The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra

1 Enter Cleopatra and her maids aloft, with Charmian and Iras.
2 CLEOPATRA.
3 O Charmian, I will never go from hence.
4 CHARMIAN.
5 Be comforted, dear madam.
6 CLEOPATRA.
7 No, I will not.
8 All strange and terrible events are welcome,
9 But comforts we despise. Our size of sorrow,
10 Proportioned to our cause, must be as great
11 As that which makes it.
12 Enter, below Diomedes.
13 How now! Is he dead?
14 DIOMEDES.
15 His death’s upon him, but not dead.
16 Look out o’ th’ other side your monument;
17 His guard have brought him thither.
18 Enter, below Antony borne by the Guard.
19 CLEOPATRA.
20 O sun,
21 Burn the great sphere thou mov’st in! Darkling stand
22 The varying shore o’ th’ world. O Antony,
23 Antony, Antony! Help, Charmian! Help, Iras, help!
24 Help, friends below! Let’s draw him hither.
25 ANTONY.
26 Peace!
27 Not Caesar’s valour hath o’erthrown Antony,
28 But Antony’s hath triumphed on itself.
29 CLEOPATRA.
30 So it should be, that none but Antony
31 Should conquer Antony, but woe ’tis so!
32 ANTONY.
33 I am dying, Egypt, dying. Only
34 I here importune death awhile until
35 Of many thousand kisses the poor last
36 I lay upon thy lips.
37 CLEOPATRA.
38 I dare not, dear
39 Dear my lord, pardon. I dare not,
40 Lest I be taken. Not th’ imperious show
41 Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
42 Be brooched with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have
43 Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe.
44 Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
45 And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
46 Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony—
47 Help me, my women—we must draw thee up.
48 Assist, good friends.
49 ANTONY.
50 O, quick, or I am gone.
51 CLEOPATRA.
52 Here’s sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
53 Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
54 That makes the weight. Had I great Juno’s power,
55 The strong-winged Mercury should fetch thee up
56 And set thee by Jove’s side. Yet come a little;
57 Wishers were ever fools. O come, come come,
58 [_They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra._]
59 And welcome, welcome! Die where thou hast lived;
60 Quicken with kissing. Had my lips that power,
61 Thus would I wear them out.
62 ALL.
63 A heavy sight!
64 ANTONY.
65 I am dying, Egypt, dying.
66 Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
67 CLEOPATRA.
68 No, let me speak, and let me rail so high
69 That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
70 Provoked by my offence.
71 ANTONY.
72 One word, sweet queen:
73 Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety. O!
74 CLEOPATRA.
75 They do not go together.
76 ANTONY.
77 Gentle, hear me.
78 None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
79 CLEOPATRA.
80 My resolution and my hands I’ll trust;
81 None about Caesar.
82 ANTONY.
83 The miserable change now at my end
84 Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts
85 In feeding them with those my former fortunes
86 Wherein I lived the greatest prince o’ th’ world,
87 The noblest; and do now not basely die,
88 Not cowardly put off my helmet to
89 My countryman; a Roman by a Roman
90 Valiantly vanquished. Now my spirit is going;
91 I can no more.
92 CLEOPATRA.
93 Noblest of men, woo’t die?
94 Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide
95 In this dull world, which in thy absence is
96 No better than a sty? O, see, my women,
97 [_ Antony dies._]
98 The crown o’ th’ earth doth melt.—My lord!
99 O, withered is the garland of the war,
100 The soldier’s pole is fallen; young boys and girls
101 Are level now with men. The odds is gone,
102 And there is nothing left remarkable
103 Beneath the visiting moon.
104 [_Faints._]
105 CHARMIAN.
106 O, quietness, lady!
107 IRAS.
108 She is dead too, our sovereign.
109 CHARMIAN.
110 Lady!
111 IRAS.
112 Madam!
113 CHARMIAN.
114 O madam, madam, madam!
115 IRAS.
116 Royal Egypt, Empress!
117 CHARMIAN.
118 Peace, peace, Iras!
119 CLEOPATRA.
120 No more but e’en a woman, and commanded
121 By such poor passion as the maid that milks
122 And does the meanest chares. It were for me
123 To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods,
124 To tell them that this world did equal theirs
125 Till they had stolen our jewel. All’s but naught;
126 Patience is sottish, and impatience does
127 Become a dog that’s mad. Then is it sin
128 To rush into the secret house of death
129 Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women?
130 What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian?
131 My noble girls! Ah, women, women! Look,
132 Our lamp is spent, it’s out! Good sirs, take heart.
133 We’ll bury him; and then, what’s brave, what’s noble,
134 Let’s do it after the high Roman fashion
135 And make death proud to take us. Come, away.
136 This case of that huge spirit now is cold.
137 Ah, women, women! Come, we have no friend
138 But resolution and the briefest end.
139 [_Exeunt, bearing off Antony’s body._]