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Original Text |
Modern Text |
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Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR , reading a letter, LEPIDUS , and their train
|
Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR , reading a letter, LEPIDUS , and their train
|
|
CAESAR You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar’s natural vice to hate
Our great competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there
A man who is th’ abstract of all faults
10 That all men follow.
|
CAESAR You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar’s natural vice to hate
Our great competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there
A man who is th’ abstract of all faults
That all men follow.
|
|
LEPIDUS I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness.
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night’s blackness, hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot change
15 Than what he chooses.
|
LEPIDUS I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness.
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night’s blackness, hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot change
Than what he chooses.
|
|
CAESAR You are too indulgent. Let’s grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,
To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave,
With knaves that smell of sweat. Say this becomes him—
As his composure must be rare indeed
Whom these things cannot blemish—yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils when we do bear
25 So great weight in his lightness. If he filled
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
Call on him for ’t. But to confound such time
That drums him from his sport and speaks as loud
30 As his own state and ours, ’tis to be chid
As we rate boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure
And so rebel to judgment.
|
CAESAR You are too indulgent. Let’s grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,
To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave,
With knaves that smell of sweat. Say this becomes him—
As his composure must be rare indeed
Whom these things cannot blemish—yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. If he filled
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
Call on him for ’t. But to confound such time
That drums him from his sport and speaks as loud
As his own state and ours, ’tis to be chid
As we rate boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure
And so rebel to judgment.
|
|
Enter FIRST MESSENGER
|
Enter FIRST MESSENGER
|
|
LEPIDUS Here’s more news.
|
LEPIDUS Here’s more news.
|
|
FIRST MESSENGER Thy biddings have been done, and every hour,
35 Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report
How ’tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea,
And it appears he is beloved of those
That only have feared Caesar. To the ports
The discontents repair, and men’s reports
40 Give him much wronged.
|
FIRST MESSENGER Thy biddings have been done, and every hour,
Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report
How ’tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea,
And it appears he is beloved of those
That only have feared Caesar. To the ports
The discontents repair, and men’s reports
Give him much wronged.
|
|
CAESAR I should have known no less.
It hath been taught us from the primal state
That he which is was wished until he were,
And the ebbed man, ne’er loved till ne’er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
45 Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide
To rot itself with motion.
|
CAESAR I should have known no less.
It hath been taught us from the primal state
That he which is was wished until he were,
And the ebbed man, ne’er loved till ne’er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide
To rot itself with motion.
|
|
Enter SECOND MESSENGER
|
Enter SECOND MESSENGER
|
|
SECOND MESSENGER Caesar, I bring thee word
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
With keels of every kind. Many hot inroads
They make in Italy—the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on ’t—and flush youth revolt.
No vessel can peep forth, but ’tis as soon
55 Taken as seen, for Pompey’s name strikes more
Than could his war resisted.
|
SECOND MESSENGER Caesar, I bring thee word
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
With keels of every kind. Many hot inroads
They make in Italy—the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on ’t—and flush youth revolt.
No vessel can peep forth, but ’tis as soon
Taken as seen, for Pompey’s name strikes more
Than could his war resisted.
|
|
CAESAR Antony,
Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew’st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer. Thou didst drink
The stale of horses and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at. Thy palate then did deign
65 The roughest berry on the rudest hedge.
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsèd. On the Alps
It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on. And all this—
70 It wounds thine honor that I speak it now—
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lanked not.
|
CAESAR Antony,
Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew’st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer. Thou didst drink
The stale of horses and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at. Thy palate then did deign
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge.
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsèd. On the Alps
It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on. And all this—
It wounds thine honor that I speak it now—
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lanked not.
|
|
LEPIDUS ’Tis pity of him.
|
LEPIDUS ’Tis pity of him.
|
|
CAESAR Let his shames quickly
75 Drive him to Rome. ’Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i’ th’ field, and to that end
Assemble we immediate council. Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.
|
CAESAR Let his shames quickly
Drive him to Rome. ’Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i’ th’ field, and to that end
Assemble we immediate council. Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.
|
| Exit | Exit |
|
LEPIDUS Tomorrow, Caesar,
I shall be furnished to inform you rightly
80 Both what by sea and land I can be able
To front this present time.
|
LEPIDUS Tomorrow, Caesar,
I shall be furnished to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able
To front this present time.
|
|
CAESAR Till which encounter
It is my business too. Farewell.
|
CAESAR Till which encounter
It is my business too. Farewell.
|
|
LEPIDUS Farewell, my lord. What you shall know meantime
Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,
85 To let me be partaker.
|
LEPIDUS Farewell, my lord. What you shall know meantime
Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,
To let me be partaker.
|
|
CAESAR Doubt not, sir. I knew it for my bond.
|
CAESAR Doubt not, sir. I knew it for my bond.
|
| Exeunt | Exeunt |
Original Text |
Modern Text |
|
Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR , reading a letter, LEPIDUS , and their train
|
Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR , reading a letter, LEPIDUS , and their train
|
|
CAESAR You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar’s natural vice to hate
Our great competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there
A man who is th’ abstract of all faults
10 That all men follow.
|
CAESAR You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar’s natural vice to hate
Our great competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there
A man who is th’ abstract of all faults
That all men follow.
|
|
LEPIDUS I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness.
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night’s blackness, hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot change
15 Than what he chooses.
|
LEPIDUS I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness.
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night’s blackness, hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot change
Than what he chooses.
|
|
CAESAR You are too indulgent. Let’s grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,
To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave,
With knaves that smell of sweat. Say this becomes him—
As his composure must be rare indeed
Whom these things cannot blemish—yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils when we do bear
25 So great weight in his lightness. If he filled
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
Call on him for ’t. But to confound such time
That drums him from his sport and speaks as loud
30 As his own state and ours, ’tis to be chid
As we rate boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure
And so rebel to judgment.
|
CAESAR You are too indulgent. Let’s grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,
To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave,
With knaves that smell of sweat. Say this becomes him—
As his composure must be rare indeed
Whom these things cannot blemish—yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. If he filled
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
Call on him for ’t. But to confound such time
That drums him from his sport and speaks as loud
As his own state and ours, ’tis to be chid
As we rate boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure
And so rebel to judgment.
|
|
Enter FIRST MESSENGER
|
Enter FIRST MESSENGER
|
|
LEPIDUS Here’s more news.
|
LEPIDUS Here’s more news.
|
|
FIRST MESSENGER Thy biddings have been done, and every hour,
35 Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report
How ’tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea,
And it appears he is beloved of those
That only have feared Caesar. To the ports
The discontents repair, and men’s reports
40 Give him much wronged.
|
FIRST MESSENGER Thy biddings have been done, and every hour,
Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report
How ’tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea,
And it appears he is beloved of those
That only have feared Caesar. To the ports
The discontents repair, and men’s reports
Give him much wronged.
|
|
CAESAR I should have known no less.
It hath been taught us from the primal state
That he which is was wished until he were,
And the ebbed man, ne’er loved till ne’er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
45 Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide
To rot itself with motion.
|
CAESAR I should have known no less.
It hath been taught us from the primal state
That he which is was wished until he were,
And the ebbed man, ne’er loved till ne’er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide
To rot itself with motion.
|
|
Enter SECOND MESSENGER
|
Enter SECOND MESSENGER
|
|
SECOND MESSENGER Caesar, I bring thee word
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
With keels of every kind. Many hot inroads
They make in Italy—the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on ’t—and flush youth revolt.
No vessel can peep forth, but ’tis as soon
55 Taken as seen, for Pompey’s name strikes more
Than could his war resisted.
|
SECOND MESSENGER Caesar, I bring thee word
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
With keels of every kind. Many hot inroads
They make in Italy—the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on ’t—and flush youth revolt.
No vessel can peep forth, but ’tis as soon
Taken as seen, for Pompey’s name strikes more
Than could his war resisted.
|
|
CAESAR Antony,
Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew’st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer. Thou didst drink
The stale of horses and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at. Thy palate then did deign
65 The roughest berry on the rudest hedge.
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsèd. On the Alps
It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on. And all this—
70 It wounds thine honor that I speak it now—
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lanked not.
|
CAESAR Antony,
Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew’st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer. Thou didst drink
The stale of horses and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at. Thy palate then did deign
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge.
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsèd. On the Alps
It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on. And all this—
It wounds thine honor that I speak it now—
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lanked not.
|
|
LEPIDUS ’Tis pity of him.
|
LEPIDUS ’Tis pity of him.
|
|
CAESAR Let his shames quickly
75 Drive him to Rome. ’Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i’ th’ field, and to that end
Assemble we immediate council. Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.
|
CAESAR Let his shames quickly
Drive him to Rome. ’Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i’ th’ field, and to that end
Assemble we immediate council. Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.
|
| Exit | Exit |
|
LEPIDUS Tomorrow, Caesar,
I shall be furnished to inform you rightly
80 Both what by sea and land I can be able
To front this present time.
|
LEPIDUS Tomorrow, Caesar,
I shall be furnished to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able
To front this present time.
|
|
CAESAR Till which encounter
It is my business too. Farewell.
|
CAESAR Till which encounter
It is my business too. Farewell.
|
|
LEPIDUS Farewell, my lord. What you shall know meantime
Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,
85 To let me be partaker.
|
LEPIDUS Farewell, my lord. What you shall know meantime
Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,
To let me be partaker.
|
|
CAESAR Doubt not, sir. I knew it for my bond.
|
CAESAR Doubt not, sir. I knew it for my bond.
|
| Exeunt | Exeunt |
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