And bids thee study on what fair demands Thou mean'st to have him grant thee. CLEO. What's thy name? Antony PRO. My name is Proculeius. Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd, That have no use for trusting. If your master PRO. CLEO. Pray you, tell him I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him PRO. GAL." You see how easily she may be surpris'd; [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. Guard her till Cæsar come. [TO PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit. IRAS. Royal queen! EHAR. O, Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen!— CLEO. Quick, quick, good hands. If idle talk will once be accessary, I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin, Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt PRO. You do extend These thoughts of horror further than you shall Find cause in Cæsar. Assuredly, you know me. CLEO. No matter, sir, what I have heard or known. You laugh, when boys or women tell their dreams; DOL. tony; O, such another sleep, that I might see DOL. reading of the old copies. The sense is plainly,-"I'll neither eat nor drink, and, if idle talk will, for the nonce, be assistant, I'll not sleep." "as for." cfor the queen,-] The second folio reads, Gentle madam, no. CLEO. 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 An Antony, were Nature's piece 'gainst fancy, Condemning shadows quite.d DOL. 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 pursu'd success, but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites + My very heart at root. CLEO. I thank you, sir. Know you what Cæsar means to do with me? DOL. I am loth to tell you what I would you knew. 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 CLEO. And may, through all the world: 't is yours; and we, Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. CES. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. CLEO. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels, I am possess'd of: 't is exactly valu’d; CLEO. This is my treasurer; let him speak, my lord, Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus. I had rather seal my lips, than, to my peril, CLEO. CAS. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra ; I approve CLEO. See, Cæsar! O, behold, How is follow'd mine will now be yours; pomp And should we shift estates yours would be mine. mastered the sense of this, or indeed that the text exhibits precisely what Shakespeare wrote, but the meaning apparently is. "Nature lacks material to compete with fancy in unwonted shapes, yet the conception of an Antony was a masterpiece of Nature over fancy, abasing phantoms quite." e-seal my lips,-] The old reading is, "seele my lippes," but here there is no allusion to the practice of seeling a hawk's eyes, as some editors suppose; to seal one's lips was a familiar expression ages before Shakespeare lived. That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me, To one so meek,-that mine own servant should Parcel the sum of my disgraces by Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar, As we greet moderna friends withal; and say, With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites ledg'd, Put we i' the roll of conquest: (1) still be 't yours, 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: Adieu. Not so. [Flourish. Exeunt CESAR and his Train. CLEO. He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not Be noble to myself: but hark thee, Charmian. And we are for the dark. Hie thee again I have spoke already, and it is provided; Madam, I will. Which my love makes religion to obey, I tell you this: Cæsar through Syria I shall remain your debtor. DOL. Dolabella, I your servant. Adieu, good queen; I must attend on Cæsar. CLEO. Farewell, and thanks. [Exit DOL IRAS. lictors Will catch at us, like strumpets; and scald rh mers Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see IRAS. O, the good gods ! CLEO. Nay, that's certain. IRAS. I'll never see 't; for, I am sure, my nails Are stronger than mine eyes. CLEO. Why, that's the way To fool their preparation, and to conquer Their most absurd d intents. the quick comedians-] The lively, quick-witted comedians. dabsurd intents.-] Theobald has, "6 assur'd intents." Ot woman in me: now from head to foot I am marble-constant; now the fleeting moon No planet is of mine. Re-enter Guard, with Clown, bringing in a basket. GUARD. This is the man. CLEO. Avoid, and leave him. [Exit Guard. 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. CLEO. Remember'st 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. Immortal longings in me. Now no more CHAR. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say, The gods themselves do weep! CLEO. This proves me base: If she first meet the curled Antony, He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss a [IRAS falls and dies.] "Iras must be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while her mistress was settling her dress, or I know not why she should fall so soon."-STEEVENS, All dead. Cæsar, thy thoughts Touch their effects in this: thyself art coming To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou So sought'st to hinder. Without. there! a way A way (*) Old text, wilde. (†) Old text, away. for Cæsar! Corrected by Capell. Corrected by Pope. |