,
And I will run the hazard. Fire the palace,
And the rich magazines, that neighbour it,
In which the wealth of Egypt is contained!
Start not; it shall be so; that while the people
Labour in quenching the ensuing flames,
Like Cæsar, with this handful of my friends,
Through fire, and swords, I force a passage to
My conquering legions. King, if thou darest, fol-
low,

I'll lead you like a thunder-bolt!
Sept. Stay, Cæsar.

Casar. Who's this? the dog Septimius?
Ant. Cut his throat.

Dol. You barked but now; fawn you so soon?
Sept. Oh, hear me !

What I'll deliver is for Cæsar's safety,
For all your good.

Ant. Good from a mouth like thine,
That never belched but blasphemy and treason,
On festival days!

Sept. I am an altered man,

Altered indeed; and I will give you cause
To say I am a Roman.

Dol. Rogue, I grant thee.
Sept. Trust me, I'll make the
and easy,

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
Fortune's worst malice, as a servant to

My virtues, not a mistress: Then we forsake
The strong fort of ourselves, when we once yield,
Or shrink at her assaults; I am still myself,
And though disrobed of sovereignty, and ravished
Of ceremonious duty, that attends it;

Nay, grant they had slaved my body, my free mind,

Like to the palm-tree walling fruitful Nile,
Shall grow up straighter, and enlarge itself,
Spite of the envious weight, that loads it with.
Think of thy birth, Arsinoe; 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.