she was saying, but death rushed betwixt.
She half pronounced your name with her last breath,
And buried half within her.

Vent. Heaven be praised!

Ant. Then art thou innocent, my poor dear love,
And art thou dead?
O those two words! their sound should be divided:
Hadst thou been false, and died; or hadst thou lived,
And hadst been true—But innocence and death!
This shows not well above. Then what am I,
The murderer of this truth, this innocence!
Thoughts cannot form themselves in words so horrid
As can express my guilt!

Vent. Is’t come to this? The gods have been too gracious;
And thus you thank them for it!

Ant. [to Alex.]. Why stayest thou here?
Is it for thee to spy upon my soul,
And see its inward mourning? Get thee hence;
Thou art not worthy to behold, what now
Becomes a Roman emperor to perform.

Alex. He loves her still:
His grief betrays it. Good! the joy to find
She’s yet alive, completes the reconcilement.
I’ve saved myself, and her. But, oh! the Romans!
Fate comes too fast upon my wit.
Hunts me too hard, and meets me at each double.

[Aside. Exit

Vent. Would she had died a little sooner, though!
Before Octavia went, you might have treated:
Now ’twill look tame, and would not be received.
Come, rouse yourself, and let’s die warm together.

Ant. I will not fight: there’s no more work for war.
The business of my angry hours is done.

Vent. Cæsar is at your gates.

Ant. Why, let him enter;
He’s welcome now.

Vent. What lethargy has crept into your soul?

Ant. ’Tis but a scorn of life, and just desire
To free myself from bondage.

Vent. Do it bravely.

Ant. I will; but not by fighting. O Ventidius!
What should I fight for now?—my queen is dead.
I was but great for her; my power, my empire,
Were but my merchandise to buy her love;
And conquered kings, my factors. Now she’s dead,
Let Cæsar take the world,—
An empty circle, since the jewel’s gone
Which made it worth my strife: my being’s nauseous:
For all the bribes of life are gone away.

Vent. Would you be taken?

Ant. Yes, I would be taken;
But, as a Roman ought,—dead, my Ventidius:
For I’ll convey my soul from Cæsar’s reach,
And lay down life myself. ’Tis time the world
Should have a lord, and know whom to obey.
We two have kept its homage in suspense,
And bent the globe, on whose each side we trod,
Till it was dented inwards. Let him walk
Alone upon’t: I’m weary of my part.
My torch is out; and the world stands before me,
Like a black desert at the approach of night:
I’ll lay me down, and stray no farther on.

Vent. I could be grieved,
But that I’ll not outlive you: choose your death;
For, I have seen him in such various shapes,
I care not which I take: I’m only troubled,
The life I bear is worn to such a rag,
’Tis scarce worth giving. I could wish, indeed,
We threw it from us with a better grace;
That, like two lions taken in the toils,
We might at last thrust out our paws, and wound
The hunters that inclose us.

Ant. I have thought on it.
Ventidius, you must live.