Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/61

Antony and Cleopatra, II. vii

First Serv. To be called into a huge sphere,

and not to be seen to move in 't are the holes

where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster

the cheeks.

Ant. Thus do they, sir. They take the flow o' the Nile

By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know

By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth

Or foison follow. The higher Nilus swells

The more it promises; as it ebbs, the seedsman

Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,

And shortly comes to harvest.

Lep. You've strange serpents there.

Ant. Ay, Lepidus.

Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of

your mud by the operation of your sun; so is

your crocodile.

Ant. They are so.

Pom. Sit,—and some wine! A health to

Lepidus!

Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll

ne'er out.

Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me you'll

be in till then.

Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptole-

mies' pyramises are very goodly things; without

contradiction, I have heard that.

Men. Pompey, a word.

 16–19 To be called cheeks; cf. n.

19 S. d. sennet: set of notes played on a trumpet.

22, 23 dearth Or foison: scarcity or plenty

