Antony and Cleopatra (8 page)

ANTONY
    Sir,
        He fell upon me
ere admitted
⁹²
, then.
        Three kings I had
newly
⁹³
feasted, and
did want
        Of what I was
i’th’morning. But next day
        I
told him of myself
⁹⁵
, which was as much
        As to have asked him pardon. Let this fellow
        Be
nothing
⁹⁷
of our strife: if we
contend
,
        Out of our
question
⁹⁸
wipe him.

CAESAR
    You have broken
        The
article
¹⁰⁰
of your oath, which you shall never
        Have tongue to charge me with.

LEPIDUS
    
Soft
¹⁰²
, Caesar!

ANTONY
    No, Lepidus, let him speak.
        The honour is sacred which he talks on now,
        
Supposing
¹⁰⁵
that I lacked it. But, on, Caesar:
        The article of my oath—

CAESAR
    To lend me arms and aid when I
required
¹⁰⁷
them,
        The which you both denied.

ANTONY
    Neglected rather:
        And then when poisoned hours had bound me up
        From
mine own knowledge
¹¹¹
. As nearly as I may,
        I’ll play the penitent to you: but mine honesty
        
Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power
        Work without it
¹¹³
. Truth is that Fulvia,
        To have me out of Egypt, made wars here,
        For which myself, the
ignorant motive
¹¹⁶
, do
        So far ask pardon as befits mine honour
        To stoop in such a case.

LEPIDUS
    ’Tis noble spoken.

MAECENAS
    If it might please you to enforce no further
        The
griefs
¹²¹
between ye, to forget them
quite
        Were to remember that the present need
        Speaks to
atone
¹²³
you.

LEPIDUS
    Worthily spoken, Maecenas.

ENOBARBUS
    Or, if you borrow one another’s love for the
        
instant
¹²⁶
, you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey,
        return it again: you shall have time to wrangle in when you
        have nothing else to do.

ANTONY
    Thou art a soldier only. Speak no more.

ENOBARBUS
    That truth should be silent, I had almost forgot.

ANTONY
    You wrong this
presence
¹³¹
, therefore speak no more.

ENOBARBUS
    
Go to, then!
¹³²
You
considerate
stone.

CAESAR
    I do not much dislike the matter, but
        The manner of his speech: for’t cannot be
        We shall remain in friendship, our
conditions
¹³⁵
        So diff’ring in their acts. Yet if I knew
        What hoop should hold us
staunch
¹³⁷
, from edge to edge
        O’th’world I would pursue it.

AGRIPPA
    Give me leave, Caesar.

CAESAR
    Speak, Agrippa.

AGRIPPA
    Thou hast a
sister by the mother’s side
¹⁴¹
,
        Admired Octavia: great Mark Antony
        Is now a widower.

CAESAR
    Say not so, Agrippa:
        If Cleopatra heard you, your
reproof
        Were well deserved of rashness
¹⁴⁵
.

ANTONY
    I am not married, Caesar: let me hear
        Agrippa further speak.

AGRIPPA
    To hold you in perpetual
amity
¹⁴⁹
,
        To make you brothers and to knit your hearts
        With an unslipping knot, take Antony
        Octavia to his wife, whose beauty claims
        No worse a husband than the best of men,
        
Whose virtue and whose general graces speak
        That which none else can utter
¹⁵⁴
. By this marriage
        All little
jealousies
¹⁵⁶
which now seem great,
        And all great fears which now
import
¹⁵⁷
their dangers
        Would then be nothing.
Truths
¹⁵⁸
would be tales,
        Where now half-tales be truths. Her love to
both
¹⁵⁹
        Would each to other, and all loves to both
        Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke,
        For ’tis a studied, not a
present
¹⁶²
thought,
        By duty ruminated.

ANTONY
    Will Caesar speak?

CAESAR
    Not till he hears how Antony is
touched
        With
¹⁶⁵
what is spoke already.

ANTONY
    What
power
¹⁶⁷
is in Agrippa,
        If I
would
¹⁶⁸
say, ‘Agrippa, be it so’,
        To make this good?

CAESAR
    The power of Caesar, and
        His power
unto
¹⁷¹
Octavia.

ANTONY
    May I never,
        To this good purpose that
so fairly shows
¹⁷³
,
        Dream of
impediment
¹⁷⁴
! Let me have thy hand.
        Further this
act of grace
¹⁷⁵
, and from this hour
        The heart of brothers govern in our loves
        And sway our great designs!

They clasp hands

CAESAR
    There’s my hand:
        A sister I bequeath you, whom no brother
        Did ever love so dearly. Let her live
        To join our kingdoms and our hearts, and
never
        Fly off our loves again
¹⁸¹
!

LEPIDUS
    Happily, amen!

ANTONY
    I did not think to draw my sword gainst Pompey,
        
For he hath laid
strange
courtesies and great
        Of late upon me
¹⁸⁵
. I must thank him, only
        Lest my
remembrance
¹⁸⁷
suffer ill report:
        
At heel of that, defy him
¹⁸⁸
.

LEPIDUS
    Time calls upon’s.
        
Of
¹⁹⁰
us must Pompey
presently
be sought,
        Or else he seeks out us.

ANTONY
    Where lies he?

CAESAR
    About the
Mount Misena
¹⁹³
.

ANTONY
    What is his strength by land?

CAESAR
    Great and increasing, but by sea
        He is an absolute master.

ANTONY
    So is the
fame
¹⁹⁷
.
        
Would we had spoke together!
¹⁹⁸
Haste we for it.
        Yet,
ere
¹⁹⁹
we put ourselves in arms,
dispatch we
        The business we have talked of.

CAESAR
    With most gladness,
        And do invite you to
my sister’s view
²⁰²
,
        Whither straight I’ll lead you.

ANTONY
    Let us, Lepidus, not lack your company.

LEPIDUS
    Noble Antony,
        
Not
²⁰⁶
sickness should detain me.

Flourish. Exeunt all. Enobarbus, Agrippa, Maecenas remain

MAECENAS
    Welcome from Egypt, sir.

ENOBARBUS
    
Half the heart
²⁰⁸
of Caesar, worthy Maecenas! My
        honourable friend, Agrippa!

AGRIPPA
    Good Enobarbus!

MAECENAS
    We have cause to be glad that matters are so well
        
digested
²¹²
. You
stayed well by’t
in Egypt.

ENOBARBUS
    Ay, sir, we did sleep
day out of countenance
²¹³
and
        made the night
light
²¹⁴
with drinking.

MAECENAS
    Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and
        
but
²¹⁶
twelve persons there. Is this true?

ENOBARBUS
    This was but as a fly
by
²¹⁷
an eagle: we had much
        more
monstrous matter
²¹⁸
of feast, which worthily deserved
        noting.

MAECENAS
    She’s a most
triumphant
²²⁰
lady, if report be
square
to
        her.

ENOBARBUS
    When she first met Mark Antony, she
pursed
²²²
up
        his heart upon the
river of Cydnus
²²³
.

AGRIPPA
    There she appeared indeed, or my
reporter devised
        well for her
²²⁴
.

ENOBARBUS
    I will tell you
        The barge she sat in, like a
burnished
²²⁷
throne,
        
Burned
²²⁸
on the water: the
poop
was beaten gold,
        Purple the sails, and so perfumèd that
        The winds were lovesick with them: the oars were silver,
        Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
        The water which they beat to follow faster,
        As amorous of their
strokes
²³³
. For her own person,
        It beggared all description: she did lie
        In her pavilion,
cloth-of-gold of tissue
²³⁵
,
        
O’er-picturing that Venus where we see
        The fancy out-work nature
²³⁶
: on each side
her
²³⁷
        Stood pretty dimpled boys,
like
²³⁸
smiling
Cupid
s,
        With
divers-coloured
²³⁹
fans whose wind did seem
        To
glow
²⁴⁰
the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
        And what they undid did.

AGRIPPA
    O,
rare
²⁴²
for Antony!

ENOBARBUS
    Her
gentlewomen, like the Nereides
²⁴³
,
        So many mermaids,
tended her i’th’eyes
²⁴⁴
,
        And
made their bends adornings
²⁴⁵
. At the helm
        A seeming mermaid steers: the silken
tackle
²⁴⁶
        
Swell
²⁴⁷
with the touches of those flower-soft hands
        That
yarely frame the office
²⁴⁸
. From the barge
        A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
        Of the adjacent
wharfs
²⁵⁰
. The city cast
        Her people out upon her, and Antony,
        Enthroned i’th’market-place, did sit alone,
        Whistling to th’air, which,
but for vacancy
²⁵³
,
        
Had
²⁵⁴
gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
        And made a gap in nature.

AGRIPPA
    Rare
Egyptian
²⁵⁶
!

ENOBARBUS
    Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
        Invited her to supper: she replied
        It should be better he became her guest,
        Which she entreated. Our courteous Antony,
        Whom ne’er the word of ‘No’ woman heard speak,
        
Being barbered
²⁶²
ten times o’er, goes to the feast,
        And for his
ordinary
²⁶³
, pays his heart
        For
what his eyes eat only
²⁶⁴
.

AGRIPPA
    Royal
wench
²⁶⁵
!
        She made great
Caesar
²⁶⁶
lay his sword to bed
.
        He ploughed her, and she
cropped
²⁶⁷
.

ENOBARBUS
    I saw her once
        Hop forty paces through the public street
        And, having lost her breath, she spoke and panted,
        
That
²⁷¹
she did make defect perfection,
        And, breathless, pour breath forth.

MAECENAS
    Now Antony must leave her utterly.

ENOBARBUS
    Never! He will not.
        Age cannot wither her, nor custom
stale
²⁷⁵
        Her infinite variety: other women cloy
        The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
        Where most she satisfies. For
vilest things
        Become themselves
²⁷⁸
in her, that the holy priests
        Bless her when she is
riggish
²⁸⁰
.

MAECENAS
    If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle
        The heart of Antony, Octavia is
        A blessèd
lottery
²⁸³
to him.

AGRIPPA
    Let us go.
        Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest
        Whilst you abide here.

ENOBARBUS
    Humbly, sir, I thank you.
Exeunt

Enter Antony, Caesar, Octavia between them

ANTONY
    The world and my great
office
¹
will sometimes
        Divide me from your bosom.

OCTAVIA
    All which time
        Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers
        To them for you.

ANTONY
    Goodnight, sir. My Octavia,
        
Read not my blemishes in the world’s report
⁷
:
        I have not kept
my square
⁸
, but that to come
        Shall all be done
by
th’rule
⁹
. Goodnight, dear lady.