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Dear my lord, pardon, I dare not,

Lest I be taken: not the imperious show

Of the full-fortuned Cæsar ever shall

20

fears Ceasars

hudder soldiers.

Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have
Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe:

Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes

And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
Demuring upon me.
Help me, my women,
Assist, good friends.
ANT.

But come, come, Antony,

we must draw thee up;

O, quick, or I am gone.

CLEO. Here's sport indeed! How heavy weighs my

lord!

Our strength is all gone into heaviness;

That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power,
The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up
And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little —
Wishers were ever fools O, come, come, come;
[They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra.

23 imperious show] imperial show or pageant.

25 brooch'd] ornamented as with a brooch.

28 still conclusion] sedate observation. The phrase is difficult. Probably
the notion is that Octavia will be quietly drawing her inferences.
29 Demuring] Looking demurely and deprecatingly. Cf. V, ii, 54–55,
infra.

32 Here's sport indeed!] This exclamation of irony—a heart-breaking
effort at merriment is Cleopatra's piteous confession of conscious-
ness that her life of laughter and self-indulgence is ending.
33 heaviness] used here equivocally for both "grief" and "weight."

80

Pathos

And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast lived:
Quicken with kissing: had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.

ALL.

A heavy sight!
ANT. I am dying, Egypt, dying:

Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
CLEO. No, let me speak, and let me rail so high,
That the false housewife Fortune break her wheel,
Provoked by my offence.

One word, sweet queen:

ANT.
Of Cæsar seek your honour, with your safety. O!
CLEO. They do not go together.

ANT.

Gentle, hear me:

None about Cæsar trust but Proculeius.
CLEO. My resolution and my hands I'll trust;
None about Cæsar..

ANT. 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 lived, the greatest prince o' the world,
The noblest, and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to

38 where thou] Pope's correction of the Folio when thou.

39 Quicken with kissing] Revive with my kisses.

43 so high] so loudly.

44 the false housewife... wheel] "housewife" is here used contempt-
uously like "hussy." Cf. Hen. V, V, i, 74: "Doth Fortune play the
huswife with me now." "Fortune" is constantly associated with a
wheel by Shakespeare. Cf. Hen. V, III, vi, 31-33: "Fortune .
is painted also with a wheel, to signify to you, that she is turn-
ing, and inconstant."

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40

50

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My countryman a Roman by a Roman

Valiantly vanquish 'd. Now my spirit is going;
I can no more.

CLEO.

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' the earth doth melt. My lord!

O, wither'd is the garland of the war,

60

sous ver

Reeling toward

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.

CHAR.

IRAS. She's dead too, our sovereign.

CHAR.

IRAS.

A.
[Faints.

O, quietness, lady!

Lady!

Madam!

70

CHAR. O madam, madam, madam!

IRAS. Royal Egypt, Empress!

CHAR. Peace, peace, Iras!

CLEO. 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

59 woo 't die] wilt thou die? Cf. IV, ii, 7, supra.

64 garland] crowning ornament.

65 soldier's pole] standard, banner.

66 the odds] all sign of inequality.

73 e'en a woman] Capell's correction of the Folio reading in a woman. commanded] controlled.

75 chares] household jobs, as in "char-woman." Cf. V, ii, 230, infra: "this chare." The word is still used in America in the form "chores."

The ward

gulick

in tomb

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 naught;
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: self
This case of that huge spirit now is cold:
Ah, women, women! Come; we have no friend
But resolution and the briefest end.

80

Preservatio

[Exeunt: those above bearing off Antony's body.

79-80 impatience does Become] impatience only befits.

85 Good sirs] Cleopatra is still addressing her waiting-women, who were
often so addressed in the Elizabethan drama. Cf. V, ii, 228, infra:
"sirrah Iras."

90

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

Enter CESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECENAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and others, his council of war

CÆSAR

[graphic]

O TO HIM, DOLABELLA, bid him yield;

Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks

The pauses that he makes.

DOL. Cæsar, I shall.

[Exit.

Enter DERCETAS, with the sword of
Antony

CES. Wherefore is that? and

what art thou that darest

Appear thus to us?

DER. I am call'd Dercetas;

Mark Antony I served, who best was worthy
Best to be served: whilst he stood up and spoke,

ACT V Sc. 1 (Stage Direction) Enter Cæsar . . . Maecenas] For
Maecenas the Folios read Menas, a character who has only figured in

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