Enter Cleopatra.

Ah, thou spell! Avaunt.

Cleo. Why is my lord enrag'd against his love? Ant. Vanish; or I shall give thee thy deserving, And blemish Cæsar's triumph. Let him take thee, And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians: Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown For poor'st diminutives, to dolts; and let Patient Octavia plough thy visage up

With her prepared nails. [Exit Cleo.]'Tis well thou'rt

gone,

If it be well to live: But better 'twere

Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death
Might have prevented many.-Eros, ho!-
The shirt of Nessus is upon me: Teach me,
Alcidest, thou mine ancestor, thy rage:
Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o'the moon;
And with those hands, that grasp'd the heaviest club,
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die;
To the Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot: she dies for't.-Eros, ho!

[Exit.

For the smallest piece of money, to clowns. + Hercules.

The boy that brought the poisoned shirt to Hercules.

SCENE XI.

Alexandria. A room in the palace.

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian.

Cleo. Help me, my women! O, he is more mad Than Telamon* for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss'd t.

Char.

To the monument; There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead. The soul and body rivet not more in parting, Than greatness going off..

Cleo.

To the monument:-

Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself;
Say, that the last I spoke was, Antony,
And word it, pr'ythee, piteously: Hence,
Mardian; and bring me how he takes my death.-
To the monument.

[Exeunt.

SCENE XII.

The same. Another room.

Enter Antony and Eros.

Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me?

Eros.

Ay, noble lord.

Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish; A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion,

A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock,

A forked mountain, or blue promontory

* Ajax Telamon for the shield of Achilles.

+ Foaming at the mouth.

Split.

With trees upon't, that nod unto the world,

And mock our eyes with air: Thou hast seen these

Ay, my lord.

Ant. That, which is now a horse, even with a

thought,

The rack dislimns; and makes it indistinct,

As water is in water.

Eros.

It does, my lord.

Ant. My good knavet, Eros, now thy captain is Even such a body: here I am Antony;

Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
I made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,-
Whose heart, I thought, I had, for she had mine;
Which, whilst it was mine, had annex'd unto't
A million more, now lost,-she, Eros, has
Pack'd cards with Cæsar, and false play'd my glory
Unto an enemy's triumph.-

Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.-O, thy vile lady!

Enter Mardian.

She has robb'd me of my sword.

No, Antony;

Mar. My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled With thine entirely.

Ant.

Hence, saucy eunuch; peace; She hath betray'd me, and shall die the death.

Mar. Death of one person can be paid but once; And that she has discharg'd: What thou would'st do, Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake

Was, Antony! most noble Antony !

Then in the midst a tearing groan did break
The name of Antony; it was divided

Between her heart and lips: she render'd life,
Thy name so buried in her.

The fleeting clouds.

+ Servant.

Ant.

Dead then?

Mar.

Dead.

Ant. Eros, unarm; the long day's task is done, And we must sleep:-That thou depart'st hence safe, Does pay thy labour richly; Go.-Off, pluck off;[Exit Mardian.

The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep
The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!
Heart, once be stronger than thy continent*,
Crack thy frail case!-Apace, Eros, apace.-
No more a soldier:- Bruised pieces, go;
You have been nobly borne.-From me a while.-
[Exit Eros.

I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and

Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
All length is torture:-Since the torch is out,
Lie down, and stray no further: Now all labour
Marrs what it does; yea, very force entangles
Itself with strength: Seal then t, and all is done.-
Eros! I come, my queen:-Eros!-Stay for me:
Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in
hand,

And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze:
Dido and her Æneas shall want troops,

And all the haunt be ours.-Come, Eros, Eros!

Re-enter Eros.

Eros. What would my lord?

Ant.

Since Cleopatra died,

I have liv'd in such dishonour, that the gods
Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword
Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back
With ships made cities, condemn myself, to lack
The courage of a woman; less noble mind
Than she, which, by her death, our Cæsar tells,
I am conqueror of myself. Thou art sworn, Eros,

i.e. The thing that contains thee.

+ Sealing compleats a contract.

That, when the exigent should come (which now Is come, indeed), when I should see behind me The inevitable prosecution of

Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,

Thou then would'st kill me: do't; the time is come: Thou strik'st not me, 'tis Cæsar thou defeat'st.

Put colour in thy cheek.

Eros.

The gods withhold me!

Eros,

Shall I do that, which all the Parthian darts,
Though enemy, lost aim, and could not?

Ant.
Would'st thou be window'd in great Rome, and see
Thy master thus with pleach'd* arms, bending down
His corrigiblet neck, his face subdued

To penetrative ‡ shame; whilst the wheel'd seat
Of fortunate Cæsar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued §?

Eros.

I would not see't.

Ant. Come then; for with a wound I must be

cur'd.

Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn Most useful for thy country.

Eros.

O, sir, pardon me.

Ant. When I did make thee free, swor'st thou

not then

To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once;

Or thy precedent services are all

But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come.

Eros. Turn from me then that noble countenance,
Wherein the worship || of the whole world lies.
Ant. Lo thee.

Eros. My sword is drawn.
Ant.

[Turning from him.

Then let it do at once

My dear master,

The thing why thou hast drawn it.
Eros.

My captain, and my emperor! let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.

* Folded. + Corrected. § Followed.

Penetrating.

|| Dignity.