Antony and Cleopatra/Source

DRAMATIS PERSONAE (Persons Represented):


 * M.ANTONY,         Triumvir
 * OCTAVIUS CAESAR,  Triumvir
 * M. AEMIL. LEPIDUS, Triumvir
 * SEXTUS POMPEIUS
 * DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, friend to Antony
 * VENTIDIUS,         friend to Antony
 * EROS,              friend to Antony
 * SCARUS,            friend to Antony
 * DERCETAS,          friend to Antony
 * DEMETRIUS,         friend to Antony
 * PHILO,             friend to Antony
 * MAECENAS,  friend to Caesar
 * AGRIPPA,   friend to Caesar
 * DOLABELLA, friend to Caesar
 * PROCULEIUS, friend to Caesar
 * THYREUS,   friend to Caesar
 * GALLUS,    friend to Caesar
 * MENAS,       friend to Pompey
 * MENECRATES,  friend to Pompey
 * VARRIUS,     friend to Pompey
 * TAURUS, Lieutenant-General to Caesar
 * CANIDIUS, Lieutenant-General to Antony
 * SILIUS, an Officer in Ventidius's army
 * EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from Antony to Caesar
 * ALEXAS,  attendant on Cleopatra
 * MARDIAN, attendant on Cleopatra
 * SELEUCUS, treasurer to Cleopatra
 * DIOMEDES, attendant on Cleopatra
 * A SOOTHSAYER
 * A CLOWN


 * CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt
 * OCTAVIA,  Sister to Caesar
 * CHARMIAN, Attendant on Cleopatra
 * IRAS,     Attendant on Cleopatra


 * Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants


 * SCENE: Dispersed, in several parts of the Roman Empire.

SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in CLEOPATRA'S palace.
[Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.]

PHILO.
 * Nay, but this dotage of our general's
 * O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
 * That o'er the files and musters of the war
 * Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
 * The office and devotion of their view
 * Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,
 * Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
 * The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
 * And is become the bellows and the fan
 * To cool a gipsy's lust.

[Flourish within.]


 * Look where they come:
 * Take but good note, and you shall see in him
 * The triple pillar of the world transform'd
 * Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.

[Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their trains; Eunuchs fanning her.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

ANTONY.
 * There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd.

ANTONY.
 * Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

[Enter an Attendant.]

ATTENDANT.
 * News, my good lord, from Rome.

ANTONY.
 * Grates me:—the sum.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Nay, hear them, Antony:
 * Fulvia perchance is angry; or who knows
 * If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent
 * His powerful mandate to you: 'Do this or this;
 * Take in that kingdom and enfranchise that;
 * Perform't, or else we damn thee.'

ANTONY.
 * How, my love!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Perchance! Nay, and most like:—
 * You must not stay here longer,—your dismission
 * Is come from Caesar; therefore hear it, Antony. —
 * Where's Fulvia's process?—Caesar's I would say?—Both?—
 * Call in the messengers.—As I am Egypt's queen,
 * Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
 * Is Caesar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame
 * When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds.—The messengers!

ANTONY.
 * Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
 * Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space.
 * Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
 * Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
 * Is to do thus [Embracing]; when such a mutual pair
 * And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
 * On pain of punishment, the world to weet
 * We stand up peerless.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Excellent falsehood!
 * Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?—
 * I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony
 * Will be himself.

ANTONY.
 * But stirr'd by Cleopatra.—
 * Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,
 * Let's not confound the time with conference harsh:
 * There's not a minute of our lives should stretch
 * Without some pleasure now:—what sport to-night?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Hear the ambassadors.

ANTONY.
 * Fie, wrangling queen!
 * Whom everything becomes,—to chide, to laugh,
 * To weep; whose every passion fully strives
 * To make itself in thee fair and admir'd!
 * No messenger; but thine, and all alone
 * To-night we'll wander through the streets and note
 * The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
 * Last night you did desire it:—speak not to us.

[Exeunt ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Train.]

DEMETRIUS.
 * Is Caesar with Antonius priz'd so slight?

PHILO.
 * Sir, sometimes when he is not Antony,
 * He comes too short of that great property
 * Which still should go with Antony.

DEMETRIUS.
 * I am full sorry
 * That he approves the common liar, who
 * Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope
 * Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Alexandria. Another Room in CLEOPATRA'S palace.
[Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer.]

CHARMIAN.
 * Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most anything Alexas, almost
 * most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so
 * to the queen? O that I knew this husband, which you say must
 * charge his horns with garlands!

ALEXAS.
 * Soothsayer,—

SOOTHSAYER.
 * Your will?

CHARMIAN.
 * Is this the man?—Is't you, sir, that know things?

SOOTHSAYER.
 * In nature's infinite book of secrecy
 * A little I can read.

ALEXAS.
 * Show him your hand.

[Enter ENOBARBUS.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough
 * Cleopatra's health to drink.

CHARMIAN.
 * Good, sir, give me good fortune.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * I make not, but foresee.

CHARMIAN.
 * Pray, then, foresee me one.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * You shall be yet far fairer than you are.

CHARMIAN.
 * He means in flesh.

IRAS.
 * No, you shall paint when you are old.

CHARMIAN.
 * Wrinkles forbid!

ALEXAS.
 * Vex not his prescience; be attentive.

CHARMIAN.
 * Hush!

SOOTHSAYER.
 * You shall be more beloving than beloved.

CHARMIAN.
 * I had rather heat my liver with drinking.

ALEXAS.
 * Nay, hear him.

CHARMIAN.
 * Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married to three
 * kings in a forenoon, and widow them all: let me have a child at
 * fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage: find me to marry me
 * with Octavius Caesar, and companion me with my mistress.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * You shall outlive the lady whom you serve.

CHARMIAN.
 * O, excellent! I love long life better than figs.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * You have seen and prov'd a fairer former fortune
 * Than that which is to approach.

CHARMIAN.
 * Then belike my children shall have no names:—pr'ythee, how many
 * boys and wenches must I have?

SOOTHSAYER.
 * If every of your wishes had a womb,
 * And fertile every wish, a million.

CHARMIAN.
 * Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch.

ALEXAS.
 * You think none but your sheets are privy to your wishes.

CHARMIAN.
 * Nay, come, tell Iras hers.

ALEXAS.
 * We'll know all our fortunes.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be—
 * drunk to bed.

IRAS.
 * There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else.

CHARMIAN.
 * E'en as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine.

IRAS.
 * Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay.

CHARMIAN.
 * Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot
 * scratch mine ear.—Pr'ythee, tell her but worky-day fortune.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * Your fortunes are alike.

IRAS.
 * But how, but how? give me particulars.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * I have said.

IRAS.
 * Am I not an inch of fortune better than she?

CHARMIAN.
 * Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where
 * would you choose it?

IRAS.
 * Not in my husband's nose.

CHARMIAN.
 * Our worser thoughts heavens mend!—Alexas,—come, his fortune!
 * his fortune!—O, let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet
 * Isis, I beseech thee! And let her die too, and give him a worse!
 * and let worse follow worse, till the worst of all follow him
 * laughing to his grave, fiftyfold a cuckold! Good Isis, hear me
 * this prayer, though thou deny me a matter of more weight; good
 * Isis, I beseech thee!

IRAS.
 * Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people! for, as it is
 * a heartbreaking to see a handsome man loose-wived, so it is a
 * deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded: therefore, dear
 * Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly!

CHARMIAN.
 * Amen.

ALEXAS.
 * Lo now, if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would
 * make themselves whores but they'd do't!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Hush! Here comes Antony.

CHARMIAN.
 * Not he; the queen.

[Enter CLEOPATRA.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Saw you my lord?

ENOBARBUS.
 * No, lady.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Was he not here?

CHARMIAN.
 * No, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sudden
 * A Roman thought hath struck him.—Enobarbus,—

ENOBARBUS.
 * Madam?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Seek him, and bring him hither.—Where's Alexas?

ALEXAS.
 * Here, at your service.—My lord approaches.

CLEOPATRA.
 * We will not look upon him: go with us.

[Exeunt CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHAR., IRAS, ALEX., and Soothsayer.]

[Enter ANTONY, with a MESSENGER and Attendants.]

MESSENGER.
 * Fulvia thy wife first came into the field.

ANTONY.
 * Against my brother Lucius.

MESSENGER.
 * Ay:
 * But soon that war had end, and the time's state
 * Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst Caesar;
 * Whose better issue in the war, from Italy
 * Upon the first encounter, drave them.

ANTONY.
 * Well, what worst?

MESSENGER.
 * The nature of bad news infects the teller.

ANTONY.
 * When it concerns the fool or coward.—On:—
 * Things that are past are done with me.—'Tis thus;
 * Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death,
 * I hear him as he flatter'd.

MESSENGER.
 * Labienus,—
 * This is stiff news,—hath, with his Parthian force,
 * Extended Asia from Euphrates;
 * His conquering banner shook from Syria
 * To Lydia and to Ionia;
 * Whilst,—

ANTONY.
 * Antony, thou wouldst say,—

MESSENGER.
 * O, my lord!

ANTONY.
 * Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue:
 * Name Cleopatra as she is call'd in Rome;
 * Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase; and taunt my faults
 * With such full licence as both truth and malice
 * Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds
 * When our quick minds lie still; and our ills told us
 * Is as our earing. Fare thee well awhile.

MESSENGER.
 * At your noble pleasure.

[Exit.]

ANTONY.
 * From Sicyon, ho, the news! Speak there!

FIRST ATTENDANT.
 * The man from Sicyon—is there such an one?

SECOND ATTENDANT.
 * He stays upon your will.

ANTONY.
 * Let him appear.—
 * These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
 * Or lose myself in dotage.—

[Enter another MESSENGER.]


 * What are you?

SECOND MESSENGER.
 * Fulvia thy wife is dead.

ANTONY.
 * Where died she?

SECOND MESSENGER.
 * In Sicyon:
 * Her length of sickness, with what else more serious
 * Importeth thee to know, this bears. [Gives a letter.]

ANTONY.
 * Forbear me.

[Exit MESSENGER.]


 * There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:
 * What our contempts doth often hurl from us,
 * We wish it ours again; the present pleasure,
 * By revolution lowering, does become
 * The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone;
 * The hand could pluck her back that shov'd her on.
 * I must from this enchanting queen break off:
 * Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,
 * My idleness doth hatch—ho, Enobarbus!

[Re-enter ENOBARBUS.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * What's your pleasure, sir?

ANTONY.
 * I must with haste from hence.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Why, then we kill all our women: we see how mortal an unkindness
 * is to them; if they suffer our departure, death's the word.

ANTONY.
 * I must be gone.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Under a compelling occasion, let women die: it were pity to cast
 * them away for nothing; though, between them and a great cause
 * they should be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the
 * least noise of this, dies instantly; I have seen her die twenty
 * times upon far poorer moment: I do think there is mettle in
 * death, which commits some loving act upon her, she hath such a
 * celerity in dying.

ANTONY.
 * She is cunning past man's thought.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Alack, sir, no: her passions are made of nothing but the finest
 * part of pure love: we cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and
 * tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacs can
 * report: this cannot be cunning in her; if it be, she makes a
 * shower of rain as well as Jove.

ANTONY.
 * Would I had never seen her!

ENOBARBUS.
 * O sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which
 * not to have been blest withal would have discredited your travel.

ANTONY.
 * Fulvia is dead.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Sir?

ANTONY.
 * Fulvia is dead.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Fulvia?

ANTONY.
 * Dead.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it pleaseth
 * their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shows to
 * man the tailors of the earth; comforting therein that when old
 * robes are worn out there are members to make new. If there were
 * no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case
 * to be lamented: this grief is crown'd with consolation; your old
 * smock brings forth a new petticoat:—and, indeed, the tears live
 * in an onion that should water this sorrow.

ANTONY.
 * The business she hath broached in the state
 * Cannot endure my absence.

ENOBARBUS.
 * And the business you have broached here cannot be without you;
 * especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your
 * abode.

ANTONY.
 * No more light answers. Let our officers
 * Have notice what we purpose. I shall break
 * The cause of our expedience to the queen,
 * And get her leave to part. For not alone
 * The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches,
 * Do strongly speak to us; but the letters too
 * Of many our contriving friends in Rome
 * Petition us at home: Sextus Pompeius
 * Hath given the dare to Caesar, and commands
 * The empire of the sea; our slippery people,—
 * Whose love is never link'd to the deserver
 * Till his deserts are past,—begin to throw
 * Pompey the Great, and all his dignities,
 * Upon his son; who, high in name and power,
 * Higher than both in blood and life, stands up
 * For the main soldier: whose quality, going on,
 * The sides o' the world may danger: much is breeding
 * Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life
 * And not a serpent's poison. Say, our pleasure
 * To such whose place is under us, requires
 * Our quick remove from hence.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I shall do't.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE III. Alexandria. A Room in CLEOPATRA'S palace.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Where is he?

CHARMIAN.
 * I did not see him since.

CLEOPATRA.
 * See where he is, who's with him, what he does:—
 * I did not send you:—if you find him sad,
 * Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report
 * That I am sudden sick: quick, and return.

[Exit ALEXAS.]

CHARMIAN.
 * Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly,
 * You do not hold the method to enforce
 * The like from him.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What should I do, I do not?

CHARMIAN.
 * In each thing give him way; cross him in nothing.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Thou teachest like a fool,—the way to lose him.

CHARMIAN.
 * Tempt him not so too far; I wish, forbear;
 * In time we hate that which we often fear.
 * But here comes Antony.

[Enter ANTONY.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * I am sick and sullen.

ANTONY.
 * I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Help me away, dear Charmian; I shall fall;
 * It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature
 * Will not sustain it.

ANTONY.
 * Now, my dearest queen,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Pray you, stand farther from me.

ANTONY.
 * What's the matter?

CLEOPATRA.
 * I know by that same eye there's some good news.
 * What says the married woman?—You may go.
 * Would she had never given you leave to come!
 * Let her not say 'tis I that keep you here,—
 * I have no power upon you; hers you are.

ANTONY.
 * The gods best know,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * O, never was there queen
 * So mightily betray'd! Yet at the first
 * I saw the treasons planted.

ANTONY.
 * Cleopatra,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Why should I think you can be mine and true,
 * Though you in swearing shake the throned gods,
 * Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness,
 * To be entangled with those mouth-made vows,
 * Which break themselves in swearing!

ANTONY.
 * Most sweet queen,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your going,
 * But bid farewell, and go: when you su'd staying,
 * Then was the time for words: no going then;—
 * Eternity was in our lips and eyes,
 * Bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor
 * But was a race of heaven: they are so still,
 * Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world,
 * Art turn'd the greatest liar.

ANTONY.
 * How now, lady!

CLEOPATRA.
 * I would I had thy inches; thou shouldst know
 * There were a heart in Egypt.

ANTONY.
 * Hear me, queen:
 * The strong necessity of time commands
 * Our services awhile; but my full heart
 * Remains in use with you. Our Italy
 * Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius
 * Makes his approaches to the port of Rome;
 * Equality of two domestic powers
 * Breed scrupulous faction: the hated, grown to strength,
 * Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
 * Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace
 * Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd
 * Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
 * And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge
 * By any desperate change. My more particular,
 * And that which most with you should safe my going,
 * Is Fulvia's death.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Though age from folly could not give me freedom,
 * It does from childishness:—can Fulvia die?

ANTONY.
 * She's dead, my queen.
 * Look here, and, at thy sovereign leisure, read
 * The garboils she awak'd;at the last, best.
 * See when and where she died.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O most false love!
 * Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
 * With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
 * In Fulvia's death how mine receiv'd shall be.

ANTONY.
 * Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know
 * The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
 * As you shall give theadvice. By the fire
 * That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence
 * Thy soldier, servant, making peace or war
 * As thou affect'st.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Cut my lace, Charmian, come;—
 * But let it be: I am quickly ill and well,
 * So Antony loves.

ANTONY.
 * My precious queen, forbear;
 * And give true evidence to his love, which stands
 * An honourable trial.

CLEOPATRA.
 * So Fulvia told me.
 * I pr'ythee, turn aside and weep for her;
 * Then bid adieu to me, and say the tears
 * Belong to Egypt: good now, play one scene
 * Of excellent dissembling; and let it look
 * Like perfect honour.

ANTONY.
 * You'll heat my blood: no more.

CLEOPATRA.
 * You can do better yet; but this is meetly.

ANTONY.
 * Now, by my sword,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * And target.—Still he mends;
 * But this is not the best:—look, pr'ythee, Charmian,
 * How this Herculean Roman does become
 * The carriage of his chafe.

ANTONY.
 * I'll leave you, lady.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Courteous lord, one word.
 * Sir, you and I must part,—but that's not it;
 * Sir, you and I have lov'd,—but there's not it;
 * That you know well: something it is I would,—
 * O, my oblivion is a very Antony,
 * And I am all forgotten.

ANTONY.
 * But that your royalty
 * Holds idleness your subject, I should take you
 * For idleness itself.

CLEOPATRA.
 * 'Tis sweating labour
 * To bear such idleness so near the heart
 * As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me;
 * Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
 * Eye well to you: your honour calls you hence;
 * Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly,
 * And all the gods go with you! upon your sword
 * Sit laurel victory! and smooth success
 * Be strew'd before your feet!

ANTONY.
 * Let us go. Come;
 * Our separation so abides, and flies,
 * That thou, residing here, goes yet with me,
 * And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
 * Away!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IV. Rome. An Apartment in CAESAR'S House.
[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants.]

CAESAR.
 * You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
 * It is not Caesar's natural vice to hate
 * Our great competitor. From Alexandria
 * This is the news:—he fishes, drinks, and wastes
 * The lamps of night in revel: is not more manlike
 * Than Cleopatra;, nor the queen of Ptolemy
 * More womanly than he: hardly gave audience, or
 * Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: you shall find there
 * A man who is the abstract of all faults
 * That all men follow.

LEPIDUS.
 * I must not think there are
 * Evils enow to darken all his goodness:
 * His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
 * More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary
 * Rather than purchas'd; what he cannot change
 * Than what he chooses.

CAESAR.
 * You are too indulgent. Let's grant it is not
 * Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;
 * To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit
 * And keep the turn of tippling with a slave;
 * To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet
 * With knaves that smell of sweat: say this becomes him,—
 * As his composure must be rare indeed
 * Whom these things cannot blemish,—yet must Antony
 * No way excuse his foils when we do bear
 * So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd
 * His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
 * Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
 * Call on him for't: but to confound such time
 * That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud
 * As his own state and ours,—'tis to be chid
 * As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge,
 * Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
 * And so rebel to judgment.

[Enter a Messenger.]

LEPIDUS.
 * Here's more news.

MESSENGER.
 * Thy biddings have been done; and every hour,
 * Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report
 * How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
 * And it appears he is belov'd of those
 * That only have fear'd Caesar: to the ports
 * The discontents repair, and men's reports
 * Give him much wrong'd.

CAESAR.
 * I should have known no less:
 * It hath been taught us from the primal state
 * That he which is was wish'd until he were;
 * And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love,
 * Comes dear'd by being lack'd. This common body,
 * Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
 * Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
 * To rot itself with motion.

MESSENGER.
 * Caesar, I bring thee word
 * Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
 * Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound
 * With keels of every kind: many hot inroads
 * They make in Italy; the borders maritime
 * Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt:
 * No vessel can peep forth but 'tis as soon
 * Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more
 * Than could his war resisted.

CAESAR.
 * Antony,
 * Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once
 * Was beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st
 * Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
 * Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
 * Though daintily brought up, with patience more
 * Than savages could suffer: thou didst drink
 * The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle
 * Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign
 * The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;
 * Yea, like the stag when snow the pasture sheets,
 * The barks of trees thou browsed'st; on the Alps
 * It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
 * Which some did die to look on: and all this,—
 * It wounds thine honour that I speak it now,—
 * Was borne so like a soldier that thy cheek
 * So much as lank'd not.

LEPIDUS.
 * 'Tis pity of him.

CAESAR.
 * Let his shames quickly
 * Drive him to Rome; 'tis time we twain
 * Did show ourselves i' thefield; and to that end
 * Assemble we immediate council: Pompey
 * Thrives in our idleness.

LEPIDUS.
 * To-morrow, Caesar,
 * I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
 * Both what by sea and land I can be able
 * To front this present time.

CAESAR.
 * Till which encounter
 * It is my business too. Farewell.

LEPIDUS.
 * Farewell, my lord: what you shall know meantime
 * Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,
 * To let me be partaker.

CAESAR.
 * Doubt not, sir;
 * I knew it for my bond.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE V. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Charmian,—

CHARMIAN.
 * Madam?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Ha, ha!—
 * Give me to drink mandragora.

CHARMIAN.
 * Why, madam?

CLEOPATRA.
 * That I might sleep out this great gap of time
 * My Antony is away.

CHARMIAN.
 * You think of him too much.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O, 'tis treason!

CHARMIAN.
 * Madam, I trust, not so.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Thou, eunuch Mardian!

MARDIAN.
 * What's your highness' pleasure?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Not now to hear thee sing; I take no pleasure
 * In aught an eunuch has; 'tis well for thee
 * That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts
 * May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?

MARDIAN.
 * Yes, gracious madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Indeed!

MARDIAN.
 * Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing
 * But what indeed is honest to be done:
 * Yet have I fierce affections, and think
 * What Venus did with Mars.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O Charmian,
 * Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he or sits he?
 * Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?
 * O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
 * Do bravely, horse! for wott'st thou whom thou mov'st?
 * The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
 * And burgonet of men.—He's speaking now,
 * Or murmuring 'Where's my serpent of old Nile?'
 * For so he calls me.—Now I feed myself
 * With most delicious poison:—think on me,
 * That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
 * And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Caesar,
 * When thou wast here above the ground I was
 * A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey
 * Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow;
 * There would he anchor his aspect and die
 * With looking on his life.

[Enter ALEXAS.]

ALEXAS.
 * Sovereign of Egypt, hail!

CLEOPATRA.
 * How much unlike art thou Mark Antony!
 * Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath
 * With his tinct gilded thee.—
 * How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?

ALEXAS.
 * Last thing he did, dear queen,
 * He kiss'd,—the last of many doubled kisses,—
 * This orient pearl: his speech sticks in my heart.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Mine ear must pluck it thence.

ALEXAS.
 * 'Good friend,' quoth he
 * 'Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt sends
 * This treasure of an oyster; at whose foot,
 * To mend the petty present, I will piece
 * Her opulent throne with kingdoms; all the east,
 * Say thou, shall call her mistress.' So he nodded,
 * And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed,
 * Who neigh'd so high that what I would have spoke
 * Was beastly dumb'd by him.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What, was he sad or merry?

ALEXAS.
 * Like to the time o' the year between the extremes
 * Of hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O well-divided disposition!—Note him,
 * Note him, good Charmian; 'tis the man; but note him:
 * He was not sad,—for he would shine on those
 * That make their looks by his; he was not merry,—
 * Which seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay
 * In Egypt with his joy; but between both:
 * O heavenly mingle!—Be'st thou sad or merry,
 * The violence of either thee becomes,
 * So does it no man else.—Mett'st thou my posts?

ALEXAS.
 * Ay, madam, twenty several messengers.
 * Why do you send so thick?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Who's born that day
 * When I forget to send to Antony
 * Shall die a beggar.—Ink and paper, Charmian.—
 * Welcome, my good Alexas.—Did I, Charmian,
 * Ever love Caesar so?

CHARMIAN.
 * O that brave Caesar!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Be chok'd with such another emphasis!
 * Say 'the brave Antony.'

CHARMIAN.
 * The valiant Caesar!

CLEOPATRA.
 * By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth
 * If thou with Caesar paragon again
 * My man of men.

CHARMIAN.
 * By your most gracious pardon,
 * I sing but after you.

CLEOPATRA.
 * My salad days,
 * When I was green in judgment:—cold in blood,
 * To say as I said then!—But come, away;
 * Get me ink and paper: he shall have every day
 * A several greeting,
 * Or I'll unpeople Egypt.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE I. Messina. A Room in POMPEY'S house.
[Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS.]

POMPEY.
 * If the great gods be just, they shall assist
 * The deeds of justest men.

MENECRATES.
 * Know, worthy Pompey,
 * That what they do delay they not deny.

POMPEY.
 * Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays
 * The thing we sue for.

MENECRATES.
 * We, ignorant of ourselves,
 * Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
 * Deny us for our good; so find we profit
 * By losing of our prayers.

POMPEY.
 * I shall do well;
 * The people love me, and the sea is mine;
 * My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope
 * Says it will come to the full. Mark Antony
 * In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make
 * No wars without doors: Caesar gets money where
 * He loses hearts: Lepidus flatters both,
 * Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves
 * Nor either cares for him.

MENAS.
 * Caesar and Lepidus
 * Are in the field: a mighty strength they carry.

POMPEY.
 * Where have you this? 'tis false.

MENAS.
 * From Silvius, sir.

POMPEY.
 * He dreams: I know they are in Rome together,
 * Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,
 * Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip!
 * Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both!
 * Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
 * Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks
 * Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite;
 * That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour
 * Even till a Lethe'd dullness.

[Enter VARRIUS.]

How now, Varrius!

VARRIUS.
 * This is most certain that I shall deliver:—
 * Mark Antony is every hour in Rome
 * Expected: since he went from Egypt 'tis
 * A space for further travel.

POMPEY.
 * I could have given less matter
 * A better ear.—Menas, I did not think
 * This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm
 * For such a petty war; his soldiership
 * Is twice the other twain: but let us rear
 * The higher our opinion, that our stirring
 * Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck
 * The ne'er lust-wearied Antony.

MENAS.
 * I cannot hope
 * Caesar and Antony shall well greet together:
 * His wife that's dead did trespasses to Caesar;
 * His brother warr'd upon him; although, I think,
 * Not mov'd by Antony.

POMPEY.
 * I know not, Menas,
 * How lesser enmities may give way to greater.
 * Were't not that we stand up against them all,
 * 'Twere pregnant they should square between themselves;
 * For they have entertained cause enough
 * To draw their swords: but how the fear of us
 * May cement their divisions, and bind up
 * The petty difference, we yet not know.
 * Be't as our gods will have't! It only stands
 * Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.
 * Come, Menas.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Rome. A Room in the House of LEPIDUS.
[Enter ENOBARBUS and LEPIDUS.]

LEPIDUS.
 * Good Enobarbus, 'tis a worthy deed,
 * And shall become you well, to entreat your captain
 * To soft and gentle speech.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I shall entreat him
 * To answer like himself: if Caesar move him,
 * Let Antony look over Caesar's head,
 * And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,
 * Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard,
 * I would not shave't to-day.

LEPIDUS.
 * 'Tis not a time
 * For private stomaching.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Every time
 * Serves for the matter that is then born in't.

LEPIDUS.
 * But small to greater matters must give way.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Not if the small come first.

LEPIDUS.
 * Your speech is passion:
 * But, pray you, stir no embers up. Here comes
 * The noble Antony.

[Enter ANTONY and VENTIDIUS.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * And yonder, Caesar.

[Enter CAESAR, MAECENAS, and AGRIPPA.]

ANTONY.
 * If we compose well here, to Parthia;
 * Hark, Ventidius.

CAESAR.
 * I do not know,
 * Maecenas; ask Agrippa.

LEPIDUS.
 * Noble friends,
 * That which combin'd us was most great, and let not
 * A leaner action rend us. What's amiss,
 * May it be gently heard: when we debate
 * Our trivial difference loud, we do commit
 * Murder in healing wounds: then, noble partners,—
 * The rather for I earnestly beseech,—
 * Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms,
 * Nor curstness grow to the matter.

ANTONY.
 * 'Tis spoken well.
 * Were we before our armies, and to fight,
 * I should do thus.

CAESAR.
 * Welcome to Rome.

ANTONY.
 * Thank you.

CAESAR.
 * Sit.

ANTONY.
 * Sit, sir.

CAESAR.
 * Nay, then.

ANTONY.
 * I learn you take things ill which are not so,
 * Or being, concern you not.

CAESAR.
 * I must be laugh'd at
 * If, or for nothing or a little, I
 * Should say myself offended, and with you
 * Chiefly i' the world; more laugh'd at that I should
 * Once name you derogately, when to sound your name
 * It not concern'd me.

ANTONY.
 * My being in Egypt, Caesar,
 * What was't to you?

CAESAR.
 * No more than my residing here at Rome
 * Might be to you in Egypt: yet, if you there
 * Did practise on my state, your being in Egypt
 * Might be my question.

ANTONY.
 * How intend you practis'd?

CAESAR.
 * You may be pleas'd to catch at mine intent
 * By what did here befall me. Your wife and brother
 * Made wars upon me; and their contestation
 * Was theme for you, you were the word of war.

ANTONY.
 * You do mistake your business; my brother never
 * Did urge me in his act: I did inquire it;
 * And have my learning from some true reports
 * That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather
 * Discredit my authority with yours;
 * And make the wars alike against my stomach,
 * Having alike your cause? Of this my letters
 * Before did satisfy you. If you'll patch a quarrel
 * As matter whole you have not to make it with,
 * It must not be with this.

CAESAR.
 * You praise yourself
 * By laying defects of judgment to me; but
 * You patch'd up your excuses.

ANTONY.
 * Not so, not so;
 * I know you could not lack, I am certain on't,
 * Very necessity of this thought, that I,
 * Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought,
 * Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars
 * Which 'fronted mine own peace. As for my wife,
 * I would you had her spirit in such another:
 * The third o' theworld is yours; which with a snaffle
 * You may pace easy, but not such a wife.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Would we had all such wives, that the men
 * Might go to wars with the women.

ANTONY.
 * So much uncurbable, her garboils, Caesar,
 * Made out of her impatience,—which not wanted
 * Shrewdness of policy too,—I grieving grant
 * Did you too much disquiet: for that you must
 * But say I could not help it.

CAESAR.
 * I wrote to you
 * When rioting in Alexandria; you
 * Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts
 * Did gibe my missive out of audience.

ANTONY.
 * Sir,
 * He fell upon me ere admitted: then
 * Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want
 * Of what I was i' the morning: but next day
 * I told him of myself; which was as much
 * As to have ask'd him pardon. Let this fellow
 * Be nothing of our strife; if we contend,
 * Out of our question wipe him.

CAESAR.
 * You have broken
 * The article of your oath; which you shall never
 * Have tongue to charge me with.

LEPIDUS.
 * Soft, Caesar!

ANTONY.
 * No; Lepidus, let him speak.
 * The honour is sacred which he talks on now,
 * Supposing that I lack'd it.—But on, Caesar;
 * The article of my oath.

CAESAR.
 * To lend me arms and aid when I requir'd them;
 * The which you both denied.

ANTONY.
 * Neglected, rather;
 * And then when poison'd hours had bound me up
 * From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may,
 * I'll play the penitent to you: but mine honesty
 * Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power
 * Work without it. Truth is, that Fulvia,
 * To have me out of Egypt, made wars here;
 * For which myself, the ignorant motive, do
 * So far ask pardon as befits mine honour
 * To stoop in such a case.

LEPIDUS.
 * 'Tis noble spoken.

MAECENAS.
 * If it might please you to enforce no further
 * The griefs between ye: to forget them quite
 * Were to remember that the present need
 * Speaks to atone you.

LEPIDUS.
 * Worthily spoken, Maecenas.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Or, if you borrow one another's love for the instant, you may,
 * when you hear no more words of Pompey, return it again: you shall
 * have time to wrangle in when you have nothing else to do.

ANTONY.
 * Thou art a soldier only: speak no more.

ENOBARBUS.
 * That truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

ANTONY.
 * You wrong this presence; therefore speak no more.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Go to, then; your considerate stone!

CAESAR.
 * I do not much dislike the matter, but
 * The manner of his speech; for't cannot be
 * We shall remain in friendship, our conditions
 * So differing in their acts. Yet if I knew
 * What hoop should hold us stanch, from edge to edge
 * O' the world, I would pursue it.

AGRIPPA.
 * Give me leave, Caesar,—

CAESAR.
 * Speak, Agrippa.

AGRIPPA.
 * Thou hast a sister by the mother's side,
 * Admir'd Octavia: great Mark Antony
 * Is now a widower.

CAESAR.
 * Say not so, Agrippa:
 * If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
 * Were well deserv'd of rashness.

ANTONY.
 * I am not married, Caesar: let me hear
 * Agrippa further speak.

AGRIPPA.
 * To hold you in perpetual amity,
 * To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
 * With an unslipping knot, take Antony
 * Octavia to his wife; whose beauty claims
 * No worse a husband than the best of men;
 * Whose virtue and whose general graces speak
 * That which none else can utter. By this marriage
 * All little jealousies, which now seem great,
 * And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
 * Would then be nothing: truths would be tales,
 * Where now half tales be truths: her love to both
 * Would each to other, and all loves to both,
 * Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke;
 * For 'tis a studied, not a present thought,
 * By duty ruminated.

ANTONY.
 * Will Caesar speak?

CAESAR.
 * Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd
 * With what is spoke already.

ANTONY.
 * What power is in Agrippa,
 * If I would say 'Agrippa, be it so,'
 * To make this good?

CAESAR.
 * The power of Caesar, and
 * His power unto Octavia.

ANTONY.
 * May I never
 * To this good purpose, that so fairly shows,
 * Dream of impediment!—Let me have thy hand:
 * Further this act of grace; and from this hour
 * The heart of brothers govern in our loves
 * And sway our great designs!

CAESAR.
 * There is my hand.
 * A sister I bequeath you, whom no brother
 * Did ever love so dearly: let her live
 * To join our kingdoms and our hearts; and never
 * Fly off our loves again!

LEPIDUS.
 * Happily, amen!

ANTONY.
 * I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst Pompey;
 * For he hath laid strange courtesies and great
 * Of late upon me. I must thank him only,
 * Lest my remembrance suffer ill report;
 * At heel of that, defy him.

LEPIDUS.
 * Time calls upon's:
 * Of us must Pompey presently be sought,
 * Or else he seeks out us.

ANTONY.
 * Where lies he?

CAESAR.
 * About the Mount Misenum.

ANTONY.
 * What is his strength
 * By land?

CAESAR.
 * Great and increasing; but by sea
 * He is an absolute master.

ANTONY.
 * So is the fame.
 * Would we had spoke together! Haste we for it:
 * Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, despatch we
 * The business we have talk'd of.

CAESAR.
 * With most gladness;
 * And do invite you to my sister's view,
 * Whither straight I'll lead you.

ANTONY.
 * Let us, Lepidus,
 * Not lack your company.

LEPIDUS.
 * Noble Antony,
 * Not sickness should detain me.

[Flourish. Exeunt CAESAR, ANTONY, and LEPIDUS.]

MAECENAS.
 * Welcome from Egypt, sir.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Maecenas!—my honourable friend,
 * Agrippa!—

AGRIPPA.
 * Good Enobarbus!

MAECENAS.
 * We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested. You
 * stay'd well by it in Egypt.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance, and made the night
 * light with drinking.

MAECENAS.
 * Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve
 * persons there. Is this true?

ENOBARBUS.
 * This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had much more monstrous
 * matter of feast, which worthily deserved noting.

MAECENAS.
 * She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square to her.

ENOBARBUS.
 * When she first met Mark Antony she pursed up his heart, upon the
 * river of Cydnus.

AGRIPPA.
 * There she appeared indeed; or my reporter devised well for her.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I will tell you.
 * The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
 * Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
 * Purple the sails, and so perfumèd that
 * The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
 * Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
 * The water which they beat to follow faster,
 * As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
 * It beggar'd all description: she did lie
 * In her pavilion,—cloth-of-gold of tissue,—
 * O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
 * The fancy out-work nature: on each side her
 * Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
 * With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
 * To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
 * And what they undid did.

AGRIPPA.
 * O, rare for Antony!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids,
 * So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,
 * And made their bends adornings: at the helm
 * A seeming mermaid steers: the silken tackle
 * Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands
 * That yarely frame the office. From the barge
 * A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
 * Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
 * Her people out upon her; and Antony,
 * Enthron'd i' the market-place, did sit alone,
 * Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,
 * Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
 * And made a gap in nature.

AGRIPPA.
 * Rare Egyptian!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
 * Invited her to supper: she replied
 * It should be better he became her guest;
 * Which she entreated: our courteous Antony,
 * Whom ne'er the word of 'No' woman heard speak,
 * Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast,
 * And, for his ordinary, pays his heart
 * For what his eyes eat only.

AGRIPPA.
 * Royal wench!
 * She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed:
 * He ploughed her, and she cropp'd.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I saw her once
 * Hop forty paces through the public street;
 * And, having lost her breath, she spoke and panted,
 * That she did make defect perfection,
 * And, breathless, power breathe forth.

MAECENAS.
 * Now Antony must leave her utterly.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Never; he will not:
 * Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
 * Her infinite variety: other women cloy
 * The appetites they feed; but she makes hungry
 * Where most she satisfies: for vilest things
 * Become themselves in her; that the holy priests
 * Bless her when she is riggish.

MAECENAS.
 * If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle
 * The heart of Antony, Octavia is
 * A blessed lottery to him.

AGRIPPA.
 * Let us go.—
 * Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest
 * Whilst you abide here.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Humbly, sir, I thank you.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE III. Rome. A Room in CAESAR'S House.
[Enter CAESAR, ANTONY, OCTAVIA between them, and Attendants.]

ANTONY.
 * The world and my great office will sometimes
 * Divide me from your bosom.

OCTAVIA.
 * All which time
 * Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers
 * To them for you.

ANTONY.
 * Good night, sir.—My Octavia,
 * Read not my blemishes in the world's report:
 * I have not kept my square; but that to come
 * Shall all be done by the rule. Good night, dear lady.—

OCTAVIA.
 * Good night, sir.

CAESAR.
 * Good night.

[Exeunt CAESAR and OCTAVIA.]

[Enter SOOTHSAYER.]

ANTONY.
 * Now, sirrah, you do wish yourself in Egypt?

SOOTHSAYER.
 * Would I had never come from thence, nor you
 * Thither!

ANTONY.
 * If you can, your reason.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * I see it in my motion, have it not in my tongue; but yet
 * Hie you to Egypt again.

ANTONY.
 * Say to me,
 * Whose fortunes shall rise higher, Caesar's or mine?

SOOTHSAYER.
 * Caesar's.
 * Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side:
 * Thy demon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is
 * Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable,
 * Where Caesar's is not; but near him thy angel
 * Becomes a fear, as being o'erpower'd: therefore
 * Make space enough between you.

ANTONY.
 * Speak this no more.

SOOTHSAYER.
 * To none but thee; no more but when to thee.
 * If thou dost play with him at any game,
 * Thou art sure to lose; and of that natural luck
 * He beats thee 'gainst the odds: thy lustre thickens
 * When he shines by: I say again, thy spirit
 * Is all afraid to govern thee near him;
 * But, he away, 'tis noble.

ANTONY.
 * Get thee gone:
 * Say to Ventidius I would speak with him:—

[Exit SOOTHSAYER.]

He shall to Parthia.—Be it art or hap,
 * He hath spoken true: the very dice obey him;—
 * And in our sports my better cunning faints
 * Under his chance: if we draw lots, he speeds;
 * His cocks do win the battle still of mine,
 * When it is all to nought; and his quails ever
 * Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds. I will to Egypt:
 * And though I make this marriage for my peace,
 * I' the East my pleasure lies.

[Enter VENTIDIUS.]

O, come, Ventidius,
 * You must to Parthia: your commission's ready;
 * Follow me and receive it.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IV. Rome. A street.
[Enter LEPIDUS, MAECENAS, and AGRIPPA.]

LEPIDUS.
 * Trouble yourselves no further: pray you, hasten
 * Your generals after.

AGRIPPA.
 * Sir, Mark Antony
 * Will e'en but kiss Octavia, and we'll follow.

LEPIDUS.
 * Till I shall see you in your soldier's dress,
 * Which will become you both, farewell.

MAECENAS.
 * We shall,
 * As I conceive the journey, be at the mount
 * Before you, Lepidus.

LEPIDUS.
 * Your way is shorter;
 * My purposes do draw me much about.
 * You'll win two days upon me.

BOTH.
 * Sir, good success!

LEPIDUS.
 * Farewell.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE V. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and Attendants.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Give me some music,—music, moody food
 * Of us that trade in love.

ALL.
 * The music, ho!

[Enter MARDIAN.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Let it alone; let's to billiards:
 * Come, Charmian.

CHARMIAN.
 * My arm is sore; best play with Mardian.

CLEOPATRA.
 * As well a woman with an eunuch play'd
 * As with a woman.—Come, you'll play with me, sir?

MARDIAN.
 * As well as I can, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * And when good will is show'd, though't come too short,
 * The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now:—
 * Give me mine angle,—we'll to the river. There,
 * My music playing far off, I will betray
 * Tawny-finn'd fishes; my bended hook shall pierce
 * Their slimy jaws; and as I draw them up
 * I'll think them every one an Antony,
 * And say 'Ah ha! You're caught.'

CHARMIAN.
 * 'Twas merry when
 * You wager'd on your angling; when your diver
 * Did hang a salt fish on his hook, which he
 * With fervency drew up.

CLEOPATRA.
 * That time?—O times!—
 * I laughed him out of patience; and that night
 * I laugh'd him into patience: and next morn,
 * Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed;
 * Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst
 * I wore his sword Philippan.

[Enter a MESSENGER.]

O! from Italy!—
 * Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears,
 * That long time have been barren.

MESSENGER.
 * Madam, madam,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Antony's dead!—
 * If thou say so, villain, thou kill'st thy mistress;
 * But well and free,
 * If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here
 * My bluest veins to kiss,—a hand that kings
 * Have lipp'd, and trembled kissing.

MESSENGER.
 * First, madam, he's well.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Why, there's more gold.
 * But, sirrah, mark, we use
 * To say the dead are well: bring it to that,
 * The gold I give thee will I melt and pour
 * Down thy ill-uttering throat.

MESSENGER.
 * Good madam, hear me.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Well, go to, I will;
 * But there's no goodness in thy face: if Antony
 * Be free and healthful,—why so tart a favour
 * To trumpet such good tidings! If not well,
 * Thou shouldst come like a fury crown'd with snakes,
 * Not like a formal man.

MESSENGER.
 * Will't please you hear me?

CLEOPATRA.
 * I have a mind to strike thee ere thou speak'st:
 * Yet, if thou say Antony lives, is well,
 * Or friends with Caesar, or not captive to him,
 * I'll set thee in a shower of gold, and hail
 * Rich pearls upon thee.

MESSENGER.
 * Madam, he's well.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Well said.

MESSENGER.
 * And friends with Caesar.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Th'art an honest man.

MESSENGER.
 * Caesar and he are greater friends than ever.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Make thee a fortune from me.

MESSENGER.
 * But yet, madam,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * I do not like 'but yet', it does allay
 * The good precedence; fie upon 'but yet'!
 * 'But yet' is as a gaoler to bring forth
 * Some monstrous malefactor. Pr'ythee, friend,
 * Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear,
 * The good and bad together: he's friends with Caesar;
 * In state of health, thou say'st; and, thou say'st, free.

MESSENGER.
 * Free, madam! no; I made no such report:
 * He's bound unto Octavia.

CLEOPATRA.
 * For what good turn?

MESSENGER.
 * For the best turn i' the bed.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I am pale, Charmian.

MESSENGER.
 * Madam, he's married to Octavia.

CLEOPATRA.
 * The most infectious pestilence upon thee!

[Strikes him down.]

MESSENGER.
 * Good madam, patience.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What say you?—Hence,

[Strikes him again.]

Horrible villain! or I'll spurn thine eyes
 * Like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head:

[She hales him up and down.]

Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire and stew'd in brine,
 * Smarting in ling'ring pickle.

MESSENGER.
 * Gracious madam,
 * I that do bring the news made not the match.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Say 'tis not so, a province I will give thee,
 * And make thy fortunes proud: the blow thou hadst
 * Shall make thy peace for moving me to rage;
 * And I will boot thee with what gift beside
 * Thy modesty can beg.

MESSENGER.
 * He's married, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Rogue, thou hast liv'd too long.

[Draws a dagger.]

MESSENGER.
 * Nay, then I'll run.—
 * What mean you, madam? I have made no fault.

[Exit.]

CHARMIAN.
 * Good madam, keep yourself within yourself:
 * The man is innocent.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Some innocents scape not the thunderbolt.—
 * Melt Egypt into Nile! and kindly creatures
 * Turn all to serpents!—Call the slave again:—
 * Though I am mad, I will not bite him:—call!

CHARMIAN.
 * He is afear'd to come.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I will not hurt him.

[Exit CHARMIAN.]

These hands do lack nobility, that they strike
 * A meaner than myself; since I myself
 * Have given myself the cause.

[Re-enter CHARMIAN and Messenger.]

Come hither, sir.
 * Though it be honest, it is never good
 * To bring bad news: give to a gracious message
 * An host of tongues; but let ill tidings tell
 * Themselves when they be felt.

MESSENGER.
 * I have done my duty.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Is he married?
 * I cannot hate thee worser than I do
 * If thou again say 'Yes.'

MESSENGER.
 * He's married, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * The gods confound thee! dost thou hold there still!

MESSENGER.
 * Should I lie, madam?

CLEOPATRA.
 * O, I would thou didst,
 * So half my Egypt were submerg'd, and made
 * A cistern for scal'd snakes! Go, get thee hence:
 * Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me
 * Thou wouldst appear most ugly. He is married?

MESSENGER.
 * I crave your highness' pardon.

CLEOPATRA.
 * He is married?

MESSENGER.
 * Take no offence that I would not offend you:
 * To punish me for what you make me do
 * Seems much unequal: he's married to Octavia.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O, that his fault should make a knave of thee
 * That art not what tho'rt sure of!—Get thee hence:
 * The merchandise which thou hast brought from Rome
 * Are all too dear for me: lie they upon thy hand,
 * And be undone by 'em!

[Exit Messenger.]

CHARMIAN.
 * Good your highness, patience.

CLEOPATRA.
 * In praising Antony I have disprais'd Caesar.

CHARMIAN.
 * Many times, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I am paid for't now.
 * Lead me from hence;
 * I faint:—O Iras, Charmian!—'tis no matter.—
 * Go to the fellow, good Alexas; bid him
 * Report the feature of Octavia, her years,
 * Her inclination; let him not leave out
 * The colour of her hair:—bring me word quickly.

[Exit ALEXAS.]


 * Let him for ever go:—let him not, Charmian—
 * Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon,
 * T'other way he's a Mars.—[To MARDIAN] Bid you Alexas
 * Bring me word how tall she is.—Pity me, Charmian,
 * But do not speak to me.—Lead me to my chamber.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VI. Near Misenum.
[Flourish. Enter POMPEY and MENAS at one side, with drum and
 * trumpet; at the other, CAESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, ENOBARBUS,
 * MAECENAS, with Soldiers marching.]

POMPEY.
 * Your hostages I have, so have you mine;
 * And we shall talk before we fight.

CAESAR.
 * Most meet
 * That first we come to words; and therefore have we
 * Our written purposes before us sent;
 * Which, if thou hast consider'd, let us know
 * If 'twill tie up thy discontented sword,
 * And carry back to Sicily much tall youth
 * That else must perish here.

POMPEY.
 * To you all three,
 * The senators alone of this great world,
 * Chief factors for the gods,—I do not know
 * Wherefore my father should revengers want,
 * Having a son and friends; since Julius Caesar,
 * Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,
 * There saw you labouring for him. What was't
 * That mov'd pale Cassius to conspire; and what
 * Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus,
 * With the arm'd rest, courtiers of beauteous freedom,
 * To drench the Capitol, but that they would
 * Have one man but a man? And that is it
 * Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burden
 * The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant
 * To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome
 * Cast on my noble father.

CAESAR.
 * Take your time.

ANTONY.
 * Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy sails;
 * We'll speak with thee at sea: at land thou know'st
 * How much we do o'er-count thee.

POMPEY.
 * At land, indeed,
 * Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house:
 * But, since the cuckoo builds not for himself,
 * Remain in't as thou mayst.

LEPIDUS.
 * Be pleas'd to tell us,—
 * For this is from the present,—how you take
 * The offers we have sent you.

CAESAR.
 * There's the point.

ANTONY.
 * Which do not be entreated to, but weigh
 * What it is worth embrac'd.

CAESAR.
 * And what may follow,
 * To try a larger fortune.

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 unhack'd edges and bear back
 * Our targes undinted.

CAESAR, ANTONY, and LEPIDUS.
 * That's our offer.

POMPEY.
 * Know, then,
 * I came before you here a man prepar'd
 * To take this offer: but Mark Antony
 * Put me to some impatience:—though I lose
 * The praise of it by telling, you must know,
 * When Caesar and your brother were at blows,
 * Your mother came to Sicily, and did find
 * Her welcome friendly.

ANTONY.
 * I have heard it, Pompey,
 * And am well studied for a liberal thanks
 * Which I do owe you.

POMPEY.
 * Let me have your hand:
 * I did not think, sir, to have met you here.

ANTONY.
 * The beds i' the East are soft; and, thanks to you,
 * That call'd me, timelier than my purpose, hither;
 * For I have gained by it.

CAESAR.
 * Since I saw you last
 * There is a change upon you.

POMPEY.
 * Well, I know not
 * What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face;
 * But in my bosom shall she never come
 * To make my heart her vassal.

LEPIDUS.
 * Well met here.

POMPEY.
 * I hope so, Lepidus.—Thus we are agreed:
 * I crave our composition may be written,
 * And seal'd between us.

CAESAR.
 * That's the next to do.

POMPEY.
 * We'll feast each other ere we part; and let's
 * Draw lots who shall begin.

ANTONY.
 * That will I, Pompey.

POMPEY.
 * No, Antony, take the lot: but, first
 * Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery
 * Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar
 * Grew fat with feasting there.

ANTONY.
 * You have heard much.

POMPEY.
 * I have fair meanings, sir.

ANTONY.
 * And fair words to them.

POMPEY.
 * Then so much have I heard;
 * And I have heard Apollodorus carried,—

ENOBARBUS.
 * No more of that:—he did so.

POMPEY.
 * What, I pray you?

ENOBARBUS.
 * A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.

POMPEY.
 * I know thee now: how far'st thou, soldier?

ENOBARBUS.
 * Well;
 * And well am like to do; for I perceive
 * Four feasts are toward.

POMPEY.
 * Let me shake thy hand;
 * I never hated thee: I have seen thee fight,
 * When I have envied thy behaviour.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Sir,
 * I never lov'd you much; but I ha' prais'd ye
 * When you have well deserv'd ten times as much
 * As I have said you did.

POMPEY.
 * Enjoy thy plainness;
 * It nothing ill becomes thee.—
 * Aboard my galley I invite you all:
 * Will you lead, lords?

CAESAR, ANTONY, and LEPIDUS.
 * Show's the way, sir.

POMPEY.
 * Come.

[Exeunt all but ENOBARBUS and MENAS.]

MENAS.
 * [Aside.] Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er have made this treaty.—
 * You and I have known, sir.

ENOBARBUS.
 * At sea, I think.

MENAS.
 * We have, sir.

ENOBARBUS.
 * You have done well by water.

MENAS.
 * And you by land.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I will praise any man that will praise me; though it cannot be
 * denied what I have done by land.

MENAS.
 * Nor what I have done by water.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Yes, something you can deny for your own safety: you have been a
 * great thief by sea.

MENAS.
 * And you by land.

ENOBARBUS.
 * There I deny my land service. But give me your hand, Menas: if
 * our eyes had authority, here they might take two thieves kissing.

MENAS.
 * All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their hands are.

ENOBARBUS.
 * But there is never a fair woman has a true face.

MENAS.
 * No slander; they steal hearts.

ENOBARBUS.
 * We came hither to fight with you.

MENAS.
 * For my part, I am sorry it is turn'd to a drinking. Pompey doth
 * this day laugh away his fortune.

ENOBARBUS.
 * If he do, sure he cannot weep it back again.

MENAS.
 * You have said, sir. We look'd not for Mark Antony here: pray you,
 * is he married to Cleopatra?

ENOBARBUS.
 * Caesar's sister is called Octavia.

MENAS.
 * True, sir; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus.

ENOBARBUS.
 * But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius.

MENAS.
 * Pray you, sir?

ENOBARBUS.
 * 'Tis true.

MENAS.
 * Then is Caesar and he for ever knit together.

ENOBARBUS.
 * If I were bound to divine of this unity, I would not prophesy so.

MENAS.
 * I think the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage than
 * the love of the parties.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I think so too. But you shall find the band that seems to tie
 * their friendship together will be the very strangler of their
 * amity: Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation.

MENAS.
 * Who would not have his wife so?

ENOBARBUS.
 * Not he that himself is not so; which is Mark Antony. He will to
 * his Egyptian dish again: then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the
 * fire up in Caesar; and, as I said before, that which is the
 * strength of their amity shall prove the immediate author of their
 * variance. Antony will use his affection where it is: he married
 * but his occasion here.

MENAS.
 * And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you aboard? I have a health
 * for you.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I shall take it, sir: we have used our throats in Egypt.

MENAS.
 * Come, let's away.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VII. On board POMPEY'S Galley, lying near Misenum.
[Music. Enter two or three SERVANTS with a banquet.]

FIRST SERVANT.
 * Here they'll be, man. Some o' their plants are ill-rooted
 * already; the least wind i' the world will blow them down.

SECOND SERVANT.
 * Lepidus is high-coloured.

FIRST SERVANT.
 * They have made him drink alms-drink.

SECOND SERVANT.
 * As they pinch one another by the disposition, he cries out 'no
 * more'; reconciles them to his entreaty and himself to the drink.

FIRST SERVANT.
 * But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion.

SECOND SERVANT.
 * Why, this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship: I had
 * as lief have a reed that will do me no service as a partizan I
 * could not heave.

FIRST SERVANT.
 * To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't,
 * are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the
 * cheeks.

[A sennet sounded. Enter CAESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, POMPEY, AGRIPPA, MAECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains.]

ANTONY.
 * [To CAESAR.] Thus do they, sir: they take the flow o' the Nile
 * By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know
 * By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth
 * Or foison follow: the higher Nilus swells
 * The more it promises; as it ebbs, the seedsman
 * Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,
 * And shortly comes to harvest.

LEPIDUS.
 * You've strange serpents there.

ANTONY.
 * Ay, Lepidus.

LEPIDUS.
 * Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by
 * the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile.

ANTONY.
 * They are so.

POMPEY.
 * Sit —and some wine!—A health to Lepidus!

LEPIDUS.
 * I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Not till you have slept; I fear me you'll be in till then.

LEPIDUS.
 * Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are very
 * goodly things; without contradiction I have heard that.

MENAS.
 * [Aside to POMPEY.] Pompey, a word.

POMPEY.
 * [Aside to MENAS.] Say in mine ear: what is't?

MENAS.
 * [Aside to POMPEY.] Forsake thy seat, I do beseech thee, captain,
 * And hear me speak a word.

POMPEY.
 * [Aside to MENAS.] Forbear me till ano.n—
 * This wine for Lepidus!

LEPIDUS.
 * What manner o' thing is your crocodile?

ANTONY.
 * It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad as it hath
 * breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with it own
 * organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it, and the elements
 * once out of it, it transmigrates.

LEPIDUS.
 * What colour is it of?

ANTONY.
 * Of its own colour too.

LEPIDUS.
 * 'Tis a strange serpent.

ANTONY.
 * 'Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.

CAESAR.
 * Will this description satisfy him?

ANTONY.
 * With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure.

POMPEY.
 * [Aside to MENAS.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that! away!
 * Do as I bid you.—Where's this cup I call'd for?

MENAS.
 * [Aside to POMPEY.] If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me,
 * Rise from thy stool.

POMPEY. [Aside to MENAS.] I think thou'rt mad.

[Rises and walks aside.]


 * The matter?

MENAS.
 * I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes.

POMPEY.
 * Thou hast serv'd me with much faith.
 * What's else to say?—
 * Be jolly, lords.

ANTONY.
 * These quicksands, Lepidus,
 * Keep off them, for you sink.

MENAS.
 * Wilt thou be lord of all the world?

POMPEY.
 * What say'st thou?

MENAS.
 * Wilt thou be lord of the whole world?
 * That's twice.

POMPEY.
 * How should that be?

MENAS.
 * But entertain it,
 * And though you think me poor, I am the man
 * Will give thee all the world.

POMPEY.
 * Hast thou drunk well?

MENAS.
 * No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup.
 * Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove:
 * Whate'er the ocean pales or sky inclips
 * Is thine, if thou wilt have't.

POMPEY.
 * Show me which way.

MENAS.
 * These three world-sharers, these competitors,
 * Are in thy vessel: let me cut the cable;
 * And when we are put off, fall to their throats:
 * All then is thine.

POMPEY.
 * Ah, this thou shouldst have done,
 * And not have spoke on't! In me 'tis villainy:
 * In thee't had been good service. Thou must know
 * 'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour:
 * Mine honour it. Repent that e'er thy tongue
 * Hath so betray'd thine act: being done unknown,
 * I should have found it afterwards well done;
 * But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink.

MENAS.
 * [Aside.] For this,
 * I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.
 * Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd,
 * Shall never find it more.

POMPEY.
 * This health to Lepidus!

ANTONY.
 * Bear him ashore. I'll pledge it for him, Pompey.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Here's to thee, Menas!

MENAS.
 * Enobarbus, welcome!

POMPEY.
 * Fill till the cup be hid.

ENOBARBUS.
 * There's a strong fellow, Menas.

[Pointing to the servant who carries off LEPIDUS.]

MENAS.
 * Why?

ENOBARBUS.
 * 'A bears the third part of the world, man; see'st not?

MENAS.
 * The third part, then, is drunk; would it were all,
 * That it might go on wheels!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Drink thou; increase the reels.

MENAS.
 * Come.

POMPEY.
 * This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.

ANTONY.
 * It ripens towards it.—Strike the vessels, ho!—
 * Here is to Caesar!

CAESAR.
 * I could well forbear't.
 * It's monstrous labour when I wash my brain
 * And it grows fouler.

ANTONY.
 * Be a child o' the time.

CAESAR.
 * Possess it, I'll make answer:
 * But I had rather fast from all four days
 * Than drink so much in one.

ENOBARBUS.
 * [To ANTONY.] Ha, my brave emperor!
 * Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals
 * And celebrate our drink?

POMPEY.
 * Let's ha't, good soldier.

ANTONY.
 * Come, let's all take hands,
 * Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense
 * In soft and delicate Lethe.

ENOBARBUS.
 * All take hands.—
 * Make battery to our ears with the loud music:—
 * The while I'll place you: then the boy shall sing;
 * The holding every man shall bear as loud
 * As his strong sides can volley.

[Music plays. ENOBARBUS places them hand in hand.]

SONG.
 * Come, thou monarch of the vine,
 * Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne!
 * In thy fats our cares be drown'd,
 * With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd:
 * Cup us, till the world go round,
 * Cup us, till the world go round!

CAESAR.
 * What would you more?—Pompey, good night. Good brother,
 * Let me request you off: our graver business
 * Frowns at this levity.—Gentle lords, let's part;
 * You see we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarb
 * Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue
 * Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost
 * Antick'd us all. What needs more words. Good night.—
 * Good Antony, your hand.

POMPEY.
 * I'll try you on the shore.

ANTONY.
 * And shall, sir: give's your hand.

POMPEY.
 * O Antony,
 * You have my father's house,—but, what? we are friends.
 * Come, down into the boat.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Take heed you fall not.

[Exeunt POMPEY, CAESAR, ANTONY, and Attendants.]


 * Menas, I'll not on shore.

MENAS.
 * No, to my cabin.—
 * These drums!—these trumpets, flutes! what!—
 * Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell
 * To these great fellows: sound and be hang'd, sound out!

[A flourish of trumpets, with drums.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * Hoo! says 'a.—There's my cap.

MENAS.
 * Hoo!—noble captain, come.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE I. A plain in Syria.
[Enter VENTIDIUS, in triumph, with SILIUS and other Romans,
 * Officers and Soldiers; the dead body of PACORUS borne in front.]

VENTIDIUS.
 * Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck; and now
 * Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death
 * Make me revenger.—Bear the king's son's body
 * Before our army.—Thy Pacorus, Orodes,
 * Pays this for Marcus Crassus.

SILIUS.
 * Noble Ventidius,
 * Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm
 * The fugitive Parthians follow; spur through Media,
 * Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither
 * The routed fly: so thy grand captain Antony
 * Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and
 * Put garlands on thy head.

VENTIDIUS.
 * O Silius, Silius,
 * I have done enough: a lower place, note well,
 * May make too great an act; for learn this, Silius,—
 * Better to leave undone, than by our deed
 * Acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away.
 * Caesar and Antony have ever won
 * More in their officer, than person: Sossius,
 * One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
 * For quick accumulation of renown,
 * Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour.
 * Who does i' the wars more than his captain can
 * Becomes his captain's captain; and ambition,
 * The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss
 * Than gain which darkens him.
 * I could do more to do Antonius good,
 * But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
 * Should my performance perish.

SILIUS.
 * Thou hast, Ventidius, that
 * Without the which a soldier and his sword
 * Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony?

VENTIDIUS.
 * I'll humbly signify what in his name,
 * That magical word of war, we have effected;
 * How, with his banners, and his well-paid ranks,
 * The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia
 * We have jaded out o' the field.

SILIUS.
 * Where is he now?

VENTIDIUS.
 * He purposeth to Athens: whither, with what haste
 * The weight we must convey with's will permit,
 * We shall appear before him.—On, there; pass along!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Rome. An Ante-chamber in CAESAR'S house.
[Enter AGRIPPA and ENOBARBUS, meeting.]

AGRIPPA.
 * What, are the brothers parted?

ENOBARBUS.
 * They have despatch'd with Pompey; he is gone;
 * The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps
 * To part from Rome: Caesar is sad; and Lepidus,
 * Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
 * With the green sickness.

AGRIPPA.
 * 'Tis a noble Lepidus.

ENOBARBUS.
 * A very fine one: O, how he loves Caesar!

AGRIPPA.
 * Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Caesar? Why he's the Jupiter of men.

AGRIPPA.
 * What's Antony? The god of Jupiter.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Spake you of Caesar? How! the nonpareil!

AGRIPPA.
 * O, Antony! O thou Arabian bird!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Would you praise Caesar, say 'Caesar'—go no further.

AGRIPPA.
 * Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.

ENOBARBUS.
 * But he loves Caesar best;—yet he loves Antony:
 * Hoo! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot
 * Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number—hoo!—
 * His love to Antony. But as for Caesar,
 * Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.

AGRIPPA.
 * Both he loves.

ENOBARBUS.
 * They are his shards, and he their beetle.

[Trumpets within.]


 * So,—
 * This is to horse.—Adieu, noble Agrippa.

AGRIPPA.
 * Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.

[Enter CAESAR, ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA.]

ANTONY.
 * No further, sir.

CAESAR.
 * You take from me a great part of myself;
 * Use me well in't.—Sister, prove such a wife
 * As my thoughts make thee, and as my furthest band
 * Shall pass on thy approof.—Most noble Antony,
 * Let not the piece of virtue which is set
 * Betwixt us as the cement of our love,
 * To keep it builded, be the ram to batter
 * The fortress of it; for better might we
 * Have lov'd without this mean if on both parts
 * This be not cherish'd.

ANTONY.
 * Make me not offended
 * In your distrust.

CAESAR.
 * I have said.

ANTONY.
 * You shall not find,
 * Though you be therein curious, the least cause
 * For what you seem to fear: so, the gods keep you,
 * And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!
 * We will here part.

CAESAR.
 * Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well:
 * The elements be kind to thee, and make
 * Thy spirits all of comfort! Fare thee well.

OCTAVIA.
 * My noble brother!—

ANTONY.
 * The April's in her eyes: it is love's spring,
 * And these the showers to bring it on.—Be cheerful.

OCTAVIA.
 * Sir, look well to my husband's house; and—

CAESAR.
 * What,
 * Octavia?

OCTAVIA.
 * I'll tell you in your ear.

ANTONY.
 * Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can
 * Her heart inform her tongue,—the swan's down feather,
 * That stands upon the swell at the full of tide,
 * And neither way inclines.

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside to AGRIPPA.] Will Caesar weep?

AGRIPPA.
 * [Aside to ENOBARBUS.] He has a cloud in's face.

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside to AGRIPPA.] He were the worse for that, were he a horse;
 * So is he, being a man.

AGRIPPA.
 * [Aside to ENOBARBUS.] Why, Enobarbus,
 * When Antony found Julius Caesar dead,
 * He cried almost to roaring; and he wept
 * When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside to AGRIPPA.] That year, indeed, he was troubled with a
 * rheum;
 * What willingly he did confound he wail'd:
 * Believe't till I weep too.

CAESAR.
 * No, sweet Octavia,
 * You shall hear from me still; the time shall not
 * Out-go my thinking on you.

ANTONY.
 * Come, sir, come;
 * I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
 * Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,
 * And give you to the gods.

CAESAR.
 * Adieu; be happy!

LEPIDUS.
 * Let all the number of the stars give light
 * To thy fair way!

CAESAR.
 * Farewell, farewell!

[Kisses OCTAVIA.]

ANTONY.
 * Farewell!

[Trumpets sound within. Exeunt.]

SCENE III. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Where is the fellow?

ALEXAS.
 * Half afear'd to come.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Go to, go to.

[Enter a Messenger.]

Come hither, sir.

ALEXAS.
 * Good majesty,
 * Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you
 * But when you are well pleas'd.

CLEOPATRA.
 * That Herod's head
 * I'll have: but how? when Antony is gone,
 * Through whom I might command it?—Come thou near.

MESSENGER.
 * Most gracious majesty,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Didst thou behold Octavia?

MESSENGER.
 * Ay, dread queen.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Where?

MESSENGER.
 * Madam, in Rome
 * I look'd her in the face, and saw her led
 * Between her brother and Mark Antony.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Is she as tall as me?

MESSENGER.
 * She is not, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Didst hear her speak? is she shrill-tongu'd or low?

MESSENGER.
 * Madam, I heard her speak: she is low-voic'd.

CLEOPATRA.
 * That's not so good:—he cannot like her long.

CHARMIAN.
 * Like her! O Isis! 'tis impossible.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I think so, Charmian: dull of tongue and dwarfish!—
 * What majesty is in her gait? Remember,
 * If e'er thou look'dst on majesty.

MESSENGER.
 * She creeps,—
 * Her motion and her station are as one;
 * She shows a body rather than a life,
 * A statue than a breather.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Is this certain?

MESSENGER.
 * Or I have no observance.

CHARMIAN.
 * Three in Egypt
 * Cannot make better note.

CLEOPATRA.
 * He's very knowing;
 * I do perceive't:—there's nothing in her yet:—
 * The fellow has good judgment.

CHARMIAN.
 * Excellent.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Guess at her years, I pr'ythee.

MESSENGER.
 * Madam,
 * She was a widow.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Widow!—Charmian, hark!

MESSENGER.
 * And I do think she's thirty.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Bear'st thou her face in mind? is't long or round?

MESSENGER.
 * Round even to faultiness.

CLEOPATRA.
 * For the most part, too, they are foolish that are so.—
 * Her hair, what colour?

MESSENGER.
 * Brown, madam: and her forehead
 * As low as she would wish it.

CLEOPATRA.
 * There's gold for thee.
 * Thou must not take my former sharpness ill:—
 * I will employ thee back again; I find thee
 * Most fit for business:—go make thee ready;
 * Our letters are prepar'd.

[Exit Messenger.]

CHARMIAN.
 * A proper man.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Indeed, he is so: I repent me much
 * That so I harried him. Why, methinks, by him,
 * This creature's no such thing.

CHARMIAN.
 * Nothing, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * The man hath seen some majesty, and should know.

CHARMIAN.
 * Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend,
 * And serving you so long!

CLEOPATRA.
 * I have one thing more to ask him yet, good Charmian:
 * But 'tis no matter; thou shalt bring him to me
 * Where I will write. All may be well enough.

CHARMIAN.
 * I warrant you, madam.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IV. Athens. A Room in ANTONY'S House.
[Enter ANTONY and OCTAVIA.]

ANTONY.
 * Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that,—
 * That were excusable, that and thousands more
 * Of semblable import—but he hath wag'd
 * New wars 'gainst Pompey; made his will, and read it
 * To public ear:
 * Spoke scandy of me: when perforce he could not
 * But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly
 * He vented them:most narrow measure lent me;
 * When the best hint was given him, he not took't,
 * Or did it from his teeth.

OCTAVIA.
 * O my good lord,
 * Believe not all; or if you must believe,
 * Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady,
 * If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
 * Praying for both parts:
 * Sure the good gods will mock me presently
 * When I shall pray 'O, bless my lord and husband!'
 * Undo that prayer by crying out as loud
 * 'O, bless my brother!' Husband win, win brother,
 * Prays and destroys the prayer; no mid-way
 * 'Twixt these extremes at all.

ANTONY.
 * Gentle Octavia,
 * Let your best love draw to that point which seeks
 * Best to preserve it: if I lose mine honour,
 * I lose myself: better I were not yours
 * Than yours so branchless. But, as you requested,
 * Yourself shall go between's: the meantime, lady,
 * I'll raise the preparation of a war
 * Shall stain your brother: make your soonest haste;
 * So your desires are yours.

OCTAVIA.
 * Thanks to my lord.
 * The Jove of power make me, most weak, most weak,
 * Your reconciler! Wars 'twixt you twain would be
 * As if the world should cleave, and that slain men
 * Should solder up the rift.

ANTONY.
 * When it appears to you where this begins,
 * Turn your displeasure that way; for our faults
 * Can never be so equal that your love
 * Can equally move with them. Provide your going;
 * Choose your own company, and command what cost
 * Your heart has mind to.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE V. Athens. Another Room in ANTONY'S House.
[Enter ENOBARBUS and EROS, meeting.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * How now, friend Eros!

EROS.
 * There's strange news come, sir.

ENOBARBUS.
 * What, man?

EROS.
 * Caesar and Lepidus have made wars upon Pompey.

ENOBARBUS.
 * This is old: what is the success?

EROS.
 * Caesar, having made use of him in the wars 'gainst Pompey,
 * presently denied him rivality; would not let him partake in the
 * glory of the action: and not resting here, accuses him of letters
 * he had formerly wrote to Pompey; upon his own appeal, seizes him:
 * so the poor third is up, till death enlarge his confine.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Then, world, thou hast a pair of chaps, no more;
 * And throw between them all the food thou hast,
 * They'll grind the one the other. Where's Antony?

EROS.
 * He's walking in the garden—thus; and spurns
 * The rush that lies before him; cries 'Fool Lepidus!'
 * And threats the throat of that his officer
 * That murder'd Pompey.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Our great navy's rigg'd.

EROS.
 * For Italy and Caesar. More, Domitius;
 * My lord desires you presently: my news
 * I might have told hereafter.

ENOBARBUS.
 * 'Twill be naught;
 * But let it be.—Bring me to Antony.

EROS.
 * Come, sir.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VI. Rome. A Room in CAESAR'S House.
[Enter CAESAR, AGRIPPA, and MAECENAS.]

CAESAR.
 * Contemning Rome, he has done all this, and more,
 * In Alexandria. Here's the manner of't:—
 * I' the market-place, on a tribunal silver'd,
 * Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold
 * Were publicly enthron'd: at the feet sat
 * Caesarion, whom they call my father's son,
 * And all the unlawful issue that their lust
 * Since then hath made between them. Unto her
 * He gave the 'stablishment of Egypt; made her
 * Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia,
 * Absolute queen.

MAECENAS.
 * This in the public eye?

CAESAR.
 * I' the common show-place, where they exercise.
 * His sons he there proclaim'd the kings of kings:
 * Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia,
 * He gave to Alexander; to Ptolemy he assign'd
 * Syria, Cilicia, and Phoenicia: she
 * In the habiliments of the goddess Isis
 * That day appear'd; and oft before gave audience,
 * As 'tis reported, so.

MAECENAS.
 * Let Rome be thus
 * Inform'd.

AGRIPPA.
 * Who, queasy with his insolence
 * Already, will their good thoughts call from him.

CAESAR.
 * The people knows it: and have now receiv'd
 * His accusations.

AGRIPPA.
 * Who does he accuse?

CAESAR.
 * Caesar: and that, having in Sicily
 * Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him
 * His part o' the isle: then does he say he lent me
 * Some shipping, unrestor'd: lastly, he frets
 * That Lepidus of the triumvirate
 * Should be depos'd; and, being, that we detain
 * All his revenue.

AGRIPPA.
 * Sir, this should be answer'd.

CAESAR.
 * 'Tis done already, and messenger gone.
 * I have told him Lepidus was grown too cruel;
 * That he his high authority abus'd,
 * And did deserve his change: for what I have conquer'd
 * I grant him part; but then, in his Armenia
 * And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I
 * Demand the like.

MAECENAS.
 * He'll never yield to that.

CAESAR.
 * Nor must not then be yielded to in this.

[Enter OCTAVIA, with her train.]

OCTAVIA.
 * Hail, Caesar, and my lord! hail, most dear Caesar!

CAESAR.
 * That ever I should call thee castaway!

OCTAVIA.
 * You have not call'd me so, nor have you cause.

CAESAR.
 * Why have you stol'n upon us thus? You come not
 * Like Caesar's sister: the wife of Antony
 * Should have an army for an usher, and
 * The neighs of horse to tell of her approach
 * Long ere she did appear; the trees by the way
 * Should have borne men; and expectation fainted,
 * Longing for what it had not; nay, the dust
 * Should have ascended to the roof of heaven,
 * Rais'd by your populous troops: but you are come
 * A market-maid to Rome; and have prevented
 * The ostentation of our love, which left unshown
 * Is often left unlov'd; we should have met you
 * By sea and land; supplying every stage
 * With an augmented greeting.

OCTAVIA.
 * Good my lord,
 * To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did it
 * On my free will. My lord, Mark Antony,
 * Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted
 * My grieved ear withal: whereon I begg'd
 * His pardon for return.

CAESAR.
 * Which soon he granted,
 * Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him.

OCTAVIA.
 * Do not say so, my lord.

CAESAR.
 * I have eyes upon him,
 * And his affairs come to me on the wind.
 * Where is he now?

OCTAVIA.
 * My lord, in Athens.

CAESAR.
 * No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra
 * Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire
 * Up to a whore; who now are levying
 * The kings o' theearth for war: he hath assembled
 * Bocchus, the king of Libya; Archelaus
 * Of Cappadocia; Philadelphos, king
 * Of Paphlagonia; the Thracian king, Adallas;
 * King Manchus of Arabia; King of Pont;
 * Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king
 * Of Comagene; Polemon and Amyntas,
 * The kings of Mede and Lycaonia, with
 * More larger list of sceptres.

OCTAVIA.
 * Ay me, most wretched,
 * That have my heart parted betwixt two friends,
 * That do afflict each other!

CAESAR.
 * Welcome hither:
 * Your letters did withhold our breaking forth,
 * Till we perceiv'd both how you were wrong led
 * And we in negligent danger. Cheer your heart:
 * Be you not troubled with the time, which drives
 * O'er your content these strong necessities;
 * But let determin'd things to destiny
 * Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome;
 * Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd
 * Beyond the mark of thought: and the high gods,
 * To do you justice, make their ministers
 * Of us and those that love you. Best of comfort;
 * And ever welcome to us.

AGRIPPA.
 * Welcome, lady.

MAECENAS.
 * Welcome, dear madam.
 * Each heart in Rome does love and pity you:
 * Only theadulterous Antony, most large
 * In his abominations, turns you off,
 * And gives his potent regiment to a trull
 * That noises it against us.

OCTAVIA.
 * Is it so, sir?

CAESAR.
 * Most certain. Sister, welcome: pray you
 * Be ever known to patience: my dear'st sister!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VII. ANTONY'S Camp near the Promontory of Actium.
[Enter CLEOPATRA and ENOBARBUS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * I will be even with thee, doubt it not.

ENOBARBUS.
 * But why, why, why?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars,
 * And say'st it is not fit.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Well, is it, is it?

CLEOPATRA.
 * If not denounc'd against us, why should not we
 * Be there in person?

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside.] Well, I could reply:—
 * If we should serve with horse and mares together
 * The horse were merely lost; the mares would bear
 * A soldier and his horse.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What is't you say?

ENOBARBUS.
 * Your presence needs must puzzle Antony;
 * Take from his heart, take from his brain, from's time,
 * What should not then be spar'd. He is already
 * Traduc'd for levity: and 'tis said in Rome
 * That Photinus an eunuch and your maids
 * Manage this war.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Sink Rome, and their tongues rot
 * That speak against us! A charge we bear i' the war,
 * And, as the president of my kingdom, will
 * Appear there for a man. Speak not against it;
 * I will not stay behind.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Nay, I have done.
 * Here comes the emperor.

[Enter ANTONY and CANIDIUS.]

ANTONY.
 * Is it not strange, Canidius,
 * That from Tarentum and Brundusium
 * He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea,
 * And take in Toryne?—You have heard on't, sweet?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Celerity is never more admir'd
 * Than by the negligent.

ANTONY.
 * A good rebuke,
 * Which might have well becom'd the best of men
 * To taunt at slackness.—Canidius, we
 * Will fight with him by sea.

CLEOPATRA.
 * By sea! what else?

CANIDIUS.
 * Why will my lord do so?

ANTONY.
 * For that he dares us to't.

ENOBARBUS.
 * So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight.

CANIDIUS.
 * Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia,
 * Where Caesar fought with Pompey. But these offers,
 * Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off;
 * And so should you.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Your ships are not well mann'd:
 * Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people
 * Ingross'd by swift impress; in Caesar's fleet
 * Are those that often have 'gainst Pompey fought:
 * Their ships are yare; yours heavy: no disgrace
 * Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,
 * Being prepar'd for land.

ANTONY.
 * By sea, by sea.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Most worthy sir, you therein throw away
 * The absolute soldiership you have by land;
 * Distract your army, which doth most consist
 * Of war-mark'd footmen; leave unexecuted
 * Your own renowned knowledge; quite forgo
 * The way which promises assurance; and
 * Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard
 * From firm security.

ANTONY.
 * I'll fight at sea.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I have sixty sails, Caesar none better.

ANTONY.
 * Our overplus of shipping will we burn;
 * And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium
 * Beat the approaching Caesar. But if we fail,
 * We then can do't at land.

[Enter a Messenger.]


 * Thy business?

MESSENGER.
 * The news is true, my lord: he is descried;
 * Caesar has taken Toryne.

ANTONY.
 * Can he be there in person? 'tis impossible—
 * Strange that his power should be.—Canidius,
 * Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land,
 * And our twelve thousand horse.—We'll to our ship:
 * Away, my Thetis!

[Enter a SOLDIER.]


 * How now, worthy soldier?

SOLDIER.
 * O noble emperor, do not fight by sea;
 * Trust not to rotten planks: do you misdoubt
 * This sword and these my wounds? Let the Egyptians
 * And the Phoenicians go a-ducking: we
 * Have us'd to conquer standing on the earth
 * And fighting foot to foot.

ANTONY.
 * Well, well:—away.

[Exeunt ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, and ENOBARBUS.]

SOLDIER.
 * By Hercules, I think I am i' the right.

CANIDIUS.
 * Soldier, thou art: but his whole action grows
 * Not in the power on't: so our leader's led,
 * And we are women's men.

SOLDIER.
 * You keep by land
 * The legions and the horse whole, do you not?

CANIDIUS.
 * Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius,
 * Publicola, and Caelius are for sea:
 * But we keep whole by land. This speed of Caesar's
 * Carries beyond belief.

SOLDIER.
 * While he was yet in Rome
 * His power went out in such distractions as
 * Beguil'd all spies.

CANIDIUS.
 * Who's his lieutenant, hear you?

SOLDIER.
 * They say one Taurus.

CANIDIUS.
 * Well I know the man.

[Enter a Messenger.]

MESSENGER.
 * The Emperor calls Canidius.

CANIDIUS.
 * With news the time's with labour; and throes forth
 * Each minute some.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VIII. A plain near Actium.
[Enter CAESAR, TAURUS, Officers, and others.]

CAESAR.
 * Taurus,—

TAURUS.
 * My lord?

CAESAR.
 * Strike not by land; keep whole; provoke not battle
 * Till we have done at sea. Do not exceed
 * The prescript of this scroll: our fortune lies
 * Upon this jump.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IX. Another part of the Plain.
[Enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.]

ANTONY.
 * Set we our squadrons on yon side o' the hill,
 * In eye of Caesar's battle; from which place
 * We may the number of the ships behold,
 * And so proceed accordingly.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE X. Another part of the Plain.
[Enter CANIDIUS, marching with his land Army one way; and
 * TAURUS, the Lieutenant of CAESAR, with his Army, the other way.
 * After their going in, is heard the noise of a sea-fight.]

[Alarum. Enter ENOBARBUS.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer:
 * The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,
 * With all their sixty, fly and turn the rudder:
 * To see't mine eyes are blasted.

[Enter SCARUS.]

SCARUS.
 * Gods and goddesses,
 * All the whole synod of them!

ENOBARBUS.
 * What's thy passion?

SCARUS.
 * The greater cantle of the world is lost
 * With very ignorance; we have kiss'd away
 * Kingdoms and provinces.

ENOBARBUS.
 * How appears the fight?

SCARUS.
 * On our side like the token'd pestilence,
 * Where death is sure. Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt,—
 * Whom leprosy o'ertake!—i' the midst o' the fight,
 * When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd,
 * Both as the same, or rather ours the elder,—
 * The breese upon her, like a cow in June,—
 * Hoists sails and flies.

ENOBARBUS.
 * That I beheld:
 * Mine eyes did sicken at the sight, and could not
 * Endure a further view.

SCARUS.
 * She once being loof'd,
 * The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,
 * Claps on his sea-wing, and, like a doting mallard,
 * Leaving the fight in height, flies after her:
 * I never saw an action of such shame;
 * Experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before
 * Did violate so itself.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Alack, alack!

[Enter CANIDIUS.]

CANIDIUS.
 * Our fortune on the sea is out of breath,
 * And sinks most lamentably. Had our general
 * Been what he knew himself, it had gone well:
 * O, he has given example for our flight
 * Most grossly by his own!

ENOBARBUS.
 * Ay, are you thereabouts?
 * Why, then, good night indeed.

CANIDIUS.
 * Toward Peloponnesus are they fled.

SCARUS.
 * 'Tis easy to't; and there I will attend
 * What further comes.

CANIDIUS.
 * To Caesar will I render
 * My legions and my horse; six kings already
 * Show me the way of yielding.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I'll yet follow
 * The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason
 * Sits in the wind against me.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter ANTONY and attendants.]

ANTONY.
 * Hark! the land bids me tread no more upon't;—
 * It is asham'd to bear me.—Friends, come hither:
 * I am so lated in the world that I
 * Have lost my way for ever:—I have a ship
 * Laden with gold; take that; divide it; fly,
 * And make your peace with Caesar.

ALL.
 * Fly! Not we.

ANTONY.
 * I have fled myself, and have instructed cowards
 * To run and show their shoulders.—Friends, be gone;
 * I have myself resolv'd upon a course
 * Which has no need of you; be gone;
 * My treasure's in the harbour, take it.—O,
 * I follow'd that I blush to look upon:
 * My very hairs do mutiny; for the white
 * Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them
 * For fear and doting.—Friends, be gone: you shall
 * Have letters from me to some friends that will
 * Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad,
 * Nor make replies of loathness: take the hint
 * Which my despair proclaims; let that be left
 * Which leaves itself: to the sea-side straightway:
 * I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
 * Leave me, I pray, a little: pray you now:—
 * Nay, do so; for indeed I have lost command,
 * Therefore I pray you:—I'll see you by and by.

[Sits down.]

[Enter CLEOPATRA, led by CHARMIAN and IRAS, EROS following.]

EROS.
 * Nay, gentle madam, to him!—comfort him.

IRAS.
 * Do, most dear queen.

CHARMIAN.
 * Do! why, what else?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Let me sit down. O Juno!

ANTONY.
 * No, no, no, no, no.

EROS.
 * See you here, sir?

ANTONY.
 * O, fie, fie, fie!

CHARMIAN.
 * Madam,—

IRAS.
 * Madam, O good empress,—

EROS.
 * Sir, sir,—

ANTONY.
 * Yes, my lord, yes;—he at Philippi kept
 * His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck
 * The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and 'twas I
 * That the mad Brutus ended; he alone
 * Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had
 * In the brave squares of war: yet now—no matter.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Ah, stand by.

EROS.
 * The queen, my lord, the queen!

IRAS.
 * Go to him, madam, speak to him:
 * He is unqualitied with very shame.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Well then,—sustain me.—O!

EROS.
 * Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches:
 * Her head's declin'd, and death will seize her, but
 * Your comfort makes the rescue.

ANTONY.
 * I have offended reputation,—
 * A most unnoble swerving.

EROS.
 * Sir, the queen.

ANTONY.
 * O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See
 * How I convey my shame out of thine eyes
 * By looking back, what I have left behind
 * 'Stroy'd in dishonour.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O my lord, my lord,
 * Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought
 * You would have follow'd.

ANTONY.
 * Egypt, thou knew'st too well
 * My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings,
 * And thou shouldst tow me after: o'er my spirit
 * Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that
 * Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
 * Command me.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O, my pardon!

ANTONY.
 * Now I must
 * To the young man send humble treaties, dodge
 * And palter in the shifts of lowness; who
 * With half the bulk o' the world play'd as I pleas'd,
 * Making and marring fortunes. You did know
 * How much you were my conqueror; and that
 * My sword, made weak by my affection, would
 * Obey it on all cause.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Pardon, pardon!

ANTONY.
 * Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates
 * All that is won and lost: give me a kiss;
 * Even this repays me.—We sent our schoolmaster;
 * Is he come back?—Love, I am full of lead.—
 * Some wine, within there, and our viands!—Fortune knows
 * We scorn her most when most she offers blows.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE XII. CAESAR'S camp in Egypt.
[Enter CAESAR, DOLABELLA, THYREUS, with others.]

CAESAR.
 * Let him appear that's come from Antony.—
 * Know you him?

DOLABELLA.
 * Caesar, 'tis his schoolmaster:
 * An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither
 * He sends so poor a pinion of his wing,
 * Which had superfluous kings for messengers
 * Not many moons gone by.

[Enter EUPHRONIUS.]

CAESAR.
 * Approach, and speak.

EUPHRONIUS.
 * Such as I am, I come from Antony:
 * I was of late as petty to his ends
 * As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf
 * To his grand sea.

CAESAR.
 * Be't so: declare thine office.

EUPHRONIUS.
 * Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, and
 * Requires to live in Egypt: which not granted,
 * He lessens his requests; and to thee sues
 * To let him breathe between the heavens and earth,
 * A private man in Athens: this for him.
 * Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness;
 * Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves
 * The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,
 * Now hazarded to thy grace.

CAESAR.
 * For Antony,
 * I have no ears to his request. The queen
 * Of audience nor desire shall fail; so she
 * From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,
 * Or take his life there: this if she perform,
 * She shall not sue unheard. So to them both.

EUPHRONIUS.
 * Fortune pursue thee!

CAESAR.
 * Bring him through the bands.

[Exit EUPHRONIUS.]

[To THYREUS.] To try thy eloquence, now 'tis time. Despatch;
 * From Antony win Cleopatra. Promise,
 * And in our name, what she requires; add more,
 * From thine invention, offers: women are not
 * In their best fortunes strong; but want will perjure
 * The ne'er-touch'd vestal: try thy cunning, Thyreus;
 * Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we
 * Will answer as a law.

THYREUS.
 * Caesar, I go.

CAESAR.
 * Observe how Antony becomes his flaw,
 * And what thou think'st his very action speaks
 * In every power that moves.

THYREUS.
 * Caesar, I shall.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE XIII. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * What shall we do, Enobarbus?

ENOBARBUS.
 * Think, and die.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Is Antony or we in fault for this?

ENOBARBUS.
 * Antony only, that would make his will
 * Lord of his reason. What though you fled
 * From that great face of war, whose several ranges
 * Frighted each other? why should he follow?
 * The itch of his affection should not then
 * Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point,
 * When half to half the world oppos'd, he being
 * The mered question; 'twas a shame no less
 * Than was his loss, to course your flying flags
 * And leave his navy gazing.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Pr'ythee, peace.

[Enter ANTONY, with EUPHRONIUS.]

ANTONY.
 * Is that his answer?

EUPHRONIUS.
 * Ay, my lord.

ANTONY.
 * The queen shall then have courtesy, so she
 * Will yield us up.

EUPHRONIUS.
 * He says so.

ANTONY.
 * Let her know't.—
 * To the boy Caesar send this grizzled head,
 * And he will fill thy wishes to the brim
 * With principalities.

CLEOPATRA.
 * That head, my lord?

ANTONY.
 * To him again: tell him he wears the rose
 * Of youth upon him; from which the world should note
 * Something particular: his coins, ships, legions,
 * May be a coward's; whose ministers would prevail
 * Under the service of a child as soon
 * As i' the command of Caesar: I dare him therefore
 * To lay his gay comparisons apart,
 * And answer me declin'd, sword against sword,
 * Ourselves alone. I'll write it: follow me.

[Exeunt ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS.]

EUPHRONIUS.
 * Yes, like enough high-battled Caesar will
 * Unstate his happiness, and be stag'd to the show
 * Against a sworder.—I see men's judgments are
 * A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward
 * Do draw the inward quality after them,
 * To suffer all alike. That he should dream,
 * Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will
 * Answer his emptiness!—Caesar, thou hast subdu'd
 * His judgment too.

[Enter an Attendant.]

ATTENDANT.
 * A messenger from Caesar.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What, no more ceremony?—See, my women!—
 * Against the blown rose may they stop their nose
 * That kneel'd unto the buds.—Admit him, sir.

[Exit Attendant.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside.] Mine honesty and I begin to square.
 * The loyalty well held to fools does make
 * Our faith mere folly:—yet he that can endure
 * To follow with allegiance a fallen lord
 * Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
 * And earns a place i' the story.

[Enter THYREUS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Caesar's will?

THYREUS.
 * Hear it apart.

CLEOPATRA.
 * None but friends: say boldly.

THYREUS.
 * So, haply, are they friends to Antony.

ENOBARBUS.
 * He needs as many, sir, as Caesar has;
 * Or needs not us. If Caesar please, our master
 * Will leap to be his friend: for us, you know
 * Whose he is we are, and that is Caesar's.

THYREUS.
 * So.—
 * Thus then, thou most renown'd: Caesar entreats
 * Not to consider in what case thou stand'st
 * Further than he is Caesar.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Go on: right royal.

THYREUS.
 * He knows that you embrace not Antony
 * As you did love, but as you fear'd him.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O!

THYREUS.
 * The scars upon your honour, therefore, he
 * Does pity, as constrained blemishes,
 * Not as deserv'd.

CLEOPATRA.
 * He is a god, and knows
 * What is most right: mine honour was not yielded,
 * But conquer'd merely.

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside.] To be sure of that,
 * I will ask Antony.—Sir, sir, thou art so leaky
 * That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
 * Thy dearest quit thee.

[Exit.]

THYREUS.
 * Shall I say to Caesar
 * What you require of him? for he partly begs
 * To be desir'd to give. It much would please him
 * That of his fortunes you should make a staff
 * To lean upon: but it would warm his spirits
 * To hear from me you had left Antony,
 * And put yourself under his shroud, who is
 * The universal landlord.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What's your name?

THYREUS.
 * My name is Thyreus.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Most kind messenger,
 * Say to great Caesar this:—in deputation
 * I kiss his conquring hand: tell him I am prompt
 * To lay my crown at's feet, and there to kneel:
 * Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear
 * The doom of Egypt.

THYREUS.
 * 'Tis your noblest course.
 * Wisdom and fortune combating together,
 * If that the former dare but what it can,
 * No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay
 * My duty on your hand.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Your Caesar's father
 * Oft, when he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in,
 * Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place,
 * As it rain'd kisses.

[Re-enter ANTONY and ENOBARBUS.]

ANTONY.
 * Favours, by Jove that thunders!—
 * What art thou, fellow?

THYREUS.
 * One that but performs
 * The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest
 * To have command obey'd.

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside.] You will be whipp'd.

ANTONY.
 * Approach there.—Ah, you kite!—Now, gods and devils!
 * Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried 'Ho!'
 * Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth
 * And cry 'Your will?' Have you no ears? I am
 * Antony yet.

[Enter Attendants.]


 * Take hence this Jack and whip him.

ENOBARBUS.
 * 'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp
 * Than with an old one dying.

ANTONY.
 * Moon and stars!
 * Whip him.—Were't twenty of the greatest tributaries
 * That do acknowledge Caesar, should I find them
 * So saucy with the hand of she here,—what's her name
 * Since she was Cleopatra?—Whip him, fellows,
 * Till like a boy you see him cringe his face,
 * And whine aloud for mercy: take him hence.

THYMUS.
 * Mark Antony,—

ANTONY.
 * Tug him away: being whipp'd,
 * Bring him again.—This Jack of Caesar's shall
 * Bear us an errand to him.—

[Exeunt Attendants with THYREUS.]


 * You were half blasted ere I knew you.—Ha!
 * Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome,
 * Forborne the getting of a lawful race,
 * And by a gem of women, to be abus'd
 * By one that looks on feeders?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Good my lord,—

ANTONY.
 * You have been a boggler ever:—
 * But when we in our viciousness grow hard,—
 * O misery on't!—the wise gods seal our eyes;
 * In our own filth drop our clear judgments: make us
 * Adore our errors; laugh at's while we strut
 * To our confusion.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O, is't come to this?

ANTONY.
 * I found you as a morsel cold upon
 * Dead Caesar's trencher; nay, you were a fragment
 * Of Cneius Pompey's; besides what hotter hours,
 * Unregist'red in vulgar fame, you have
 * Luxuriously pick'd out:—for I am sure,
 * Though you can guess what temperance should be,
 * You know not what it is.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Wherefore is this?

ANTONY.
 * To let a fellow that will take rewards,
 * And say 'God quit you!' be familiar with
 * My playfellow, your hand; this kingly seal
 * And plighter of high hearts!—O that I were
 * Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar
 * The horned herd! for I have savage cause;
 * And to proclaim it civilly were like
 * A halter'd neck which does the hangman thank
 * For being yare about him.

[Re-enter Attendants with THYREUS.]

I:s he whipp'd?

FIRST ATTENDANT.
 * Soundly, my lord.

ANTONY.
 * Cried he? and begg'd he pardon?

FIRST ATTENDANT.
 * He did ask favour.

ANTONY.
 * If that thy father live, let him repent
 * Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry
 * To follow Caesar in his triumph, since
 * Thou hast been whipp'd for following him: henceforth
 * The white hand of a lady fever thee,
 * Shake thou to look on't.—Get thee back to Caesar;
 * Tell him thy entertainment: look thou say
 * He makes me angry with him; for he seems
 * Proud and disdainful, harping on what I am,
 * Not what he knew I was: he makes me angry;
 * And at this time most easy 'tis to do't,
 * When my good stars, that were my former guides,
 * Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires
 * Into the abysm of hell. If he mislike
 * My speech and what is done, tell him he has
 * Hipparchus, my enfranched bondman, whom
 * He may at pleasure, whip, or hang, or torture,
 * As he shall like, to quit me: urge it thou:
 * Hence with thy stripes, be gone.

[Exit THYREUS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Have you done yet?

ANTONY.
 * Alack, our terrene moon
 * Is now eclips'd, and it portends alone
 * The fall of Antony!

CLEOPATRA.
 * I must stay his time.

ANTONY.
 * To flatter Caesar, would you mingle eyes
 * With one that ties his points?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Not know me yet?

ANTONY.
 * Cold-hearted toward me?

CLEOPATRA.
 * Ah, dear, if I be so,
 * From my cold heart let heaven engender hail,
 * And poison it in the source; and the first stone
 * Drop in my neck: as it determines, so
 * Dissolve my life! The next Caesarion smite!
 * Till, by degrees, the memory of my womb,
 * Together with my brave Egyptians all,
 * By the discandying of this pelleted storm,
 * Lie graveless,—till the flies and gnats of Nile
 * Have buried them for prey!

ANTONY.
 * I am satisfied.
 * Caesar sits down in Alexandria; where
 * I will oppose his fate. Our force by land
 * Hath nobly held: our sever'd navy to
 * Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like.
 * Where hast thou been, my heart?—Dost thou hear, lady?
 * If from the field I shall return once more
 * To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood:
 * I and my sword will earn our chronicle:
 * There's hope in't yet.

CLEOPATRA.
 * That's my brave lord!

ANTONY.
 * I will be treble-sinew'd, hearted, breath'd,
 * And fight maliciously: for when mine hours
 * Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives
 * Of me for jests; but now I'll set my teeth,
 * And send to darkness all that stop me.—Come,
 * Let's have one other gaudy night: call to me
 * All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more
 * Let's mock the midnight bell.

CLEOPATRA.
 * It is my birthday.
 * I had thought t'have held it poor; but since my lord
 * Is Antony again I will be Cleopatra.

ANTONY.
 * We will yet do well.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Call all his noble captains to my lord.

ANTONY.
 * Do so; we'll speak to them: and to-night I'll force
 * The wine peep through their scars.—Come on, my queen;
 * There's sap in't yet. The next time I do fight
 * I'll make death love me; for I will contend
 * Even with his pestilent scythe.

[Exeunt all but ENOBARBUS.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious
 * Is to be frighted out of fear; and in that mood
 * The dove will peck the estridge; and I see still
 * A diminution in our captain's brain
 * Restores his heart: when valour preys on reason,
 * It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek
 * Some way to leave him.

[Exit.]

SCENE I. CAESAR'S Camp at Alexandria.
[Enter CAESAR reading a letter; AGRIPPA, MAECENAS, and others.]

CAESAR.
 * He calls me boy; and chides as he had power
 * To beat me out of Egypt; my messenger
 * He hath whip'd with rods; dares me to personal combat,
 * Caesar to Antony:—let the old ruffian know
 * I have many other ways to die; meantime
 * Laugh at his challenge.

MAECENAS.
 * Caesar must think
 * When one so great begins to rage, he's hunted
 * Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now
 * Make boot of his distraction:—never anger
 * Made good guard for itself.

CAESAR.
 * Let our best heads
 * Know that to-morrow the last of many battles
 * We mean to fight.—Within our files there are
 * Of those that serv'd Mark Antony but late,
 * Enough to fetch him in. See it done:
 * And feast the army; we have store to do't,
 * And they have earn'd the waste. Poor Antony!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and
 * others.]

ANTONY.
 * He will not fight with me, Domitius?

ENOBARBUS.
 * No.

ANTONY.
 * Why should he not?

ENOBARBUS.
 * He thinks, being twenty times of better fortune,
 * He is twenty men to one.

ANTONY.
 * To-morrow, soldier,
 * By sea and land I'll fight; or I will live,
 * Or bathe my dying honour in the blood
 * Shall make it live again. Woo't thou fight well?

ENOBARBUS.
 * I'll strike, and cry 'Take all.'

ANTONY.
 * Well said; come on.—
 * Call forth my household servants: let's to-night
 * Be bounteous at our meal.—

[Enter Servants.]


 * Give me thy hand,
 * Thou has been rightly honest;—so hast thou;—
 * Thou,—and thou,—and thou;—you have serv'd me well,
 * And kings have been your fellows.

CLEOPATRA.
 * [Aside to ENOBARBUS.] What means this?

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside to CLEOPATRA.] 'Tis one of those odd tricks which sorrow
 * shoots
 * Out of the mind.

ANTONY.
 * And thou art honest too.
 * I wish I could be made so many men,
 * And all of you clapp'd up together in
 * An Antony, that I might do you service
 * So good as you have done.

SERVANT.
 * The gods forbid!

ANTONY.
 * Well, my good fellows, wait on me to-night:
 * Scant not my cups; and make as much of me
 * As when mine empire was your fellow too,
 * And suffer'd my command.

CLEOPATRA.
 * [Aside to ENOBARBUS.] What does he mean?

ENOBARBUS.
 * [Aside to CLEOPATRA.] To make his followers weep.

ANTONY.
 * Tend me to-night;
 * May be it is the period of your duty:
 * Haply you shall not see me more; or if,
 * A mangled shadow: perchance to-morrow
 * You'll serve another master. I look on you
 * As one that takes his leave. Mine honest friends,
 * I turn you not away; but, like a master
 * Married to your good service, stay till death:
 * Tend me to-night two hours, I ask no more,
 * And the gods yield you for't!

ENOBARBUS.
 * What mean you, sir,
 * To give them this discomfort? Look, they weep;
 * And I, an ass, am onion-ey'd: for shame,
 * Transform us not to women.

ANTONY.
 * Ho, ho, ho!
 * Now the witch take me, if I meant it thus!
 * Grace grow where those drops fall! My hearty friends,
 * You take me in too dolorous a sense;
 * For I spake to you for your comfort,—did desire you
 * To burn this night with torches: know, my hearts,
 * I hope well of to-morrow; and will lead you
 * Where rather I'll expect victorious life
 * Than death and honour. Let's to supper; come,
 * And drown consideration.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE III. Alexandria. Before the Palace.
[Enter two Soldiers to their guard.]

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Brother, good night: to-morrow is the day.

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * It will determine one way: fare you well.
 * Heard you of nothing strange about the streets?

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Nothing. What news?

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Belike 'tis but a rumour. Good night to you.

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Well, sir, good night.

[Enter two other Soldiers.]

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Soldiers, have careful watch.

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * And you. Good night, good night.

[The first two place themselves at their posts.]

FOURTH SOLDIER.
 * Here we: [The third and fourth take their posts.] and if
 * to-morrow
 * Our navy thrive, I have an absolute hope
 * Our landmen will stand up.

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * 'Tis a brave army,
 * And full of purpose.

[Music as of hautboys under the stage.]

FOURTH SOLDIER.
 * Peace, what noise?

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * List, list!

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Hark!

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Music i' the air.

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * Under the earth.

FOURTH SOLDIER.
 * It signs well, does it not?

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * No.

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Peace, I say!
 * What should this mean?

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * 'Tis the god Hercules, whom Antony lov'd,
 * Now leaves him.

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Walk; let's see if other watchmen
 * Do hear what we do.

[They advance to another post.]

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * How now, masters!

SOLDIERS.
 * [Speaking together.] How now!
 * How now! Do you hear this?

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Ay; is't not strange?

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * Do you hear, masters? do you hear?

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Follow the noise so far as we have quarter;
 * Let's see how it will give off.

SOLDIERS.
 * [Speaking together.] Content. 'Tis strange.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IV. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and others attending.]

ANTONY.
 * Eros! mine armour, Eros!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Sleep a little.

ANTONY.
 * No, my chuck.—Eros! Come, mine armour, Eros!

[Enter EROS with armour.]


 * Come, good fellow, put mine iron on.—
 * If fortune be not ours to-day, it is
 * Because we brave her.—Come.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Nay, I'll help too.
 * What's this for?

ANTONY.
 * Ah, let be, let be! Thou art
 * The armourer of my heart. False, false; this, this.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Sooth, la, I'll help: thus it must be.

ANTONY.
 * Well, well;
 * We shall thrive now.—Seest thou, my good fellow?
 * Go put on thy defences.

EROS.
 * Briefly, sir.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Is not this buckled well?

ANTONY.
 * Rarely, rarely;
 * He that unbuckles this, till we do please
 * To daff't for our repose, shall hear a storm.—
 * Thou fumblest, Eros, and my queen's a squire
 * More tight at this than thou: despatch.—O love,
 * That thou couldst see my wars to-day, and knew'st
 * The royal occupation! Thou shouldst see
 * A workman in't.—

[Enter an Officer, armed.]


 * Good-morrow to thee; welcome:
 * Thou look'st like him that knows a warlike charge:
 * To business that we love we rise betime,
 * And go to't with delight.

OFFICER.
 * A thousand, sir,
 * Early though't be, have on their riveted trim,
 * And at the port expect you.

[Shout. Flourish of trumpets within.]

[Enter other Officers and Soldiers.]

SECOND OFFICER.
 * The morn is fair.—Good morrow, general.

ALL.
 * Good morrow, general.

ANTONY.
 * 'Tis well blown, lads:
 * This morning, like the spirit of a youth
 * That means to be of note, begins betimes.—
 * So, so; come, give me that: this way; well said.—
 * Fare thee well, dame, whate'er becomes of me:
 * [Kisses her.]
 * This is a soldier's kiss: rebukeable,
 * And worthy shameful check it were, to stand
 * On more mechanic compliment; I'll leave thee
 * Now like a man of steel.—You that will fight,
 * Follow me close; I'll bring you to't. Adieu.

[Exeunt ANTONY, EROS, Officers and Soldiers.]

CHARMIAN.
 * Please you, retire to your chamber.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Lead me.
 * He goes forth gallantly. That he and Caesar might
 * Determine this great war in single fight!
 * Then, Antony,—but now—Well, on.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE V. ANTONY'S camp near Alexandria.
[Trumpets sound within. Enter ANTONY and EROS; a SOLDIER meeting them.]

SOLDIER.
 * The gods make this a happy day to Antony!

ANTONY.
 * Would thou and those thy scars had once prevail'd
 * To make me fight at land!

SOLDIER.
 * Hadst thou done so,
 * The kings that have revolted, and the soldier
 * That has this morning left thee, would have still
 * Follow'd thy heels.

ANTONY.
 * Who's gone this morning?

SOLDIER.
 * Who.
 * One ever near thee. Call for Enobarbus,
 * He shall not hear thee; or from Caesar's camp
 * Say 'I am none of thine.'

ANTONY.
 * What say'st thou?

SOLDIER.
 * Sir,
 * He is with Caesar.

EROS.
 * Sir, his chests and treasure
 * He has not with him.

ANTONY.
 * Is he gone?

SOLDIER.
 * Most certain.

ANTONY.
 * Go, Eros, send his treasure after; do it;
 * Detain no jot, I charge thee; write to him—
 * I will subscribe,—gentle adieus and greetings;
 * Say that I wish he never find more cause
 * To change a master.—O, my fortunes have
 * Corrupted honest men!—Eros, despatch.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VI. Alexandria. CAESAR'S camp.
[Flourish. Enter AGRIPPA, CAESAR, with DOLABELLA and ENOBARBUS.]

CAESAR.
 * Go forth, Agrippa, and begin the fight:
 * Our will is Antony be took alive;
 * Make it so known.

AGRIPPA.
 * Caesar, I shall.

[Exit.]

CAESAR.
 * The time of universal peace is near:
 * Prove this a prosperous day, the three-nook'd world
 * Shall bear the olive freely.

[Enter a Messenger.]

MESSENGER.
 * Antony
 * Is come into the field.

CAESAR.
 * Go charge Agrippa
 * Plant those that have revolted in the van,
 * That Antony may seem to spend his fury
 * Upon himself.

[Exeunt CAESAR and his Train.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * Alexas did revolt; and went to Jewry on
 * Affairs of Antony; there did dissuade
 * Great Herod to incline himself to Caesar
 * And leave his master Antony: for this pains
 * Casaer hath hang'd him. Canidius and the rest
 * That fell away, have entertainment, but
 * No honourable trust. I have done ill;
 * Of which I do accuse myself so sorely
 * That I will joy no more.

[Enter a SOLDIER of CAESAR'S.]

SOLDIER.
 * Enobarbus, Antony
 * Hath after thee sent all thy treasure, with
 * His bounty overplus: the messenger
 * Came on my guard, and at thy tent is now
 * Unloading of his mules.

ENOBARBUS.
 * I give it you.

SOLDIER.
 * Mock not, Enobarbus.
 * I tell you true: best you saf'd the bringer
 * Out of the host; I must attend mine office,
 * Or would have done't myself. Your emperor
 * Continues still a Jove.

[Exit.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * I am alone the villain of the earth,
 * And feel I am so most. O Antony,
 * Thou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid
 * My better service, when my turpitude
 * Thou dost so crown with gold! This blows my heart:
 * If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean
 * Shall outstrike thought: but thought will do't, I feel.
 * I fight against thee!—No: I will go seek
 * Some ditch wherein to die; the foul'st best fits
 * My latter part of life.

[Exit.]

SCENE VII. Field of battle between the Camps.
[Alarum. Drums and trumpets. Enter AGRIPPA and others.]

AGRIPPA.
 * Retire, we have engag'd ourselves too far:
 * Caesar himself has work, and our oppression
 * Exceeds what we expected.

[Exeunt.]

[Alarum. Enter ANTONY, and SCARUS wounded.]

SCARUS.
 * O my brave emperor, this is fought indeed!
 * Had we done so at first, we had driven them home
 * With clouts about their heads.

ANTONY.
 * Thou bleed'st apace.

SCARUS.
 * I had a wound here that was like a T,
 * But now 'tis made an H.

ANTONY.
 * They do retire.

SCARUS.
 * We'll beat'em into bench-holes: I have yet
 * Room for six scotches more.

[Enter EROS.]

EROS.
 * They are beaten, sir; and our advantage serves
 * For a fair victory.

SCARUS.
 * Let us score their backs
 * And snatch 'em up, as we take hares, behind:
 * 'Tis sport to maul a runner.

ANTONY.
 * I will reward thee
 * Once for thy sprightly comfort, and tenfold
 * For thy good valour. Come thee on.

SCARUS.
 * I'll halt after.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE VIII. Under the Walls of Alexandria.
[Alarum. Enter ANTONY, marching; SCARUS and Forces.]

ANTONY.
 * We have beat him to his camp. Run one before
 * And let the queen know of our gests.—To-morrow,
 * Before the sun shall see us, we'll spill the blood
 * That has to-day escap'd. I thank you all;
 * For doughty-handed are you, and have fought
 * Not as you serv'd the cause, but as't had been
 * Each man's like mine; you have shown all Hectors.
 * Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends,
 * Tell them your feats; whilst they with joyful tears
 * Wash the congealment from your wounds and kiss
 * The honour'd gashes whole.—[To SCARUS.] Give me thy hand;

[Enter CLEOPATRA, attended.]

To this great fairy I'll commend thy acts,
 * Make her thanks bless thee. O thou day o' the world,
 * Chain mine arm'd neck; leap thou, attire and all;
 * Through proof of harness to my heart, and there
 * Ride on the pants triumphing.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Lord of lords!
 * O infinite virtue, com'st thou smiling from
 * The world's great snare uncaught?

ANTONY.
 * Mine nightingale,
 * We have beat them to their beds. What, girl! though grey
 * Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet ha' we
 * A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can
 * Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man;
 * Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand;—
 * Kiss it, my warrior: he hath fought to-day
 * As if a god, in hate of mankind, had
 * Destroyed in such a shape.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I'll give thee, friend,
 * An armour all of gold; it was a king's.

ANTONY.
 * He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled
 * Like holy Phoebus' car.—Give me thy hand:
 * Through Alexandria make a jolly march;
 * Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them:
 * Had our great palace the capacity
 * To camp this host, we all would sup together,
 * And drink carouses to the next day's fate,
 * Which promises royal peril.—Trumpeters,
 * With brazen din blast you the city's ear;
 * Make mingle with our rattling tabourines;
 * That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together,
 * Applauding our approach.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IX. CAESAR'S camp.
[Sentinels at their Post.]

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * If we be not reliev'd within this hour,
 * We must return to thecourt of guard: the night
 * Is shiny; and they say we shall embattle
 * By the second hour i' the morn.

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * This last day was
 * A shrewd one to's.

[Enter ENOBARBUS.]

ENOBARBUS.
 * O, bear me witness, night.—

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * What man is this?

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Stand close and list him.

ENOBARBUS.
 * Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon,
 * When men revolted shall upon record
 * Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
 * Before thy face repent!—

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Enobarbus!

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * Peace!
 * Hark further.

ENOBARBUS.
 * O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
 * The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
 * That life, a very rebel to my will,
 * May hang no longer on me: throw my heart
 * Against the flint and hardness of my fault;
 * Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder,
 * And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
 * Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
 * Forgive me in thine own particular;
 * But let the world rank me in register
 * A master-leaver and a fugitive:
 * O Antony! O Antony!

[Dies.]

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Let's speak to him.

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Let's hear him, for the things he speaks
 * May concern Caesar.

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * Let's do so. But he sleeps.

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his
 * Was never yet fore sleep.

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Go we to him.

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * Awake, sir, awake; speak to us.

SECOND SOLDIER.
 * Hear you, sir?

FIRST SOLDIER.
 * The hand of death hath raught him.

[Drums afar off.]


 * Hark! the drums
 * Do merrily wake the sleepers. Let us bear him
 * To the court of guard; he is of note: our hour
 * Is fully out.

THIRD SOLDIER.
 * Come on, then;
 * He may recover yet.

[Exeunt with the body.]

SCENE X. Ground between the two Camps.
[Enter ANTONY and SCARUS, with Forces, marching.]

ANTONY.
 * Their preparation is to-day by sea;
 * We please them not by land.

SCARUS.
 * For both, my lord.

ANTONY.
 * I would they'd fight i' the fire or i' the air;
 * We'd fight there too. But this it is; our foot
 * Upon the hills adjoining to the city
 * Shall stay with us:—order for sea is given;
 * They have put forth the haven:—forward now,
 * Where their appointment we may best discover,
 * And look on their endeavour.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE XI. Another part of the Ground.
[Enter CAESAR with his Forces, marching.]

CAESAR.
 * But being charg'd, we will be still by land,
 * Which, as I take't, we shall; for his best force
 * Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales,
 * And hold our best advantage.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE XII. Another part of the Ground.
[Enter ANTONY and SCARUS.]

ANTONY.
 * Yet they are not join'd: where yond pine does stand
 * I shall discover all: I'll bring thee word
 * Straight how 'tis like to go.

[Exit.]

SCARUS.
 * Swallows have built
 * In Cleopatra's sails their nests: the augurers
 * Say they know not,—they cannot tell;—look grimly,
 * And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony
 * Is valiant and dejected; and, by starts,
 * His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear
 * Of what he has and has not.

[Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fight.]

[Re-enter ANTONY.]

ANTONY.
 * All is lost;
 * This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me:
 * My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder
 * They cast their caps up, and carouse together
 * Like friends long lost.—Triple-turn'd whore! 'tis thou
 * Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart
 * Makes only wars on thee.—Bid them all fly;
 * For when I am reveng'd upon my charm,
 * I have done all.—Bid them all fly; begone.

[Exit SCARUS.]


 * O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more:
 * Fortune and Antony part here; even here
 * Do we shake hands.—All come to this!—The hearts
 * That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
 * Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
 * On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd
 * That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am:
 * O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,
 * Whose eye beck'd forth my wars and call'd them home;
 * Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,—
 * Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose,
 * Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss.—
 * What, Eros, Eros!

[Enter CLEOPATRA.]


 * Ah, thou spell! Avaunt!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Why is my lord enrag'd against his love?

ANTONY.
 * Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving,
 * And blemish Caesar's triumph. Let him take thee
 * And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians:
 * Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot
 * Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown
 * For poor'st diminutives, for doits; and let
 * Patient Octavia plough thy visage up
 * With her prepared nails.

[Exit CLEOPATRA.]

':Tis well thou'rt gone,
 * If it be well to live; but better 'twere
 * Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death
 * Might have prevented many.—Eros, ho!—
 * The shirt of Nessus is upon me: teach me,
 * Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage:
 * Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon;
 * And with those hands that grasp'd the heaviest club
 * Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die:
 * To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
 * Under this plot:—she dies for't.—Eros, ho!

[Exit.]

SCENE XIII. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Help me, my women! O, he is more mad
 * Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly
 * Was never so emboss'd.

CHARMIAN.
 * To the monument!
 * There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.
 * The soul and body rive not more in parting
 * Than greatness going off.

CLEOPATRA.
 * To the monument!—
 * Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself;
 * Say that the last I spoke was 'Antony',
 * And word it, pr'ythee, piteously: hence, Mardian;
 * And bring me how he takes my death.—
 * To the monument!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE XIV. Alexandria. Another Room.
[Enter ANTONY and EROS.]

ANTONY.
 * Eros, thou yet behold'st me?

EROS.
 * Ay, noble lord.

ANTONY.
 * Sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish;
 * A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
 * A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock,
 * A forked mountain, or blue promontory
 * With trees upon't, that nod unto the world,
 * And mock our eyes with air: thou hast seen these signs;
 * They are black vesper's pageants.

EROS.
 * Ay, my lord.

ANTONY.
 * That which is now a horse, even with a thought
 * The rack dislimns; and makes it indistinct,
 * As water is in water.

EROS.
 * It does, my lord.

ANTONY.
 * My good knave Eros, now thy captain is
 * Even such a body: here I am Antony;
 * Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
 * I made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,—
 * Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine;
 * Which, whilst it was mine, had annex'd unto't
 * A million moe, now lost,—she, Eros, has
 * Pack'd cards with Caesar, and false-play'd my glory
 * Unto an enemy's triumph.—
 * Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us
 * Ourselves to end ourselves.—

[Enter MARDIAN.]


 * O, thy vile lady!
 * She has robb'd me of my sword.

MARDIAN.
 * No, Antony;
 * My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled
 * With thine entirely.

ANTONY.
 * Hence, saucy eunuch; peace!
 * She hath betray'd me, and shall die the death.

MARDIAN.
 * Death of one person can be paid but once,
 * And that she has discharg'd: what thou wouldst do
 * Is done unto thy hand: the last she spake
 * Was 'Antony! most noble Antony!'
 * Then in the midst a tearing groan did break
 * The name of Antony; it was divided
 * Between her heart and lips: she render'd life,
 * Thy name so buried in her.

ANTONY.
 * Dead then?

MARDIAN.
 * Dead.

ANTONY.
 * Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done,
 * And we must sleep.—That thou depart'st hence safe
 * Does pay thy labour richly; go.

[Exit MARDIAN.]


 * Off, pluck off;—
 * The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep
 * The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!
 * Heart, once be stronger than thy continent,
 * Crack thy frail case!—Apace, Eros, apace.—
 * No more a soldier.—Bruised pieces, go;
 * You have been nobly borne.—From me awhile.—

[Exit EROS.]


 * I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and
 * Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
 * All length is torture.—Since the torch is out,
 * Lie down, and stray no further:—now all labour
 * Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles
 * Itself with strength: seal then, and all is done.—
 * Eros!—I come, my queen.—Eros!—stay for me:
 * Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand,
 * And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze:
 * Dido and her Aeneas shall want troops,
 * And all the haunt be ours.—Come, Eros, Eros!

[Re-enter EROS.]

EROS.
 * What would my lord?

ANTONY.
 * Since Cleopatra died,
 * I have liv'd in such dishonour that the gods
 * Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword
 * Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back
 * With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack
 * The courage of a woman; less noble mind
 * Than she which by her death our Caesar tells
 * 'I am conqueror of myself.' Thou art sworn, Eros,
 * That, when the exigent should come,—which now
 * Is come indeed—when I should see behind me
 * The inevitable prosecution of
 * Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,
 * Thou then wouldst kill me: do't; the time is come:
 * Thou strik'st not me; 'tis Caesar thou defeat'st.
 * Put colour in thy cheek.

EROS.
 * The gods withhold me!
 * Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts,
 * Though enemy, lost aim and could not?

ANTONY.
 * Eros,
 * Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome and see
 * Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down
 * His corrigible neck, his face subdu'd
 * To penetrative shame; whilst the wheel'd seat
 * Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded
 * His baseness that ensued?

EROS.
 * I would not see't.

ANTONY.
 * Come, then; for with a wound I must be cur'd.
 * Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn
 * Most useful for thy country.

EROS.
 * O, sir, pardon me!

ANTONY.
 * When I did make thee free, swor'st thou not then
 * To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once;
 * Or thy precedent services are all
 * But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come.

EROS.
 * Turn from me then that noble countenance,
 * Wherein the worship of the whole world lies.

ANTONY.
 * Lo thee!

[Turning from him.]

EROS.
 * My sword is drawn.

ANTONY.
 * Then let it do at once
 * The thing why thou hast drawn it.

EROS.
 * My dear master,
 * My captain and my emperor, let me say,
 * Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.

ANTONY.
 * 'Tis said, man;—and farewell.

EROS.
 * Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?

ANTONY.
 * Now, Eros.

EROS.
 * Why, there then [falls on his sword]!—thus do I escape the sorrow
 * Of Antony's death.

[Dies.]

ANTONY.
 * Thrice nobler than myself!
 * Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what
 * I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros
 * Have, by their brave instruction, got upon me
 * A nobleness in record: but I will be
 * A bridegroom in my death, and run into't
 * As to a lover's bed. Come, then; and, Eros,
 * Thy master dies thy scholar: to do thus

[Falling on his sword.]


 * I learn'd of thee. How? not dead? not dead?—
 * The guard, ho!—O, despatch me!

[Enter DERCETAS and a guard.]

FIRST GUARD.
 * What's the noise?

ANTONY.
 * I have done my work ill, friends: O, make an end
 * Of what I have begun.

SECOND GUARD.
 * The star is fallen.

FIRST GUARD.
 * And time is at his period.

ALL.
 * Alas, and woe!

ANTONY.
 * Let him that loves me, strike me dead.

FIRST GUARD.
 * Not I.

SECOND GUARD.
 * Nor I.

THIRD GUARD.
 * Nor any one.

[Exeunt guard.]

DERCETAS.
 * Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.
 * This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings,
 * Shall enter me with him.

[Enter DIOMEDES.]

DIOMEDES.
 * Where's Antony?

DERCETAS.
 * There, Diomed, there.

DIOMEDES.
 * Lives he?
 * Wilt thou not answer, man?

[Exit DERCETAS.]

ANTONY.
 * Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword and give me
 * Sufficing strokes for death.

DIOMEDES.
 * Most absolute lord,
 * My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.

ANTONY.
 * When did she send thee?

DIOMEDES.
 * Now, my lord.

ANTONY.
 * Where is she?

DIOMEDES.
 * Lock'd in her monument. She had a prophesying fear
 * Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw,—
 * Which never shall be found,—you did suspect
 * She had dispos'd with Caesar, and that your rage
 * Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was dead;
 * But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent
 * Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come,
 * I dread, too late.

ANTONY.
 * Too late, good Diomed.—Call my guard, I pr'ythee.

DIOMEDES.
 * What, ho! the emperor's guard! The guard, what ho!
 * Come, your lord calls!

[Enter some of the Guard.]

ANTONY.
 * Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides;
 * 'Tis the last service that I shall command you.

FIRST GUARD.
 * Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not live to wear
 * All your true followers out.

ALL.
 * Most heavy day!

ANTONY.
 * Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate
 * To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welcome
 * Which comes to punish us, and we punish it,
 * Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up:
 * I have led you oft: carry me now, good friends,
 * And have my thanks for all.

[Exeunt, bearing ANTONY.]

SCENE XV. Alexandria. A monument.
[Enter, above, CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN and IRAS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * O Charmian, I will never go from hence!

CHARMIAN.
 * Be comforted, dear madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * No, I will not:
 * All strange and terrible events are welcome,
 * But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow,
 * Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great
 * As that which makes it.—

[Enter, below, DIOMEDES.]


 * How now! is he dead?

DIOMEDES.
 * His death's upon him, but not dead.
 * Look out o' the other side your monument;
 * His guard have brought him thither.

[Enter, below, ANTONY, borne by the Guard.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * O sun,
 * Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in!—darkling stand
 * The varying shore o' theworld.—O Antony,
 * Antony, Antony!—Help, Charmian; help, Iras, help,—
 * Help, friends below;—let's draw him hither.

ANTONY.
 * Peace!
 * Not Caesar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony,
 * But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself.

CLEOPATRA.
 * So it should be, that none but Antony
 * Should conquer Antony; but woe 'tis so!

ANTONY.
 * I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
 * I here importune death awhile, until
 * Of many thousand kisses the poor last
 * I lay upon thy lips.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I dare not, dear,—
 * Dear my lord, pardon,—I dare not,
 * Lest I be taken: not the imperious show
 * Of the full-fortun'd Caesar ever shall
 * Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have
 * Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe;
 * Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
 * And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
 * Demuring upon me.—But come, come, Antony,—
 * Help me, my women,—we must draw thee up;
 * Assist, good friends.

ANTONY.
 * O, quick, or I am gone.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Here's sport indeed!—How heavy weighs my lord!
 * Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
 * That makes the weight: had I great Juno's power,
 * The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up,
 * And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,—
 * Wishers were ever fools,—O come, come;

[They draw ANTONY up.]


 * And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast liv'd:
 * Quicken with kissing: had my lips that power,
 * Thus would I wear them out.

ALL.
 * A heavy sight!

ANTONY.
 * I am dying, Egypt, dying:
 * Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.

CLEOPATRA.
 * No, let me speak; and let me rail so high
 * That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
 * Provok'd by my offence.

ANTONY.
 * One word, sweet queen:
 * Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety.—O!

CLEOPATRA.
 * They do not go together.

ANTONY.
 * Gentle, hear me:
 * None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.

CLEOPATRA.
 * My resolution and my hands I'll trust;
 * None about Caesar.

ANTONY.
 * The miserable change now at my end
 * Lament nor sorrow at: but please your thoughts
 * In feeding them with those my former fortunes
 * Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o' the world,
 * The noblest; and do now not basely die,
 * Not cowardly put off my helmet to
 * My countryman, a Roman by a Roman
 * Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going:
 * I can no more.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Noblest of men, woo't die?
 * Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide
 * In this dull world, which in thy absence is
 * No better than a sty?—O, see, my women,

[Antony dies.]


 * The crown o' the earth doth melt.—My lord!—
 * O, wither'd is the garland of the war,
 * The soldier's pole is fallen: young boys and girls
 * Are level now with men: the odds is gone,
 * And there is nothing left remarkable
 * Beneath the visiting moon.

[Faints.]

CHARMIAN.
 * O, quietness, lady!

IRAS.
 * She is dead too, our sovereign.

CHARMIAN.
 * Lady!—

IRAS.
 * Madam!—

CHARMIAN.
 * O madam, madam, madam!—

IRAS.
 * Royal Egypt, Empress,—

CHARMIAN.
 * Peace, peace, Iras!

CLEOPATRA.
 * No more but e'en a woman, and commanded
 * By such poor passion as the maid that milks
 * And does the meanest chares.—It were for me
 * To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods;
 * To tell them that this world did equal theirs
 * Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's but naught;
 * Patience is sottish, and impatience does
 * Become a dog that's mad: then is it sin
 * To rush into the secret house of death
 * Ere death dare come to us?—How do you, women?
 * What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian!
 * My noble girls!—Ah, women, women, look,
 * Our lamp is spent, it's out!—Good sirs, take heart:—
 * We'll bury him; and then, what's brave, what's noble,
 * Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
 * And make death proud to take us. Come, away:
 * This case of that huge spirit now is cold:
 * Ah, women, women!—Come; we have no friend
 * But resolution, and the briefest end.

[Exeunt; those above bearing off ANTONY'S body.]

SCENE I. CAESAR'S Camp before Alexandria.
[Enter CAESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MAECENAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and Others.]

CAESAR.
 * Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;
 * Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks
 * The pauses that he makes.

DOLABELLA.
 * Caesar, I shall.

[Exit.]

[Enter DERCETAS with the sword of ANTONY.]

CAESAR.
 * Wherefore is that? And what art thou that dar'st
 * Appear thus to us?

DERCETAS.
 * I am call'd Dercetas;
 * Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy
 * Best to be serv'd: whilst he stood up and spoke,
 * He was my master, and I wore my life
 * To spend upon his haters. If thou please
 * To take me to thee, as I was to him
 * I'll be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not,
 * I yield thee up my life.

CAESAR.
 * What is't thou say'st?

DERCETAS.
 * I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead.

CAESAR.
 * The breaking of so great a thing should make
 * A greater crack: the round world
 * Should have shook lions into civil streets,
 * And citizens to their dens. The death of Antony
 * Is not a single doom; in the name lay
 * A moiety of the world.

DERCETAS.
 * He is dead, Caesar;
 * Not by a public minister of justice,
 * Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand
 * Which writ his honour in the acts it did
 * Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,
 * Splitted the heart.—This is his sword;
 * I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd
 * With his most noble blood.

CAESAR.
 * Look you sad, friends?
 * The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings
 * To wash the eyes of kings.

AGRIPPA.
 * And strange it is
 * That nature must compel us to lament
 * Our most persisted deeds.

MAECENAS.
 * His taints and honours
 * Weigh'd equal with him.

AGRIPPA.
 * A rarer spirit never
 * Did steer humanity. But you, gods, will give us
 * Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touch'd.

MAECENAS.
 * When such a spacious mirror's set before him,
 * He needs must see himself.

CAESAR.
 * O Antony!
 * I have follow'd thee to this!—But we do lance
 * Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce
 * Have shown to thee such a declining day
 * Or look on thine; we could not stall together
 * In the whole world: but yet let me lament,
 * With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,
 * That thou, my brother, my competitor
 * In top of all design, my mate in empire,
 * Friend and companion in the front of war,
 * The arm of mine own body, and the heart
 * Where mine his thoughts did kindle,—that our stars,
 * Unreconciliable, should divide
 * Our equalness to this.—Hear me, good friends,—
 * But I will tell you at some meeter season.

[Enter a Messenger.]


 * The business of this man looks out of him;
 * We'll hear him what he says.—Whence are you?

MESSENGER.
 * A poor Egyptian yet. The queen, my mistress,
 * Confin'd in all she has, her monument,
 * Of thy intents desires instruction,
 * That she preparedly may frame herself
 * To the way she's forc'd to.

CAESAR.
 * Bid her have good heart:
 * She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,
 * How honourable and how kindly we
 * Determine for her; for Caesar cannot learn
 * To be ungentle.

MESSENGER.
 * So the gods preserve thee!

[Exit.]

CAESAR.
 * Come hither, Proculeius. Go and say
 * We purpose her no shame: give her what comforts
 * The quality of her passion shall require
 * Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke
 * She do defeat us; for her life in Rome
 * Would be eternal in our triumph: go,
 * And with your speediest bring us what she says,
 * And how you find her.

PROCULEIUS.
 * Caesar, I shall.

[Exit.]

CAESAR.
 * Gallus, go you along.—

[Exit GALLUS.]


 * Where's Dolabella, to second Proculeius?

ALL.
 * Dolabella!

CAESAR.
 * Let him alone, for I remember now
 * How he's employ'd; 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.]

SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument.
[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * My desolation does begin to make
 * A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar;
 * Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
 * A minister of her will: and it is great
 * To do that thing that ends all other deeds;
 * Which shackles accidents and bolts up change;
 * Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug,
 * The beggar's nurse and Caesar's.

[Enter, to the gates of the Monument, PROCULEIUS, GALLUS, and Soldiers.]

PROCULEIUS.
 * Caesar sends greetings to the queen of Egypt;
 * And bids thee study on what fair demands
 * Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What's thy name?

PROCULEIUS.
 * My name is Proculeius.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Antony
 * Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but
 * I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,
 * That have no use for trusting. If your master
 * Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him
 * That majesty, to keep decorum, must
 * No less beg than a kingdom: if he please
 * To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,
 * He gives me so much of mine own as I
 * Will kneel to him with thanks.

PROCULEIUS.
 * Be of good cheer;
 * You are fallen into a princely hand; fear nothing:
 * Make your full reference freely to my lord,
 * Who is so full of grace that it flows over
 * On all that need: let me report to him
 * Your sweet dependency; and you shall find
 * A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness
 * Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Pray you, tell him
 * I am his fortune's vassal and I send him
 * The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
 * A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly
 * Look him i' the face.

PROCULEIUS.
 * This I'll report, dear lady.
 * Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
 * Of him that caus'd it.

GALLUS.
 * You see how easily she may be surpris'd:

[Here PROCULEIUS and two of the Guard ascend the Monument by a ladder placed against a window, and, having ascended, come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the gates.]

[To PROCULEIUS. and the Guear.] Guard her till Caesar come.

[Exit.]

IRAS.
 * Royal queen!

CHARMIAN.
 * O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Quick, quick, good hands.

[Drawing a dagger.]

PROCULEIUS.
 * Hold, worthy lady, hold;

[Seizes and disarms her.]


 * Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this
 * Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What, of death too,
 * That rids our dogs of languish?

PROCULEIUS.
 * Cleopatra,
 * Do not abuse my master's bounty by
 * Theundoing of yourself: let the world see
 * His nobleness well acted, which your death
 * Will never let come forth.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Where art thou, death?
 * Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queen
 * Worth many babes and beggars!

PROCULEIUS.
 * O, temperance, lady!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Sir, I will eat no meat; I'll not drink, sir;
 * If idle talk will once be accessary,
 * I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin,
 * Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I
 * Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;
 * Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye
 * Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up,
 * And show me to the shouting varletry
 * Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
 * Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
 * Lay me stark-nak'd, and let the water-flies
 * Blow me into abhorring! rather make
 * My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
 * And hang me up in chains!

PROCULEIUS.
 * You do extend
 * These thoughts of horror further than you shall
 * Find cause in Caesar.

[Enter DOLABELLA.]

DOLABELLA.
 * Proculeius,
 * What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,
 * And he hath sent for thee: as for the queen,
 * I'll take her to my guard.

PROCULEIUS.
 * So, Dolabella,
 * It shall content me best: be gentle to her.—
 * [To CLEOPATRA.] To Caesar I will speak what you shall please,
 * If you'll employ me to him.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Say I would die.

[Exeunt PROCULEIUS and Soldiers.]

DOLABELLA.
 * Most noble empress, you have heard of me?

CLEOPATRA.
 * I cannot tell.

DOLABELLA.
 * Assuredly you know me.

CLEOPATRA.
 * No matter, sir, what I have heard or known.
 * You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams;
 * Is't not your trick?

DOLABELLA.
 * I understand not, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony:—
 * O, such another sleep, that I might see
 * But such another man!

DOLABELLA.
 * If it might please you,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck
 * A sun and moon, which kept their course, and lighted
 * The little O, the earth.

DOLABELLA.
 * Most sovereign creature,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * His legs bestrid the ocean; his rear'd arm
 * Crested the world: his voice was propertied
 * As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
 * But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
 * He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
 * There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas
 * That grew the more by reaping: his delights
 * Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above
 * The element they liv'd in: in his livery
 * Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
 * As plates dropp'd from his pocket.

DOLABELLA.
 * Cleopatra,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * Think you there was or might be such a man
 * As this I dream'd of?

DOLABELLA.
 * Gentle madam, no.

CLEOPATRA.
 * You lie, up to the hearing of the gods.
 * But if there be, or ever were, one such,
 * It's past the size of dreaming: nature wants stuff
 * To vie strange forms with fancy: yet to imagine
 * An Antony were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
 * Condemning shadows quite.

DOLABELLA.
 * Hear me, good madam.
 * Your loss is, as yourself, great; and you bear it
 * As answering to the weight: would I might never
 * O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel,
 * By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
 * My very heart at root.

CLEOPATRA.
 * I thank you, sir.
 * Know you what Caesar means to do with me?

DOLABELLA.
 * I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Nay, pray you, sir,—

DOLABELLA.
 * Though he be honourable,—

CLEOPATRA.
 * He'll lead me, then, in triumph?

DOLABELLA.
 * Madam, he will;
 * I know it.

[Flourish within.]

[Within.] Make way there,—Caesar!

[Enter CAESAR, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, MAECENAS, SELEUCUS, and Attendants.]

CAESAR.
 * Which is the queen of Egypt?

DOLABELLA.
 * It is the emperor, madam.

[CLEOPATRA kneels.]

CAESAR.
 * Arise, you shall not kneel:—
 * I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Sir, the gods
 * Will have it thus; my master and my lord
 * I must obey.

CAESAR.
 * Take to you no hard thoughts;
 * The record of what injuries you did us,
 * Though written in our flesh, we shall remember
 * As things but done by chance.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Sole sir o' the world,
 * I cannot project mine own cause so well
 * To make it clear: but do confess I have
 * Been laden with like frailties which before
 * Have often sham'd our sex.

CAESAR.
 * Cleopatra, know
 * We will extenuate rather than enforce:
 * If you apply yourself to our intents,—
 * Which towards you are most gentle,—you shall find
 * A benefit in this change; but if you seek
 * To lay on me a cruelty, by taking
 * Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself
 * Of my good purposes, and put your children
 * To that destruction which I'll guard them from,
 * If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

CLEOPATRA.
 * And may, through all the world: 'tis yours, and we,
 * Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall
 * Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.

CAESAR.
 * You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.

CLEOPATRA.
 * This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,
 * I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;
 * Not petty things admitted.—Where's Seleucus?

SELEUCUS.
 * Here, madam.

CLEOPATRA.
 * This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,
 * Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd
 * To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.

SELEUCUS.
 * Madam,
 * I had rather seal my lips than to my peril
 * Speak that which is not.

CLEOPATRA.
 * What have I kept back?

SELEUCUS.
 * Enough to purchase what you have made known.

CAESAR.
 * Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve
 * Your wisdom in the deed.

CLEOPATRA.
 * See, Caesar! O, behold,
 * How pomp is follow'd! Mine will now be yours;
 * And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine.
 * The ingratitude of this Seleucus does
 * Even make me wild: O slave, of no more trust
 * Than love that's hir'd!—What, goest thou back? thou shalt
 * Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes
 * Though they had wings; slave, soulless villain, dog!
 * O rarely base!

CAESAR.
 * Good queen, let us entreat you.

CLEOPATRA.
 * O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,—
 * That thou vouchsafing here to visit me,
 * Doing the honour of thy lordliness
 * To one so meek, that mine own servant should
 * Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
 * Addition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,
 * That I some lady trifles have reserv'd,
 * Immoment toys, things of such dignity
 * As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
 * Some nobler token I have kept apart
 * For Livia and Octavia, to induce
 * Their mediation;—must I be unfolded
 * With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites me
 * Beneath the fall I have.
 * [To SELEUCUS.] Pr'ythee go hence;
 * Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits
 * Through theashes of my chance.—Wert thou a man,
 * Thou wouldst have mercy on me.

CAESAR.
 * Forbear, Seleucus.

[Exit SELEUCUS.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought
 * For things that others do; and when we fall
 * We answer others' merits in our name,
 * Are therefore to be pitied.

CAESAR.
 * Cleopatra,
 * Not what you have reserv'd, nor what acknowledg'd,
 * Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be't yours,
 * Bestow it at your pleasure; and believe
 * Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you
 * Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheer'd;
 * Make not your thoughts your prisons: no, dear queen;
 * For we intend so to dispose you as
 * Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep:
 * Our care and pity is so much upon you
 * That we remain your friend; and so, adieu.

CLEOPATRA.
 * My master and my lord!

CAESAR.
 * Not so. Adieu.

[Flourish. Exeunt CAESAR and his Train.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not
 * Be noble to myself: but hark thee, Charmian!

[Whispers CHARMIAN.]

IRAS.
 * Finish, good lady; the bright day is done,
 * And we are for the dark.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Hie thee again:
 * I have spoke already, and it is provided;
 * Go put it to the haste.

CHARMIAN.
 * Madam, I will.

[Re-enter DOLABELLA.]

DOLABELLA.
 * Where's the queen?

CHARMIAN.
 * Behold, sir.

[Exit.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Dolabella!

DOLABELLA.
 * Madam, as thereto sworn by your command,
 * Which my love makes religion to obey,
 * I tell you this: Caesar through Syria
 * Intends his journey; and within three days
 * You with your children will he send before:
 * Make your best use of this: I have perform'd
 * Your pleasure and my promise.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Dolabella,
 * I shall remain your debtor.

DOLABELLA.
 * I your servant.
 * Adieu, good queen; I must attend on Caesar.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Farewell, and thanks.

[Exit DOLABELLA.]


 * Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
 * Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shall be shown
 * In Rome as well as I: mechanic slaves,
 * With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall
 * Uplift us to the view; in their thick breaths,
 * Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded,
 * And forc'd to drink their vapour.

IRAS.
 * The gods forbid!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras:—saucy lictors
 * Will catch at us like strumpets; and scald rhymers
 * Ballad us out o' tune: the quick comedians
 * Extemporally will stage us, and present
 * Our Alexandrian revels; Antony
 * Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
 * Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
 * I' the posture of a whore.

IRAS.
 * O the good gods!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Nay, that's certain.

IRAS.
 * I'll never see't; for I am sure mine nails
 * Are stronger than mine eyes.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Why, that's the way
 * To fool their preparation and to conquer
 * Their most absurd intents.

[Enter CHARMIAN.]


 * Now, Charmian!—
 * Show me, my women, like a queen.—Go fetch
 * My best attires;—I am again for Cydnus,
 * To meet Mark Antony:—sirrah, Iras, go.—
 * Now, noble Charmian, we'll despatch indeed;
 * And when thou hast done this chare, I'll give thee leave
 * To play till doomsday.—Bring our crown and all.

[Exit IRAS. A noise within.]


 * Wherefore's this noise?

[Enter one of the Guard.]

GUARD.
 * Here is a rural fellow
 * That will not be denied your highness' presence:
 * He brings you figs.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Let him come in.

[Exit Guard.]


 * What poor an instrument
 * May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty.
 * My resolution's plac'd, and I have nothing
 * Of woman in me: now from head to foot
 * I am marble-constant; now the fleeting moon
 * No planet is of mine.

[Re-enter Guard, with Clown bringing a basket.]

GUARD.
 * This is the man.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Avoid, and leave him.

[Exit Guard.]


 * Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there
 * That kills and pains not?

CLOWN.
 * Truly, I have him. But I would not be the party that should
 * desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal; those that
 * do die of it do seldom or never recover.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Remember'st thou any that have died on't?

CLOWN.
 * Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer
 * than yesterday: a very honest woman, but something given to lie;
 * as a woman should not do but in the way of honesty: how she died
 * of the biting of it, what pain she felt,—truly she makes a very
 * good report o' the worm; but he that will believe all that they
 * say shall never be saved by half that they do: but this is most
 * falliable, the worm's an odd worm.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Get thee hence; farewell.

CLOWN.
 * I wish you all joy of the worm.

[Sets down the basket.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Farewell.

CLOWN.
 * You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Ay, ay; farewell.

CLOWN.
 * Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping of
 * wise people; for indeed there is no goodness in the worm.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Take thou no care; it shall be heeded.

CLOWN.
 * Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for it is not worth the
 * feeding.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Will it eat me?

CLOWN.
 * You must not think I am so simple but I know the devil himself
 * will not eat a woman: I know that a woman is a dish for the gods,
 * if the devil dress her not. But truly, these same whoreson devils
 * do the gods great harm in their women, for in every ten that they
 * make the devils mar five.

CLEOPATRA.
 * Well, get thee gone; farewell.

CLOWN.
 * Yes, forsooth. I wish you joy o' the worm.

[Exit.]

[Re-enter IRAS, with a robe, crown, &c.]

CLEOPATRA.
 * Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
 * Immortal longings in me: now no more
 * The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:—
 * Yare, yare, good Iras; quick.—Methinks I hear
 * Antony call; I see him rouse himself
 * To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
 * The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men
 * To excuse their after wrath. Husband, I come:
 * Now to that name my courage prove my title!
 * I am fire and air; my other elements
 * I give to baser life.—So,—have you done?
 * Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
 * Farewell, kind Charmian;—Iras, long farewell.

[Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies.]


 * Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?
 * If thus thou and nature can so gently part,
 * The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,
 * Which hurts and is desir'd. Dost thou lie still?
 * If thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
 * It is not worth leave-taking.

CHARMIAN.
 * Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may say
 * The gods themselves do weep!

CLEOPATRA.
 * This proves me base:
 * If she first meet the curled Antony,
 * He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss
 * Which is my heaven to have.—Come, thou mortal wretch,

[To an asp, which she applies to her breast.]


 * With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
 * Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool,
 * Be angry and despatch. O couldst thou speak,
 * That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
 * Unpolicied!

CHARMIAN.
 * O eastern star!

CLEOPATRA.
 * Peace, peace!
 * Dost thou not see my baby at my breast
 * That sucks the nurse asleep?

CHARMIAN.
 * O, break! O, break!

CLEOPATRA.
 * As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle:—
 * O Antony! Nay, I will take thee too:—

[Applying another asp to her arm.]


 * What should I stay,—

[Falls on a bed and dies.]

CHARMIAN.
 * In this vile world?—So, fare thee well.—
 * Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
 * A lass unparallel'd.—Downy windows, close;
 * And golden Phoebus never be beheld
 * Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry;
 * I'll mend it and then play.

[Enter the guard, rushing in.]

FIRST GUARD.
 * Where's the queen?

CHARMIAN.
 * Speak softly, wake her not.

FIRST GUARD.
 * Caesar hath sent,—

CHARMIAN.
 * Too slow a messenger.

[Applies an asp.]


 * O, come apace, despatch: I partly feel thee.

FIRST GUARD.
 * Approach, ho! all's not well: Caesar's beguil'd.

SECOND GUARD.
 * There's Dolabella sent from Caesar; call him.

FIRST GUARD.
 * What work is here!—Charmian, is this well done?

CHARMIAN.
 * It is well done, and fitting for a princess
 * Descended of so many royal kings.
 * Ah, soldier!

[CHARMIAN dies.]

[Re-enter DOLABELLA.]

DOLABELLA.
 * How goes it here?

SECOND GUARD.
 * All dead.

DOLABELLA.
 * Caesar, thy thoughts
 * Touch their effects in this: thyself art coming
 * To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou
 * So sought'st to hinder.

[Within.] A way there, a way for Caesar!

[Re-enter CAESAR and his Train.]

DOLABELLA.
 * O sir, you are too sure an augurer;
 * That you did fear is done.

CAESAR.
 * Bravest at the last,
 * She levell'd at our purposes, and being royal,
 * Took her own way.—The manner of their deaths?
 * I do not see them bleed.

DOLABELLA.
 * Who was last with them?

FIRST GUARD.
 * A simple countryman that brought her figs.
 * This was his basket.

CAESAR.
 * Poison'd then.

FIRST GUARD.
 * O Caesar,
 * This Charmian liv'd but now; she stood and spake:
 * I found her trimming up the diadem
 * On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,
 * And on the sudden dropp'd.

CAESAR.
 * O noble weakness!—
 * If they had swallow'd poison 'twould appear
 * By external swelling: but she looks like sleep,—
 * As she would catch another Antony
 * In her strong toil of grace.

DOLABELLA.
 * Here on her breast
 * There is a vent of blood, and something blown:
 * The like is on her arm.

FIRST GUARD.
 * This is an aspic's trail: and these fig-leaves
 * Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves
 * Upon the caves of Nile.

CAESAR.
 * Most probable
 * That so she died; for her physician tells me
 * She hath pursu'd conclusions infinite
 * Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed,
 * And bear her women from the monument:—
 * She shall be buried by her Antony:
 * No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
 * A pair so famous. High events as these
 * Strike those that make them; and their story is
 * No less in pity than his glory which
 * Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
 * In solemn show attend this funeral;
 * And then to Rome.—Come, Dolabella, see
 * High order in this great solemnity.

[Exeunt.]