Read Antony and Cleopatra Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Enter Eros
EROS
What
would
63
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
67
With ships made cities
68
, condemn myself
to lack
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
72
should come, which now
Is come indeed, when I should see behind me
Th’inevitable
prosecution
74
of
Disgrace and horror, that on my command
Thou then wouldst kill me. Do’t: the time is come:
Thou strikest not me, ’tis Caesar thou defeat’st.
Put colour in thy cheek.
EROS
The gods
withhold
79
me!
Shall I do that which all the
Parthian darts
80
—
Though
enemy
81
— lost aim, and could not?
ANTONY
Eros,
Wouldst thou be
windowed
83
in great Rome and see
Thy master thus with
pleached
84
arms, bending down
His
corrigible
85
neck, his face subdued
To
penetrative
86
shame, whilst the
wheeled seat
Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him,
branded
His baseness that ensued
87
?
EROS
I would not see’t.
ANTONY
Come, then. For with a wound I must be cured.
Draw that thy
honest
91
sword which thou hast
worn
Most useful
for thy country.
EROS
O, sir,
pardon me
93
!
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
96
services are all
But accidents
unpurposed
97
. Draw, and come.
EROS
Turn from me then that noble countenance
Wherein the
worship
99
of the whole world lies.
ANTONY
Lo thee!
100
Turns away from him
EROS
My sword is drawn.
ANTONY
Then let it do at once
The thing why thou hast drawn it.
EROS
My dear master,
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: thus I do escape the sorrow
Of Antony’s death.
Kills himself
ANTONY
Thrice-nobler than myself!
Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what
I should and thou couldst not
114
. My queen and Eros
Have by their brave
instruction
115
got upon me
A
nobleness in record
116
. But I will be
A
bridegroom in my death and run into’t
As to a lover’s bed
117
. Come then,—and, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar: to do thus
I learned of thee.—How, not dead? Not dead?—
The guard, ho! O,
dispatch me
121
!
Falls on his sword
Enter a
[
Company of
]
Guard
One of them Dercetus
FIRST GUARD
What’s the noise?
ANTONY
I have done my work ill, friends: O, make an end
Of what I have begun!
SECOND GUARD
The star is fall’n.
FIRST GUARD
And time is at
his period
126
.
ALL
Alas, and woe!
ANTONY
Let him that loves me strike me dead.
FIRST GUARD
Not I.
SECOND GUARD
Nor I.
THIRD GUARD
Nor anyone.
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
134
.
Takes Antony’s sword
Enter Diomedes
DIOMEDES
Where’s Antony?
DERCETUS
There, Diomed there!
DIOMEDES
Lives he? Wilt thou not answer, man?
[
Exit Dercetus with Antony’s sword
]
ANTONY
Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy
sword, and give me
Sufficing strokes for death
139
.
DIOMEDES
Most
absolute
140
lord,
My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.
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
147
— you did suspect
She had
disposed
148
with Caesar, and that your rage
Would not be purged, she sent you word she was dead:
But, fearing since
how it might work
150
, 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.
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
156
:
’Tis the last service that I shall command you.
FIRST GUARD
Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not
live to wear
All your true followers out
158
.
ALL
Most
heavy
160
day!
ANTONY
Nay, good my fellows, do not please
sharp
161
fate
To
grace
162
it with your sorrows.
Bid that welcome
Which
comes to punish us, and we punish it,
Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up:
I have led you oft, carry me now, good friends,
And have my thanks for all.
Exeunt, bearing Antony
[
and Eros
]
Location: outside Cleopatra’s monument, Alexandria
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
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 Antony and the Guard
Below
CLEOPATRA
O sun,
Burn the great
sphere
12
thou mov’st in!
Darkling
stand
The varying shore o’th’world
13
! 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,
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
22
death awhile until
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
27
Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
Be
brooched
29
with me. If knife, drugs, serpents have
Edge, sting, or
operation
30
, I am safe:
Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
And
still conclusion
32
, shall acquire no honour
Demuring
33
upon me. But come, come, Antony.—
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
38
,
That makes the weight. Had I great
Juno
39
’s power,
The strong-winged
Mercury
40
should fetch thee up
And set thee by Jove’s side. Yet come a little:
Wishers were ever fools
42
. O, come, come, come.
They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra
And welcome, welcome!
Die when thou hast lived
43
,
Quicken
44
with kissing: had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.
Kisses him
ALL
A
heavy
46
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
49
That the
false housewife
50
Fortune break her
wheel
,
Provoked by my
offence
51
—
ANTONY
One word — sweet queen —
Of Caesar seek your honour with your safety. O!
CLEOPATRA
They do not go together
54
.
ANTONY
Gentle, hear me:
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius
56
.
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
Wherein 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
64
. A Roman
by a Roman
65
Valiantly vanquished. Now my spirit is going:
I can no more.
CLEOPATRA
Noblest of men,
woo’t
68
die?
Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a
sty
71
?—O, see, my women,
The crown o’th’earth doth melt.—My lord?—
Antony dies
O, withered is the
garland
73
of the war,
The soldier’s
pole
74
is fall’n: young boys and girls
Are level now with men: the
odds is gone
75
And there is nothing left
remarkable
76
Beneath the
visiting
77
moon.
She faints
CHARMIAN
O, quietness, lady!
IRAS
She’s dead too, our sovereign.
CHARMIAN
Lady!
IRAS
Madam!
CHARMIAN
O madam, madam, madam!
IRAS
Royal Egypt! Empress!
Cleopatra stirs
CHARMIAN
Peace, peace, Iras!
CLEOPATRA
No more, but
e’en
85
a woman, and commanded
By such poor
passion
86
as the maid that milks
And does the meanest
chares
87
. It were for me
To throw my
sceptre
88
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
issottish
91
, and impatience does
Become 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,
Our lamp
97
is spent, it’s out.—Good
sirs
, take heart,
We’ll bury him, and then, what’s
brave
98
, 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.
Ah, women, women! Come, we have no friend
But resolution and the
briefest end
103
.