Flourish. Enter Pompey ⌜and⌝ Menas at one door,
with Drum and Trumpet; at another Caesar, Lepidus,
Antony, Enobarbus, Maecenas, ⌜and⌝ Agrippa,
with Soldiers marching.POMPEY Your hostages I have, so have you mine, And we shall talk before we fight.
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CAESAR Most meet That first we come to words, and therefore have we5 Our written purposes before us sent, Which if thou hast considered, let us know If ’twill tie up thy discontented sword And carry back to Sicily much tall youth That else must perish here.POMPEY 10 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,15 Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted, There saw you laboring for him. What was ’t That moved pale Cassius to conspire? And what Made ⌜the⌝ all-honored, honest, Roman Brutus, With the armed rest, courtiers of beauteous20 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 burden The angered ocean foams, with which I meant25 To scourge th’ ingratitude that despiteful Rome Cast on my noble father.CAESAR Take your time.ANTONY Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy sails. We’ll speak with thee at sea. At land thou know’st30 How much we do o’ercount thee.POMPEY At land indeed Thou dost o’ercount me of my father’s house; But since the cuckoo builds not for himself, Remain in ’t as thou mayst.LEPIDUS 35 Be pleased to tell us— For this is from the present—how you take The offers we have sent you.
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CAESAR There’s the point.ANTONY Which do not be entreated to, but weigh40 What it is worth embraced.CAESAR And what may follow To try a larger fortune.POMPEY You have made me offer Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must45 Rid all the sea of pirates; then to send Measures of wheat to Rome. This ’greed upon, To part with unhacked edges and bear back Our targes undinted.ALL That’s our offer.POMPEY 50 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 know55 When Caesar and your brother were at blows, Your mother came to Sicily and did find Her welcome friendly.ANTONY I have heard it, Pompey, And am well studied for a liberal thanks,60 Which I do owe you.POMPEY Let me have your hand.⌜They clasp hands.⌝ I did not think, sir, to have met you here.ANTONY The beds i’ th’ East are soft; and thanks to you, That called me timelier than my purpose hither,65 For I have gained by ’t.CAESAR, ⌜to Pompey⌝ Since I saw you last, There’s a change upon you.POMPEY Well, I know not What counts harsh Fortune casts upon my face,
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70 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 written75 And sealed between us.CAESAR That’s the next to do.POMPEY We’ll feast each other ere we part, and let’s Draw lots who shall begin.ANTONY That will I, Pompey.POMPEY 80 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.ANTONY You have heard much.POMPEY 85I have fair ⌜meanings,⌝ sir.ANTONY And fair words to them.POMPEY Then so much have I heard. And I have heard Apollodorus carried—ENOBARBUS No more ⌜of⌝ that. He did so.POMPEY 90 What, I pray you?ENOBARBUS A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.POMPEY I know thee now. How far’st thou, soldier?ENOBARBUS Well, And well am like to do, for I perceive95 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.
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ENOBARBUS Sir,100 I never loved you much, but I ha’ praised you When you have well deserved ten times as much As I have said you did.POMPEY Enjoy thy plainness; It nothing ill becomes thee.—105 Aboard my galley I invite you all. Will you lead, lords?ALL Show ’s the way, sir.POMPEY Come.They exit, except for Enobarbus and Menas.MENAS, ⌜aside⌝ Thy father, Pompey, would ne’er have110 made this treaty.—You and I have known, sir.ENOBARBUS At sea, I think.MENAS We have, sir.ENOBARBUS You have done well by water.MENAS And you by land.ENOBARBUS 115I 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.ENOBARBUS Yes, something you can deny for your own120 safety: you have been a great thief by sea.MENAS And you by land.ENOBARBUS There I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas. ⌜They clasp hands.⌝ If our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves125 kissing.MENAS All men’s faces are true, whatsome’er their hands are.ENOBARBUS But there is never a fair woman has a true face.MENAS 130No slander. They steal hearts.ENOBARBUS We came hither to fight with you.MENAS For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a
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drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.ENOBARBUS 135If 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?ENOBARBUS Caesar’s sister is called Octavia.MENAS 140True, sir. She was the wife of Caius Marcellus.ENOBARBUS But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.MENAS Pray you, sir?ENOBARBUS ’Tis true.MENAS 145Then is Caesar and he forever knit together.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.ENOBARBUS 150I 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?ENOBARBUS 155Not 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 immediate160 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.ENOBARBUS I shall take it, sir. We have used our throats165 in Egypt.MENAS Come, let’s away.They exit.