ACT V
SCENE II Alexandria. A room in the monument.


 [Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS]

CLEOPATRA My desolation does begin to make
 A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar;
 Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
 A minister of her will: and it is great
 To do that thing that ends all other deeds;
 Which shackles accidents and bolts up change;
 Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug,
 The beggar's nurse and Caesar's.

 [Enter, to the gates of the monument, PROCULEIUS,
 GALLUS and Soldiers]

PROCULEIUS Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt;
 And bids thee study on what fair demands
 Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

CLEOPATRA What's thy name?

PROCULEIUS My name is Proculeius.

CLEOPATRA Antony
 Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but
 I do not greatly care to be deceived,
 That have no use for trusting. If your master
 Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him,
 That majesty, to keep decorum, must
 No less beg than a kingdom: if he please
 To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son,
 He gives me so much of mine own, as I
 Will kneel to him with thanks.

PROCULEIUS Be of good cheer;
 You're fall'n into a princely hand, fear nothing:
 Make your full reference freely to my lord,
 Who is so full of grace, that it flows over
 On all that need: let me report to him
 Your sweet dependency; and you shall find
 A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness,
 Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

CLEOPATRA Pray you, tell him
 I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
 The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
 A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly
 Look him i' the face.

PROCULEIUS This I'll report, dear lady.
 Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
 Of him that caused it.

GALLUS You see how easily she may be surprised:

 [Here PROCULEIUS and two of the Guard ascend the
 monument by a ladder placed against a window, and,
 having descended, come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of
 the Guard unbar and open the gates]

 [To PROCULEIUS and the Guard]

 Guard her till Caesar come.

 [Exit]

IRAS Royal queen!

CHARMIAN O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen:

CLEOPATRA Quick, quick, good hands.

 [Drawing a dagger]

PROCULEIUS Hold, worthy lady, hold:

 [Seizes and disarms her]

 Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this
 Relieved, but not betray'd.

CLEOPATRA What, of death too,
 That rids our dogs of languish?

PROCULEIUS Cleopatra,
 Do not abuse my master's bounty by
 The undoing of yourself: let the world see
 His nobleness well acted, which your death
 Will never let come forth.

CLEOPATRA Where art thou, death?
 Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen
 Worthy many babes and beggars!

PROCULEIUS O, temperance, lady!

CLEOPATRA Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir;
 If idle talk will once be necessary,
 I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin,
 Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I
 Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;
 Nor once be chastised with the sober eye
 Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up
 And show me to the shouting varletry
 Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
 Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
 Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
 Blow me into abhorring! rather make
 My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
 And hang me up in chains!

PROCULEIUS You do extend
 These thoughts of horror further than you shall
 Find cause in Caesar.

 [Enter DOLABELLA]

DOLABELLA Proculeius,
 What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,
 And he hath sent for thee: for the queen,
 I'll take her to my guard.

PROCULEIUS So, Dolabella,
 It shall content me best: be gentle to her.

 [To CLEOPATRA]

 To Caesar I will speak what you shall please,
 If you'll employ me to him.

CLEOPATRA Say, I would die.

 [Exeunt PROCULEIUS and Soldiers]

DOLABELLA Most noble empress, you have heard of me?

CLEOPATRA I cannot tell.

DOLABELLA                   Assuredly you know me.

CLEOPATRA No matter, sir, what I have heard or known.
 You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams;
 Is't not your trick?

DOLABELLA I understand not, madam.

CLEOPATRA I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony:
 O, such another sleep, that I might see
 But such another man!

DOLABELLA If it might please ye,--

CLEOPATRA His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck
 A sun and moon, which kept their course,
 and lighted
 The little O, the earth.

DOLABELLA Most sovereign creature,--

CLEOPATRA His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm
 Crested the world: his voice was propertied
 As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
 But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
 He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
 There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas
 That grew the more by reaping: his delights
 Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above
 The element they lived in: in his livery
 Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
 As plates dropp'd from his pocket.

DOLABELLA Cleopatra!

CLEOPATRA Think you there was, or might be, such a man
 As this I dream'd of?

DOLABELLA Gentle madam, no.

CLEOPATRA You lie, up to the hearing of the gods.
 But, if there be, or ever were, one such,
 It's past the size of dreaming: nature wants stuff
 To vie strange forms with fancy; yet, to imagine
 And Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
 Condemning shadows quite.

DOLABELLA Hear me, good madam.
 Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it
 As answering to the weight: would I might never
 O'ertake pursued success, but I do feel,
 By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
 My very heart at root.

CLEOPATRA I thank you, sir,
 Know you what Caesar means to do with me?

DOLABELLA I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.

CLEOPATRA Nay, pray you, sir,--

DOLABELLA Though he be honourable,--

CLEOPATRA He'll lead me, then, in triumph?

DOLABELLA Madam, he will; I know't.

 [Flourish, and shout within, 'Make way there:
 Octavius Caesar!']

 [Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS,
 MECAENAS, SELEUCUS, and others of his Train]

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Which is the Queen of Egypt?

DOLABELLA It is the emperor, madam.

 [CLEOPATRA kneels]

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Arise, you shall not kneel:
 I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.

CLEOPATRA Sir, the gods
 Will have it thus; my master and my lord
 I must obey.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR                   Take to you no hard thoughts:
 The record of what injuries you did us,
 Though written in our flesh, we shall remember
 As things but done by chance.

CLEOPATRA Sole sir o' the world,
 I cannot project mine own cause so well
 To make it clear; but do confess I have
 Been laden with like frailties which before
 Have often shamed our sex.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Cleopatra, know,
 We will extenuate rather than enforce:
 If you apply yourself to our intents,
 Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find
 A benefit in this change; but if you seek
 To lay on me a cruelty, by taking
 Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself
 Of my good purposes, and put your children
 To that destruction which I'll guard them from,
 If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

CLEOPATRA And may, through all the world: 'tis yours; and we,
 Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall
 Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.

CLEOPATRA This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,
 I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;
 Not petty things admitted. Where's Seleucus?

SELEUCUS Here, madam.

CLEOPATRA This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,
 Upon his peril, that I have reserved
 To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.

SELEUCUS Madam,
 I had rather seal my lips, than, to my peril,
 Speak that which is not.

CLEOPATRA What have I kept back?

SELEUCUS Enough to purchase what you have made known.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve
 Your wisdom in the deed.

CLEOPATRA See, Caesar! O, behold,
 How pomp is follow'd! mine will now be yours;
 And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine.
 The ingratitude of this Seleucus does
 Even make me wild: O slave, of no more trust
 Than love that's hired! What, goest thou back? thou shalt
 Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes,
 Though they had wings: slave, soulless villain, dog!
 O rarely base!

OCTAVIUS CAESAR                   Good queen, let us entreat you.

CLEOPATRA O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,
 That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me,
 Doing the honour of thy lordliness
 To one so meek, that mine own servant should
 Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
 Addition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,
 That I some lady trifles have reserved,
 Immoment toys, things of such dignity
 As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
 Some nobler token I have kept apart
 For Livia and Octavia, to induce
 Their mediation; must I be unfolded
 With one that I have bred? The gods! it smites me
 Beneath the fall I have.

 [To SELEUCUS]

     Prithee, go hence;
 Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits
 Through the ashes of my chance: wert thou a man,
 Thou wouldst have mercy on me.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Forbear, Seleucus.

 [Exit SELEUCUS]

CLEOPATRA Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought
 For things that others do; and, when we fall,
 We answer others' merits in our name,
 Are therefore to be pitied.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Cleopatra,
 Not what you have reserved, nor what acknowledged,
 Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be't yours,
 Bestow it at your pleasure; and believe,
 Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you
 Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheer'd;
 Make not your thoughts your prisons: no, dear queen;
 For we intend so to dispose you as
 Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed, and sleep:
 Our care and pity is so much upon you,
 That we remain your friend; and so, adieu.

CLEOPATRA My master, and my lord!

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Not so. Adieu.

 [Flourish. Exeunt OCTAVIUS CAESAR and his train]

CLEOPATRA He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not
 Be noble to myself: but, hark thee, Charmian.

 [Whispers CHARMIAN]

IRAS Finish, good lady; the bright day is done,
 And we are for the dark.

CLEOPATRA Hie thee again:
 I have spoke already, and it is provided;
 Go put it to the haste.

CHARMIAN Madam, I will.

 [Re-enter DOLABELLA]

DOLABELLA Where is the queen?

CHARMIAN Behold, sir.

 [Exit]

CLEOPATRA Dolabella!

DOLABELLA Madam, as thereto sworn by your command,
 Which my love makes religion to obey,
 I tell you this: Caesar through Syria
 Intends his journey; and within three days
 You with your children will he send before:
 Make your best use of this: I have perform'd
 Your pleasure and my promise.

CLEOPATRA Dolabella,
 I shall remain your debtor.

DOLABELLA I your servant,
 Adieu, good queen; I must attend on Caesar.

CLEOPATRA Farewell, and thanks.

 [Exit DOLABELLA]

  Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
 Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shown
 In Rome, as well as I mechanic slaves
 With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall
 Uplift us to the view; in their thick breaths,
 Rank of gross diet, shall be enclouded,
 And forced to drink their vapour.

IRAS The gods forbid!

CLEOPATRA Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras: saucy lictors
 Will catch at us, like strumpets; and scald rhymers
 Ballad us out o' tune: the quick comedians
 Extemporally will stage us, and present
 Our Alexandrian revels; Antony
 Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
 Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
 I' the posture of a whore.

IRAS O the good gods!

CLEOPATRA Nay, that's certain.

IRAS I'll never see 't; for, I am sure, my nails
 Are stronger than mine eyes.

CLEOPATRA Why, that's the way
 To fool their preparation, and to conquer
 Their most absurd intents.

 [Re-enter CHARMIAN]

       Now, Charmian!
 Show me, my women, like a queen: go fetch
 My best attires: I am again for Cydnus,
 To meet Mark Antony: sirrah Iras, go.
 Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed;
 And, when thou hast done this chare, I'll give thee leave
 To play till doomsday. Bring our crown and all.
 Wherefore's this noise?

 [Exit IRAS. A noise within]

 [Enter a Guardsman]

Guard Here is a rural fellow
 That will not be denied your highness presence:
 He brings you figs.

CLEOPATRA Let him come in.

 [Exit Guardsman]

 What poor an instrument
 May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty.
 My resolution's placed, and I have nothing
 Of woman in me: now from head to foot
 I am marble-constant; now the fleeting moon
 No planet is of mine.

 [Re-enter Guardsman, with Clown bringing in a basket]

Guard This is the man.

CLEOPATRA Avoid, and leave him.

 [Exit Guardsman]

 Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there,
 That kills and pains not?

Clown Truly, I have him: but I would not be the party
 that should desire you to touch him, for his biting
 is immortal; those that do die of it do seldom or
 never recover.

CLEOPATRA Rememberest thou any that have died on't?

Clown Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of
 them no longer than yesterday: a very honest woman,
 but something given to lie; as a woman should not
 do, but in the way of honesty: how she died of the
 biting of it, what pain she felt: truly, she makes
 a very good report o' the worm; but he that will
 believe all that they say, shall never be saved by
 half that they do: but this is most fallible, the
 worm's an odd worm.

CLEOPATRA Get thee hence; farewell.

Clown I wish you all joy of the worm.

 [Setting down his basket]

CLEOPATRA Farewell.

Clown You must think this, look you, that the worm will
 do his kind.

CLEOPATRA Ay, ay; farewell.

Clown Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the
 keeping of wise people; for, indeed, there is no
 goodness in worm.


CLEOPATRA Take thou no care; it shall be heeded.

Clown Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for it is
 not worth the feeding.

CLEOPATRA Will it eat me?

Clown You must not think I am so simple but I know the
 devil himself will not eat a woman: I know that a
 woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her
 not. But, truly, these same whoreson devils do the
 gods great harm in their women; for in every ten
 that they make, the devils mar five.

CLEOPATRA Well, get thee gone; farewell.

Clown Yes, forsooth: I wish you joy o' the worm.

 [Exit]

 [Re-enter IRAS with a robe, crown, &c]

CLEOPATRA Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
 Immortal longings in me: now no more
 The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:
 Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hear
 Antony call; I see him rouse himself
 To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
 The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men
 To excuse their after wrath: husband, I come:
 Now to that name my courage prove my title!
 I am fire and air; my other elements
 I give to baser life. So; have you done?
 Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
 Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell.

 [Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies]

 Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?
 If thou and nature can so gently part,
 The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,
 Which hurts, and is desired. Dost thou lie still?
 If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
 It is not worth leave-taking.

CHARMIAN Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may say,
 The gods themselves do weep!

CLEOPATRA This proves me base:
 If she first meet the curled Antony,
 He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss
 Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou
 mortal wretch,

 [To an asp, which she applies to her breast]

 With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
 Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
 Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
 That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
 Unpolicied!

CHARMIAN           O eastern star!

CLEOPATRA Peace, peace!
 Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
 That sucks the nurse asleep?

CHARMIAN O, break! O, break!

CLEOPATRA As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,--
 O Antony!--Nay, I will take thee too.

 [Applying another asp to her arm]

 What should I stay--

 [Dies]

CHARMIAN In this vile world? So, fare thee well.
 Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
 A lass unparallel'd. Downy windows, close;
 And golden Phoebus never be beheld
 Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry;
 I'll mend it, and then play.

 [Enter the Guard, rushing in]

First Guard Where is the queen?

CHARMIAN Speak softly, wake her not.

First Guard Caesar hath sent--

CHARMIAN                   Too slow a messenger.

 [Applies an asp]

 O, come apace, dispatch! I partly feel thee.

First Guard Approach, ho! All's not well: Caesar's beguiled.

Second Guard There's Dolabella sent from Caesar; call him.

First Guard What work is here! Charmian, is this well done?

CHARMIAN It is well done, and fitting for a princess
 Descended of so many royal kings.
 Ah, soldier!

 [Dies]

 [Re-enter DOLABELLA]

DOLABELLA How goes it here?

Second Guard                   All dead.

DOLABELLA Caesar, thy thoughts
 Touch their effects in this: thyself art coming
 To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou
 So sought'st to hinder.

 [Within  'A way there, a way for Caesar!']

 [Re-enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR and all his train marching]

DOLABELLA O sir, you are too sure an augurer;
 That you did fear is done.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Bravest at the last,
 She levell'd at our purposes, and, being royal,
 Took her own way. The manner of their deaths?
 I do not see them bleed.

DOLABELLA Who was last with them?

First Guard A simple countryman, that brought her figs:
 This was his basket.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Poison'd, then.

First Guard O Caesar,
 This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake:
 I found her trimming up the diadem
 On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood
 And on the sudden dropp'd.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR O noble weakness!
 If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear
 By external swelling: but she looks like sleep,
 As she would catch another Antony
 In her strong toil of grace.

DOLABELLA Here, on her breast,
 There is a vent of blood and something blown:
 The like is on her arm.

First Guard This is an aspic's trail: and these fig-leaves
 Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves
 Upon the caves of Nile.

OCTAVIUS CAESAR Most probable
 That so she died; for her physician tells me
 She hath pursued conclusions infinite
 Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed;
 And bear her women from the monument:
 She shall be buried by her Antony:
 No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
 A pair so famous. High events as these
 Strike those that make them; and their story is
 No less in pity than his glory which
 Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
 In solemn show attend this funeral;
 And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see
 High order in this great solemnity.

 [Exeunt]