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 Enter DOLABELLA. Proculeius, What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows, 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: 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. 80 Most sovereign creature,Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd 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? 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, We will extenuate rather than enforce: If you apply yourself to our intents, 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 Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar, Some nobler token I have kept apart For Livia and Octavia, to induce 170 Their mediation; must I be unfolded Which towards you are most gentle, you shall Through the ashes of my chance: wert thou a find smites me Beneath the fall I have. [To Seleucus] Prithee, go hence; Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits 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, 180 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; 140 Sel. Here, madam. For we intend so to dispose you as 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. [Exit Guardsman. Cleo. Avoid, and leave him. Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, 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. 260 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 Antony call; I see him rouse himself I give to baser life. So have you done? lips. Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell. 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? 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. 340 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 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. 350 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. Most probable That so she died; for her physician tells me She shall be buried by her Antony: 361 No grave upon the earth shall clip in it is |