Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Randall Martin
Not Peer Reviewed

Anthony and Cleopatra (Modern)

[4.16]
Enter Cleopatra and her Maids aloft, with Charmian and Iras.
Cleopatra
Oh Charmian, I will never go from hence.
Charmian
Be comforted, dear madam.
3000Cleopatra
No, I will not.
All strange and terrible events are welcome,
But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow,
Proportioned to our cause, must be as great
As that which makes it.
3005Enter Diomedes [below].
How now? Is he dead?
Diomedes
His death's upon him, but not dead.
Look out o'th'other side your monument:
His guard have brought him thither.
3010Enter below the Guard bearing Antony.
Cleopatra
O sun,
Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in! Darkling stand
The varying shore o'th'world! O Antony,
Antony, Antony! Help, Charmian,
Help, Iras, help! Help, friends 3015below!
Let's draw him hither.
Antony
Peace.
Not Caesar's valor hath o'erthrown Antony,
But Antony's hath triumphed on itself.
Cleopatra
So it should be, 3020that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony, but woe 'tis so.
I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
I here importune death awhile, until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
3025I lay upon thy lips.
Cleopatra
I dare not, dear--
Dear my lord, pardon--I dare not
Lest I be taken. Not th'imperious show
Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
3030Be brooched with me, if knife, drugs, serpents have
Edge, sting, or operation. I am safe:
Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honor
Demuring upon me. But come, come Antony--
3035Help me my women--we must draw thee up.
Assist, good friends.
[They begin lifting Antony.]
Antony
Oh quick, or I am gone.
Cleopatra
Here's sport indeed--how heavy weighs my lord!
3040Our strength is all gone into heaviness,
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power,
The strong-winged Mercury should fetch thee up
And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little--
Wishers were ever fools--oh come, come, come,
3045They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra.
And welcome, welcome. Die when thou hast lived!
Quicken with kissing! Had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out. [She kisses him].
All the Guards
A heavy sight.
I am dying, Egypt, dying.
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
Cleopatra
No, let me speak, and let me rail so high,
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provoked by my offence.
3055Antony
One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honor with your safety.--Oh!
Cleopatra
They do not go together.
Antony
Gentle, hear me,
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
3060Cleopatra
My resolution and my hands I'll trust,
None about Caesar.
The miserable change now at my end
Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
3065Wherein I lived the greatest prince o'th'world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
My countryman--a Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquished. Now my spirit is going,
3070I can no more.
Cleopatra
Noblest of men, woot die?
Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a sty? O see my women:
3075The crown o'th'earth doth melt.
[Antony dies.]
My lord!
Oh, withered is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n; young boys and girls
Are level now with men. The odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
3080Beneath the visiting moon.
Charmian
O quietness, lady!
[Cleopatra faints.]
She's dead too, our sovereign.
Charmian
Lady!
Iras
Madam!
3085Charmian
Oh madam, madam, madam!
Iras
Royal Egypt! Empress!
[Cleopatra stirs.]
Charmian
Peace, peace, Iras.
Cleopatra
No more but e'en a woman, and commanded
By such poor passion as the maid that milks
3090And does the meanest chares. It were for me
To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods,
To tell them that this world did equal theirs
Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's but naught;
Patience is sottish, and impatience does
3095Become a dog that's mad; then is it sin
To rush into the secret house of death
Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women?
What, what, good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian?
My noble girls? Ah women, women! Look,
3100Our lamp is spent, it's out. Good sirs, take heart,
We'll bury him; and then, what's brave, what's noble.
Let's do't after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us. Come, away.
This case of that huge spirit now is cold.
3105Ah women, women! Come, we have no friend
But resolution, and the briefest end.
Exeunt; [those above] bearing off Antony's body.