ACT IV
SCENE XV The same. A monument.


 [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,
 Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great
 As that which makes it.

 [Enter, below, DIOMEDES]

    How now! is he dead?

DIOMEDES His death's upon him, but not dead.
 Look out o' the other side your monument;
 His guard have brought him thither.

 [Enter, below, MARK ANTONY, borne by the Guard]

CLEOPATRA O sun,
 Burn the great sphere thou movest in!
 darkling stand
 The varying shore o' the world. O Antony,
 Antony, Antony! Help, Charmian, help, Iras, help;
 Help, friends below; let's draw him hither.

MARK ANTONY Peace!
 Not Caesar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony,
 But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself.

CLEOPATRA So it should be, that none but Antony
 Should conquer Antony; but woe 'tis so!

MARK ANTONY I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
 I here importune death awhile, until
 Of many thousand kisses the poor last
 I lay up thy lips.

CLEOPATRA                   I dare not, dear,--
 Dear my lord, pardon,--I dare not,
 Lest I be taken: not the imperious show
 Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
 Be brooch'd 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,--
 Help me, my women,--we must draw thee up:
 Assist, good friends.

MARK 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,
 The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up,
 And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,--
 Wishes were ever fools,--O, come, come, come;

 [They heave MARK ANTONY aloft to CLEOPATRA]

 And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast lived:
 Quicken with kissing: had my lips that power,
 Thus would I wear them out.

All A heavy sight!

MARK 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,
 That the false housewife Fortune break her wheel,
 Provoked by my offence.

MARK ANTONY One word, sweet queen:
 Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety. O!

CLEOPATRA They do not go together.

MARK ANTONY Gentle, hear me:
 None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.

CLEOPATRA My resolution and my hands I'll trust;
 None about Caesar.

MARK 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' the world,
 The noblest; and do now not basely die,
 Not cowardly put off my helmet to
 My countryman,--a Roman by a Roman
 Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going;
 I can no more.

CLEOPATRA                   Noblest of men, woo't 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,

 [MARK ANTONY dies]

 The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord!
 O, wither'd 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
 Beneath the visiting moon.

 [Faints]

CHARMIAN O, quietness, lady!

IRAS She is dead too, our sovereign.

CHARMIAN Lady!

IRAS Madam!

CHARMIAN O madam, madam, madam!

IRAS Royal Egypt, Empress!

CHARMIAN Peace, peace, Iras!

CLEOPATRA No more, but e'en a woman, and commanded
 By such poor passion as the maid that milks
 And 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 scottish, 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 is spent, it's out! Good sirs, take heart:
 We'll bury him; and then, what's brave,
 what's noble,
 Let's do it 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.

 [Exeunt; those above bearing off MARK ANTONY's body]




 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA


ACT V