And bids thee study on what fair demands Thou mean'st to have him grant thee. CLEO. What's thy name? Antony PRO. My name is Proculeius. Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd, No less beg than a kingdom: if he please PRO. CLEO. Pray you, tell him I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him PRO. GAL." 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, having descended, come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the gates. Guard her till Cæsar come. [TO PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit. IRAS. Royal queen! CHAR. O, Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen !— CLEO. Quick, quick, good hands. PRO. [Drawing a dagger. Hold, worthy lady, hold! [Seizes and disarms her. Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this CLEO. Where art thou, Death? Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen Worth many babes and beggars! PRO. O, temperance, lady! CLEO. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir; If idle talk will once be accessary,b I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin, Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt PRO. You do extend These thoughts of horror further than you Find cause in Cæsar. shall What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows, And he hath sent for thee: for the queen, I'll take her to my guard. PRO. So, Dolabella, a GAL.] The prefix in the first folio is "Pro. :" in the second, "Char." Malone first assigned the speech to Gallus, and added the stage direction which follows. b If idle talk will once be accessary, -] We adopt here Hanmer's substitution " accessary" in place of necessary, the reading of the old copies. The sense is plainly,-"I'll neither eat nor drink, and, if idle talk will, for the nonce, be assistant, I'll not sleep." for the queen,-] The second folio reads, " as for." 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 stuff To vie strange forms with fancy; yet, to imagine An Antony, were Nature's piece 'gainst fancy, Condemning shadows quite.d DOL. Hear me, good madam : Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it As answering to the weight: would I might never O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites† My very heart at root. I thank you, sir. CLEO. Know you what Cæsar means to do with me? DOL. I am loth to tell you what I would you knew. CLEO. Nay, pray you, sir,— DOL. [Flourish without. Without. Make way there,-Cæsar! 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 cause so well To make it clear; but do 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 CLEO. And may, through all the world: 't is yours; and we, Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. CES. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. CLEO. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels, I am possess'd of: 't is exactly valu'd; 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. I had rather seal my lips, than, to my peril, CLEO. known. CES. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra ; I approve Your wisdom in the deed. CLEO. See, Cæsar! O, behold, How pomp is follow'd! mine will now be yours; And should we shift estates yours would be mine. mastered the sense of this, or indeed that the text exhibits precisely what Shakespeare wrote, but the meaning apparently is, "Nature lacks material to compete with fancy in unwonted shapes, yet the conception of an Antony was a masterpiece of Nature over fancy, abasing phantoms quite." e-seal my lips,-] The old reading is, "seele my lippes," but here there is no allusion to the practice of seeling a hawk's eyes, as some editors suppose; to seal one's lips was a familiar expression ages before Shakespeare lived. That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me, To one so meek,-that mine own servant should Parcel the sum of my disgraces by Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar, As we greet modern friends withal; and say, With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites Which my love makes religion to obey, I tell you this: Cæsar through Syria I shall remain your debtor. Dolabella, I your servant. Adieu, good queen; I must attend on Cæsar. CLEO. Farewell, and thanks. [Exit DoL. Now, Iras, what think'st thou ? Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shown In Rome, as well as I: nechanic slaves With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shal Uplift us to the view; in their thick breaths, Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded, And forc'd to drink their vapour. IRAS. The gods forbid! CLEO. Nay, 't is most certain, Iras : C :-saucy lictors Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see IRAS. O, the good gods! CLEO. Nay, that 's certain. IRAS. I'll never see 't; for, I am sure, my nails Are stronger than mine eyes. CLEO. way I CLOWN. Very many, men and women too. 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' 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. Give me my robe, put on my crown; have I Immortal longings in me. Now no more It is not worth leave-taking. CHAR. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say, The gods themselves do weep! CLEO. This proves me base: If she first meet the curled Antony, He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss a [IRAS falls and dies.] "Iras must be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while her mistress was settling her dress, or I know not why she should fall so soon."-STEEVENS. Which is my heaven to have.-Come, thou mortal wretch, [To an asp, which she applies to her breast. CHAR. O, eastern star! Peace, peace! O, Antony!-Nay, I will take thee too :[Applying another asp to her arm. What should I stayCHAR. In this vile well. [Dies. world?-So, fare thee |