Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Randall Martin
Not Peer Reviewed

Anthony and Cleopatra (Modern)

[3.2]
Enter Agrippa at one door, Enobarbus at another.
Agrippa
What, are the brothers parted?
1540Enobarbus
They have dispatched with Pompey: he is gone,
The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps
To part from Rome; Caesar is sad, and Lepidus
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the green-sickness.
1545Agrippa
'Tis a noble Lepidus.
Enobarbus
A very fine one. Oh, how he loves Caesar!
Agrippa
Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!
Enobarbus
Caesar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men.
Agrippa
What's Antony--the God of Jupiter?
1550Enobarbus
Spake you of Caesar? How, the nonpareil?
Agrippa
Oh Antony, oh thou Arabian bird!
Enobarbus
Would you praise Caesar? Say "Caesar," go no further.
Agrippa
Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.
Enobarbus
But he loves Caesar best; yet he loves Antony.
1555Hoo! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets cannot
Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number--hoo!--
His love to Antony; but as for Caesar,
Kneel down, kneel down and wonder.
1560Agrippa
Both he loves.
Enobarbus
They are his shards and he their beetle.
[Trumpet within]
So,
This is to horse. Adieu, noble Agrippa.
Agrippa
Good fortune, worthy soldier, and farewell.
Enter Caesar, Antony, Lepidus, and Octavia.
1565Antony
No further, sir.
Caesar
You take from me a great part of myself;
Use me well in't. Sister, prove such a wife
As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest bond
Shall pass on thy approof. Most noble Antony,
1570Let not the piece of virtue which is set
Betwixt us as the cement of our love
To keep it builded, be the ram to batter
The fortress of it; for better might we
Have loved without this mean, if on both parts
1575This be not cherished.
Antony
Make me not offended
In your distrust.
Caesar
I have said.
Antony
You shall not find,
Though you be therein curious, the least cause
1580For what you seem to fear. So the gods keep you,
And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends.
We will here part.
Caesar
Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well.
The elements be kind to thee, and make
1585Thy spirits all of comfort. Fare thee well.
Octavia
[Weeping] My noble brother!
Antony
The April's in her eyes; it is love's spring,
And these the showers to bring it on. Be cheerful.
Octavia
Sir, look well to my husband's house, and--
1590Caesar
What, Octavia?
Octavia
I'll tell you in your ear.
[She whispers to Caesar.]
Antony
Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can
Her heart inform her tongue--the swan's-down feather
1595That stands upon the swell at the full of tide,
And neither way inclines.
Enobarbus
[Aside to Agrippa] Will Caesar weep?
Agrippa
[Aside to Enobarbus] He has a cloud in's face.
Enobarbus
[Aside to Agrippa] He were the worse for that were he a horse,
1600So is he being a man.
Agrippa
[Aside to Enobarbus] Why, Enobarbus,
When Antony found Julius Caesar dead,
He cried almost to roaring; and he wept
When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.
1605Enobarbus
[Aside to Agrippa] That year, indeed, he was troubled with a rheum;
What willingly he did confound, he wailed,
Believe't, till I weep too.
Caesar
No, sweet Octavia,
You shall hear from me still; the time shall not
1610Out-go my thinking on you.
Antony
Come, sir, come,
I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love.
Look, here I have you [embracing Caesar]; thus I let you go,
And give you to the gods.
1615Caesar
Adieu, be happy.
Lepidus
Let all the number of the stars give light
To thy fair way.
Caesar
Farewell, farewell.
[He] kisses Octavia.
Antony
Farewell.
Trumpets sound.
Exeunt [Antony, Octavia and Enobarbus at one door, Caesar, Lepidus and Agrippa at another door].