The arden shakespeare co.., p.59
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works, page 59
Ourselves to end ourselves.
Enter MARDIAN.
O thy vile lady!
She has robbed me of my sword.
MARDIAN No, Antony,
My mistress loved thee and her fortunes mingled
With thine entirely.
ANTONY Hence, saucy eunuch! Peace!
25
She hath betrayed me and shall die the death.
MARDIAN Death of one person can be paid but once,
And that she has discharged. What thou wouldst do
Is done unto thy hand. The last she spake
Was ‘Antony! Most noble Antony!’
30
Then, in the midst, a tearing groan did break
The name of Antony; it was divided
Between her heart and lips. She rendered life,
Thy name so buried in her.
ANTONY Dead, then?
MARDIAN Dead.
ANTONY Unarm, Eros. The long day’s task is done
35
And we must sleep.
[to Mardian] That thou depart’st hence safe
Does pay thy labour richly. Go. Exit Mardian.
Off! Pluck off! [Eros unarms him.]
The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep
The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!
40
Heart, once be stronger than thy continent;
Crack thy frail case! Apace, Eros, apace!
No more a soldier; bruised pieces go;
You have been nobly borne. From me awhile.
Exit Eros.
I will o’ertake thee, Cleopatra, and
45
Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
All length is torture; since the torch is out,
Lie down and stray no farther. Now all labour
Mars what it does – yea, very force entangles
Itself with strength. Seal then, and all is done.
50
Eros! – I come, my queen. – Eros! – Stay for me.
Where souls do couch on flowers we’ll hand in hand
And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze.
Dido and her Aeneas shall want troops,
And all the haunt be ours. Come Eros! Eros!
55
Enter EROS.
EROS What would my lord?
ANTONY Since Cleopatra died,
I have lived in such dishonour that the gods
Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword
Quartered the world and o’er green Neptune’s back
With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack
60
The courage of a woman; less noble mind
Than she which, by her death, our Caesar tells
‘I am conqueror of myself.’ Thou art sworn, Eros,
That when the exigent should come – which now
Is come indeed – when I should see behind me
65
Th’inevitable prosecution of
Disgrace and horror, that on my command
Thou then wouldst kill me. Do’t. The time is come.
Thou strik’st not me; ’tis Caesar thou defeat’st.
Put colour in thy cheek.
EROS The gods withhold me!
70
Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts,
Though enemy, lost aim and could not?
ANTONY Eros,
Wouldst thou be windowed in great Rome and see
Thy master thus with pleached arms, bending down
His corrigible neck, his face subdued
75
To penetrative shame, whilst the wheeled seat
Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued?
EROS I would not see’t.
ANTONY
Come, then! For with a wound I must be cured.
Draw that thy honest sword which thou hast worn
80
Most useful for thy country.
EROS O sir, pardon me!
ANTONY
When I did make thee free, swor’st thou not then
To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once,
Or thy precedent services are all
But accidents unpurposed. Draw, and come!
85
EROS Turn from me then that noble countenance
Wherein the worship of the whole world lies.
ANTONY [Turns from him.] Lo thee!
EROS My sword is drawn.
ANTONY Then let it do at once
The thing why thou hast drawn it.
EROS My dear master,
90
My captain and my emperor, let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.
ANTONY ’Tis said, man, and farewell.
EROS Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?
ANTONY Now, Eros.
EROS Why, there then! [Kills himself.]
Thus I do escape the sorrow
95
Of Antony’s death.
ANTONY Thrice nobler than myself!
Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what
I should and thou couldst not! My queen and Eros
Have by their brave instruction got upon me
A nobleness in record. But I will be
100
A bridegroom in my death and run into’t
As to a lover’s bed. Come then! And, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar. To do thus
[Falls on his sword.]
I learned of thee. How? Not dead? Not dead?
The guard, ho! O, dispatch me.
Enter a Company of the Guard, one of them DERCETUS.
1 GUARD What’s the noise?
105
ANTONY
I have done my work ill, friends. O make an end
Of what I have begun.
2 GUARD The star is fallen.
1 GUARD And time is at his period.
ALL THE GUARD Alas and woe!
ANTONY Let him that loves me strike me dead.
1 GUARD Not I!
2 GUARD Nor I!
110
3 GUARD Nor any one!
Exeunt all the Guard but Dercetus.
DERCETUS
Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.
This sword but shown to Caesar with this tidings
Shall enter me with him. [Takes up Antony’s sword.]
Enter DIOMEDES.
DIOMEDES Where’s Antony?
115
DERCETUS There, Diomed, there!
DIOMEDES Lives he? Wilt thou not answer, man?
Exit Dercetus with the sword of Antony.
ANTONY
Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword and give
me
Sufficing strokes for death.
DIOMEDES Most absolute lord,
My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.
120
ANTONY When did she send thee?
DIOMEDES Now, my lord.
ANTONY Where is she?
DIOMEDES
Locked in her monument. She had a prophesying
fear
Of what hath come to pass, for when she saw –
Which never shall be found – you did suspect
She had disposed with Caesar, and that your rage
125
Would not be purged, she sent you word she was
dead,
But fearing since how it might work, hath sent
Me to proclaim the truth, and I am come,
I dread, too late.
ANTONY
Too late, good Diomed. Call my guard, I prithee.
130
DIOMEDES
What ho! The Emperor’s guard! The guard, what ho!
Come, your lord calls!
Enter four or five of the Guard of Antony.
ANTONY
Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides.
’Tis the last service that I shall command you.
1 GUARD
Woe, woe are we, sir! You may not live to wear
135
All your true followers out.
ALL THE GUARD Most heavy day!
ANTONY
Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate
To grace it with your sorrows. Bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us, and we punish it,
Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up.
140
I have led you oft; carry me now, good friends,
And have my thanks for all.
Exeunt, bearing Antony and Eros.
4.15 Enter CLEOPATRA and her maids aloft, with CHARMIAN and IRAS.
CLEOPATRA O Charmian, I will never go from hence.
CHARMIAN Be comforted, dear madam.
CLEOPATRA 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
5
As that which makes it.
Enter 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.
Enter below ANTONY borne by the Guard.
CLEOPATRA O sun,
10
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 below! Let’s draw him hither.
ANTONY Peace!
Not Caesar’s valour hath o’erthrown Antony,
15
But Antony’s hath triumphed on itself.
CLEOPATRA So it should be that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony, but woe ’tis so.
ANTONY I am dying, Egypt, dying. Only
I here importune death awhile until
20
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I 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
25
Be 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 honour
Demuring upon me. But come, come Antony –
30
Help me, my women – we must draw thee up.
Assist, good friends! [They begin lifting.]
ANTONY O quick, or I am gone!
CLEOPATRA
Here’s sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno’s power,
35
The strong-winged Mercury should fetch thee up
And set thee by Jove’s side. Yet come a little;
Wishers were ever fools. O come, come, come,
[They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra.]
And welcome, welcome! Die when thou hast lived;
Quicken with kissing. Had my lips that power,
40
Thus would I wear them out. [Kisses him.]
ALL THE GUARD Ah, heavy sight!
ANTONY 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
45
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provoked by my offence –
ANTONY One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour with your safety. O!
CLEOPATRA They do not go together.
ANTONY Gentle, hear me.
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
50
CLEOPATRA My resolution and my hands I’ll trust;
None about Caesar.
ANTONY The miserable change now at my end,
Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
55
Wherein I lived the greatest prince o’th’ world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
Enter MARDIAN.
O thy vile lady!
She has robbed me of my sword.
MARDIAN No, Antony,
My mistress loved thee and her fortunes mingled
With thine entirely.
ANTONY Hence, saucy eunuch! Peace!
25
She hath betrayed me and shall die the death.
MARDIAN Death of one person can be paid but once,
And that she has discharged. What thou wouldst do
Is done unto thy hand. The last she spake
Was ‘Antony! Most noble Antony!’
30
Then, in the midst, a tearing groan did break
The name of Antony; it was divided
Between her heart and lips. She rendered life,
Thy name so buried in her.
ANTONY Dead, then?
MARDIAN Dead.
ANTONY Unarm, Eros. The long day’s task is done
35
And we must sleep.
[to Mardian] That thou depart’st hence safe
Does pay thy labour richly. Go. Exit Mardian.
Off! Pluck off! [Eros unarms him.]
The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep
The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!
40
Heart, once be stronger than thy continent;
Crack thy frail case! Apace, Eros, apace!
No more a soldier; bruised pieces go;
You have been nobly borne. From me awhile.
Exit Eros.
I will o’ertake thee, Cleopatra, and
45
Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
All length is torture; since the torch is out,
Lie down and stray no farther. Now all labour
Mars what it does – yea, very force entangles
Itself with strength. Seal then, and all is done.
50
Eros! – I come, my queen. – Eros! – Stay for me.
Where souls do couch on flowers we’ll hand in hand
And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze.
Dido and her Aeneas shall want troops,
And all the haunt be ours. Come Eros! Eros!
55
Enter EROS.
EROS What would my lord?
ANTONY Since Cleopatra died,
I have lived in such dishonour that the gods
Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword
Quartered the world and o’er green Neptune’s back
With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack
60
The courage of a woman; less noble mind
Than she which, by her death, our Caesar tells
‘I am conqueror of myself.’ Thou art sworn, Eros,
That when the exigent should come – which now
Is come indeed – when I should see behind me
65
Th’inevitable prosecution of
Disgrace and horror, that on my command
Thou then wouldst kill me. Do’t. The time is come.
Thou strik’st not me; ’tis Caesar thou defeat’st.
Put colour in thy cheek.
EROS The gods withhold me!
70
Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts,
Though enemy, lost aim and could not?
ANTONY Eros,
Wouldst thou be windowed in great Rome and see
Thy master thus with pleached arms, bending down
His corrigible neck, his face subdued
75
To penetrative shame, whilst the wheeled seat
Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued?
EROS I would not see’t.
ANTONY
Come, then! For with a wound I must be cured.
Draw that thy honest sword which thou hast worn
80
Most useful for thy country.
EROS O sir, pardon me!
ANTONY
When I did make thee free, swor’st thou not then
To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once,
Or thy precedent services are all
But accidents unpurposed. Draw, and come!
85
EROS Turn from me then that noble countenance
Wherein the worship of the whole world lies.
ANTONY [Turns from him.] Lo thee!
EROS My sword is drawn.
ANTONY Then let it do at once
The thing why thou hast drawn it.
EROS My dear master,
90
My captain and my emperor, let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.
ANTONY ’Tis said, man, and farewell.
EROS Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?
ANTONY Now, Eros.
EROS Why, there then! [Kills himself.]
Thus I do escape the sorrow
95
Of Antony’s death.
ANTONY Thrice nobler than myself!
Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what
I should and thou couldst not! My queen and Eros
Have by their brave instruction got upon me
A nobleness in record. But I will be
100
A bridegroom in my death and run into’t
As to a lover’s bed. Come then! And, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar. To do thus
[Falls on his sword.]
I learned of thee. How? Not dead? Not dead?
The guard, ho! O, dispatch me.
Enter a Company of the Guard, one of them DERCETUS.
1 GUARD What’s the noise?
105
ANTONY
I have done my work ill, friends. O make an end
Of what I have begun.
2 GUARD The star is fallen.
1 GUARD And time is at his period.
ALL THE GUARD Alas and woe!
ANTONY Let him that loves me strike me dead.
1 GUARD Not I!
2 GUARD Nor I!
110
3 GUARD Nor any one!
Exeunt all the Guard but Dercetus.
DERCETUS
Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.
This sword but shown to Caesar with this tidings
Shall enter me with him. [Takes up Antony’s sword.]
Enter DIOMEDES.
DIOMEDES Where’s Antony?
115
DERCETUS There, Diomed, there!
DIOMEDES Lives he? Wilt thou not answer, man?
Exit Dercetus with the sword of Antony.
ANTONY
Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword and give
me
Sufficing strokes for death.
DIOMEDES Most absolute lord,
My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.
120
ANTONY When did she send thee?
DIOMEDES Now, my lord.
ANTONY Where is she?
DIOMEDES
Locked in her monument. She had a prophesying
fear
Of what hath come to pass, for when she saw –
Which never shall be found – you did suspect
She had disposed with Caesar, and that your rage
125
Would not be purged, she sent you word she was
dead,
But fearing since how it might work, hath sent
Me to proclaim the truth, and I am come,
I dread, too late.
ANTONY
Too late, good Diomed. Call my guard, I prithee.
130
DIOMEDES
What ho! The Emperor’s guard! The guard, what ho!
Come, your lord calls!
Enter four or five of the Guard of Antony.
ANTONY
Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides.
’Tis the last service that I shall command you.
1 GUARD
Woe, woe are we, sir! You may not live to wear
135
All your true followers out.
ALL THE GUARD Most heavy day!
ANTONY
Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate
To grace it with your sorrows. Bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us, and we punish it,
Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up.
140
I have led you oft; carry me now, good friends,
And have my thanks for all.
Exeunt, bearing Antony and Eros.
4.15 Enter CLEOPATRA and her maids aloft, with CHARMIAN and IRAS.
CLEOPATRA O Charmian, I will never go from hence.
CHARMIAN Be comforted, dear madam.
CLEOPATRA 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
5
As that which makes it.
Enter 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.
Enter below ANTONY borne by the Guard.
CLEOPATRA O sun,
10
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 below! Let’s draw him hither.
ANTONY Peace!
Not Caesar’s valour hath o’erthrown Antony,
15
But Antony’s hath triumphed on itself.
CLEOPATRA So it should be that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony, but woe ’tis so.
ANTONY I am dying, Egypt, dying. Only
I here importune death awhile until
20
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I 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
25
Be 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 honour
Demuring upon me. But come, come Antony –
30
Help me, my women – we must draw thee up.
Assist, good friends! [They begin lifting.]
ANTONY O quick, or I am gone!
CLEOPATRA
Here’s sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno’s power,
35
The strong-winged Mercury should fetch thee up
And set thee by Jove’s side. Yet come a little;
Wishers were ever fools. O come, come, come,
[They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra.]
And welcome, welcome! Die when thou hast lived;
Quicken with kissing. Had my lips that power,
40
Thus would I wear them out. [Kisses him.]
ALL THE GUARD Ah, heavy sight!
ANTONY 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
45
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provoked by my offence –
ANTONY One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour with your safety. O!
CLEOPATRA They do not go together.
ANTONY Gentle, hear me.
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
50
CLEOPATRA My resolution and my hands I’ll trust;
None about Caesar.
ANTONY The miserable change now at my end,
Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
55
Wherein I lived the greatest prince o’th’ world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
