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The First Web Folio Edition of Shakespeare's Works
| A plain in Syria. |
| [Enter VENTIDIUS as it were in triumph, with SILIUS, | ||
| and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead | ||
| body of PACORUS borne before him] |
| VENTIDIUS | Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck; and now | ||
| Pleased fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death | |||
| Make me revenger. Bear the king's son's body | |||
| Before our army. Thy Pacorus, Orodes, | |||
| Pays this for Marcus Crassus. | 5 |
| SILIUS | Noble Ventidius, | ||
| Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm, | |||
| The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media, | |||
| Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither | |||
| The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony | 10 | ||
| Shall set thee on triumphant chariots and | |||
| Put garlands on thy head. |
| VENTIDIUS | O Silius, Silius, | ||
| I have done enough; a lower place, note well, | |||
| May make too great an act: for learn this, Silius; | 15 | ||
| Better to leave undone, than by our deed | |||
| Acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away. | |||
| Caesar and Antony have ever won | |||
| More in their officer than person: Sossius, | |||
| One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant, | 20 | ||
| For quick accumulation of renown, | |||
| Which he achieved by the minute, lost his favour. | |||
| Who does i' the wars more than his captain can | |||
| Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition, | |||
| The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss, | 25 | ||
| Than gain which darkens him. | |||
| I could do more to do Antonius good, | |||
| But 'twould offend him; and in his offence | |||
| Should my performance perish. |
| SILIUS | Thou hast, Ventidius, | 30 | |
| that | |||
| Without the which a soldier, and his sword, | |||
| Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony! |
| VENTIDIUS | I'll humbly signify what in his name, | ||
| That magical word of war, we have effected; | 35 | ||
| How, with his banners and his well-paid ranks, | |||
| The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia | |||
| We have jaded out o' the field. |
| SILIUS | Where is he now? |
| VENTIDIUS | He purposeth to Athens: whither, with what haste | 40 | |
| The weight we must convey with's will permit, | |||
| We shall appear before him. On there; pass along! | |||
| [Exeunt] |
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