_
_Servants._
_WOMEN._
Cleopatra, _Queen of_ AEgypt. Caesar's _Mistris._
Arsino, Cleopatra's _Sister._
Eros, Cleopatra's _waiting Woman._
_The Scene_ AEgypt.
The principal Actors were,
_John Lowin._
_John Underwood._
_Robert Benfield._
_Richard Sharpe._
_Joseph Taylor._
_Nicholas Toolie._
_John Rice._
_George Birch._
_ACTUS PRIMUS. SCENA PRIMA._
_Enter_ Achillas, _and_ Achoreus.
[_Ach._] I love the King, nor do dispute his power,
(For that is not confin'd, nor to be censur'd
By me, that am his Subject) yet allow me
The liberty of a Man, that still would be
A friend to Justice, to demand the motives
That did induce young _Ptolomy_, or _Photinus_,
(To whose directions he gives up himself,
And I hope wisely) to commit his Sister,
The Princess _Cleopatra_ (if I said
The Queen) _Achillas_ 'twere (I hope) no treason,
She being by her Fathers Testament
(Whose memory I bow to) left Co-heir
In all he stood possest of.
_Achil._ 'Tis confest
(My good _Achoreus_) that in these Eastern Kingdoms
Women are not exempted from the Sceptre,
But claim a priviledge, equal to the Male;
But how much such divisions have ta'en from
The Majesty of _Egypt_, and what factions
Have sprung from those partitions, to the ruine
Of the poor Subject, (doubtful which to follow,)
We have too many, and too sad examples,
Therefore the wise _Photinus_, to prevent
The Murthers, and the Massacres, that attend
On disunited Government, and to shew
The King without a Partner, in full splendour,
Thought it convenient the fair _Cleopatra_,
(An attribute not frequent to the Climate)
Should be committed in safe Custody,
In which she is attended like her Birth,
Until her Beauty, or her royal Dowre,
Hath found her out a Husband.
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