Throw from thee quickly those rebellious Arms,
And let me read submission in thine Eyes;
Thy wrongs to us we will not only pardon,
But be a ready advocate to plead for thee
To _Caesar_, and my Brother.
_Pho._ Plead my Pardon?
To you I bow, but scorn as much to stoop thus
To _Ptolomy_ or _Caesar_, Nay, the gods,
As to put off the figure of a man,
And change my Essence with a sensual Beast;
All my designs, my counsels, and dark ends
Were aim'd to purchase you.
_Cleo._ How durst thou, being
The scorn of baseness, nourish such a thought?
_Pho._ They that have power are royal; and those base
That live at the devotion of another.
What birth gave _Ptolomy_, or fortune _Caesar_,
By Engines fashion'd in this _Protean_ Anvil
I have made mine; and only stoop at you,
Whom I would still preserve free to command me;
For _Caesar's_ frowns, they are below my thoughts,
And but in these fair Eyes I still have read
The story of a supream Monarchy,
To which all hearts with mine gladly pay tribute,
_Photinus's_ Name had long since been as great
As _Ptolomies_ e'r was, or _Caesars_ is,
This made me as a weaker tye to unloose
The knot of Loyalty, that chain'd my freedom,
And slight the fear that _Caesars_ threats might cause,
That I and they might see no Sun appear
But _Cleopatra_ in the _Egyptian_ Sphear.
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