Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/19

Antony and Cleopatra, I. ii

Char. Not he; the queen.

Cleo. Saw you my Lord?

Eno. No, Lady.

Cleo. Was he not here? Char. No, madam.

Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sudden

A Roman thought hath struck him. Enobarbus!

Eno. Madam!

Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither. Where's Alexas?

Alex. Here, at your service. My Lord approaches.

Cleo. We will not look upon him; go with us.

Exeunt [''Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Alexas, Iras, Charmian, Soothsayer, and Attendants''].

Mess. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field.

Ant. Against my brother Lucius?

Mess. Ay:

But soon that war had end, and the time's state

Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst Cæsar,

Whose better issue in the war, from Italy

Upon the first encounter drave them.

Ant. Well, what worst?

Mess. The nature of bad news infects the teller.

Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward. On;

Things that are past are done with me. 'Tis thus:

Who tells me true, though in his tale lay death,

I hear him as he flatter'd.

Mess. Labienus—

This is stiff news—hath, with his Parthian force

Extended Asia; from Euphrates

His conquering banner shook from Syria

 101 issue: fortune

107 as: as if

Labienus; cf. n.

