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wanted the empire to belong to the two of us

      Think that I intend Gaul, Illyria,

      Spain, Africa, and especially Italy

      The Orient is yours—

      ANTHONY

      Such is my will.

      Such is the fate of the world arrested between us.

      I am not hiding from myself what your advantage is.

      Rome is going to serve you. You will have under your rule

      The conquerors of the earth; I will have only kings

      I willingly give it up to you. I demand in exchange

       that your authority, seconding my power

      Exterminate forever the remaining outcasts

      Of the party of Pompey, and of the traitor Brutus;

      Let none of them escape the laws we have set up.

      OCTAVIAN

      Perhaps they are cemented with enough blood.

      ANTHONY

      What! You hesitate. I no longer know you.

      What can thus trouble your irresolute desire?

      OCTAVIAN

      Heaven itself has destroyed these cruel lists

      ANTHONY

      Heavenseconds us by permitting new ones.

      Are you afraid of an omen?

      OCTAVIAN

      And aren’t you fearful

      Of revolting the earth because of murders?

      We want to chain up Roman liberty

      We want to govern, not excite more hate.

      ANTHONY

      Do you call justice inhumanity?

      Octavian, a Triumvir adopted by Caesar

      If I avenge a friend, do you fear to avenge a father?

      You would forget his blood to flatter the vulgar.

      To whom would you pretend to grant a pardon

      When you had me sacrifice Cicero?

      OCTAVIAN

      Rome wept at his death.

      ANTHONY

      It wept in silence.

      Cassius and Brutus, reduced to impotence

      Might perhaps inspire other nations

      With an eternal horror of our proscription.

      It lets them depict terrible images

      And against our two names revolt the ages.

      Assassins of their master and their benefactor,

      It’s their unworthy names that ought to be in horror.

      These are the ingrate hearts it’s time to punish.

      They alone are criminals, and we are doing justice.

      Those who served them, who approved them

      Will have some punishment reserved to them.

      Twenty thousand warriors perished in our battles

      Their funerals are seen with a dry, calm eye

      On their extended bodies, victims of death

      We fly, without paling, to new battles

      And through the treason of a hundred wretched accomplices

      We will make too many costly sacrifices to Caesar.

      OCTAVIAN

      In Rome, on this very day they are still avenging his death.

      But know what costs my heart an effort:

      Too much horror in the end can stain his vengeance.

      I would be more his son if I had his clemency.

      ANTHONY

      Clemency today can ruin us both.

      OCTAVIAN

      An excess of cruelty will be more dangerous.

      ANTHONY

      Do you distrust the people?

      OCTAVIAN

      They have to be managed

      They must be made to love the bridle of slavery

      With an indifferent eye they observe the death of the great

      But when they fear for themselves, bad luck to tyrants.

      ANTHONY

      I hear, at my peril, you seek to please them.

      You want to become a popular tyrant.

      OCTAVIAN

      You are always imparting to me some secret plans.

      To sacrifice Pompey—will that please Romans?

      Today my orders overthrow their idol.

      While I am talking to you, they beat him, they strike him

      What more do you want?

      ANTHONY

      You are not abusing me.

      It costs you little to order his death.

      To our true interests his death would be necessary.

      But you wish to be rid of a secret rival

      He adored Julia and you were jealous

      Your outraged love leads all your blows

      Fulfill the agreement of all our undertakings.

      OCTAVIAN

      Stop.

      ANTHONY

      Is the guilty man sacred to us?

      I want him dead.

      OCTAVIAN (rising)

      Him? The father of Julia?

      ANTHONY

      Yes, himself.

      OCTAVIAN

      Listen—our interest links us.

      Marriage binds the knot; but if you persist

      In demanding blood to persecute

      From this day I am breaking all alliances between us.

      ANTHONY

      Octavian, I’m too well aware that our intelligence

      Will produce discord and deceive our wishes

      Let’s not rush to such dangerous times.

      Do you intend to offend me?

      OCTAVIAN

      No—but I am a master

      Who would spare a proscribed who should not be proscribed.

      ANTHONY

      But you yourself, with me, condemned him.

      Of all our enemies, he’s the most obstinate.

      What difference if his daughter was for a moment dear to you?

      To our security I owe the father’s blood

      The inconstant pleasures of a fleeting love

      To our great interests are nothing except foreign

      Until now, you’ve shown little tenderness

      And I wasn’t expecting this excess of weakness.

      OCTAVIAN

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