GEORGE SHAW - Collected Works

Lucius hurries out after Britannus.

RUFIO. Come: this is something like business.

CAESAR ( buoyantly ). Is it not, my only son? ( He claps his hands. The slaves hurry in to the table. ) No more of this mawkish reveling: away with all this stuff: shut it out of my sight and be off with you. ( The slaves begin to remove the table; and the curtains are drawn, shutting in the colonnade. ) You understand about the streets, Rufio?

RUFIO. Ay, I think I do. I will get through them, at all events.

The bucina sounds busily in the courtyard beneath.

CAESAR. Come, then: we must talk to the troops and hearten them. You down to the beach: I to the courtyard. ( He makes for the staircase. )

CLEOPATRA ( rising from her seat, where she has been quite neglected all this time, and stretching out her hands timidly to him ). Caesar.

CAESAR ( turning ). Eh?

CLEOPATRA. Have you forgotten me?

CAESAR. ( indulgently ). I am busy now, my child, busy. When I return your affairs shall be settled. Farewell; and be good and patient.

He goes, preoccupied and quite indifferent. She stands with clenched fists, in speechless rage and humiliation.

RUFIO. That game is played and lost, Cleopatra. The woman always gets the worst of it.

CLEOPATRA ( haughtily ). Go. Follow your master.

RUFIO ( in her ear, with rough familiarity ). A word first. Tell your executioner that if Pothinus had been properly killed— in the throat —he would not have called out. Your man bungled his work.

CLEOPATRA ( enigmatically ). How do you know it was a man?

RUFIO ( startled, and puzzled ). It was not you: you were with us when it happened. ( She turns her back scornfully on him. He shakes his head, and draws the curtains to go out. It is now a magnificent moonlit night. The table has been removed. Ftatateeta is seen in the light of the moon and stars, again in prayer before the white altar-stone of Ra. Rufio starts; closes the curtains again softly; and says in a low voice to Cleopatra ) Was it she? With her own hand?

CLEOPATRA ( threateningly ). Whoever it was, let my enemies beware of her. Look to it, Rufio, you who dare make the Queen of Egypt a fool before Caesar.

RUFIO ( looking grimly at her ). I will look to it, Cleopatra. ( He nods in confirmation of the promise, and slips out through the curtains, loosening his sword in its sheath as he goes. )

ROMAN SOLDIERS ( in the courtyard below ). Hail, Caesar! Hail, hail!

Cleopatra listens. The bucina sounds again, followed by several trumpets.

CLEOPATRA ( wringing her hands and calling ). Ftatateeta. Ftatateeta. It is dark; and I am alone. Come to me. ( Silence. ) Ftatateeta. ( Louder. ) Ftatateeta. ( Silence. In a panic she snatches the cord and pulls the curtains apart. )

Ftatateeta is lying dead on the altar of Ra, with her throat cut. Her blood deluges the white stone.

High noon. Festival and military pageant on the esplanade before the palace. In the east harbor Caesar’s galley, so gorgeously decorated that it seems to be rigged with flowers, is along-side the quay, close to the steps Apollodorus descended when he embarked with the carpet. A Roman guard is posted there in charge of a gangway, whence a red floorcloth is laid down the middle of the esplanade, turning off to the north opposite the central gate in the palace front, which shuts in the esplanade on the south side. The broad steps of the gate, crowded with Cleopatra’s ladies, all in their gayest attire, are like a flower garden. The façade is lined by her guard, officered by the same gallants to whom Bel Affris announced the coming of Caesar six months before in the old palace on the Syrian border. The north side is lined by Roman soldiers, with the townsfolk on tiptoe behind them, peering over their heads at the cleared esplanade, in which the officers stroll about, chatting. Among these are Belzanor and the Persian; also the Centurion, vinewood cudgel in hand, battle worn, thick-booted, and much outshone, both socially and decoratively, by the Egyptian officers.

Apollodorus makes his way through the townsfolk and calls to the officers from behind the Roman line.

APOLLODORUS. Hullo! May I pass?

CENTURION. Pass Apollodorus the Sicilian there! ( The soldiers let him through. )

BELZANOR. Is Caesar at hand?

APOLLODORUS. Not yet. He is still in the market place. I could not stand any more of the roaring of the soldiers! After half an hour of the enthusiasm of an army, one feels the need of a little sea air.

PERSIAN. Tell us the news. Hath he slain the priests?

APOLLODORUS. Not he. They met him in the market place with ashes on their heads and their gods in their hands. They placed the gods at his feet. The only one that was worth looking at was Apis: a miracle of gold and ivory work. By my advice he offered the chief priest two talents for it.

BELZANOR ( appalled ). Apis the all-knowing for two talents! What said the chief priest?

APOLLODORUS. He invoked the mercy of Apis, and asked for five.

BELZANOR. There will be famine and tempest in the land for this.

PERSIAN. Pooh! Why did not Apis cause Caesar to be vanquished by Achillas? Any fresh news from the war, Apollodorus?

APOLLODORUS. The little King Ptolemy was drowned.

BELZANOR. Drowned! How?

APOLLODORUS. With the rest of them. Caesar attacked them from three sides at once and swept them into the Nile. Ptolemy’s barge sank.

BELZANOR. A marvelous man, this Caesar! Will he come soon, think you?

APOLLODORUS. He was settling the Jewish question when I left.

A flourish of trumpets from the north, and commotion among the townsfolk, announces the approach of Caesar.

PERSIAN. He has made short work of them. Here he comes. ( He hurries to his post in front of the Egyptian lines. )

BELZANOR ( following him ). Ho there! Caesar comes.

The soldiers stand at attention, and dress their lines. Apollodorus goes to the Egyptian line.

CENTURION ( hurrying to the gangway guard ). Attention there! Caesar comes.

Caesar arrives in state with Rufio: Britannus following. The soldiers receive him with enthusiastic shouting.

CAESAR. I see my ship awaits me. The hour of Caesar’s farewell to Egypt has arrived. And now, Rufio, what remains to be done before I go?

RUFIO ( at his left hand ). You have not yet appointed a Roman governor for this province.

CAESAR ( Looking whimsically at him, but speaking with perfect gravity ). What say you to Mithridates of Pergamos, my reliever and rescuer, the great son of Eupator?

RUFIO. Why, that you will want him elsewhere. Do you forget that you have some three or four armies to conquer on your way home?

CAESAR. Indeed! Well, what say you to yourself?

RUFIO ( incredulously ). I! I a governor! What are you dreaming of? Do you not know that I am only the son of a freedman?

CAESAR ( affectionately ). Has not Caesar called you his son? ( Calling to the whole assembly ) Peace awhile there; and hear me.

THE ROMAN SOLDIERS. Hear Caesar.

CAESAR. Hear the service, quality, rank and name of the Roman governor. By service, Caesar’s shield; by quality, Caesar’s friend; by rank, a Roman soldier. ( The Roman soldiers give a triumphant shout. ) By name, Rufio. ( They shout again. )

RUFIO ( kissing Caesar’s hand ). Ay: I am Caesar’s shield; but of what use shall I be when I am no longer on Caesar’s arm? Well, no matter— ( He becomes husky, and turns away to recover himself. )