ACT VSCENE I. Caesar’s Camp before Alexandria.EnterCaesar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Maecenas, Gallus, Proculeiuswith his council of war.CAESAR.Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield.Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocksThe pauses that he makes.DOLABELLA.Caesar, I shall.[Exit.]EnterDercetuswith the sword ofAntony.CAESAR.Wherefore is that? And what art thou that dar’stAppear thus to us?DERCETUS.I am called Dercetus.Mark Antony I served, who best was worthyBest to be served. Whilst he stood up and spoke,He was my master, and I wore my lifeTo spend upon his haters. If thou pleaseTo take me to thee, as I was to himI’ll be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not,I yield thee up my life.CAESAR.What is’t thou say’st?DERCETUS.I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead.CAESAR.The breaking of so great a thing should makeA greater crack. The round worldShould have shook lions into civil streets,And citizens to their dens. The death of AntonyIs not a single doom; in the name layA moiety of the world.DERCETUS.He is dead, Caesar,Not by a public minister of justice,Nor by a hired knife, but that self handWhich writ his honour in the acts it didHath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,Splitted the heart. This is his sword.I robbed his wound of it. Behold it stainedWith his most noble blood.CAESAR.Look you sad, friends?The gods rebuke me, but it is tidingsTo wash the eyes of kings.AGRIPPA.And strange it isThat nature must compel us to lamentOur most persisted deeds.MAECENAS.His taints and honoursWaged equal with him.AGRIPPA.A rarer spirit neverDid steer humanity, but you gods will give usSome faults to make us men. Caesar is touched.MAECENAS.When such a spacious mirror’s set before him,He needs must see himself.CAESAR.O Antony,I have followed thee to this, but we do lanceDiseases in our bodies. I must perforceHave shown to thee such a declining dayOr look on thine. We could not stall togetherIn the whole world. But yet let me lamentWith tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,That thou, my brother, my competitorIn top of all design, my mate in empire,Friend and companion in the front of war,The arm of mine own body, and the heartWhere mine his thoughts did kindle, that our stars,Unreconciliable, should divideOur equalness to this. Hear me, good friends—Enter anEgyptian.But I will tell you at some meeter season.The business of this man looks out of him;We’ll hear him what he says. Whence are you?EGYPTIAN.A poor Egyptian yet. The queen, my mistress,Confined in all she has, her monument,Of thy intents desires instruction,That she preparedly may frame herselfTo the way she’s forced to.CAESAR.Bid her have good heart.She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,How honourable and how kindly weDetermine for her. For Caesar cannot leanTo be ungentle.EGYPTIAN.So the gods preserve thee![Exit.]CAESAR.Come hither, Proculeius. Go and sayWe purpose her no shame. Give her what comfortsThe quality of her passion shall require,Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal strokeShe do defeat us, for her life in RomeWould be eternal in our triumph. Go,And with your speediest bring us what she saysAnd how you find of her.PROCULEIUS.Caesar, I shall.[ExitProculeius.]CAESAR.Gallus, go you along.[ExitGallus.]Where’s Dolabella, to second Proculeius?ALL.Dolabella!CAESAR.Let him alone, for I remember nowHow he’s employed. He shall in time be ready.Go with me to my tent, where you shall seeHow hardly I was drawn into this war,How calm and gentle I proceeded stillIn all my writings. Go with me and seeWhat I can show in this.[Exeunt.]SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument.EnterCleopatra, CharmianandIras.CLEOPATRA.My desolation does begin to makeA better life. ’Tis paltry to be Caesar;Not being Fortune, he’s but Fortune’s knave,A minister of her will. And it is greatTo 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 Caesar’s.EnterProculeius.PROCULEIUS.Caesar sends greetings to the queen of Egypt,And bids thee study on what fair demandsThou mean’st to have him grant thee.CLEOPATRA.What’s thy name?PROCULEIUS.My name is Proculeius.CLEOPATRA.AntonyDid tell me of you, bade me trust you, butI do not greatly care to be deceivedThat have no use for trusting. If your masterWould have a queen his beggar, you must tell himThat majesty, to keep decorum, mustNo less beg than a kingdom. If he pleaseTo give me conquered Egypt for my son,He gives me so much of mine own as IWill 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 overOn all that need. Let me report to himYour sweet dependency, and you shall findA conqueror that will pray in aid for kindnessWhere he for grace is kneeled to.CLEOPATRA.Pray you tell himI am his fortune’s vassal and I send himThe greatness he has got. I hourly learnA doctrine of obedience, and would gladlyLook him i’ th’ face.PROCULEIUS.This I’ll report, dear lady.Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitiedOf him that caused it.EnterGallusand Roman Soldiers.You see how easily she may be surprised.Guard her till Caesar come.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 thisRelieved, but not betrayed.CLEOPATRA.What, of death too,That rids our dogs of languish?PROCULEIUS.Cleopatra,Do not abuse my master’s bounty byTh’ undoing of yourself. Let the world seeHis nobleness well acted, which your deathWill never let come forth.CLEOPATRA.Where art thou, Death?Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queenWorth 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 necessary,I’ll not sleep neither. This mortal house I’ll ruin,Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that IWill not wait pinioned at your master’s court,Nor once be chastised with the sober eyeOf dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me upAnd show me to the shouting varletryOf censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in EgyptBe gentle grave unto me! Rather on Nilus’ mudLay me stark-naked, and let the water-fliesBlow me into abhorring! Rather makeMy country’s high pyramides my gibbetAnd hang me up in chains!PROCULEIUS.You do extendThese thoughts of horror further than you shallFind cause in Caesar.EnterDolabella.DOLABELLA.Proculeius,What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,And he hath sent for thee. 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.[ExeuntProculeiusand 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 dreamt there was an Emperor Antony.O, such another sleep, that I might seeBut such another man!DOLABELLA.If it might please you—CLEOPATRA.His face was as the heavens, and therein stuckA sun and moon, which kept their course, and lightedThe little O, the earth.DOLABELLA.Most sovereign creature—CLEOPATRA.His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared armCrested the world; his voice was propertiedAs 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 ’twasThat grew the more by reaping. His delightsWere dolphin-like; they showed his back aboveThe element they lived in. In his liveryWalked crowns and crownets; realms and islands wereAs plates dropped from his pocket.DOLABELLA.Cleopatra—CLEOPATRA.Think you there was or might be such a manAs this I dreamt of?DOLABELLA.Gentle madam, no.CLEOPATRA.You lie up to the hearing of the gods!But if there be nor ever were one such,It’s past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuffTo vie strange forms with fancy; yet t’ imagineAn Antony were nature’s piece ’gainst fancy,Condemning shadows quite.DOLABELLA.Hear me, good madam.Your loss is, as yourself, great; and you bear itAs answering to the weight. Would I might neverO’ertake pursued success, but I do feel,By the rebound of yours, a grief that smitesMy 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. EnterCaesar, Proculeius, Gallus, Maecenasand others of his train.ALL.Make way there! Caesar!CAESAR.Which is the Queen of Egypt?DOLABELLA.It is the Emperor, madam.[Cleopatrakneels.]CAESAR.Arise, you shall not kneel.I pray you, rise. Rise, Egypt.CLEOPATRA.Sir, the godsWill have it thus. My master and my lordI must obey.CAESAR.Take to you no hard thoughts.The record of what injuries you did us,Though written in our flesh, we shall rememberAs things but done by chance.CLEOPATRA.Sole sir o’ th’ world,I cannot project mine own cause so wellTo make it clear, but do confess I haveBeen laden with like frailties which beforeHave often shamed our sex.CAESAR.Cleopatra, knowWe will extenuate rather than enforce.If you apply yourself to our intents,Which towards you are most gentle, you shall findA benefit in this change; but if you seekTo lay on me a cruelty by takingAntony’s course, you shall bereave yourselfOf my good purposes, and put your childrenTo that destruction which I’ll guard them fromIf 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, shallHang 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 jewelsI am possessed of. ’Tis exactly valued,Not petty things admitted. Where’s Seleucus?EnterSeleucus.SELEUCUS.Here, madam.CLEOPATRA.This is my treasurer. Let him speak, my lord,Upon his peril, that I have reservedTo myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.SELEUCUS.Madam, I had rather seal my lipsThan 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 approveYour wisdom in the deed.CLEOPATRA.See, Caesar! O, behold,How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yoursAnd should we shift estates, yours would be mine.The ingratitude of this Seleucus doesEven make me wild. O slave, of no more trustThan love that’s hired! What, goest thou back? Thou shaltGo back, I warrant thee! But I’ll catch thine eyesThough 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 lordlinessTo one so meek, that mine own servant shouldParcel the sum of my disgraces byAddition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,That I some lady trifles have reserved,Immoment toys, things of such dignityAs we greet modern friends withal; and saySome nobler token I have kept apartFor Livia and Octavia, to induceTheir mediation, must I be unfoldedWith one that I have bred? The gods! It smites meBeneath the fall I have.[To Seleucus.] Prithee go hence,Or I shall show the cinders of my spiritsThrough th’ ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man,Thou wouldst have mercy on me.CAESAR.Forbear, Seleucus.[ExitSeleucus.]CLEOPATRA.Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthoughtFor 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 reserved nor what acknowledgedPut we i’ th’ roll of conquest. Still be’t yours;Bestow it at your pleasure, and believeCaesar’s no merchant to make prize with youOf things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheered;Make not your thoughts your prisons. No, dear queen;For we intend so to dispose you asYourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep.Our care and pity is so much upon youThat we remain your friend; and so, adieu.CLEOPATRA.My master and my lord!CAESAR.Not so. Adieu.[Flourish. ExeuntCaesarand his train.]CLEOPATRA.He words me, girls, he words me, that I should notBe noble to myself. But hark thee, Charmian![Whispers toCharmian.]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.EnterDolabella.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 SyriaIntends his journey, and within three daysYou with your children will he send before.Make your best use of this. I have performedYour 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.[ExitDolabella.]Now, Iras, what think’st thou?Thou an Egyptian puppet shall be shownIn Rome as well as I. Mechanic slavesWith greasy aprons, rules, and hammers shallUplift us to the view. In their thick breaths,Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded,And forced to drink their vapour.IRAS.The gods forbid!CLEOPATRA.Nay, ’tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictorsWill catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymersBallad us out o’ tune. The quick comediansExtemporally will stage us and presentOur Alexandrian revels; AntonyShall be brought drunken forth, and I shall seeSome squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatnessI’ th’ 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 nailsAre stronger than mine eyes.CLEOPATRA.Why, that’s the wayTo fool their preparation and to conquerTheir most absurd intents.EnterCharmian.Now, Charmian!Show me, my women, like a queen. Go fetchMy best attires. I am again for CydnusTo meet Mark Antony. Sirrah, Iras, go.Now, noble Charmian, we’ll dispatch indeed,And when thou hast done this chare, I’ll give thee leaveTo play till doomsday. Bring our crown and all.[ExitIras.A noise within.]Wherefore’s this noise?Enter aGuardsman.GUARDSMAN.Here is a rural fellowThat will not be denied your highness’ presence.He brings you figs.CLEOPATRA.Let him come in.[ExitGuardsman.]What poor an instrumentMay do a noble deed! He brings me liberty.My resolution’s placed, and I have nothingOf woman in me. Now from head to footI am marble-constant. Now the fleeting moonNo planet is of mine.EnterGuardsmanandClownwith a basket.GUARDSMAN.This is the man.CLEOPATRA.Avoid, and leave him.[ExitGuardsman.]Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus thereThat 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’ th’ 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’ th’ worm.[Exit.]EnterIraswith a robe, crown, &c.CLEOPATRA.Give me my robe. Put on my crown. I haveImmortal longings in me. Now no moreThe juice of Egypt’s grape shall moist this lip.Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hearAntony call. I see him rouse himselfTo praise my noble act. I hear him mockThe luck of Caesar, which the gods give menTo excuse their after wrath. Husband, I come!Now to that name my courage prove my title!I am fire and air; my other elementsI 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.Irasfalls and dies.]Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?If thou and nature can so gently part,The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch,Which hurts and is desired. Dost thou lie still?If thus thou vanishest, thou tell’st the worldIt is not worth leave-taking.CHARMIAN.Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may sayThe 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 kissWhich is my heaven to have.—Come, thou mortal wretch,[To an asp, which she applies to her breast.]With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicateOf life at once untie. Poor venomous fool,Be angry and dispatch. O couldst thou speak,That I might hear thee call great Caesar assUnpolicied!CHARMIAN.O eastern star!CLEOPATRA.Peace, peace!Dost thou not see my baby at my breastThat 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—[Dies.]CHARMIAN.In this vile world? So, fare thee well.Now boast thee, Death, in thy possession liesA lass unparalleled. Downy windows, close,And golden Phœbus never be beheldOf eyes again so royal! Your crown’s awry;I’ll mend it and then play.Enter theGuardrustling 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, dispatch! I partly feel thee.FIRST GUARD.Approach, ho! All’s not well. Caesar’s beguiled.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 princessDescended of so many royal kings.Ah, soldier![Charmiandies.]EnterDolabella.DOLABELLA.How goes it here?SECOND GUARD.All dead.DOLABELLA.Caesar, thy thoughtsTouch their effects in this. Thyself art comingTo see performed the dreaded act which thouSo sought’st to hinder.EnterCaesarand all his train, marching.ALL.A way there, a way for Caesar!DOLABELLA.O sir, you are too sure an augurer:That you did fear is done.CAESAR.Bravest at the last,She levelled 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.Poisoned then.FIRST GUARD.O Caesar,This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake.I found her trimming up the diademOn her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,And on the sudden dropped.CAESAR.O noble weakness!If they had swallowed poison ’twould appearBy external swelling; but she looks like sleep,As she would catch another AntonyIn her strong toil of grace.DOLABELLA.Here on her breastThere 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 leavesHave slime upon them, such as th’ aspic leavesUpon the caves of Nile.CAESAR.Most probableThat so she died, for her physician tells meShe hath pursued conclusions infiniteOf 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 itA pair so famous. High events as theseStrike those that make them; and their story isNo less in pity than his glory whichBrought them to be lamented. Our army shallIn solemn show attend this funeral,And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, seeHigh order in this great solemnity.[Exeunt omnes.]
EnterCaesar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Maecenas, Gallus, Proculeiuswith his council of war.
CAESAR.Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield.Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocksThe pauses that he makes.
DOLABELLA.Caesar, I shall.
[Exit.]
EnterDercetuswith the sword ofAntony.
CAESAR.Wherefore is that? And what art thou that dar’stAppear thus to us?
DERCETUS.I am called Dercetus.Mark Antony I served, who best was worthyBest to be served. Whilst he stood up and spoke,He was my master, and I wore my lifeTo spend upon his haters. If thou pleaseTo take me to thee, as I was to himI’ll be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not,I yield thee up my life.
CAESAR.What is’t thou say’st?
DERCETUS.I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead.
CAESAR.The breaking of so great a thing should makeA greater crack. The round worldShould have shook lions into civil streets,And citizens to their dens. The death of AntonyIs not a single doom; in the name layA moiety of the world.
DERCETUS.He is dead, Caesar,Not by a public minister of justice,Nor by a hired knife, but that self handWhich writ his honour in the acts it didHath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,Splitted the heart. This is his sword.I robbed his wound of it. Behold it stainedWith his most noble blood.
CAESAR.Look you sad, friends?The gods rebuke me, but it is tidingsTo wash the eyes of kings.
AGRIPPA.And strange it isThat nature must compel us to lamentOur most persisted deeds.
MAECENAS.His taints and honoursWaged equal with him.
AGRIPPA.A rarer spirit neverDid steer humanity, but you gods will give usSome faults to make us men. Caesar is touched.
MAECENAS.When such a spacious mirror’s set before him,He needs must see himself.
CAESAR.O Antony,I have followed thee to this, but we do lanceDiseases in our bodies. I must perforceHave shown to thee such a declining dayOr look on thine. We could not stall togetherIn the whole world. But yet let me lamentWith tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,That thou, my brother, my competitorIn top of all design, my mate in empire,Friend and companion in the front of war,The arm of mine own body, and the heartWhere mine his thoughts did kindle, that our stars,Unreconciliable, should divideOur equalness to this. Hear me, good friends—
Enter anEgyptian.
But I will tell you at some meeter season.The business of this man looks out of him;We’ll hear him what he says. Whence are you?
EGYPTIAN.A poor Egyptian yet. The queen, my mistress,Confined in all she has, her monument,Of thy intents desires instruction,That she preparedly may frame herselfTo the way she’s forced to.
CAESAR.Bid her have good heart.She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,How honourable and how kindly weDetermine for her. For Caesar cannot leanTo be ungentle.
EGYPTIAN.So the gods preserve thee!
[Exit.]
CAESAR.Come hither, Proculeius. Go and sayWe purpose her no shame. Give her what comfortsThe quality of her passion shall require,Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal strokeShe do defeat us, for her life in RomeWould be eternal in our triumph. Go,And with your speediest bring us what she saysAnd how you find of her.
PROCULEIUS.Caesar, I shall.
[ExitProculeius.]
CAESAR.Gallus, go you along.
[ExitGallus.]
Where’s Dolabella, to second Proculeius?
ALL.Dolabella!
CAESAR.Let him alone, for I remember nowHow he’s employed. He shall in time be ready.Go with me to my tent, where you shall seeHow hardly I was drawn into this war,How calm and gentle I proceeded stillIn all my writings. Go with me and seeWhat I can show in this.
[Exeunt.]
EnterCleopatra, CharmianandIras.
CLEOPATRA.My desolation does begin to makeA better life. ’Tis paltry to be Caesar;Not being Fortune, he’s but Fortune’s knave,A minister of her will. And it is greatTo 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 Caesar’s.
EnterProculeius.
PROCULEIUS.Caesar sends greetings to the queen of Egypt,And bids thee study on what fair demandsThou mean’st to have him grant thee.
CLEOPATRA.What’s thy name?
PROCULEIUS.My name is Proculeius.
CLEOPATRA.AntonyDid tell me of you, bade me trust you, butI do not greatly care to be deceivedThat have no use for trusting. If your masterWould have a queen his beggar, you must tell himThat majesty, to keep decorum, mustNo less beg than a kingdom. If he pleaseTo give me conquered Egypt for my son,He gives me so much of mine own as IWill 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 overOn all that need. Let me report to himYour sweet dependency, and you shall findA conqueror that will pray in aid for kindnessWhere he for grace is kneeled to.
CLEOPATRA.Pray you tell himI am his fortune’s vassal and I send himThe greatness he has got. I hourly learnA doctrine of obedience, and would gladlyLook him i’ th’ face.
PROCULEIUS.This I’ll report, dear lady.Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitiedOf him that caused it.
EnterGallusand Roman Soldiers.
You see how easily she may be surprised.Guard her till Caesar come.
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 thisRelieved, but not betrayed.
CLEOPATRA.What, of death too,That rids our dogs of languish?
PROCULEIUS.Cleopatra,Do not abuse my master’s bounty byTh’ undoing of yourself. Let the world seeHis nobleness well acted, which your deathWill never let come forth.
CLEOPATRA.Where art thou, Death?Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queenWorth 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 necessary,I’ll not sleep neither. This mortal house I’ll ruin,Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that IWill not wait pinioned at your master’s court,Nor once be chastised with the sober eyeOf dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me upAnd show me to the shouting varletryOf censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in EgyptBe gentle grave unto me! Rather on Nilus’ mudLay me stark-naked, and let the water-fliesBlow me into abhorring! Rather makeMy country’s high pyramides my gibbetAnd hang me up in chains!
PROCULEIUS.You do extendThese thoughts of horror further than you shallFind cause in Caesar.
EnterDolabella.
DOLABELLA.Proculeius,What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,And he hath sent for thee. 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.
[ExeuntProculeiusand 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 dreamt there was an Emperor Antony.O, such another sleep, that I might seeBut such another man!
DOLABELLA.If it might please you—
CLEOPATRA.His face was as the heavens, and therein stuckA sun and moon, which kept their course, and lightedThe little O, the earth.
DOLABELLA.Most sovereign creature—
CLEOPATRA.His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared armCrested the world; his voice was propertiedAs 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 ’twasThat grew the more by reaping. His delightsWere dolphin-like; they showed his back aboveThe element they lived in. In his liveryWalked crowns and crownets; realms and islands wereAs plates dropped from his pocket.
DOLABELLA.Cleopatra—
CLEOPATRA.Think you there was or might be such a manAs this I dreamt of?
DOLABELLA.Gentle madam, no.
CLEOPATRA.You lie up to the hearing of the gods!But if there be nor ever were one such,It’s past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuffTo vie strange forms with fancy; yet t’ imagineAn Antony were nature’s piece ’gainst fancy,Condemning shadows quite.
DOLABELLA.Hear me, good madam.Your loss is, as yourself, great; and you bear itAs answering to the weight. Would I might neverO’ertake pursued success, but I do feel,By the rebound of yours, a grief that smitesMy 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. EnterCaesar, Proculeius, Gallus, Maecenasand others of his train.
ALL.Make way there! Caesar!
CAESAR.Which is the Queen of Egypt?
DOLABELLA.It is the Emperor, madam.
[Cleopatrakneels.]
CAESAR.Arise, you shall not kneel.I pray you, rise. Rise, Egypt.
CLEOPATRA.Sir, the godsWill have it thus. My master and my lordI must obey.
CAESAR.Take to you no hard thoughts.The record of what injuries you did us,Though written in our flesh, we shall rememberAs things but done by chance.
CLEOPATRA.Sole sir o’ th’ world,I cannot project mine own cause so wellTo make it clear, but do confess I haveBeen laden with like frailties which beforeHave often shamed our sex.
CAESAR.Cleopatra, knowWe will extenuate rather than enforce.If you apply yourself to our intents,Which towards you are most gentle, you shall findA benefit in this change; but if you seekTo lay on me a cruelty by takingAntony’s course, you shall bereave yourselfOf my good purposes, and put your childrenTo that destruction which I’ll guard them fromIf 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, shallHang 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 jewelsI am possessed of. ’Tis exactly valued,Not petty things admitted. Where’s Seleucus?
EnterSeleucus.
SELEUCUS.Here, madam.
CLEOPATRA.This is my treasurer. Let him speak, my lord,Upon his peril, that I have reservedTo myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.
SELEUCUS.Madam, I had rather seal my lipsThan 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 approveYour wisdom in the deed.
CLEOPATRA.See, Caesar! O, behold,How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yoursAnd should we shift estates, yours would be mine.The ingratitude of this Seleucus doesEven make me wild. O slave, of no more trustThan love that’s hired! What, goest thou back? Thou shaltGo back, I warrant thee! But I’ll catch thine eyesThough 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 lordlinessTo one so meek, that mine own servant shouldParcel the sum of my disgraces byAddition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,That I some lady trifles have reserved,Immoment toys, things of such dignityAs we greet modern friends withal; and saySome nobler token I have kept apartFor Livia and Octavia, to induceTheir mediation, must I be unfoldedWith one that I have bred? The gods! It smites meBeneath the fall I have.[To Seleucus.] Prithee go hence,Or I shall show the cinders of my spiritsThrough th’ ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man,Thou wouldst have mercy on me.
CAESAR.Forbear, Seleucus.
[ExitSeleucus.]
CLEOPATRA.Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthoughtFor 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 reserved nor what acknowledgedPut we i’ th’ roll of conquest. Still be’t yours;Bestow it at your pleasure, and believeCaesar’s no merchant to make prize with youOf things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheered;Make not your thoughts your prisons. No, dear queen;For we intend so to dispose you asYourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep.Our care and pity is so much upon youThat we remain your friend; and so, adieu.
CLEOPATRA.My master and my lord!
CAESAR.Not so. Adieu.
[Flourish. ExeuntCaesarand his train.]
CLEOPATRA.He words me, girls, he words me, that I should notBe noble to myself. But hark thee, Charmian!
[Whispers toCharmian.]
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.
EnterDolabella.
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 SyriaIntends his journey, and within three daysYou with your children will he send before.Make your best use of this. I have performedYour 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.
[ExitDolabella.]
Now, Iras, what think’st thou?Thou an Egyptian puppet shall be shownIn Rome as well as I. Mechanic slavesWith greasy aprons, rules, and hammers shallUplift us to the view. In their thick breaths,Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded,And forced to drink their vapour.
IRAS.The gods forbid!
CLEOPATRA.Nay, ’tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictorsWill catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymersBallad us out o’ tune. The quick comediansExtemporally will stage us and presentOur Alexandrian revels; AntonyShall be brought drunken forth, and I shall seeSome squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatnessI’ th’ 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 nailsAre stronger than mine eyes.
CLEOPATRA.Why, that’s the wayTo fool their preparation and to conquerTheir most absurd intents.
EnterCharmian.
Now, Charmian!Show me, my women, like a queen. Go fetchMy best attires. I am again for CydnusTo meet Mark Antony. Sirrah, Iras, go.Now, noble Charmian, we’ll dispatch indeed,And when thou hast done this chare, I’ll give thee leaveTo play till doomsday. Bring our crown and all.
[ExitIras.A noise within.]
Wherefore’s this noise?
Enter aGuardsman.
GUARDSMAN.Here is a rural fellowThat will not be denied your highness’ presence.He brings you figs.
CLEOPATRA.Let him come in.
[ExitGuardsman.]
What poor an instrumentMay do a noble deed! He brings me liberty.My resolution’s placed, and I have nothingOf woman in me. Now from head to footI am marble-constant. Now the fleeting moonNo planet is of mine.
EnterGuardsmanandClownwith a basket.
GUARDSMAN.This is the man.
CLEOPATRA.Avoid, and leave him.
[ExitGuardsman.]
Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus thereThat 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’ th’ 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’ th’ worm.
[Exit.]
EnterIraswith a robe, crown, &c.
CLEOPATRA.Give me my robe. Put on my crown. I haveImmortal longings in me. Now no moreThe juice of Egypt’s grape shall moist this lip.Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hearAntony call. I see him rouse himselfTo praise my noble act. I hear him mockThe luck of Caesar, which the gods give menTo excuse their after wrath. Husband, I come!Now to that name my courage prove my title!I am fire and air; my other elementsI 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.Irasfalls and dies.]
Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?If thou and nature can so gently part,The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch,Which hurts and is desired. Dost thou lie still?If thus thou vanishest, thou tell’st the worldIt is not worth leave-taking.
CHARMIAN.Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may sayThe 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 kissWhich is my heaven to have.—Come, thou mortal wretch,
[To an asp, which she applies to her breast.]
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicateOf life at once untie. Poor venomous fool,Be angry and dispatch. O couldst thou speak,That I might hear thee call great Caesar assUnpolicied!
CHARMIAN.O eastern star!
CLEOPATRA.Peace, peace!Dost thou not see my baby at my breastThat 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—
[Dies.]
CHARMIAN.In this vile world? So, fare thee well.Now boast thee, Death, in thy possession liesA lass unparalleled. Downy windows, close,And golden Phœbus never be beheldOf eyes again so royal! Your crown’s awry;I’ll mend it and then play.
Enter theGuardrustling 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, dispatch! I partly feel thee.
FIRST GUARD.Approach, ho! All’s not well. Caesar’s beguiled.
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 princessDescended of so many royal kings.Ah, soldier!
[Charmiandies.]
EnterDolabella.
DOLABELLA.How goes it here?
SECOND GUARD.All dead.
DOLABELLA.Caesar, thy thoughtsTouch their effects in this. Thyself art comingTo see performed the dreaded act which thouSo sought’st to hinder.
EnterCaesarand all his train, marching.
ALL.A way there, a way for Caesar!
DOLABELLA.O sir, you are too sure an augurer:That you did fear is done.
CAESAR.Bravest at the last,She levelled 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.Poisoned then.
FIRST GUARD.O Caesar,This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake.I found her trimming up the diademOn her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,And on the sudden dropped.
CAESAR.O noble weakness!If they had swallowed poison ’twould appearBy external swelling; but she looks like sleep,As she would catch another AntonyIn her strong toil of grace.
DOLABELLA.Here on her breastThere 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 leavesHave slime upon them, such as th’ aspic leavesUpon the caves of Nile.
CAESAR.Most probableThat so she died, for her physician tells meShe hath pursued conclusions infiniteOf 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 itA pair so famous. High events as theseStrike those that make them; and their story isNo less in pity than his glory whichBrought them to be lamented. Our army shallIn solemn show attend this funeral,And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, seeHigh order in this great solemnity.
[Exeunt omnes.]