CAESAR          Gallus, go you along. Where’s Dolabella,

[Exit Gallus]

To second Proculeius?

ALL BUT CAESAR                  Dolabella!

CAESAR          Let him alone; for I remember now

How he’s employed. He shall in time be ready.

Go with me to my tent, where you shall see

How hardly I was drawn into this war,

How calm and gentle I proceeded still

In all my writings. Go with me, and see

What I can show in this.

Exeunt             (5.1.69-77)

Caesar’s more confident as the scene ends, sending Gallus to Cleopatra with Proculeius: it makes a better impression to send more than a single messenger, more of a tribute to Cleopatra’s rank and status—but it’s also politically astute, sending someone with Proculeius to keep an eye on him, to ensure that he doesn’t go off message, that he’s not seduced by Cleopatra’s charms. Caesar would send Dolabella too, if he were there, and the others call for him, in a moment of potential comedy—but then Caesar remembers (a slight crack in the façade of cool efficiency, thinking of everything) that he had sent Dolabella to Antony, before he learned of his death, and he hasn’t yet returned. Ooops. Let him alone, he says, don’t worry about him, for I remember now how he’s employed. He shall in time be ready; he’ll be back here soon enough. But now, the messengers dispatched, go with me to my tent, where you shall see how hardly I was drawn into this war, how calm and gentle I proceeded still in all my writings. I want you to be absolutely clear on my lack of culpability here: I didn’t want to get into a fight with Antony, and I was reluctant to get involved; I can show you copies of my letters, how temperate I was, how reasonable in all my communications with him. (I’ve got his letters too: he wasn’t being reasonable at all, quite the opposite.) I didn’t start this! This isn’t on me! Go with me, and see what I can show in this. I’ve got all the documentation, neatly filed; I kept all the receipts.

And that’s the end of the play’s penultimate scene…