 |
 |
 |
Contents Page
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Dramatis Personae
|
 |
 |
/ Home / Library / Complete Shakespeare / Antony and Cleopatra / Act V Scene II
Printable
version of this page
Antony and Cleopatra: Act 5 Scene 2
Scene II Alexandria. A room in the monument.
- [Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS]
- 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 greeting 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 deceived,
- 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;
- You're fall'n 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 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' the face.
- PROCULEIUS
- This I'll report, dear lady.
- Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
- Of him that caused it.
- GALLUS
- You see how easily she may be surprised:
- [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]
- [To PROCULEIUS and the Guard]
- Guard her till Caesar come.
- [Exit]
- 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 this
- Relieved, but not betray'd.
- CLEOPATRA
- What, of death too,
- That rids our dogs of languish?
- PROCULEIUS
- Cleopatra,
- Do not abuse my master's bounty by
- The undoing of yourself: let the world see
- His nobleness well acted, which your death
- Will never let come forth.
- CLEOPATRA
- Where art thou, death?
- Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen
- Worthy 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 I
- Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;
- Nor once be chastised with the sober eye
- Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up
- And show me to the shouting varletry
- Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
- Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
- Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
- Blow me into abhorring! rather make
- My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
- And hang me up in chains!
- PROCULEIUS
- You do extend
- These thoughts of horror further than you shall
- Find cause in Caesar.
- [Enter DOLABELLA]
- 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.
- [Exeunt PROCULEIUS and 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 dream'd there was an Emperor Antony:
- O, such another sleep, that I might see
- But such another man!
- DOLABELLA
- If it might please ye,--
- CLEOPATRA
- His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck
- A sun and moon, which kept their course,
- and lighted
- The little O, the earth.
- DOLABELLA
- Most sovereign creature,--
- CLEOPATRA
- His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm
- 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 rattling 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 lived in: in his livery
- Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
- As plates dropp'd from his pocket.
- DOLABELLA
- Cleopatra!
- CLEOPATRA
- Think you there was, or might be, such a man
- As this I dream'd of?
- DOLABELLA
- Gentle madam, no.
- CLEOPATRA
- 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
- And Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
- Condemning shadows quite.
- DOLABELLA
- 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 pursued success, but I do feel,
- By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
- My 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't.
- [Flourish, and shout within, 'Make way there:
- Octavius Caesar!']
- [Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS,
- MECAENAS, SELEUCUS, and others of his Train]
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Which is the Queen of Egypt?
- DOLABELLA
- It is the emperor, madam.
- [CLEOPATRA kneels]
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Arise, you shall not kneel:
- I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.
- CLEOPATRA
- Sir, the gods
- Will have it thus; my master and my lord
- I must obey.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- 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.
- CLEOPATRA
- 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 shamed our sex.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- 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.
- CLEOPATRA
- And may, through all the world: 'tis yours; and we,
- Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall
- Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.
- CLEOPATRA
- This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,
- I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;
- Not petty things admitted. Where's Seleucus?
- SELEUCUS
- Here, madam.
- CLEOPATRA
- This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,
- Upon his peril, that I have reserved
- To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.
- SELEUCUS
- Madam,
- I had rather seal my lips, than, to my peril,
- Speak that which is not.
- CLEOPATRA
- What have I kept back?
- SELEUCUS
- Enough to purchase what you have made known.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve
- Your wisdom in the deed.
- CLEOPATRA
- See, Caesar! 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 hired! What, goest thou back? thou shalt
- Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes,
- Though they had wings: slave, soulless villain, dog!
- O rarely base!
- OCTAVIUS 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 lordliness
- To one so meek, that mine own servant should
- Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
- Addition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,
- That I some lady trifles have reserved,
- Immoment toys, things of such dignity
- As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
- Some nobler token I have kept apart
- For Livia and Octavia, to induce
- Their mediation; must I be unfolded
- With one that I have bred? The gods! it smites me
- Beneath the fall I have.
- [To SELEUCUS]
- Prithee, go hence;
- Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits
- Through the ashes of my chance: wert thou a man,
- Thou wouldst have mercy on me.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Forbear, Seleucus.
- [Exit SELEUCUS]
- CLEOPATRA
- Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought
- For things that others do; and, when we fall,
- We answer others' merits in our name,
- Are therefore to be pitied.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Cleopatra,
- Not what you have reserved, nor what acknowledged,
- Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be't yours,
- Bestow it at your pleasure; and believe,
- Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you
- Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be 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.
- CLEOPATRA
- My master, and my lord!
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Not so. Adieu.
- [Flourish. Exeunt OCTAVIUS CAESAR and his train]
- CLEOPATRA
- 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.
- CLEOPATRA
- Hie thee again:
- I have spoke already, and it is provided;
- Go put it to the haste.
- CHARMIAN
- Madam, I will.
- [Re-enter DOLABELLA]
- DOLABELLA
- Where is 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 Syria
- Intends his journey; and within three days
- You with your children will he send before:
- Make your best use of this: I have perform'd
- Your 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.
- [Exit DOLABELLA]
- Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
- Thou, 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 be enclouded,
- And forced to drink their vapour.
- IRAS
- The gods forbid!
- CLEOPATRA
- Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras: saucy lictors
- Will catch at us, like strumpets; and scald rhymers
- Ballad us out o' tune: the quick comedians
- Extemporally will stage us, and present
- Our Alexandrian revels; Antony
- Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
- Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
- I' the posture of a whore.
- IRAS
- O the good gods!
- CLEOPATRA
- Nay, that's certain.
- IRAS
- I'll never see 't; for, I am sure, my nails
- Are stronger than mine eyes.
- CLEOPATRA
- Why, that's the way
- To fool their preparation, and to conquer
- Their most absurd intents.
- [Re-enter CHARMIAN]
- Now, 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 dispatch 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 a Guardsman]
- GUARD
- Here is a rural fellow
- That will not be denied your highness presence:
- He brings you figs.
- CLEOPATRA
- Let him come in.
- [Exit Guardsman]
- What poor an instrument
- May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty.
- My resolution's placed, 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 Guardsman, with Clown bringing in a basket]
- GUARD
- This is the man.
- CLEOPATRA
- Avoid, and leave him.
- [Exit Guardsman]
- 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.
- CLEOPATRA
- Rememberest 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' 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.
- CLEOPATRA
- Get thee hence; farewell.
- CLOWN
- I wish you all joy of the worm.
- [Setting down his 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 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' the worm.
- [Exit]
- [Re-enter IRAS with a robe, crown, &c]
- CLEOPATRA
- Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
- Immortal longings in me: now no more
- The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:
- Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hear
- Antony call; I see him rouse himself
- To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
- The luck of Caesar, 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.
- Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell.
- [Kisses them. IRAS falls 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 world
- It is not worth leave-taking.
- CHARMIAN
- Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may say,
- The 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 kiss
- Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou
- mortal wretch,
- [To an asp, which she applies to her breast]
- With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
- Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
- Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
- That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
- Unpolicied!
- CHARMIAN
- O eastern star!
- CLEOPATRA
- Peace, peace!
- Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
- That 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 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]
- FIRST GUARD
- Where is 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 princess
- Descended of so many royal kings.
- Ah, soldier!
- [Dies]
- [Re-enter DOLABELLA]
- DOLABELLA
- How goes it here?
- SECOND GUARD
- All dead.
- DOLABELLA
- Caesar, thy thoughts
- Touch their effects in this: thyself art coming
- To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou
- So sought'st to hinder.
- [Within 'A way there, a way for Caesar!']
- [Re-enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR and all his train marching]
- DOLABELLA
- O sir, you are too sure an augurer;
- That you did fear is done.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Bravest at the last,
- She levell'd 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.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Poison'd, then.
- FIRST GUARD
- O Caesar,
- This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake:
- I found her trimming up the diadem
- On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood
- And on the sudden dropp'd.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- O noble weakness!
- If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear
- By external swelling: but she looks like sleep,
- As she would catch another Antony
- In her strong toil of grace.
- DOLABELLA
- Here, on her breast,
- There 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-leaves
- Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves
- Upon the caves of Nile.
- OCTAVIUS CAESAR
- Most probable
- That so she died; for her physician tells me
- She hath pursued conclusions infinite
- Of 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 it
- A pair so famous. High events as these
- Strike those that make them; and their story is
- No less in pity than his glory which
- Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
- In solemn show attend this funeral;
- And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see
- High order in this great solemnity.
- [Exeunt]
|
 |
|
 |