1    My desolation does begin to make
2    A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar;
3    Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
4    A minister of her will: and it is great
5    To do that thing that ends all other deeds;
6    Which shackles accidents and bolts up change;
7    Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug,
8    The beggar's nurse and Caesar's.

9    Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt;
10   And bids thee study on what fair demands
11   Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

12   What's thy name?

13   My name is Proculeius.

14   Antony
15   Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but
16   I do not greatly care to be deceived,
17   That have no use for trusting. If your master
18   Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him,
19   That majesty, to keep decorum, must
20   No less beg than a kingdom: if he please
21   To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,
22   He gives me so much of mine own, as I
23   Will kneel to him with thanks.

24   Be of good cheer;
25   You're fall'n into a princely hand, fear nothing:
26   Make your full reference freely to my lord,
27   Who is so full of grace, that it flows over
28   On all that need: let me report to him
29   Your sweet dependency; and you shall find
30   A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness,
31   Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

32   Pray you, tell him
33   I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
34   The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
35   A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly
36   Look him i' the face.

37   This I'll report, dear lady.
38   Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
39   Of him that caused it.

40   You see how easily she may be surprised:
To PROCULEIUS and the Guard
41   Guard her till Caesar come.

42   Royal queen!

43   O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen:

44   Quick, quick, good hands.

45   Hold, worthy lady, hold:
Seizes and disarms her
46   Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this
47   Relieved, but not betray'd.

48   What, of death too,
49   That rids our dogs of languish?

50   Cleopatra,
51   Do not abuse my master's bounty by
52   The undoing of yourself: let the world see
53   His nobleness well acted, which your death
54   Will never let come forth.

55   Where art thou, death?
56   Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen
57   Worthy many babes and beggars!

58   O, temperance, lady!

59   Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir;
60   If idle talk will once be necessary,
61   I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin,
62   Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I
63   Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;
64   Nor once be chastised with the sober eye
65   Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up
66   And show me to the shouting varletry
67   Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
68   Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
69   Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
70   Blow me into abhorring! rather make
71   My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
72   And hang me up in chains!

73   You do extend
74   These thoughts of horror further than you shall
75   Find cause in Caesar.

76   Proculeius,
77   What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,
78   And he hath sent for thee: for the queen,
79   I'll take her to my guard.

80   So, Dolabella,
81   It shall content me best: be gentle to her.
To CLEOPATRA
82   To Caesar I will speak what you shall please,
83   If you'll employ me to him.

84   Say, I would die.

85   Most noble empress, you have heard of me?

86   I cannot tell.

87   Assuredly you know me.

88   No matter, sir, what I have heard or known.
89   You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams;
90   Is't not your trick?

91   I understand not, madam.

92   I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony:
93   O, such another sleep, that I might see
94   But such another man!

95   If it might please ye,--

96   His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck
97   A sun and moon, which kept their course,
98   and lighted
99   The little O, the earth.

100  Most sovereign creature,--

101  His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm
102  Crested the world: his voice was propertied
103  As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
104  But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
105  He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
106  There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas
107  That grew the more by reaping: his delights
108  Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above
109  The element they lived in: in his livery
110  Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
111  As plates dropp'd from his pocket.

112  Cleopatra!

113  Think you there was, or might be, such a man
114  As this I dream'd of?

115  Gentle madam, no.

116  You lie, up to the hearing of the gods.
117  But, if there be, or ever were, one such,
118  It's past the size of dreaming: nature wants stuff
119  To vie strange forms with fancy; yet, to imagine
120  And Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
121  Condemning shadows quite.

122  Hear me, good madam.
123  Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it
124  As answering to the weight: would I might never
125  O'ertake pursued success, but I do feel,
126  By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
127  My very heart at root.

128  I thank you, sir,
129  Know you what Caesar means to do with me?

130  I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.

131  Nay, pray you, sir,--

132  Though he be honourable,--

133  He'll lead me, then, in triumph?

134  Madam, he will; I know't.

135  Which is the Queen of Egypt?

136  It is the emperor, madam.

137  Arise, you shall not kneel:
138  I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.

139  Sir, the gods
140  Will have it thus; my master and my lord
141  I must obey.

142  Take to you no hard thoughts:
143  The record of what injuries you did us,
144  Though written in our flesh, we shall remember
145  As things but done by chance.

146  Sole sir o' the world,
147  I cannot project mine own cause so well
148  To make it clear; but do confess I have
149  Been laden with like frailties which before
150  Have often shamed our sex.

151  Cleopatra, know,
152  We will extenuate rather than enforce:
153  If you apply yourself to our intents,
154  Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find
155  A benefit in this change; but if you seek
156  To lay on me a cruelty, by taking
157  Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself
158  Of my good purposes, and put your children
159  To that destruction which I'll guard them from,
160  If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

161  And may, through all the world: 'tis yours; and we,
162  Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall
163  Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.

164  You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.

165  This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,
166  I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;
167  Not petty things admitted. Where's Seleucus?

168  Here, madam.

169  This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,
170  Upon his peril, that I have reserved
171  To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.

172  Madam,
173  I had rather seal my lips, than, to my peril,
174  Speak that which is not.

175  What have I kept back?

176  Enough to purchase what you have made known.

177  Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve
178  Your wisdom in the deed.

179  See, Caesar! O, behold,
180  How pomp is follow'd! mine will now be yours;
181  And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine.
182  The ingratitude of this Seleucus does
183  Even make me wild: O slave, of no more trust
184  Than love that's hired! What, goest thou back? thou shalt
185  Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes,
186  Though they had wings: slave, soulless villain, dog!
187  O rarely base!

188  Good queen, let us entreat you.

189  O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,
190  That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me,
191  Doing the honour of thy lordliness
192  To one so meek, that mine own servant should
193  Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
194  Addition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,
195  That I some lady trifles have reserved,
196  Immoment toys, things of such dignity
197  As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
198  Some nobler token I have kept apart
199  For Livia and Octavia, to induce
200  Their mediation; must I be unfolded
201  With one that I have bred? The gods! it smites me
202  Beneath the fall I have.
To SELEUCUS
203  Prithee, go hence;
204  Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits
205  Through the ashes of my chance: wert thou a man,
206  Thou wouldst have mercy on me.

207  Forbear, Seleucus.

208  Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought
209  For things that others do; and, when we fall,
210  We answer others' merits in our name,
211  Are therefore to be pitied.

212  Cleopatra,
213  Not what you have reserved, nor what acknowledged,
214  Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be't yours,
215  Bestow it at your pleasure; and believe,
216  Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you
217  Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheer'd;
218  Make not your thoughts your prisons: no, dear queen;
219  For we intend so to dispose you as
220  Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed, and sleep:
221  Our care and pity is so much upon you,
222  That we remain your friend; and so, adieu.

223  My master, and my lord!

224  Not so. Adieu.

225  He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not
226  Be noble to myself: but, hark thee, Charmian.

227  Finish, good lady; the bright day is done,
228  And we are for the dark.

229  Hie thee again:
230  I have spoke already, and it is provided;
231  Go put it to the haste.

232  Madam, I will.

233  Where is the queen?

234  Behold, sir.

235  Dolabella!

236  Madam, as thereto sworn by your command,
237  Which my love makes religion to obey,
238  I tell you this: Caesar through Syria
239  Intends his journey; and within three days
240  You with your children will he send before:
241  Make your best use of this: I have perform'd
242  Your pleasure and my promise.

243  Dolabella,
244  I shall remain your debtor.

245  I your servant,
246  Adieu, good queen; I must attend on Caesar.

247  Farewell, and thanks.
Exit DOLABELLA
248  Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
249  Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shown
250  In Rome, as well as I mechanic slaves
251  With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall
252  Uplift us to the view; in their thick breaths,
253  Rank of gross diet, shall be enclouded,
254  And forced to drink their vapour.

255  The gods forbid!

256  Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras: saucy lictors
257  Will catch at us, like strumpets; and scald rhymers
258  Ballad us out o' tune: the quick comedians
259  Extemporally will stage us, and present
260  Our Alexandrian revels; Antony
261  Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
262  Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
263  I' the posture of a whore.

264  O the good gods!

265  Nay, that's certain.

266  I'll never see 't; for, I am sure, my nails
267  Are stronger than mine eyes.

268  Why, that's the way
269  To fool their preparation, and to conquer
270  Their most absurd intents.
Re-enter CHARMIAN
271  Now, Charmian!
272  Show me, my women, like a queen: go fetch
273  My best attires: I am again for Cydnus,
274  To meet Mark Antony: sirrah Iras, go.
275  Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed;
276  And, when thou hast done this chare, I'll give thee leave
277  To play till doomsday. Bring our crown and all.
278  Wherefore's this noise?

279  Here is a rural fellow
280  That will not be denied your highness presence:
281  He brings you figs.

282  Let him come in.
Exit Guardsman
283  What poor an instrument
284  May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty.
285  My resolution's placed, and I have nothing
286  Of woman in me: now from head to foot
287  I am marble-constant; now the fleeting moon
288  No planet is of mine.

289  This is the man.

290  Avoid, and leave him.
Exit Guardsman
291  Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there,
292  That kills and pains not?

293  Truly, I have him: but I would not be the party
294  that should desire you to touch him, for his biting
295  is immortal; those that do die of it do seldom or
296  never recover.

297  Rememberest thou any that have died on't?

298  Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of
299  them no longer than yesterday: a very honest woman,
300  but something given to lie; as a woman should not
301  do, but in the way of honesty: how she died of the
302  biting of it, what pain she felt: truly, she makes
303  a very good report o' the worm; but he that will
304  believe all that they say, shall never be saved by
305  half that they do: but this is most fallible, the
306  worm's an odd worm.

307  Get thee hence; farewell.

308  I wish you all joy of the worm.

309  Farewell.

310  You must think this, look you, that the worm will
311  do his kind.

312  Ay, ay; farewell.

313  Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the
314  keeping of wise people; for, indeed, there is no
315  goodness in worm.

316  Take thou no care; it shall be heeded.

317  Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for it is
318  not worth the feeding.

319  Will it eat me?

320  You must not think I am so simple but I know the
321  devil himself will not eat a woman: I know that a
322  woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her
323  not. But, truly, these same whoreson devils do the
324  gods great harm in their women; for in every ten
325  that they make, the devils mar five.

326  Well, get thee gone; farewell.

327  Yes, forsooth: I wish you joy o' the worm.

328  Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
329  Immortal longings in me: now no more
330  The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:
331  Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hear
332  Antony call; I see him rouse himself
333  To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
334  The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men
335  To excuse their after wrath: husband, I come:
336  Now to that name my courage prove my title!
337  I am fire and air; my other elements
338  I give to baser life. So; have you done?
339  Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
340  Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell.
Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies
341  Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?
342  If thou and nature can so gently part,
343  The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,
344  Which hurts, and is desired. Dost thou lie still?
345  If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
346  It is not worth leave-taking.

347  Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may say,
348  The gods themselves do weep!

349  This proves me base:
350  If she first meet the curled Antony,
351  He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss
352  Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou
353  mortal wretch,
To an asp, which she applies to her breast
354  With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
355  Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
356  Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
357  That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
358  Unpolicied!

359  O eastern star!

360  Peace, peace!
361  Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
362  That sucks the nurse asleep?

363  O, break! O, break!

364  As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,--
365  O Antony!--Nay, I will take thee too.
Applying another asp to her arm
366  What should I stay--

367  In this vile world? So, fare thee well.
368  Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
369  A lass unparallel'd. Downy windows, close;
370  And golden Phoebus never be beheld
371  Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry;
372  I'll mend it, and then play.

373  Where is the queen?

374  Speak softly, wake her not.

375  Caesar hath sent--

376  Too slow a messenger.
Applies an asp
377  O, come apace, dispatch! I partly feel thee.

378  Approach, ho! All's not well: Caesar's beguiled.

379  There's Dolabella sent from Caesar; call him.

380  What work is here! Charmian, is this well done?

381  It is well done, and fitting for a princess
382  Descended of so many royal kings.
383  Ah, soldier!

384  How goes it here?

385  All dead.

386  Caesar, thy thoughts
387  Touch their effects in this: thyself art coming
388  To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou
389  So sought'st to hinder.

390  O sir, you are too sure an augurer;
391  That you did fear is done.

392  Bravest at the last,
393  She levell'd at our purposes, and, being royal,
394  Took her own way. The manner of their deaths?
395  I do not see them bleed.

396  Who was last with them?

397  A simple countryman, that brought her figs:
398  This was his basket.

399  Poison'd, then.

400  O Caesar,
401  This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake:
402  I found her trimming up the diadem
403  On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood
404  And on the sudden dropp'd.

405  O noble weakness!
406  If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear
407  By external swelling: but she looks like sleep,
408  As she would catch another Antony
409  In her strong toil of grace.

410  Here, on her breast,
411  There is a vent of blood and something blown:
412  The like is on her arm.

413  This is an aspic's trail: and these fig-leaves
414  Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves
415  Upon the caves of Nile.

416  Most probable
417  That so she died; for her physician tells me
418  She hath pursued conclusions infinite
419  Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed;
420  And bear her women from the monument:
421  She shall be buried by her Antony:
422  No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
423  A pair so famous. High events as these
424  Strike those that make them; and their story is
425  No less in pity than his glory which
426  Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
427  In solemn show attend this funeral;
428  And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see
429  High order in this great solemnity.