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 Ptolemy, 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 father's testament
(Whose memory I bow to) left co-heir
In all he stood possess'd of.

Achil. 'Tis confess'd,

My good Achoreus, that in these eastern kingdoms
Women are not exempted from the sceptre,
But claim a privilege 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 ruin
Of the poor subject, doubtful which to follow,
We have too many and too sad examples :
Therefore the wise Photinus, to prevent
The murders, 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 in this climate)
Should be committed to safe custody,
In which she is attended like her birth,
Until her beauty, or her royal dower,
Hath found her out a husband.

Achor. How this may

Stand with the rules of policy, I know not;

admire, with a fallacious assertion: The first folio (in which Ach. stands for Achoreus throughout, and for Achillas only in one short scene, when Achoreus is not present) gives this speech to Ach. i. e. Achoreus.Ed. 1778.

Most sure I am, it holds no correspondence
With the rites of Egypt, or the laws of nature.
But, grant that Cleopatra can sit down
With this disgrace, though insupportable,
Can you imagine that Rome's glorious senate,
To whose charge, by the will of the dead king,
This government was deliver'd, or great Pompey,
That is appointed Cleopatra's guardian

As well as Ptolemy's, will e'er approve

Of this rash counsel, their consent not sought for, That should authorize it?

Achil. The civil war,

In which the Roman empire is embark'd
On a rough sea of danger, does exact

Their whole care to preserve themselves, and gives them

No vacant time to think of what we do,
Which hardly can concern them.

Achor. What's your opinion

Of the success? I have heard, in multitudes
Of soldiers, and all glorious pomp of war,
Pompey is much superior.

Achil. I could give you

A catalogue of all the several nations

From whence he drew his powers; but that were tedious.

They have rich arms, are ten to one in number,
Which makes them think the day already won;
And Pompey being master of the sea,

Such plenty of all delicates are brought in,
As if the place on which they are entrench'd,
Were not a camp of soldiers, but Rome,
In which Lucullus and Apicius join'd

To make a public feast. They at Dirachium
Fought with success; but knew not to make use of
Fortune's fair offer: So much, I have heard,

Cæsar himself confess/d.3

Achor. Where are they now?

Achil. In Thessaly, near the Pharsalian plains;
Where Cæsar, with a handful of his men,
Hems in the greater number. His whole troops
Exceed not twenty thousand, but old soldiers,
Flesh'd in the spoils of Germany and France,
Inured to his command, and only know

To fight and overcome: And though that famine
Reigns in his camp, compelling them to taste
Bread made of roots forbid the use of man,
(Which they with scorn threw into Pompey's camp,
As in derision of his delicates)

Or corn not yet half ripe, and that a banquet;
They still besiege him, being ambitious only
To come to blows, and let their swords determine
Who hath the better cause.

Achor. May victory

Attend on't, where it is.
Achil. We ev'ry hour

Expect to hear the issue.

Enter SEPTIMIUS.4

Sept. Save my good lords!

By Isis and Osiris, whom you worship,

3 So much I have heard

Cæsar hin self confess.] This reading supposes Achillas to have been in Greece, and in Cæsar's presence. The correction is very obvious, Seward.

+ Enter Septinius.] The vulgar editions have much oftener wrote it Septinius than Septimius, and have given him the former name in the persons of the drama.-The reader will undoubtedly observe the fine moral couched under this infamous wretch's character, viz. "That even among the grossest superstition of the Heathens, the atheistical scoffer at religion was the most pernicious pest of all society." The character seems drawn with exquisite art, and our

And the four hundred gods and goddesses
Adored in Rome, I am your honours' servant.
Achor. Truth needs, Septimius, no oaths.
Achil. You are cruel;

If you deny him swearing, you take from him
Three full parts of his language.

Sept. Your honour's bitter.

Confound me, where I love I cannot say it,
But I must swear't: Yet such is my ill fortune,
Nor vows nor protestations win belief;

I think, (and I can find no other reason)
Because I am a Roman.

Achor. No, Septimius;

To be a Roman were an honour to you,

Did not your manners and your life take from it, And cry aloud, that from Rome you bring nothing But Roman vices, which you would plant here, But no seed of her virtues.

Sept. With your reverence,

I am too old to learn.

Achor. Any thing honest;

That I believe without an oath.
Sept. I fear

Your lordship has slept ill to-night, and that
Invites this sad discourse; 'twill make you old

poets have by it much excelled their master Lucan, and their competitor Corneille. In the former, there is only a sketch of a fierce inhuman villain; and in the latter, Septimius is in the first scene introduced as a privy-counsellor, makes an harangue to persuade the death of Pompey, commits the murder, and being blamed for it by Cæsar, is said to have killed himself with the same sword with which he slew Pompey: But he has absolutely no character at all, nor is it judicious to make him die the death of Brutus and Cassius; though a Frenchman may perhaps look upon the punishment of Cæsar in the same light with the vile assassination of Pompey.-Seward.

5 Sad.] i. e. Serious, a common use of the word in ancient times.

Before your time. Pox o' these virtuous morals, And old religious principles, that fool us!

I have brought you a new song will make you laugh, Though you were at your prayers.

Achor. What is the subject?

Be free, Septimius.'

Sept. 'Tis a catalogue

Of all the gamesters of the court and city,
Which lord lies with that lady, and what gallant
Sports with that merchant's wife; and does relate
Who sells her honour for a diamond,

Who for a tissue robe; whose husband's jealous,
And who so kind, that, to share with his wife,
Will make the match himself: Harmless conceits,
Though fools say they are dangerous. I sang
The last night, at my lord Photinus' table.
Achor. How? as a fidler?

Sept. No, sir, as a guest,

it

A welcome guest too; and it was approved of By a dozen of his friends, though they were touch'd in't :

- o' these virtuous morals.] So the first folio exhibits these words, and no doubt the asseveration in the text was omitted in this case, as in innumerable others, at the instigation of the Master of the Revels, or the licenser of the press. All the modern editions read tamely and unmetrically with the second folio: Oh, these virtuous morals.

7 Acho. What is the subject?

Be free, Septimius.] Seward chooses to give this speech to Achillas, saying that it suits his character better than that of the honest Achoreus. But the latter is all along contemptuously upbraiding Septimius, and this speech suits him as well as the two which follow.

I suspect these songs were not unfrequent in the days of our authors. One exactly corresponding to the description in the text was made during the civil wars, each stanza ending with the common burden," Lampoon, lampoon." It is appended to a contem porary MS. of the well-known Parliament of Ladies, penes Walter Scott, Esq.