dead;

bides;

Dio.
Now, my lord.
Look out o' the other side your

monument, Ant.

Where is she? His guard have brought him thither. Dio. Lock'd in her monument. She had a

prophesying fear Of what hath come to pass : for when she saw Enter, below, Antony, borne by the Guard. (Which never shall be found) you

did

suspect She had dispos’da with Cæsar, and that your rage

CLEO.

0, sun, Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was

Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in darkling

stand But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent

The varying shore o' the world !0, Antony ! Me to proclaim the truth ; and I am come,

Antony, Antony !-Help, Charmian; help, Iras, I dread, too late.

help ;Ant. Too late, good Diomed.--Call my guard, Help, friends below ;-let's draw him hither.

ANT.

Peace!
I pr’ythee.
Dio. What, ho! the emperor's guard! The Not Cæsar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony,
guard, what, ho!

But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself.
Come, your lord calls !

Cleo. So it should be, that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony; but woe 't is so !

Ant. I am dying,–Egypt,—dying; only
Enter some of the Guard.

I here importune death a while, until
Ant. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra Of many thousand kisses the

poor

last

I lay upon thy lips.'Tis the last service that I shall command you.

Cleo,

I dare not, dear, 1 GUARD. Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not

(Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not, live to wear

Lest I be taken : not the imperious show
All your true followers out.

Of the full-fortun'd Cesar ever shall
ALL.
Most heavy day!

Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents,
Ant. Nay, good my fellows, do not please

have

Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe : To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welcome

Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes Which comes to punish us, and we punish it

And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up: Demuring upon me.—But come, come, Antony,I have led you oft ; carry me now, good friends, Help me, my women,- ,—we must draw thee up ;And have my thanks for all.

Assist, good friends.
[Exeunt, bearing ANTONY. ANT.

O, quick, or I am gone !
Cleo. Here's sport, indeed!—How heavy

weighs my lord !
SCENE XV.-The same. A Monument. Our strength is all gone into heaviness ;

That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's Enter, above, CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and Iras.

The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up, Cleo. O, Charmian, I will never go from hence.

And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,-
CHAR. Be comforted, dear madam.

Wishers were ever fools,—0, come, come, come!
CLEO.
No, I will not :

[They draw ANTONY up. All strange and terrible events are welcome, And welcome, welcome! die where* thou hast But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow,

liv'd !
Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great Quicken with kissing ! had my lips that power, ,
As that which makes it.-

Thus would I wear them out.
ALL.

A heavy sight!
Enter, below, DIOMEDES.

Ant. I am dying - Egypt,-dying :

Give me some wine, and let me speak a little. How now! is he dead? Cleo. No, let me speak; and let me rail so Dio. His death 's upon him, but not dead.

high,

sharp fate

power,

That the false housewife, Fortune, break her wheel, IRAS. She is dead too, our sovereign !
Provok'd by my offence.

CHAR.

Lady! ANT. One word, sweet queen: IRAS.

Madam! Of Cæsar seek your honour, with your safety.—0! CHAR. O madam, madam, madam !Cleo. They do not go together.

IRAS.

Royal Egypt ! Ant.

Gentle, hear me ;

Empress ! None about Cæsar trust but Proculeius.

CHAR. Peace, peace,

Iras !

[commanded Cleo. My resolution and my hands I'll trust; Cleo. No more, but e'en *

a woman, and None about Cæsar.

By such poor passion as the maid that milks, Ant. The miserable change now at my end, And does the meanest chares.It were for me Lament nor sorrow at ; but please your thoughts, To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods ; In feeding them with those my former fortunes To tell them that this world did equal theirs, Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o' the world, Till they had stol'n our jewel. —All's but nought; The noblest ; and do now not basely die,

Patience is sottish, and impatience does Not cowardly put off my helmet to b

Become a dog that's mad: then is it sin My countryman,—a Roman by a Roman

To rush into the secret house of death, Valiantly vanquish d.(3) Now, my spirit is going ;- Ere death dare come to us?—How do you, I can no more,

women?

[Charmian! CLEO. Noblest of men, woo't die ? What, what ! good cheer! Why, how now, Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide

My noble girls !—Ah, women, women! look, In this dull world, which in thy absence is

Our lamp is spent, it's out !—Good sirs, a take No better than a sty?—0, see, my women,

heart :

[noble, [ANTONY dies. We'll bury him ; and then, what's brave, what's The crown o' the earth doth melt !- My lord !- Let's do it after the high Roman fashion, 0, wither'd is the garland of the war !

And make Death proud to take us. The soldier's pole is fall’n : young boys and girls

away :Are level now with men; the odds is gone, This case of that huge spirit now is cold.-And there is nothing left remarkable ©

Ah, women, women !—come; we have no friend Beneath the visiting moon.

[Faints. But resolution, and the briefest end. CHAR.

O, quietness, lady! [Exeunt; those above bearing off Antony's body.

:

Come,

b

- housewife, Fortune,–] “Housewife" is here used in the loose sense, which it often bore, of hussy, or harlot. So in “Henry V." Act V. Sc. 1, Pistol asks, ---Doth Fortune play the huswife with me now?”

and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to

My countryman,-)
Thus the textus receptus, but perhaps we ought to read, -

"—and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly, but dof my helmet to

My countryman," &c. c And there is nothing left remarkable-] In Shakespeare's time, the word "remarkable" bore a far more impressive and appropriate meaning than with us. It then expressed not merely observable or noteworthy, but something profoundly striking and uncommon.

d Good sirs, take heart :- | Mr. Dyce has shown that this form

(*) First folio, in, corrected by Capell. of addressing women was not unusual; and, consequently, that the modern stage direction here, “[To the Guard below," is improper. Thus, as quoted by Mr. Dyce from Beaumont and Fletcher's play of “The Coxcomb," Act IV. Sc. 3, the mother, speaking to Viola, Nan, and Madge, says,

“Sirs, to your tasks, and shew this little novice

How to bestir herself,” &c.
Again, as quoted by Mr. Dyce from the same authors' “A King
and No King,” Act III. Sc. 1,-

"Spa. I do beseech you, madam, send away
Your other women, and receive from me
A few sad words, which, set against your joys,
May make 'em shine the more.
Pan. Sirs, leave me all.

(Exeunt Wailing-women.''

Enter CÆSAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECANAS, DER.

I am call’d Dercetas ;
GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and others.

Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy

Best to be serv’d: whilst he stood up and spoke, Cæs. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;

He was my master ; and I wore my life Being so frustrate,“ tell him, he mocks

To spend upon his haters. If thou please The pauses that he makes.

To take me to thee, as I was to him Dol. Cæsar, I shall.

[Exit. I'll be to Cæsar ; if thou pleasest not,

I yield thee up my life. Enter DERCETAS, with the sword of ANTONY.

Cæs.

What is't thou say'st ? CÆs. Wherefore is that? and what art thou DER. I say, 0, Cæsar, Antony is dead ! that dar'st

Cæs. The breaking of so great a thing should Appear thus to us?

CÆs.

:

A greater crack: the round world a

Of thy intents desires instruction,
Should have shook lions into civil streets,

That she preparedly may frame herself
And citizens to their dens :—the death of Antony To the way she's forc'd to.
Is not a single doom ; in the name lay

Cæs.

Bid her have good heart ; A moiety of the world.

She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, DER. He is dead, Cæsar,

How honourable and how kindly we Not by a public minister of justice,

Determine for her: for Cæsar cannot live * Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand,

To be ungentle. Which writ his honour in the acts it did,

Mess. So the gods preserve thee! [Exit. Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, Cæs. Come hither, Proculeius. Go, and

say, Splitted the heart. This is his sword;

We purpose her no shame: give her what I robb’d his wound of it; behold it, stain'd

comforts With his most noble blood.

The quality of her passion shall require, Look you sad, friends ? Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings

She do defeat us ; for her life in Rome To wash the eyes of kings.

Would be eternal in our triumph: go, Agr.*

And strange it is And with your speediest bring us what she says, That nature must compel us to lament

And how you find of her. Our most persisted deeds.

Pro. Cæsar, I shall.

[Exit. Mec. His taints and honours Cæs. Gallus, go you along.

[Exit GALLUS. Wag'd equal with him.

Where's Dolabella, AGR. A rarer spirit never

To second Proculeius ? Did steer humanity: but you, gods, will give us AGR., MEC. Dolabella ! Some faults to make us men.-Cæsar is touch’d. Cæs. Let him alone, for I remember now Mec. When such a spacious mirror 's set How he's employed: he shall in time be ready. before him,

Go with me to my tent; where you shall see He needs must see himself.

How hardly I was drawn into this war ;
0, Antony !

How calm and gentle I proceeded still
I have follow'd thee to this ; —but we do lance In all my writings. Go with me, and see
Diseases in our bodies : I must perforce

What I can show in this.

[Exeunt. 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,

SCENE II.-Alexandria. A Room in the With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,

Monument.
That thou, my brother, my competitor
In top of all design, my mate in empire,

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and Iras.
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart

Cleo. My desolation does begin to make Where mine his thoughts did kindle,--that our

A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Cæsar ; stars,

Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave, Unreconciliable, should divide

A minister of her will : and it is great
Our equalness to this.—Hear me, good friends,-

To do that thing that ends all other deeds ;
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change ;

Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug, o
Enter a Messenger.

The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's. But I will tell you at some meeter season ; The business of this man looks out of him, Enter, to the gates of the Monument, PROCULEIUS, We'll hear him what he says.—Whence are you?

GALLUS, and Soldiers. MESS. A poor Egyptian yet. The queen my mistress,

Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of Confin’d in all she has, her monument,

Egypt;

CÆs.

b

(*) First folio, Dol.

(1) First folio, Dol. a — the round world--] Something has evidently been lost here. b yet.] That is, now.

and never palates more the dug, The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's.]

(*) Old text, leave. Corrected by Southern. In the old copies we have,

—and never palates more the dung," &c. an obvious misprint, though not wanting defenders, which was corrected by Warburton.

sir;

And bids thee study on what fair demands

CLEO.

Where art thou, Death ? Thou mean’st to have him grant thee.

Come hither, come ! come, come, and take a queen CLEO.

What's thy name ? Worth many babes and beggars ! Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Pro.

O, temperance, lady ! CLEO.

Antony

CLEO. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but I do not greatly care to be deceiv’d,

If idle talk will once be accessary, That have no use for trusting. If your master I'll not sleep neither : this mortal house I'll ruin, Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him Do Cæsar what he can. Know, sir, that I That majesty, to keep decorum, must

Will not wait pinion’d at your master's court ; No less beg than a kingdom: if he please

Nor once be chástis’d with the sober eye To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,

Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up, Ile gives me so much of mine own, as I

And show me to the shouting varletry Will kneel to him with thanks.

Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt Pro.

Be of good cheer; Be gentle grave unto me! Rather on Nilus' mud You ’re fall’n into a princely hand, fear nothing : Lay me stark nak’d, and let the water-flies Make your

full reference freely to my lord, Blow me into abhorring! Rather make Who is so full of grace, that it flows over

My country's high pyramids my gibbet, On all that need. Let me report to him

And hang me up in chains ! Your sweet dependency, and you shall find

PRO.

You do extend A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness, These thoughts of horror further than you shall Where he for grace is kneeld to.

Find cause in Cæsar.
CLEO.

Pray you, tell him
I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
The greatness he has got. I hourly learn

Enter DOLABELLA.
A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly
Look him i' the face.

Doc.

Proculeius, PRO.

This I'll report, dear lady. What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows, Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied

And he hath sent for thee: for the queen, Of him that caus’d it.

I'll take her to my guard. Gal." You see how easily she may be surpris'd ;

Pro.

So, Dolabella, [Here PROCULEIUs and two of the Guard It shall content me best : be gentle to her. ascend the Monument by a ladder placed To Cæsar I will speak what

To Cæsar I will speak what you shall please, against a window, and, having descended,

[To CLEOPATRA. come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the

If

you ?ll employ me to him. Guard unbar and open the gates.

CLEO.

Say, I would die. Guard her till Cæsar come.

[Eceunt PROCULEIUS and Soldiers. [To PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Erit. Dol. Most noble empress, you have heard of Iras. Royal queen! CHAR. O, Cleopatra ! thou art taken, queen! Cleo. I cannot tell. CLEO. Quick, quick, good hands.

Doc.

Assuredly, you know me. [Drawing a dagger. Cleo. No matter, sir, what I have heard or PRO. Hold, worthy Indy, hold !

known. [Seizes and disarms her. You laugh, when boys or women tell their dreams; Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this Is't not your trick ? Reliev'd, but not betray’d.

Don.
I understand not,

madam. CLEO. What, of death too,

Cleo. I dreamt there was an emperor AnThat rids our dogs of languish ?

tony;PRO.

Cleopatra,

0, such another sleep, that I might see Do not abuse my master's bounty by

But such another man ! The undoing of yourself: let the world see

If it might please ye,His nobleness well acted, which

с

me ?