Act IIIScene II
Rome. An Ante-chamber in Caesar’s house
Enter Agrippa at one door, Enobarbus at another.
Agrippa
What, are the brothers parted?
Enobarbus
They have dispatched with Pompey; he is gone.The other three are sealing. Octavia weepsTo part from Rome. Caesar is sad, and Lepidus,Since Pompey’s feast, as Menas says, is troubledWith the greensickness.
Agrippa
’Tis a noble Lepidus.
Enobarbus
A very fine one. O, how he loves Caesar!
Agrippa
Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!
Enobarbus
Caesar? Why he’s the Jupiter of men.
Agrippa
What’s Antony? The god of Jupiter.
Enobarbus
Spake you of Caesar? How, the nonpareil!
Agrippa
O, Antony! O thou Arabian bird!
Enobarbus
Would you praise Caesar, say “Caesar”. Go no further.
Agrippa
Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.
Enobarbus
But he loves Caesar best, yet he loves Antony.Hoo! Hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannotThink, speak, cast, write, sing, number—hoo!—His love to Antony. But as for Caesar,Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.
Agrippa
Both he loves.
Enobarbus
They are his shards, and he their beetle.
Trumpets within.
So,This is to horse. Adieu, noble Agrippa.
Agrippa
Good fortune, worthy soldier, and farewell.
Enter Caesar, Antony, Lepidus and Octavia.
Antony
No further, sir.
Caesar
You take from me a great part of myself.Use me well in’t. Sister, prove such a wifeAs my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest bondShall pass on thy approof. Most noble Antony,Let not the piece of virtue which is setBetwixt us, as the cement of our loveTo keep it builded, be the ram to batterThe fortress of it. For better might weHave loved without this mean, if on both partsThis be not cherished.
Antony
Make me not offendedIn your distrust.
Caesar
I have said.
Antony
You shall not find,Though you be therein curious, the least causeFor what you seem to fear. So the gods keep you,And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends.We will here part.
Caesar
Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well.The elements be kind to thee, and makeThy spirits all of comfort! Fare thee well.
Octavia
My noble brother!
Antony
The April’s in her eyes. It is love’s spring,And these the showers to bring it on.—Be cheerful.
Octavia
Sir, look well to my husband’s house, and—
Caesar
What, Octavia?
Octavia
I’ll tell you in your ear.
Antony
Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor canHer heart inform her tongue—the swan’s-down feather,That stands upon the swell at the full of tide,And neither way inclines.
Enobarbus
Aside to Agrippa.
Will Caesar weep?
Agrippa
Aside to Enobarbus.
He has a cloud in ’s face.
Enobarbus
Aside to Agrippa.
He were the worse for that were he a horse;So is he, being a man.
Agrippa
Aside to Enobarbus.
Why, Enobarbus,When Antony found Julius Caesar dead,He cried almost to roaring, and he weptWhen at Philippi he found Brutus slain.
Enobarbus
Aside to Agrippa.
That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum;What willingly he did confound he wailed,Believe ’t, till I weep too.
Caesar
No, sweet Octavia,You shall hear from me still. The time shall notOutgo my thinking on you.
Antony
Come, sir, come,I’ll wrestle with you in my strength of love.Look, here I have you, thus I let you go,And give you to the gods.
Caesar
Adieu, be happy!
Lepidus
Let all the number of the stars give lightTo thy fair way!
Caesar
Farewell, farewell!
Kisses Octavia.
Antony
Farewell!
Trumpets sound. Exeunt.