Read Antony and Cleopatra Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
LEPIDUS
You’ve strange serpents there?
ANTONY
Ay, Lepidus.
LEPIDUS
Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by
the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile
26
.
ANTONY
They are so.
POMPEY
Sit, and some wine! A health to
They sit and drink
Lepidus!
LEPIDUS
I am not so well as I should be, but I’ll
ne’er out
31
.
ENOBARBUS
Not till you have slept.—I fear me you’ll be
Aside
in
33
till then.
LEPIDUS
Nay, certainly, I have heard
the Ptolemies
34
’
pyramises
are very goodly things: without contradiction, I have heard
that.
MENAS
Pompey, a word.
Aside to Pompey
POMPEY
Say in mine ear what is’t.
Aside to Menas
MENAS
Forsake
39
thy seat, I do beseech thee,
Aside to Pompey
captain,
And hear me speak a word.
POMPEY
Whispers in’s ear
Forbear me till anon
41
.—
This wine for Lepidus!
LEPIDUS
What manner o’thing is your crocodile?
ANTONY
It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as it hath
breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with it own
organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it, and
the elements
once out of it, it transmigrates
45
.
LEPIDUS
What colour is it of?
ANTONY
Of
it
48
own colour too.
LEPIDUS
’Tis a strange serpent.
ANTONY
’Tis so. And the
tears
50
of it are wet.
CAESAR
Will this description satisfy him?
Menas whispers again
ANTONY
With the health that Pompey gives him,
else
53
he is a very
epicure
.
Aside to Menas
POMPEY
Go hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that?
Away!
Do as I bid you.—Where’s this cup I called for?
MENAS
If for the sake of
merit
56
thou wilt
Aside to Pompey
hear me,
Rise from thy stool.
POMPEY
I think thou’rt mad.
The matter?
58
Aside to Menas
Pompey and Menas step aside and converse apart
MENAS
I have ever
held my cap off
59
to thy fortunes.
POMPEY
Thou hast served me with much
faith
60
. What’s
else to say?—
Be jolly, lords.
To the others
ANTONY
These
quicksands
62
, Lepidus,
Keep off them, for you sink.
MENAS
Wilt thou be lord of all the world?
POMPEY
What say’st thou?
MENAS
Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That’s twice.
POMPEY
How should that be?
MENAS
But
entertain
68
it,
And, though thou think me poor, I am the man
Will give thee all the world.
POMPEY
Hast thou drunk well?
MENAS
No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup.
Thou art, if thou dar’st be, the earthly Jove:
Whate’er the ocean
pales
74
or sky
inclips
Is thine, if thou wilt ha’t.
POMPEY
Show me which way.
MENAS
These three world-sharers, these
competitors
77
,
Are in thy vessel. Let me cut the
cable
78
,
And when we are
put off
79
, fall to their throats:
All there is thine.
POMPEY
Ah, this thou shouldst have done
And not have spoke
on’t
82
. In me ’tis villainy:
In thee’t had been good service. Thou must know,
’Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour:
Mine honour, it
84
. Repent that e’er thy tongue
Hath so
betrayed
86
thine act: being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done,
But must condemn it now.
Desist
88
, and drink.
Joins the others
MENAS
For this, I’ll never follow thy
palled
89
fortunes
Aside
more:
Who seeks and will not take when once ’tis offered,
Shall never find it
more
91
.
POMPEY
This health to Lepidus!
They drink
ANTONY
Bear him ashore. I’ll
pledge
93
it for him, Pompey.
ENOBARBUS
Here’s to thee, Menas!
MENAS
Enobarbus, welcome!
POMPEY
Fill till the cup be
hid
96
.
Points to an Attendant who is carrying off Lepidus
ENOBARBUS
There’s a strong fellow, Menas.
MENAS
Why?
ENOBARBUS
A
99
bears the third part of the world, man: see’st
not?
MENAS
The third part then he is drunk: would it were all,
That it might go
on wheels
101
!
ENOBARBUS
Drink thou: increase the
reels
102
.
MENAS
Come.
POMPEY
This is not yet an Alexandrian feast.
ANTONY
It ripens towards it.
Strike the vessels
105
, ho!
Here’s to Caesar!
CAESAR
I could well
forbear’t
107
.
It’s
monstrous
108
labour when I wash my brain
And it grow
fouler
109
.
ANTONY
Be a child o’th’time
110
.
CAESAR
‘Possess it’, I’ll make answer
111
.
But I had rather
fast from all
112
four days
Than drink so much in one.
ENOBARBUS
Ha, my
brave
114
emperor!
To Antony
Shall we dance now the Egyptian
Bacchanals
115
And
celebrate
116
our drink?
POMPEY
Let’s ha’t, good soldier.
ANTONY
Come, let’s all take hands
Till that the conquering wine hath steeped our sense
In soft and delicate
Lethe
120
.
ENOBARBUS
All take hands:
Make
battery to
122
our ears with the loud music,
The while
123
I’ll place you, then the boy shall sing.
The
holding
124
every man shall beat as loud
As his strong sides can
volley
125
.
Music plays. Enobarbus places them hand in hand
.
BOY
The Song
Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Sings
Plumpy
127
Bacchus
with
pink
eyne
!
In thy
fats
129
our cares be drowned,
With thy grapes our hairs be crowned.
Cup us
130
till the world go round,
Cup us till the world go round!
CAESAR
What would you more? Pompey, goodnight.
Good
brother
132
,
Let me request you
off
133
: our graver business
Frowns at this levity. Gentle lords, let’s part:
You see we have
burnt our cheeks
135
. Strong Enobarb
Is weaker than the wine, and mine own tongue
Splits what it speaks: the wild
disguise
137
hath almost
Anticked
138
us all. What needs more words? Goodnight.
Good Antony, your hand.
POMPEY
I’ll
try you
140
on the shore.
ANTONY
And shall, sir. Give’s your hand.
POMPEY
O, Antony,
You have my father’s house. But
what
143
, we are friends?
Come down into the boat.
ENOBARBUS
Take heed you fall not.—
[
Exeunt all but Enobarbus and Menas
]
Menas, I’ll not on shore.
MENAS
No, to my cabin.
These drums, these trumpets, flutes!
What!
147
Let
Neptune
148
hear we bid a loud farewell
To these great fellows. Sound and be hanged! Sound out!
Sound a flourish, with drums
ENOBARBUS
Ho, says
a
150
. There’s my cap.
Throws his cap in the air
MENAS
Ho! Noble captain, come.
Exeunt
Location: Syria
Enter Ventidius as it were in
triumph
, the dead body of Pacorus borne before him
, [
with Silius and other Roman officers and soldiers
]
VENTIDIUS
Now,
darting Parthia
1
, art thou struck, and now
Pleased fortune does of
Marcus Crassus
2
’ death
Make me revenger. Bear the king’s son’s body
Before our army: thy
Pacorus
4
, Orodes,
Pays this for Marcus Crassus.
SILIUS
Noble Ventidius,
Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm,
The fugitive Parthians follow
8
.
Spur
through
Media
,
Mesopotamia
9
, and the shelters whither
The routed fly. So thy grand captain Antony
Shall set thee on
triumphant
11
chariots and
Put garlands on thy head.
VENTIDIUS
O Silius, Silius,
I have done enough. A
lower place
14
, note well,
May
make too great an act
15
. For learn this, Silius:
Better to leave undone, than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame when him we serve’s away.
Caesar and Antony have ever
won
More in their officer than person
18
. Sossius,
One of
my place
20
in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,
Which he achieved
by th’minute
22
, lost his favour.
Who does i’th’wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain’s captain, and ambition —
The soldier’s virtue — rather
makes choice of
25
loss,
Than gain which
darkens
26
him.
I could do more to do Antonius good,
But ’twould offend him, and
in his offence
28
Should my
performance
29
perish.
SILIUS
Thou hast, Ventidius,
that
Without the which a soldier and his sword
Grants scarce distinction
30
. Thou wilt write to Antony?
VENTIDIUS
I’ll humbly signify what in his name,
That magical word of war, we have effected,
How with his banners and his well-paid ranks
The ne’er-yet-beaten
horse
36
of Parthia
We have
jaded
37
out o’th’field.
SILIUS
Where is he now?
VENTIDIUS
He
purposeth
39
to Athens, whither, with what haste
The
weight
40
we must convey
with’s
will permit,
We shall appear before him. On there, pass along!
Exeunt
Location: Rome
Enter Agrippa at one door, Enobarbus at another