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Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. Cleo. My desolation does begin to make A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Cæsar; 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 Cæsar's.

Enter, to the gates of the monument, PROCULEIUS, GALLUS and Soldiers.

Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt;

And bids thee study on what fair demands 10 Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

Cleo.

What's thy name

Pro. My name is Proculeius. Cleo.

Antony

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Enter DOLABELLA.

Proculeius,

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, It shall content me best be gentle to her. [To Cleo.] To Cæsar I will speak what you

shall please. If you'll employ me to him. Cleo.

Say, I would die. 70 [Exeunt Proculeius and Soldiers,

Dol. Most noble empress, you have heard

of me? Cleo. I cannot tell. Dol.

Assuredly ycu know me. Cleo. No matter, sir, what I have heard or known. [dreams; You laugh when boys or women tell their Is't not your trick? Dol. I understand not, madam.

Cleo. I dream'd there was an Emperor

Antony:
O, such another sleep, that I might see
But such another man!
Dol.

If it might please ye,Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck

A sun and moon, which kept their course, and lighted

The little O, the earth. Dol.

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Most sovereign creature,Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd

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As plates dropp'd from his pocket. Dol.

Cleopatra!

Cleo. Think you there was, or might be, such a man

As this I dream'd of?
Dol.

Gentle madam, no.

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 [agine To vie strange forms with fancy yet, to imAn Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,

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We will extenuate rather than enforce: If you apply yourself to our intents,

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Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes, [lain, dog! Though they had wings: slave, soulless vilO rarely base!

Cas. Good queen, let us entreat you. Cleo. O Cæsar, what a wounding shame is this,

That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me, 160
Doing the honor 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 Cæsar,
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

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Their mediation; must I be unfolded
With one that I have bred? The gods! it

Which towards you are most gentle, you shall Through the ashes of my chance: wert thou a

find

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smites me

Beneath the fall I have. [To Seleucus] Prithee, go hence;

Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits

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from,

If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

Cleo. And may, through all the world: 'tis yours; and we,

Cæs.

Cleopatra,

Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall

Not what you have reserved, nor what ac

knowledged,

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Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be't yours, Bestow it at your pleasure; and believe, Cæsar'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;

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Sel. Here, madam.

For we intend so to dispose you as
Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed, and

Cleo. This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,

sleep:

Upon his peril, that I have reserved

Our care and pity is so much upon you, That we remain your friend; and so, adieu.

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[Exit Guardsman.

Cleo. Avoid, and leave him.

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.

Cleo. Rememberest thou any that have died on't? 249

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. Cleo. Get thee hence; farewell. Clown. I wish you all joy of the worm. [Setting down his basket.

Cleo. Farewell.

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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.

Cleo. Well, get thee gone; farewell. 280 Clown. Yes, forsooth; I wish you joy o' the worm.

[Exit.

Re-enter IRAS with a robe, crown, &c. Cleo. 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 Cæsar, 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

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Sec. Guard. There's Dolabella sent from Cæsar; call him.

First Guard. What work is here! Charmian, is this well done?

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

Re-enter DOLABELLA.

Dol, How goes it here?
Sec. Guard.

Dol.

All dead,

330

[Dies

Cæsar, 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 Cæsar!' Re-enter CÆSAR and all his train marching.

Dol. O sir, you are too sure an angurer ; That you did fear is done. Cas.

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. Dol.

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Who was last with them?

First Guard. A simple countryman, that brought her figs :

This was his basket. Cæs.

First Guard.

Poison'd, then.

O Cæsar,

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.

Cæs.

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.
Dol.

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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.
Cæs.

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:

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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

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