t see her? [ALEXAS _whispers an Attendant, who goes out._

_Ant._ But to take my leave.

_Vent._ Then I have washed an AEthiop. You're undone;
You're in the toils; you're taken; you're destroyed:
Her eyes do Caesar's work.

_Ant._ You fear too soon.
I'm constant to myself: I know my strength;
And yet she shall not think me barbarous neither,
Born in the depths of Afric: I'm a Roman,
Bred to the rules of soft humanity.
A guest, and kindly used, should bid farewell.

_Vent._ You do not know
How weak you are to her, how much an infant;
You are not proof against a smile, or glance;
A sigh will quite disarm you.

_Ant._ See, she comes!
Now you shall find your error.--Gods, I thank you:
I formed the danger greater than it was,
And now 'tis near, 'tis lessened.

_Vent._ Mark the end yet.

_Enter_ CLEOPATRA, CHARMION, _and_ IRAS.

_Ant._ Well, madam, we are met.

_Cleo._ Is this a meeting?
Then, we must part?

_Ant._ We must.

_Cleo._ Who says we must?

_Ant._ Our own hard fates.

_Cleo._ We make those fates ourselves.

_Ant._ Yes, we have made them; we have loved each other
In our mutual ruin.

_Cleo._ The gods have seen my joys with envious eyes;
I have no friends in heaven; and all the world,
As 'twere the business of mankind to part us,
Is armed against my love: even you yourself
Join with the rest; you, you are armed against me.

_Ant._ I will be justified in all I do
To late posterity, and therefore hear me.
If I mix a lie
With any truth, reproach me freely with it;
Else, favour me with silence.

_Cleo._ You command me,
And I am dumb.

_Vent._ I like this well: he shews authority.

_Ant._ That I derive my ruin
From you alone--

_Cleo._ O heavens! I ruin you!

_Ant._ You promised me your silence, and you break it
Ere I have scarce begun.

_Cleo._ Well, I obey you.

_Ant._ When I beheld you first, it was in Egypt.
Ere Caesar saw your eyes, you gave me love,
And were too young to know it; that I settled
Your father in his throne, was for your sake;
I left the acknowledgment for time to ripen.
Caesar stept in, and, with a greedy hand,
Plucked the green fruit, ere the first blush of red,
Yet cleaving to the bough. He was my lord,
And was, beside, too great for me to rival;
But, I deserved you first, though he enjoyed you.
When, after, I beheld you in Cilicia,
An enemy to Rome, I pardoned you.

_Cleo._ I cleared myself--

_Ant._ Again you break your promise.
I loved you sti