Antony and Cleopatra
Act III, Scene 1
A plain in Syria.
- Enter Ventidius as it were in triumph with Silius and other
- Romans, Officers, and Soldiers, the dead body of Pacorus
- borne before him.
Ventidius
1 - 5- Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck, and now
- Pleas’d Fortune does of Marcus Crassus’ death
- Make me revenger. Bear the King’s son’s body
- Before our army. Thy Pacorus, Orodes,
- Pays this for Marcus Crassus.
Silius
6 - 12- Noble Ventidius,
- Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
- The fugitive Parthians follow. Spur through Media,
- Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither
- The routed fly; so thy grand captain, Antony,
- Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and
- Put garlands on thy head.
Ventidius
13 - 29- O Silius, Silius,
- I have done enough; a lower place, note well,
- May make too great an act. For learn this, Silius:
- Better to leave undone, than by our deed
- Acquire too high a fame when him we serve’s away.
- Caesar and Antony have ever won
- More in their officer than person. Sossius,
- One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
- For quick accumulation of renown,
- Which he achiev’d by th’ minute, lost his favor.
- Who does i’ th’ wars more than his captain can
- Becomes his captain’s captain; and ambition
- (The soldier’s virtue) rather makes choice of loss
- Than gain which darkens him.
- I could do more to do Antonius good,
- But ’twould offend him; and in his offense
- Should my performance perish.
Enter Ventidius as it were in triumph with Silius and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers, the dead body of Pacorus borne before him.
Edwin Austin Abbey, 1908
Silius
30 - 32- Thou hast, Ventidius, that
- Without the which a soldier and his sword
- Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony?
Ventidius
33 - 37- I’ll humbly signify what in his name,
- That magical word of war, we have effected;
- How with his banners, and his well-paid ranks,
- The ne’er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia
- We have jaded out o’ th’ field.
Silius
38- Where is he now?
Ventidius
39 - 41- He purposeth to Athens, whither, with what haste
- The weight we must convey with ’s will permit,
- We shall appear before him. On, there, pass along!
- Exeunt.
Act header from Duprant & Co. edition of Antony and Cleopatra
W. J. Rolfe, Paul Avril, 1891