Is done unto thy hand: the last she spake Between her heart and lips: she render'd life, Ant. Mar. Dead then? Dead. Ant. Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, And we must sleep. That thou depart'st hence safe, Does pay thy labor richly; go.-—Off, pluck off: [Exit Mardian. The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides! I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and 1 i. e. the thing that contains thee. 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 lived in such dishonor, 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, 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 wouldst kill me: do 't; the time is come: Thou strikest not me; 'tis Cæsar thou defeat'st. Put color in thy cheek. Eros. The gods withhold me! Shall I do that, which all the Parthian darts, Ant. Eros Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome, and see Thy master thus with pleach'd1 arms, bending down His corrigible neck, his face subdued To penetrative shame; whilst the wheel'd seat Eros. I would not see 't. Ant. Come then; for with a wound I must be cured. 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, sworest thou not then To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once; Or thy precedent services are all But accidents unpurposed. Draw, and come. Eros. Turn from me then that noble coun My captain, and my emperor! let me say, Eros. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? Of Antony's death. Ant. [dies. Thrice nobler than myself! Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros Have, by their brave instruction, got upon me A nobleness in record: but I will be A bridegroom in my death, and run into 't [falling on his sword. I learn'd of thee. How! not dead? not dead ?- 1 Guard. Enter DERCETAS and GUArd. What's the noise? Ant. I have done my work ill, friends: 0, make an end Of what I have begun. 2 Guard. 1 Guard. And time is at his period. All. Ant. Let him that loves me, strike me dead. The star is fallen. Alas, and woe! Not I. 3 Guard. Nor any one. [Exeuns Guard. 1 Guard. 2 Guard. Nor I. Der. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly. This sword but shown to Cæsar, with this tidings, Shall enter me with him. My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee. Ant. When did she send thee? Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw dead; But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent 1 Made terms. |