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Enter CESAR and his Forces, marching.

Cas. But being charged, we will be still by land, Which, as I take't, we shall; for his best force

Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales,
And hold our best advantage.

Re-enter ANTONY and SCARUS.

[Exeunt.

Ant. Yet they're not joined. Where yonder pine

does stand,

I shall discover all; I'll bring thee word
Straight, how 'tis like to go.

Scar.

[Exit.

Swallows have built

In Cleopatra's sails their nests; the augures

2

Say, they know not,-they cannot tell ;-look grimly,
And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony
Is valiant, and dejected; and, by starts,

His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear,
Of what he has, and has not.

Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fight. Re-enter ANTONY.

Ant.

All is lost;

This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me.

My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder
They cast their caps up, and carouse together

Like friends long lost.-Triple-turned whore ! 'tis thou
Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart
Makes only wars on thee.-Bid them all fly;

1 But, in its exceptive sense, for be out, i. e. without. Steevens has adduced a passage from the MS. Romance of Guillaume de Palerne, in the Library of King's Coll., Cambridge, in which the orthography almost explains the word::

"I sayle now in the see as schip boute mast,
Boute anker, or ore, or any semlych sayle."

2 The old copy reads auguries. Augurs, the plural of augur, was anciently spelled augures, which we should read here, and not augurers, substituted by Malone.

3 Cleopatra first belonged to Julius Cæsar, then to Antony, and now, as Antony supposes, to Augustus.

For when I am revenged upon my charm,
I have done all.-Bid them all fly, begone.

[Exit SCARUS.

O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more.
Fortune and Antony part here; even here

Do we shake hands.-All come to this!-The hearts
That spanieled me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Cæsar; and this pine is barked,
That overtopped them all. Betrayed I am.
O this false soul of Egypt! This grave charm 2
Whose eye becked forth my wars, and called them home;
Whose bosom was my crownet,3 my chief end,
Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose,*
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.-
What, Eros, Eros!

Enter CLEOPATRA.

Ah, thou spell! Avaunt.

Cleo. Why is my lord enraged against his love?
Ant. Vanish; or I shall give thee thy deserving,
And blemish Cæsar's triumph. Let him take thee,
And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians;
Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot
Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown
For poor'st diminutives, for doits; 5 and let
Patient Octavia plough thy visage up

With her prepared nails. [Exit CLEO.] 'Tis well thou'rt gone,

If it be well to live; but better 'twere
Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death
Might have prevented many.-Eros, ho!—

The old editions read pannell'd. Spanieled is the happy emendation of sir Thomas Hanmer.

2 "This grave charm" probably means this deadly or destructive piece of witchcraft.

3 "That which I looked to as the reward or crown of my endeavors." 4 The allusion is to the game of fast and loose, or pricking at the belt or girdle, still practised by juggling cheats at fairs, and which was practised by the gypsies in Shakspeare's time.

5 i. e. for the smallest pieces of money. The old copy reads, "for dolts ;" and, at Mr. Tyrwhitt's suggestion, Steevens reads, "to dolts."

The shirt of Nessus is upon me.

Teach me,

Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage.

Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon;
And with those hands, that grasped the heaviest club,
Subdue my worthiest self.
worthiest self. The witch shall die;
To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot; she dies for't.-Eros, ho!

[Exit.

SCENE XI. Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN. Cleo. Help me, my women! O, he is more mad Than Telamon1 for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so embossed.2

Char.

To the monument; There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead. The soul and body rive not more in parting,

Than greatness going off.

To the monument:

Cleo.
Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself;

Say, that the last I spoke was, Antony,
And word it, pr'ythee, piteously. Hence,

Mardian; and bring me how he takes my death.—
To the monument.

[Exeunt.

SCENE XII. The same. Another Room.

Enter ANTONY and EROS.

Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me?

Ay, noble lord.

Eros.
Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish ;

1 i. e. than Ajax Telamon for the armor of Achilles, the most valuable part of which was the shield. The boar of Thessaly was the boar killed by Meleager.

2 When a hunted animal is so hard run that it foams at the mouth, it is said to be embossed.

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A vapor, sometime, like a bear, or lion,
A towered citadel, a pendent rock,
A forked mountain or blue promontory

With trees upon't, that nod unto the world,

And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these

signs;

They are black vesper's pageants.

Eros.

Ay, my lord. Ant. That which is now a horse, even with a thought, The rack dislimns,' and makes it indistinct,

As water is in water.

Eros.

It does, my lord.

Ant. My good knave 2 Eros, now thy captain is
Even such a body. Here I am Antony;
Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
I made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,-
Whose heart, I thought, I had, for she had mine;
Which, whilst it was mine, had annexed unto't
A million more, now lost,-she, Eros, has

3

Packed cards with Cæsar, and false played my glory
Unto an enemy's triumph.

Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.-O, thy vile lady!

Enter MARDIAN.

She has robbed me of my sword.

No, Antony;

Mar.
My mistress loved thee, and her fortunes mingled
With thine entirely.

Ant.

Hence, saucy eunuch; peace; She hath betrayed me, and shall die the death.

Mar. Death of one person can be paid but once; And that she has discharged. What thou wouldst do Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake

Was, Antony! most noble Antony!

1 i. e. "the fleeting away of the clouds destroys the picture."

2 Knave was familiarly used for servant.

3 "To pack the cards" was to put them together in an unfair manner. It is often used, metaphorically, for contriving together to deceive another.

Then in the midst a tearing groan did break
The name of Antony; it was divided

Between her heart and lips. She rendered life,
Thy name so buried in her.

Ant.

Mar.

Dead, then?

Dead.

Ant. Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, And we must sleep.-That thou depart'st hence safe, Does pay thy labor richly; go.-Off, pluck off ;—

[Exit MARDIAN.

The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep
The battery from my heart.1 O, cleave my sides!
Heart, once be stronger than thy continent,2
Crack thy frail case!-Apace, Eros, apace.-
No more a soldier.-Bruised pieces, go;
You have been nobly borne.-From me awhile.-

[Exit EROS.
I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and
Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
All length is torture.3 Since the torch is out,
Lie down, and stray no further. Now all labor
Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles
Itself with strength. Seal, then, and all is done.-
Eros!-I come, my queen :-Eros !-Stay for me:
Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand,
And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze.
Dido and her Eneas shall want troops,

And all the haunt be ours.-Come, Éros, Eros!

Re-enter EROS.

Eros. What would my lord?

Ant.

Since Cleopatra died,

I lived in such dishonor, that the gods

Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword

1 "The battery from my heart," means "the battery proceeding from my heart.

2 i. e. the thing that contains thee.

3 Steevens thinks that the Poet wrote life, and not length. But length may signify extension or protraction of life.

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