ANTONY. One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety. O!
CLEOPATRA. They do not go together.
ANTONY. Gentle, hear me:
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
CLEOPATRA. My
resolution and my hands I'll trust;
None about Caesar
ANTONY. The
miserable change now at my end
Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
Wherein I liv'd the greatest
prince o' th' world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not
cowardly put off my
helmet to
My countryman- a Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going
I can no more.
CLEOPATRA. Noblest of men, woo't die?
Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy
absence is
No better than a sty? O, see, my women, [Antony dies]
The crown o' th' earth doth melt. My lord!
O, wither'd is the
garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n! Young boys and girls
Are level now with men. The odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon. [Swoons]
CHARMIAN. O, quietness, lady!
IRAS. She's dead too, our
sovereign.
CHARMIAN. Lady!
IRAS. Madam!
CHARMIAN. O madam, madam, madam!
IRAS. Royal Egypt, Empress!
CHARMIAN. Peace, peace, Iras!
CLEOPATRA. No more but e'en a woman, and commanded
By such poor
passion as the maid that milks
And does the meanest chares. It were for me
To throw my sceptre at the
injurious gods;
To tell them that this world did equal theirs
Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's but nought;
Patience is sottish, and
impatience does
Become a dog that's mad. Then is it sin
To rush into the secret house of death
Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women?
What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian!
My noble girls! Ah, women, women, look,
Our lamp is spent, it's out! Good sirs, take heart.
We'll bury him; and then, what's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us. Come, away;
This case of that huge spirit now is cold.
Ah, women, women! Come; we have no friend
But
resolution and the briefest end.
Exeunt; those above
hearing off ANTONY'S body
ACT V. SCENE I.
Alexandria. CAESAR'S camp
Enter CAESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MAECENAS, GALLUS,
PROCULEIUS, and others, his Council of War
CAESAR. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;
Being so
frustrate, tell him he mocks
The pauses that he makes.
DOLABELLA. Caesar, I shall. Exit
Enter DERCETAS With the sword of ANTONY
CAESAR. Wherefore is that? And what art thou that dar'st
Appear thus to us?
DERCETAS. I am call'd Dercetas;
Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy
Best to be serv'd. Whilst he stood up and spoke,
He was my master, and I wore my life
To spend upon his haters. If thou please
To take me to thee, as I was to him
I'll be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not,
I yield thee up my life.
CAESAR. What is't thou say'st?
DERCETAS. I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead.
CAESAR. The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack. The round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets,
And citizens to their dens. The death of Antony
Is not a single doom; in the name lay
A moiety of the world.
DERCETAS. He is dead, Caesar,
Not by a public
minister of justice,
Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand
Which writ his honour in the acts it did
Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,
Splitted the heart. This is his sword;
I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd
With his most noble blood.
CAESAR. Look you sad, friends?
The gods
rebuke me, but it is tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.
AGRIPPA. And strange it is
That nature must compel us to lament
Our most persisted deeds.
MAECENAS. His taints and honours
Wag'd equal with him.
AGRIPPA. A rarer spirit never
Did steer
humanity. But you gods will give us
Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touch'd.
MAECENAS. When such a
spacious mirror's set before him,
He needs must see himself.
CAESAR. O Antony,
I have follow'd thee to this! But we do lance
Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce
Have shown to thee such a declining day
Or look on thine; we could not stall together
In the whole world. But yet let me lament,
With tears as
sovereign as the blood of hearts,
That thou, my brother, my competitor
In top of all design, my mate in empire,
Friend and
companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart
Where mine his thoughts did kindle- that our stars,
Unreconciliable, should divide
Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends-
Enter an EGYPTIAN
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,
Confin'd in all she has, her
monument,
Of thy intents desires instruction,
That she preparedly may frame herself
To th' way she's forc'd to.
CAESAR. Bid her have good heart.
She soon shall know of us, by some of ours,
How
honourable and how kindly we
Determine for her; for Caesar cannot learn
To be ungentle.
EGYPTIAN. So the gods
preserve thee! Exit
CAESAR. Come
hither, Proculeius. Go and say
We purpose her no shame. Give her what comforts
The quality of her
passion shall require,
Lest, in her
greatness, by some
mortal stroke
She do defeat us; for her life in Rome
Would be
eternal in our
triumph. Go,
And with your speediest bring us what she says,
And how you find her.
PROCULEIUS. Caesar, I shall. Exit
CAESAR. Gallus, go you along. Exit GALLUS
Where's Dolabella, to second Proculeius?
ALL. Dolabella!
CAESAR. Let him alone, for I remember now
How he's employ'd; he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent, where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war,
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and see
What I can show in this. Exeunt
SCENE II.
Alexandria. The
monumentEnter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN
CLEOPATRA. My
desolation does begin to make
A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar:
Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
A
minister of her will; and it is great
To do that thing that ends all other deeds,
Which shackles accidents and bolts up change,
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug,
The
beggar's nurse and Caesar's.
Enter, to the gates of the
monument, PROCULEIUS, GALLUS,
and soldiers
PROCULEIUS. Caesar sends greetings to the Queen of Egypt,
And bids thee study on what fair demands
Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.
CLEOPATRA. What's thy name?
PROCULEIUS. My name is Proculeius.
CLEOPATRA. Antony
Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but
I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,
That have no use for
trusting. If your master
Would have a queen his
beggar, you must tell him
That
majesty, to keep decorum, must
No less beg than a kingdom. If he please
To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,
He gives me so much of mine own as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.
PROCULEIUS. Be of good cheer;
Y'are fall'n into a
princely hand; fear nothing.
Make your full
referencefreely to my lord,
Who is so full of grace that it flows over
On all that need. Let me report to him
Your sweet dependency, and you shall find
A
conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.
CLEOPATRA. Pray you tell him
I am his fortune's
vassal and I send him
The
greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A
doctrine of
obedience, and would gladly
Look him i' th' face.
PROCULEIUS. This I'll report, dear lady.
Have comfort, for I know your
plight is pitied
Of him that caus'd it.
GALLUS. You see how easily she may be surpris'd.
Here PROCULEIUS and two of the guard
ascend the
monument by a
ladder placed against a window,
and come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the guard
unbar and open the gates
Guard her till Caesar come. Exit
IRAS. Royal Queen!
CHARMIAN. O Cleopatra! thou art taken, Queen!