The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra

1 Enter Antony and Eros.
2 ANTONY.
3 Eros, thou yet behold’st me?
4 EROS.
5 Ay, noble lord.
6 ANTONY.
7 Sometime we see a cloud that’s dragonish,
8 A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
9 A towered citadel, a pendant rock,
10 A forked mountain, or blue promontory
11 With trees upon’t, that nod unto the world
12 And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs.
13 They are black vesper’s pageants.
14 EROS.
15 Ay, my lord.
16 ANTONY.
17 That which is now a horse, even with a thought
18 The rack dislimns and makes it indistinct
19 As water is in water.
20 EROS.
21 It does, my lord.
22 ANTONY.
23 My good knave Eros, now thy captain is
24 Even such a body. Here I am Antony,
25 Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
26 I made these wars for Egypt, and the Queen,
27 Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine,
28 Which, whilst it was mine, had annexed unto’t
29 A million more, now lost—she, Eros, has
30 Packed cards with Caesar, and false-played my glory
31 Unto an enemy’s triumph.
32 Nay, weep not, gentle Eros. There is left us
33 Ourselves to end ourselves.
34 Enter Mardian.
35 O, thy vile lady!
36 She has robbed me of my sword.
37 MARDIAN.
38 No, Antony,
39 My mistress loved thee and her fortunes mingled
40 With thine entirely.
41 ANTONY.
42 Hence, saucy eunuch! Peace!
43 She hath betrayed me and shall die the death.
44 MARDIAN.
45 Death of one person can be paid but once,
46 And that she has discharged. What thou wouldst do
47 Is done unto thy hand. The last she spake
48 Was “Antony! Most noble Antony!”
49 Then in the midst a tearing groan did break
50 The name of Antony; it was divided
51 Between her heart and lips. She rendered life,
52 Thy name so buried in her.
53 ANTONY.
54 Dead, then?
55 MARDIAN.
56 Dead.
57 ANTONY.
58 Unarm, Eros. The long day’s task is done,
59 And we must sleep.—That thou depart’st hence safe
60 Does pay thy labour richly. Go.
61 [_Exit Mardian._]
62 Off, pluck off!
63 The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep
64 The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!
65 Heart, once be stronger than thy continent;
66 Crack thy frail case! Apace, Eros, apace!
67 No more a soldier. Bruised pieces, go;
68 You have been nobly borne. From me awhile.
69 [_Exit Eros._]
70 I will o’ertake thee, Cleopatra, and
71 Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
72 All length is torture. Since the torch is out,
73 Lie down, and stray no farther. Now all labour
74 Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles
75 Itself with strength. Seal then, and all is done.
76 Eros!—I come, my queen.—Eros!—Stay for me.
77 Where souls do couch on flowers, we’ll hand in hand,
78 And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze.
79 Dido and her Aeneas shall want troops,
80 And all the haunt be ours.—Come, Eros, Eros!
81 Enter Eros.
82 EROS.
83 What would my lord?
84 ANTONY.
85 Since Cleopatra died,
86 I have lived in such dishonour that the gods
87 Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword
88 Quartered the world, and o’er green Neptune’s back
89 With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack
90 The courage of a woman; less noble mind
91 Than she which, by her death, our Caesar tells
92 “I am conqueror of myself.” Thou art sworn, Eros,
93 That when the exigent should come, which now
94 Is come indeed, when I should see behind me
95 Th’ inevitable prosecution of
96 Disgrace and horror, that on my command
97 Thou then wouldst kill me. Do’t. The time is come.
98 Thou strik’st not me; ’tis Caesar thou defeat’st.
99 Put colour in thy cheek.
100 EROS.
101 The gods withhold me!
102 Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts,
103 Though enemy, lost aim and could not?
104 ANTONY.
105 Eros,
106 Wouldst thou be windowed in great Rome and see
107 Thy master thus with pleached arms, bending down
108 His corrigible neck, his face subdued
109 To penetrative shame, whilst the wheeled seat
110 Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded
111 His baseness that ensued?
112 EROS.
113 I would not see’t.
114 ANTONY.
115 Come, then, for with a wound I must be cured.
116 Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn
117 Most useful for thy country.
118 EROS.
119 O, sir, pardon me!
120 ANTONY.
121 When I did make thee free, swor’st thou not then
122 To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once,
123 Or thy precedent services are all
124 But accidents unpurposed. Draw, and come.
125 EROS.
126 Turn from me then that noble countenance
127 Wherein the worship of the whole world lies.
128 ANTONY.
129 Lo thee!
130 [_Turning from him._]
131 EROS.
132 My sword is drawn.
133 ANTONY.
134 Then let it do at once
135 The thing why thou hast drawn it.
136 EROS.
137 My dear master,
138 My captain and my emperor, let me say,
139 Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.
140 ANTONY.
141 ’Tis said, man, and farewell.
142 EROS.
143 Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?
144 ANTONY.
145 Now, Eros.
146 EROS.
147 Why, there then! [_kills himself_]
148 Thus do I escape the sorrow
149 Of Antony’s death.
150 [_Dies._]
151 ANTONY.
152 Thrice nobler than myself!
153 Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what
154 I should and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros
155 Have by their brave instruction got upon me
156 A nobleness in record. But I will be
157 A bridegroom in my death and run into’t
158 As to a lover’s bed. Come then, and, Eros,
159 Thy master dies thy scholar. To do thus
160 [_Falling on his sword._]
161 I learned of thee. How? Not dead? Not dead?
162 The guard, ho! O, dispatch me!
163 Enter a company of the Guard, one of them Dercetus.
164 FIRST GUARD.
165 What’s the noise?
166 ANTONY.
167 I have done my work ill, friends. O, make an end
168 Of what I have begun.
169 SECOND GUARD.
170 The star is fallen.
171 FIRST GUARD.
172 And time is at his period.
173 ALL.
174 Alas, and woe!
175 ANTONY.
176 Let him that loves me strike me dead.
177 FIRST GUARD.
178 Not I.
179 SECOND GUARD.
180 Nor I.
181 THIRD GUARD.
182 Nor anyone.
183 [_Exeunt guard._]
184 DERCETUS.
185 Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.
186 This sword but shown to Caesar with this tidings,
187 Shall enter me with him.
188 Enter Diomedes.
189 DIOMEDES.
190 Where’s Antony?
191 DERCETUS.
192 There, Diomed, there.
193 DIOMEDES.
194 Lives he? Wilt thou not answer, man?
195 [_Exit Dercetus._]
196 ANTONY.
197 Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword and give me
198 Sufficing strokes for death.
199 DIOMEDES.
200 Most absolute lord,
201 My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.
202 ANTONY.
203 When did she send thee?
204 DIOMEDES.
205 Now, my lord.
206 ANTONY.
207 Where is she?
208 DIOMEDES.
209 Locked in her monument. She had a prophesying fear
210 Of what hath come to pass. For when she saw—
211 Which never shall be found—you did suspect
212 She had disposed with Caesar, and that your rage
213 Would not be purged, she sent you word she was dead;
214 But fearing since how it might work, hath sent
215 Me to proclaim the truth, and I am come,
216 I dread, too late.
217 ANTONY.
218 Too late, good Diomed. Call my guard, I prithee.
219 DIOMEDES.
220 What, ho! The emperor’s guard! The guard, what ho!
221 Come, your lord calls!
222 Enter four or five of the Guard of Antony.
223 ANTONY.
224 Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides.
225 ’Tis the last service that I shall command you.
226 FIRST GUARD.
227 Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not live to wear
228 All your true followers out.
229 ALL.
230 Most heavy day!
231 ANTONY.
232 Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate
233 To grace it with your sorrows. Bid that welcome
234 Which comes to punish us, and we punish it,
235 Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up.
236 I have led you oft; carry me now, good friends,
237 And have my thanks for all.
238 [_Exeunt, bearing Antony._]