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Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat; I'll not drink, The little O, the earth.

sir:

If idle talk will once be necessary,

I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin,
Do Cæsar what he can. Know, sir, that I
Will not wait pinioned at your master's court,
Nor once be chastised with the sober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up,
And shew me to the shouting varletry
Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
Be gentle grave to me: rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring: rather make
My country's high pyramidés my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro.

You do extend

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Dol.

Most sovereign creature,

Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm Crested the world: his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was a rattling thunder. For his bounty, There was no winter in 't; an autumn 't was, That grew the more by reaping: his delights Were dolphin-like; they shewed his back above The element they lived in: in his livery Walked crowns and crownets; realms and islands

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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

To vie strange forms with fancy: yet to imagine

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(Which toward you are most gentle), you shall find That I some lady trifles have reserved,

A benefit in this change: but if you seek
To lay on me a cruelty, by taking
Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself
Of my good purposes, and put your children
To that destruction which I'll guard them from
If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

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

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Intends his journey, and within three days
You with your children will he send before.
Make your best use of this: I have performed

Or I shall shew the cinders of my spirits
Through the ashes of my chance:wert thou a Your pleasure and my promise.

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Cleo.

Dolabella,

I shall remain your debtor.

Dol. I your servant.

Adieu, good queen: I must attend on Cæsar.
Cleo. Farewell, and thanks. [Exit DOLABELLA.
Now, Iras, what think'st thou?

Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shewn
In Rome, as well as I: mechanic slaves,
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall

Not what you have reserved, nor what acknowl- Uplift us to the view: in their thick breaths,

edged,

Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be it yours,
Bestow it at your pleasure: and believe
Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you

Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be
cheered;

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Cleo. Nay, 't is most certain, Iras: saucy lictors Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers Ballad us out o' tune: the quick comedians

Make not your thoughts your prisons; no, dear Extemporally will stage us, and present

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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

Cleo. Remember'st thou any that have died I give to baser life. So; have you done?

on 't?

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 o' the worm. Cleo. Farewell. [Clown sets down the basket. Clown. You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind.

Cleo. Ay, ay: farewell.

Clown. Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping of wise people: for indeed there is no goodness in the worm.

Cleo. Take thou no care: it shall be heeded. Clown. Very good give it nothing, I pray you; for it is not worth the feeding.

Cleo. Will it eat me?

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.

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 aspick 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 still?
If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
It is not worth leave-taking.

Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain: that I may say,

The gods themselves do weep!

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1st Guard. What work is here? - Charmian, The like is on her arm.

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Within. A way there; a way for Cæsar! Strike those that make them; and their story is

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