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,