William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra

ACT II. 6. SCENE VI. Near Misenum. (continued)

POMPEY.
You have made me offer
Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must
Rid all the sea of pirates; then to send
Measures of wheat to Rome; this 'greed upon,
To part with unhack'd edges and bear back
Our targes undinted.

CAESAR, ANTONY, and LEPIDUS.
That's our offer.

POMPEY.
Know, then,
I came before you here a man prepar'd
To take this offer: but Mark Antony
Put me to some impatience:--though I lose
The praise of it by telling, you must know,
When Caesar and your brother were at blows,
Your mother came to Sicily, and did find
Her welcome friendly.

ANTONY.
I have heard it, Pompey,
And am well studied for a liberal thanks
Which I do owe you.

POMPEY.
Let me have your hand:
I did not think, sir, to have met you here.

ANTONY.
The beds i' the East are soft; and, thanks to you,
That call'd me, timelier than my purpose, hither;
For I have gained by it.

CAESAR.
Since I saw you last
There is a change upon you.

POMPEY.
Well, I know not
What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face;
But in my bosom shall she never come
To make my heart her vassal.

LEPIDUS.
Well met here.

POMPEY.
I hope so, Lepidus.--Thus we are agreed:
I crave our composition may be written,
And seal'd between us.

CAESAR.
That's the next to do.

POMPEY.
We'll feast each other ere we part; and let's
Draw lots who shall begin.

ANTONY.
That will I, Pompey.

POMPEY.
No, Antony, take the lot: but, first
Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery
Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar
Grew fat with feasting there.

ANTONY.
You have heard much.