On board POMPEY'S galley, off Misenum
       Music plays. Enter two or three SERVANTS with a banquet
       FIRST SERVANT
       Here they'll be, man. Some o' their plants are
       ill-rooted already; the least wind i' th' world will blow them
       down.
       SECOND SERVANT
       Lepidus is high-colour'd.
       FIRST SERVANT
       They have made him drink alms-drink.
       SECOND SERVANT
       As they pinch one another by the disposition, he
       cries out 'No more!'; reconciles them to his entreaty and himself
       to th' drink.
       FIRST SERVANT
       But it raises the greater war between him and his
       discretion.
       SECOND SERVANT
       Why, this it is to have a name in great men's
       fellowship. I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service
       as a partizan I could not heave.
       FIRST SERVANT
       To be call'd 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.
       A sennet sounded. Enter CAESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS,
       POMPEY, AGRIPPA, MAECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS,
       with other CAPTAINS
       ANTONY
       [To CAESAR] Thus do they, sir: they take the flow o' th'
       Nile
       By certain scales i' th' pyramid; they know
       By th' 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.
       LEPIDUS
       Y'have strange serpents there.
       ANTONY
       Ay, Lepidus.
       LEPIDUS
       Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the
       operation of your sun; so is your crocodile.
       ANTONY
       They are so.
       POMPEY
       Sit- and some wine! A health to Lepidus!
       LEPIDUS
       I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out.
       ENOBARBUS
       Not till you have slept. I fear me you'll be in till
       then.
       LEPIDUS
       Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are
       very goodly things. Without contradiction I have heard that.
       MENAS
       [Aside to POMPEY] Pompey, a word.
       POMPEY
       [Aside to MENAS] Say in mine ear; what is't?
       MENAS
       [Aside to POMPEY] Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee,
       Captain,
       And hear me speak a word.
       POMPEY
       [ Whispers in's ear ] Forbear me till anon-
       This wine for Lepidus!
       LEPIDUS
       What manner o' thing is your crocodile?
       ANTONY
       It is shap'd, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it
       hath breadth; it is just so high as it is, and moves with it own
       organs. It lives by that which nourisheth it, and the elements
       once out of it, it transmigrates.
       LEPIDUS
       What colour is it of?
       ANTONY
       Of its own colour too.
       LEPIDUS
       'Tis a strange serpent.
       ANTONY
       'Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.
       CAESAR
       Will this description satisfy him?
       ANTONY
       With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very
       epicure.
       POMPEY
       [Aside to MENAS] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that!
       Away!
       Do as I bid you.- Where's this cup I call'd for?
       MENAS
       [Aside to POMPEY] If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear
       me,
       Rise from thy stool.
       POMPEY
       [Aside to MENAS] I think th'art mad. [Rises and walks
       aside] The matter?
       MENAS
       I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes.
       POMPEY
       Thou hast serv'd me with much faith. What's else to say?-
       Be jolly, lords.
       ANTONY
       These quicksands, Lepidus,
       Keep off them, for you sink.
       MENAS
       Wilt thou be lord of all the world?
       POMPEY
       What say'st thou?
       MENAS
       Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That's twice.
       POMPEY
       How should that be?
       MENAS
       But entertain it,
       And though you think me poor, I am the man
       Will give thee all the world.
       POMPEY
       Hast thou drunk well?
       MENAS
       No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup.
       Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove;
       Whate'er the ocean pales or sky inclips
       Is thine, if thou wilt ha't.
       POMPEY
       Show me which way.
       MENAS
       These three world-sharers, these competitors,
       Are in thy vessel. Let me cut the cable;
       And when we are put off, fall to their throats.
       All there is thine.
       POMPEY
       Ah, this thou shouldst have done,
       And not have spoke on't. In me 'tis villainy:
       In thee't had been good service. Thou must know
       'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour:
       Mine honour, it. Repent that e'er thy tongue
       Hath so betray'd thine act. Being done unknown,
       I should have found it afterwards well done,
       But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink.
       MENAS
       [Aside] For this,
       I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.
       Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd,
       Shall never find it more.
       POMPEY
       This health to Lepidus!
       ANTONY
       Bear him ashore. I'll pledge it for him, Pompey.
       ENOBARBUS
       Here's to thee, Menas!
       MENAS
       Enobarbus, welcome!
       POMPEY
       Fill till the cup be hid.
       ENOBARBUS
       There's a strong fellow, Menas.
       [Pointing to the servant who carries off LEPIDUS]
       MENAS
       Why?
       ENOBARBUS
       'A bears the third part of the world, man; see'st not?
       MENAS
       The third part, then, is drunk. Would it were all,
       That it might go on wheels!
       ENOBARBUS
       Drink thou; increase the reels.
       MENAS
       Come.
       POMPEY
       This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.
       ANTONY
       It ripens towards it. Strike the vessels, ho!
       Here's to Caesar!
       CAESAR
       I could well forbear't.
       It's monstrous labour when I wash my brain
       And it grows fouler.
       ANTONY
       Be a child o' th' time.
       CAESAR
       Possess it, I'll make answer.
       But I had rather fast from all four days
       Than drink so much in one.
       ENOBARBUS
       [To ANTONY] Ha, my brave emperor!
       Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals
       And celebrate our drink?
       POMPEY
       Let's ha't, good soldier.
       ANTONY
       Come, let's all take hands,
       Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense
       In soft and delicate Lethe.
       ENOBARBUS
       All take hands.
       Make battery to our ears with the loud music,
       The while I'll place you; then the boy shall sing;
       The holding every man shall bear as loud
       As his strong sides can volley.
       [Music plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand in hand]
       

THE SONG
       Come, thou monarch of the vine,
       Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne!
       In thy fats our cares be drown'd,
       With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd.
       Cup us till the world go round,
       Cup us till the world go round!
       CAESAR
       What would you more? Pompey, good night. Good brother,
       Let me request you off; our graver business
       Frowns at this levity. Gentle lords, let's part;
       You see we have burnt our cheeks. Strong Enobarb
       Is weaker than the wine, and mine own tongue
       Splits what it speaks. The wild disguise hath almost
       Antick'd us all. What needs more words? Good night.
       Good Antony, your hand.
       POMPEY
       I'll try you on the shore.
       ANTONY
       And shall, sir. Give's your hand.
       POMPEY
       O Antony,
       You have my father's house- but what? We are friends.
       Come, down into the boat.
       ENOBARBUS
       Take heed you fall not.
       Exeunt all but ENOBARBUS and MENAS
       Menas, I'll not on shore.
       MENAS
       No, to my cabin.
       These drums! these trumpets, flutes! what!
       Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell
       To these great fellows. Sound and be hang'd, sound out!
       [Sound a flourish, with drums]
       ENOBARBUS
       Hoo! says 'a. There's my cap.
       MENAS
       Hoo! Noble Captain, come.
       Exeunt