Chapter XII: Act I: of Cornélie is again a prelude consisting of a fine

monologue and a chorus. In II Cornelia and Cicero remind each
other of the past and moralize on human life. The theme of
mutability, carried out in the chorus, ends on the hope of
another deliverance from tyrants. In III the chorus continues
this theme after dialogue with Cornelia and her receiving
of Pompey’s ashes. IV brings on first Cassius and Brutus,
then Caesar and Antony. V, though more nearly an act, makes
extravagant use of the messenger.

_Marc-Antoine_ (1578), surer perhaps in its oratory and finer in its lyric, is no more dramatic.

Philostratus, a minor person, is added (II. i) merely to
expound the situation in a monologue. Octavius and Agrippa
appear only in IV. Lucilius is in III only to receive the
exhalations of Antony; and Charmion has little more function in
II and V. Once more V is mainly a series of tirades. Act II,
scene iii adds to Cleopatra’s oratory a flash of jealousy and
the suggestion of Diomedes that she save the situation by using
her fatal beauty on Caesar; but neither is carried out.

In _La Troade_ (1579) Garnier turned to Euripides.