Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

In Cleopatra's sails their nest: 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.

и

Re-enter ANTONY.

Ant. All is lost;

This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me:
My fleet have 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.

[ocr errors]

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 Cesar; and this pine is bark'd,
That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am :
O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,t
Whose eye beck'dt forth my wars, and call'd
them home;

Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,
Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,||
Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss.-
What, Eros, Eros!

Enter CLEOPATRA.

Ah, thou spell! Avaunt.

Cleo. Why is my lord enrag'd against his

love?

Ant. Vanish; or I shall give thee thy deserving, And blemish Cesar'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, to dolts;¶ and let Patient Octavia plough thy visage up With her prepared nails. [Exit CLEO.] "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 Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot: she dies for't.-Eros, ho!

[Exit. SCENE XI.—Alexandria.-A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAs, and
MARDIAN.

Cleo. Help me, my women! O, he is more
mad

Cleopatra first belonged to Julius Cesar, then to Antony, and now, as Antony supposes, to Augustus. +Deadly piece of witchcraft.

Was the motion for.

& Finish.

A cheating game, at present named pricking at the belt. For the smallest piece of money to clowns. **Hercules.

++ The boy that brought the poisoned shirt to Hercules.

Was never so emboss'd.† Than Telamon* for his shield; the boar of [Thessaly There lock yourself, and send him word you Char. To the monument; are dead.

The soul and body rivet not more in parting, Than greatness going off.

Cleo. 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
To the monument.
death.-

[Exeunt. SCENE XII-The same.-Another Room. Enter ANTONY and EROS.

Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me?
Eros. Ay, noble lord.

Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dra-
gonish;

A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion,
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
They are black vesper's pageants.
these signs;
Eros. Ay, my lord.

Ant. That, which is now a horse, even with a thought,

"

The racks dislimns ; and makes it indistinct,

As water is in water.

Eros. It does, my lord.

Ant. My good knave,|| Eros, now thy captain Even such a body: here I am Antony; Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave. [in 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
Pack'd cards with Cesar, and false play'd my
A million more, now lost,-she, Eros, bas
Unto an enemy's triumph.-
[glory
Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.-O, thy vile lady!
Enter MARDIAN.

She has robb'd me of my sword.

Mar. No, Antony;

[blocks in formation]

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 a while.[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,t and all is done.[me: Eros!-I come, my queen-Eros!-Stay for Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand, [gaze: And with our sprightly port make the ghosts Dido and her Eneas shall want troops, And all the haunt be ours.-Come, Eros, Eros!

Re-enter EROS.

Eros. What would my lord? Ant. Since Cleopatra died,

back

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
[lack
With ships made cities, condemn myself, to
The courage of a woman; less noble mind
Than she, which, by her death, our Cesar tells,
I am conqueror of myself. Thou art sworn,
Eros,
[now
That, when the exigent should come, (which
Is come, indeed,) when I should see behind
The inevitable prosecution of
Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,
Thou then would'st kill me: do't; the time is

come:

me

Thou strik'st not me, 'tis Cesar thou defeatst. 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?
Ant. Eros,
[see
Would'st thou be window'd in great Rome, and
Thy master thus with pleach'd‡ arms, bending
down

His corrigibles neck, his face subdued
To penetrative shame; whilst the wheel'd seat
Offortunate Cesar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued?¶

Eros. I would not see't.

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

Eros. O, Sir, pardon me.

Ant. 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 coun-
tenance,

Wherein the worship** of the whole world lies.
Ant. Lo thee.
[Turning from him.

Eros. My sword is drawn.
Ant. 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.

1. e. The thing that contains thee.
pletes a contract.
Penetrating.

Folded. Followed.

[blocks in formation]

rage

Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was dead;

[sent But, fearing since how it might work, hath Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come, I dread, too late.

Ant. Too late, good Diomed:-Call my guard, I prythee.

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

Enter some of the GUARD.

Ant. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides;

'Tis the last service that I shall command you. 1 Guard. Woe are we, Sir, you may not live

to wear

+Sealing com- All your true followers out. Corrected. **Dignity.

* Settled.

All. Most heavy day!

Ant. Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate [come To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welWhich 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 XIII.-The sume.-A Monument. Enter above, CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. Cleo. Charmian, I will never go from

hence.

Char. Be comforted, dear madam.
Cleo. 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

Enter DIOMEDES.

As that which makes it.-How now? is he dead?
Dio. His death's upon him, but not dead.
Look out o'the other side your monument,
His guard hath brought him thither.

Enter ANTONY, borne by the GUARD.
Cleo. O thou sun,

Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in !-darkling stand

The varying shore o'the world!-O Antony! Antony, Antony!-Charmian, help; help, Iras; Help, friends below; let's draw him hither. Ant. Peace:

Not Cesar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, But Antony's hath triumphed on itself.

Cleo. So it should be, that none but Antony Should conquer Antony; but woe 'tis so! Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying; only I here impórtune death a while, until Of many thousand kisses the poor last I lay upon thy lips.

Cleo. I dare not, dear (Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not, Lest I be taken: not the imperious show Of the full-fortun'd Cesar 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,[up;

Help me, my women,-we must draw thee Assist, good friends.

Ant. O, quick, or I am gone.

Cleo. Here's sport, indeed!- How heavy weighs my lord!

power,

Our strength is all gone into heaviness, That makes the weight: Had I great Juno's [up, The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,Wishers were ever fools;-0, come, come, come; [They draw ANTONY up. And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast liv'd:

Quickens with kissing; had my lips that power, Thus would I wear them out.

All. A heavy sight!

Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying:

Give me some wine, and let me speak a little. Cleo. No, let me speak; and let me rail so high,

[blocks in formation]

That the false housewife Fortune break her Provok'd by my offence.

[wheel, [0

Ant. One word, sweet queen:
Of Cesar seek your honour, with your safety.-
Cleo. They do not go together.
Ant. Gentle, hear me :

None about Cesar trust, but Proculeius.
Cleo. My resolution, and my hands, I'll trust;
None about Cesar.

Ant. 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,
Nor 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.

[Dies.

Cleo. 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 stye?-O, see, my women,
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.

Char. O, quietness, lady!

[She faints.

Iras. She is dead too, our sovereign. Char. Lady,

Iras. Madam,

Char. O madam, madam, madam! Iras. Royal Egypt!

Empress!

Char. Peace, peace, Iras.

Cleo. No more, but e'en a woman; and com

manded

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

740

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocks us by
The pauses that he makes.
Dol. Cesar, I shall.

[Exit DOLABELLA.

Enter DERCETAS, with the Sword of ANTONY.

Ces, Wherefore is that? and what art thou,

that dar'st

Appear thus to us?

Der. 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 Cesar; if thou pleasest not,
I yield thee up my life.

Ces. What is't thou say'st?

Der. I say, O Cesar, Antony is dead.

Ces. 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
Is not a single doom; in the name lay
A moiety of the world.

Der. He is dead, Cesar;

[tony of An

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,
1 robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd
With his most noble blood.

Ces. Look you, sad friends?

The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.

Agr. And strange it is,

That nature must compel us to lament
Our most persisted deeds.

Mec. His taints and honours

Waged equal with him.

Agr. A rarer spirit never

[us

Did steer humanity: but you, gods, will give Some faults to make us men. Cesar is touch'd. Mec. When such a spacious mirror's set before him,

He needs must see himself.

Ces. 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 hist thoughts did kindle,-that
our stars,

[blocks in formation]

[ACT F.

[blocks in formation]

To second Proculeius?

Agr. Mec. Dolabella!

[Exit GALLES.

Ces. Let him alone, for I remember now

How he's employed; he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent; where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war;
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings: Go with me, and see
What I can show in this.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.-Alexandria.—A Room in the
Monument.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.
Cleo. My desolation does begin to make
A better life: 'Tis paltry to be Cesar;
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 inore the
The beggar's nurse and Cesar's. [dung,
Enter, to the Gates of the Monument, PROCU
LEIUS, GALLUS, and Soldiers.
Pro. Cesar sends greeting to the queen
of
Egypt;

And bids thee study on what fair demands
Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.
Cleo. [Within.] What's thy name?
Pro. My name is Proculeius.
Cleo. [Within.] 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
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.

[him,

Pro. Be of good cheer; [thing: You are fallen into a princely hand, fear noMake 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 dependancy; and you shall find A conqueror, that will pray in aid for kindWhere be for grace is kneel'd to. [ness,

Cleo. [Within.] 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.

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.

* Servant.

Have comfort; for, I know, your plight is piti- |O, such another sleep, that I might see
Of him that caus'd it.
But such another man!
Dol. If it might please you,-

[ed Gal. You see how easily she may be surpriz'd:

[Here PROCULEIUS, and two of the Guard.
ascend the Monument by a Ladder placed
against a Window, and having descended,
come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the
Guard unbur and open the Gates.

Guard her till Cesar come.

[To PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Erit
GALLUS.

Iras. Royal queen!
Char. O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen!
Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

[Drawing a Dagger. Pro. Hold, worthy lady, bold :

[Seizes and disarms her.

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

Cleo. What, of death too

That rids our dogs of languish?
Pro. Cleopatra,

Do not abuse my master's bounty, by.

The undoing of yourself: let the world see
His nobleness well acted, which your death
Will never let come forth.

Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck

A sun and noon; which kept their course. and lighted

The little O, the earth.

Dol. Most sovereign creature,

Cleo. 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 ratling 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 platest dropp'd from his pocket.
Dol. Cleopatra.-

Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be,
such a man

[queen | As this I dream'd of f

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

Pro. O, temperance, lady !

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink,
If idle talk will once be necessary,
I'll not sleep neither: This mortal house I'll
[Sir;
ruin,

Do Cesar what he can. Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's

court ;

Nor once be chástis'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 to me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's high pyramids my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro. You do extend

These thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find cause in Cesar.

[blocks in formation]

You laugh, when boys, or women, tell their
Is't not your trick?

Dol. I understand not, madam.

Dol. Gentle madam, no.

Cleo. 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
To vie strange forms with fancy; yet, to ima-
[gine
An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite.

stuff

Dol. Hear me, good madam:
[it
Your loss is as yourself, great; and yon bear
As answering to the weight: 'Would I might

never

By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots
O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel,
My very heart at root.

Cleo. I thank you, Sir.

Know you what Cesar means to do with me?
Dol. I am loath to tell you what I would you

knew.

[blocks in formation]

Of Egypt?

Dol. 'Tis the emperor, madam.

Ces. Arise,
You shall not kneel:-

[CLEOPATRA kneels.

I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.
Will have it thus; my master and my lord
Cleo. Sir, the gods
I must obey.

Ces. Take to you no hard thoughts:
Though written in our flesh, we shall remem-
The record of what injuries you did us,
As things but done by chance.

Cleo. Sole Sir o'the world,

I cannot project mine own canse so well
To make it clear; but do confess, I have

[ber

Cleo. I dream'd, there was an emperor An- Been laden with like frailties, which before

tony;

Bound, confined.

[blocks in formation]
« ПредишнаНапред »