POMPEY                     You have made me offer

Of Sicily, Sardinia; and I must

Rid all the sea of pirates; then to send

Measures of wheat to Rome; this ’greed upon,

To part with unhacked edges, and bear back

Our targes undinted.

CAESAR, ANTONY and LEPIDUS      That’s our offer.        (2.6.34-9)

Pompey’s said his piece, and gets down to business; he’s definitely read the proposals that the triumvirs have sent him, he was just spinning it out, sabre-rattling. You have made me offer of Sicily, Sardinia—fair, decent territories, not remote and wild provinces, and in fact his home turf—and in return I must rid all the sea of pirates (room here for a sideways glance at Menas, his ally who is, after all, an actual pirate) then to send measures of wheat to Rome—a standard tribute, a set amount of grain every year. Pompey has seen the balance sheet and considered it, so, he says, this is the deal, and if we agree it, then the battle’s off. We’ll part with unhacked edges, with our swords undamaged, their blades not notched by blows; we’ll bear back our targes undinted, return home with our shields undented, not battered and beaten out of shape. That’s our offer, respond Antony, Caesar and Lepidus, you’ve got it, boy, take it or leave it. The suggestion that the triumvirs speak in unison is slightly comic (and they don’t have to, they can speak over each other, or rush to be the one to speak on behalf of the others, Lepidus inevitably coming last), but the whole encounter has a comic edge, both sides knowing that they are to some extent going through the motions, but needing to perform to each other and to be seen to do so by their supporters and followers. They all know how politics works, and they’re prepared to fight if it comes to that—but they’d really rather not.