Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra - Pompey meets with Menas and Menecrates

Antony and Cleopatra

Please see the bottom of this page for explanatory notes and resources.

ACT II SCENE I	Messina. Pompey's house.
[ Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS, in warlike manner ]
POMPEY	If the great gods be just, they shall assist
	The deeds of justest men.
MENECRATES	Know, worthy Pompey,
	That what they do delay, they not deny.
POMPEY	Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays	5
	The thing we sue for.
MENECRATES	We, ignorant of ourselves,
	Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
	Deny us for our good; so find we profit
	By losing of our prayers.	10
POMPEY	I shall do well:
	The people love me, and the sea is mine;
	My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope
	Says it will come to the full. Mark Antony
	In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make	15
	No wars without doors: Caesar gets money where
	He loses hearts: Lepidus flatters both,
	Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves,
	Nor either cares for him.
MENAS	Caesar and Lepidus	20
	Are in the field: a mighty strength they carry.
POMPEY	Where have you this? 'tis false.
MENAS	From Silvius, sir.
POMPEY	He dreams: I know they are in Rome together,
	Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,	25
	Salt Cleopatra, soften thy waned lip!
	Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both!
	Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
	Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks
	Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite;	30
	That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour
	Even till a Lethe'd dulness!
[Enter VARRIUS]
	How now, Varrius!
VARRIUS	This is most certain that I shall deliver:
	Mark Antony is every hour in Rome	35
	Expected: since he went from Egypt 'tis
	A space for further travel.
POMPEY	I could have given less matter
	A better ear. Menas, I did not think
	This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm	40
	For such a petty war: his soldiership
	Is twice the other twain: but let us rear
	The higher our opinion, that our stirring
	Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck
	The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony.	45
MENAS	I cannot hope
	Caesar and Antony shall well greet together:
	His wife that's dead did trespasses to Caesar;
	His brother warr'd upon him; although, I think,
	Not moved by Antony.	50
POMPEY	I know not, Menas,
	How lesser enmities may give way to greater.
	Were't not that we stand up against them all,
	'Twere pregnant they should square between
	themselves;	55
	For they have entertained cause enough
	To draw their swords: but how the fear of us
	May cement their divisions and bind up
	The petty difference, we yet not know.
	Be't as our gods will have't! It only stands	60
	Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.
	Come, Menas.
[Exeunt]

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 2
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Explanatory Notes for Act 2, Scene 1
From Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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1. Shall. Will, can not but assist.

4. Not deny. Do not necessarily deny.

5. Whiles. While; that is, while we are praying, the thing for which we are praying is losing in value through delay.

8. Harms. For things that would harm us.

10. Of. We should say by "the losing of."

13. Crescent. Waxing greater.

13. Auguring. Prophetic.

22. Have. Where did you learn this?

26. Salt. Wanton.

26. Waned. Faded in beauty.

29. Epicurean. Accented on the antipenult. Epicurus was a philosopher who taught that the pursuit of pleasure was the highest good in life. He meant, however, mental rather than physical pleasures.

30. Cloyless. That is, not cloying; that sharpen rather than satisfy the appetite.

31. Prorogue. Keep his honor languishing, prevent it from asserting itself.

32. Lethe'd. Lethe was a river of Hades whose waters brought forgetfulness to everyone who drank of them.

37. Space. It is time enough even for a longer journey than that from Egypt to Rome.

40. Helm. Helmet.

44. Widow. Young Ptolemy, to whom Caesar had married Cleopatra, had been drowned.

46. Hope. Expect.

47. Well greet. Greet on good terms.

48. Trespasses. Committed offenses.

54. Pregnant. Likely, probable.

54. Square. Quarrel.

59. Yet not. Do not yet.

61. Our lives upon. It is necessary if we value our lives.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company, 1908. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/antony_2_1.html >.

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