The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare

I should, and thou could'st 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

I learn'd of thee. dead?

[Falling on his Sword. How! not yet dead? not

The guard !-ho !---Oh! despatch me.

Enter DERCETAS and GUARD.

1 Guard. What's the noise?

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

Ant. I have done my work ill, friends; Oh! The varying shore o'the world !-O Antony!

make an end

Of what I have begun.

2 Guard. The star is fallen.

1 Guard. And time is at his period.

All. Alas, and woe!

Ant. Let him that loves me, strike me dead.

Enter DIOMEDES.

Dio. Where's Antony?
Der. There, Diomed, there.
Dio. Lives he?

Wilt thou not answer, man? [Exit DERCETAS.
Ant. Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy
sword, and give me

Sufficing strokes for death.

Dio. Most absolute lord,

My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.
Ant. When did she send thee?

Dio. Now, my lord.

Ant. Where is she?

Dio. Lock'd in her monument.

prophesying fear

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
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, ser-
pents, 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, An-

tony,

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

Ant. O quick, or I am gone.

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

She had a Our strength is all gone into heaviness,
That makes the weight: Had I great Juno's
power,

Of what hath come pass: for when she saw
(Which never should be found,) you did suspect The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up,
She had dispos'd with Cesar, and that your And set thee by Jove's side.
•
Yet coine a
rage
little,-
Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was Wishers were ever fools;-0 come, come, come;
dead;
[They draw ANTONY up.
And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast
liv'd:

That the false housewife Fortune break ber
Provok'd by my offence.
[wheel

Ant. One word, sweet queen:

Of Cesar seek your honour, with your safety.0!

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

Cleo. O Charmian, I will never go from hence. In this dull world, which in thy absence is Char. Be comforted, dear madam.

Cleo. No, I will not:

Made terms with

No better than a stye?-O see, my women,
The crown o'the earth doth melt-My lord !-

• Without light.

+ Adorned.

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 stolen 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 :

[To the GUARD below. 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."
Ab, women, women! come; we have no friend
But resolution, and the briefest end.

[Exeunt: those above bearing off ANTONY'S Body.

ACT V.

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.

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

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

He needs must see himself.
Ces. O Antony !

I have foliow'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,

Unreconcileable, 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?
Mess. 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 forced to.

Ces. Bid her have good heart;

SCENE 1.-CESAR'S Camp before Alexan-She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,

dria.

How honourable and how kindly we Determine for her for Cesar cannot live

Enter CESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECE-To be ungentle.
NAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and others.
Ces. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;
Being so frustrate, ‡ tell him, he mocks us by
The pauses that he makes.

Dol. Cesar, I shall.

[Exit.

Mess. So the gods preserve thee!
Ces. Come hither, Proculeius: Go, and say,
We purpose her no shame: give her what com-
forts

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 of her.
Pro. Cesar 1 shall.

[Exit PROCULEIUS. Ces. Gallus, go you along.-Where's Dolabella,

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 dung,
The beggar's nurse and Cesar's.

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 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.

Pro. 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 dependancy; and you shall find
A conqueror, that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. [Within.] Pray you, tell him

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

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.

Have comfort: for I know your plight is pitied Of him that caus'd it.

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 unbar and open the Gates. Guard her till Cesar come.

(To PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit.
GALLUS.

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

[Drawing a Dagger.

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 plates + dropp'd from his pocket.
Dol. Cleopatra,—

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

Come hither, come ! coine, come, and take a queen Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it

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,

[Sir; I'll not sleep neither: This mortal house I'll ruin,

Do Cesar 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 t
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

As answering to the weight: 'Would I might

Enter CESAR, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, MECENAS,
SELEUCUS, and Attendants.

Ces. Which is the queen

You shall not kneel:

With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites

Beneath the fall I have. Pr'ythee, go hence; [To SELEUCUS. Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits [CLEOPATRA kneels. Through the ashes of my chance-Wert thou a

madam.

I pray you, rise: rise, Egypt.
Cleo. Sir, the gods

Will have it thus; my master and my lord
I must obey.

Ces. 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.

Cleo. Sole Sir o'the world,

I cannot project⚫ mine own canse so well
To make it clear; but to confess, I have
Been laden with like frailties, which before
Have often sham'd our sex.

Ces. 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.

Cleo. And may, through all the world: 'tis
yours and we

shall

Your 'scutcheons, and your signs of conquest,
[lord.
Hang in what place you please. Here, my good
Ces. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.
Cleo. This is the brief of money, plate, and
jewels,

I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;
Not petty things admitted.-Where's Seleucus ?
Sel. Here, madam.

Cleo. This is my treasurer: let him speak, my
lord,

Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd

To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.
Sel. Madam,

I had rather seel my lips, than, to my peril,
Speak that which is not.

Cleo. What have I kept back?

Sel. Enough to purchase what you have inade known.

Ces. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra ; I approve Your wisdom in the deed.

Cleo. See, Cesar! 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 f-thou shalt

Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes, Though they had wings: Slave, soulless villain, dog!

O rarely base!

Ces. Good queen, let us entreat you.

man,

Thou would'st have mercy on me.

Ces. Forbear, Seleucus.

[Exit SELEUCUS.

Cleo. Be it known, that we, the greatest, are

misthought

For things that others do;
We answer others' merits
Are therefore to be pitied.
Ces. Cleopatra,

and, when we fall, in our names,

Not what you have reserv'd, nor what acknow

ledg'd,

Put we i'the roll of conquest: still be it yours,
Bestow it at your pleasure, and believe,
Cesar's no merchant, to make prize with yoR
Therefore be
Of things that inerchants sold.

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.
Cleo. My master, and my lord!
Ces. Not so: Adieu.

Exeunt CESAR, and his Train.
Cleo. 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.

Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
Thon, an Egyptian puppet, shalt 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,

Cleo. O Cesar, what a wounding shame is And forc'd to drink their vapour.

Iras. I'll never for it; for, I am sure, my | Immortal longings in me: Now no more nails The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip :

Are stronger than mine eyes.

Cleo. Why that's the way

Yare, yare, good fras; quick.-Methinks, I
hear

To fool their preparation, and to conquer
Their most absurd intents.-Now, Charmian ?— | Antony call; I see him rouse himself

Enter 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.
Wherefore's this noise?

[Exit IRAS. A Noise within.

Enter one of the GUARD.

Guard. Here is a rural fellow,

To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
The luck of Cesar, 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.

Farwell, kind Charmian ;-Iras, long farewell.
[Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies.
Have I the aspic in my lips?+ Ďost fall?
If 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?

That will not be denied your highness' pre- If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world

sence:

He brings you figs.

Cleo. Let him come in. How poor an instru-
ment

[Exit GUARD.
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 a CLOWN bringing a
Basket.

Guard. This is the man.
Cleo. 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.

Cleo. Remembers't thou any that have died

on't f

Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer than yesterdaya 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 fallible, the worm's an odd worm.

Cleo. Get thee hence; farewell.
Clown. I wish you all joy of the worm.
Cleo. Farewell.

[CLOWN sets down the Basket. Clown. You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind. †

It is not worth leave-taking.

Char. Dissolve, thick cloud and rain; that I

What should I stay

[Falls on a Bed and Dies. Char. In this wild 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.

1 Guard. Where is the queen ?
Char. Speak softly, wake her not.
1 Guard. Cesar hath sent-
Char. Too slow a messenger.

[Applies the Asp.
O come; apace, despatch: I partly feel thee.
1 Guard. Approach, ho! All's not well: Ce-
sar's begnil'd.

2 Guard. There's Dolabella sent from Cesar-call him.

1 Guard. What work is here?-Charmian, is

Re-enter IRAs, with a Robe, Crown, &c. Cleo. Give me my robe, put on my crown; have

2 Guard. All dead.

Make haste.

Are my lips already poisoned by the aspic ?

1 An ass without common policy, thus to leave me to

myself.

Play my part in this tragedy.

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The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare, Nide 9