ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

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Contents

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

MARK ANTONY 

OCTAVIUS CAESAR 

M. AEMILIUS 
LEPIDUS (LEPIDUS:) 

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| triumvirs.
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SEXTUS POMPEIUS (POMPEY:) 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS 

VENTIDIUS 

EROS 

SCARUS 

DERCETAS 

DEMETRIUS 

PHILO 

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| friends to Antony.
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MECAENAS 

AGRIPPA 

DOLABELLA 

PROCULEIUS 

THYREUS 

GALLUS 

MENAS 

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| friends to Caesar.
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MENECRATES 

VARRIUS 

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| friends to Pompey.
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TAURUS lieutenant-general to Caesar. 
CANIDIUS lieutenant-general to Antony. 
SILIUS an officer in Ventidius's army. 
EUPHRONIUS an ambassador from Antony to Caesar. 
ALEXAS 

MARDIAN a Eunuch. 

SELEUCUS 

DIOMEDES 

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| attendants on Cleopatra.
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A Soothsayer. (Soothsayer:) 
A Clown. (Clown:) 
CLEOPATRA queen of Egypt. 
OCTAVIA sister to Caesar and wife to Antony. 
CHARMIAN 

IRAS 

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| attendants on Cleopatra.
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Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.
(First Officer:)
(Second Officer:)
(Third Officer:)
(Messenger:)
(Second Messenger:)
(First Servant:)
(Second Servant:)
(Egyptian:)
(Guard:)
(First Guard:)
(Second Guard:)
(Attendant:)
(First Attendant:)
(Second Attendant:) 

Scene

In several parts of the Roman empire. 

Act I

Scene I Alexandria. A room in CLEOPATRA's palace.

[Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO] 
PHILO Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war
Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gipsy's lust. 
[Flourish. Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, her Ladies,
the Train, with Eunuchs fanning her] 
Look, where they come:
Take but good note, and you shall see in him.
The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see. 
CLEOPATRA If it be love indeed, tell me how much. 
MARK ANTONY There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. 
CLEOPATRA I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved. 
MARK ANTONY Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. 
[Enter an Attendant] 
Attendant News, my good lord, from Rome. 
MARK ANTONY Grates me: the sum. 
CLEOPATRA Nay, hear them, Antony:
Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knows
If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent
His powerful mandate to you, 'Do this, or this;
Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that;
Perform 't, or else we damn thee.' 
MARK ANTONY How, my love! 
CLEOPATRA Perchance! nay, and most like:
You must not stay here longer, your dismission
Is come from Caesar; therefore hear it, Antony.
Where's Fulvia's process? Caesar's I would say? both?
Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen,
Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Caesar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame
When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers! 
MARK ANTONY Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair 
[Embracing] 
And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless. 
CLEOPATRA Excellent falsehood!
Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony
Will be himself. 
MARK ANTONY But stirr'd by Cleopatra.
Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,
Let's not confound the time with conference harsh:
There's not a minute of our lives should stretch
Without some pleasure now. What sport tonight? 
CLEOPATRA Hear the ambassadors. 
MARK ANTONY Fie, wrangling queen!
Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admired!
No messenger, but thine; and all alone
To-night we'll wander through the streets and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
Last night you did desire it: speak not to us. 
[Exeunt MARK ANTONY and CLEOPATRA with
their train] 
DEMETRIUS Is Caesar with Antonius prized so slight? 
PHILO Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony,
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony. 
DEMETRIUS I am full sorry
That he approves the common liar, who
Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! 
[Exeunt] 

Scene II The same. Another room.

[Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer] 
CHARMIAN Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas,
almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer
that you praised so to the queen? O, that I knew
this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns
with garlands! 
ALEXAS Soothsayer! 
Soothsayer Your will? 
CHARMIAN Is this the man? Is't you, sir, that know things? 
Soothsayer In nature's infinite book of secrecy
A little I can read. 
ALEXAS Show him your hand. 
[Enter DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS] 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough
Cleopatra's health to drink. 
CHARMIAN Good sir, give me good fortune. 
Soothsayer I make not, but foresee. 
CHARMIAN Pray, then, foresee me one. 
Soothsayer You shall be yet far fairer than you are. 
CHARMIAN He means in flesh. 
IRAS No, you shall paint when you are old. 
CHARMIAN Wrinkles forbid! 
ALEXAS Vex not his prescience; be attentive. 
CHARMIAN Hush! 
Soothsayer You shall be more beloving than beloved. 
CHARMIAN I had rather heat my liver with drinking. 
ALEXAS Nay, hear him. 
CHARMIAN Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married
to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all:
let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry
may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius
Caesar, and companion me with my mistress. 
Soothsayer You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. 
CHARMIAN O excellent! I love long life better than figs. 
Soothsayer You have seen and proved a fairer former fortune
Than that which is to approach. 
CHARMIAN Then belike my children shall have no names:
prithee, how many boys and wenches must I have? 
Soothsayer If every of your wishes had a womb.
And fertile every wish, a million. 
CHARMIAN Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. 
ALEXAS You think none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. 
CHARMIAN Nay, come, tell Iras hers. 
ALEXAS We'll know all our fortunes. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall
be--drunk to bed. 
IRAS There's a palm presages chastity, if nothing else. 
CHARMIAN E'en as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine. 
IRAS Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay. 
CHARMIAN Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful
prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear. Prithee,
tell her but a worky-day fortune. 
Soothsayer Your fortunes are alike. 
IRAS But how, but how? give me particulars. 
Soothsayer I have said. 
IRAS Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? 
CHARMIAN Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than
I, where would you choose it? 
IRAS Not in my husband's nose. 
CHARMIAN Our worser thoughts heavens mend! Alexas,--come,
his fortune, his fortune! O, let him marry a woman
that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! and let
her die too, and give him a worse! and let worst
follow worse, till the worst of all follow him
laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold! Good
Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a
matter of more weight; good Isis, I beseech thee! 
IRAS Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people!
for, as it is a heartbreaking to see a handsome man
loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a
foul knave uncuckolded: therefore, dear Isis, keep
decorum, and fortune him accordingly! 
CHARMIAN Amen. 
ALEXAS Lo, now, if it lay in their hands to make me a
cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but
they'ld do't! 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Hush! here comes Antony. 
CHARMIAN Not he; the queen. 
[Enter CLEOPATRA] 
CLEOPATRA Saw you my lord? 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS No, lady. 
CLEOPATRA Was he not here? 
CHARMIAN No, madam. 
CLEOPATRA He was disposed to mirth; but on the sudden
A Roman thought hath struck him. Enobarbus! 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Madam? 
CLEOPATRA Seek him, and bring him hither.
Where's Alexas? 
ALEXAS Here, at your service. My lord approaches. 
CLEOPATRA We will not look upon him: go with us. 
[Exeunt] 
[Enter MARK ANTONY with a Messenger and Attendants] 
Messenger Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. 
MARK ANTONY Against my brother Lucius? 
Messenger Ay:
But soon that war had end, and the time's state
Made friends of them, joining their force 'gainst Caesar;
Whose better issue in the war, from Italy,
Upon the first encounter, drave them. 
MARK ANTONY Well, what worst? 
Messenger The nature of bad news infects the teller. 
MARK ANTONY When it concerns the fool or coward. On:
Things that are past are done with me. 'Tis thus:
Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death,
I hear him as he flatter'd. 
Messenger Labienus--
This is stiff news--hath, with his Parthian force,
Extended Asia from Euphrates;
His conquering banner shook from Syria
To Lydia and to Ionia; Whilst--
MARK ANTONY Antony, thou wouldst say,-- 
Messenger O, my lord! 
MARK ANTONY Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue:
Name Cleopatra as she is call'd in Rome;
Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase; and taunt my faults
With such full licence as both truth and malice
Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds,
When our quick minds lie still; and our ills told us
Is as our earing. Fare thee well awhile. 
Messenger At your noble pleasure. 
[Exit] 
MARK ANTONY From Sicyon, ho, the news! Speak there! 
First Attendant The man from Sicyon,--is there such an one? 
Second Attendant He stays upon your will. 
MARK ANTONY Let him appear.
These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
Or lose myself in dotage. 
[Enter another Messenger] 
What are you? 
Second Messenger Fulvia thy wife is dead. 
MARK ANTONY Where died she? 
Second Messenger In Sicyon:
Her length of sickness, with what else more serious
Importeth thee to know, this bears. 
[Gives a letter] 
MARK ANTONY Forbear me. 
[Exit Second Messenger] 
There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:
What our contempt doth often hurl from us,
We wish it ours again; the present pleasure,
By revolution lowering, does become
The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone;
The hand could pluck her back that shoved her on.
I must from this enchanting queen break off:
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,
My idleness doth hatch. How now! Enobarbus! 
[Re-enter DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS] 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS What's your pleasure, sir? 
MARK ANTONY I must with haste from hence. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Why, then, we kill all our women:
we see how mortal an unkindness is to them;
if they suffer our departure, death's the word. 
MARK ANTONY I must be gone. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Under a compelling occasion, let women die; it were
pity to cast them away for nothing; though, between
them and a great cause, they should be esteemed
nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of
this, dies instantly; I have seen her die twenty
times upon far poorer moment: I do think there is
mettle in death, which commits some loving act upon
her, she hath such a celerity in dying. 
MARK ANTONY She is cunning past man's thought. 
[Exit ALEXAS] 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Alack, sir, no; her passions are made of nothing but
the finest part of pure love: we cannot call her
winds and waters sighs and tears; they are greater
storms and tempests than almanacs can report: this
cannot be cunning in her; if it be, she makes a
shower of rain as well as Jove. 
MARK ANTONY Would I had never seen her. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece
of work; which not to have been blest withal would
have discredited your travel. 
MARK ANTONY Fulvia is dead. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Sir? 
MARK ANTONY Fulvia is dead. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Fulvia! 
MARK ANTONY Dead. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When
it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man
from him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth;
comforting therein, that when old robes are worn
out, there are members to make new. If there were
no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut,
and the case to be lamented: this grief is crowned
with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new
petticoat: and indeed the tears live in an onion
that should water this sorrow. 
MARK ANTONY The business she hath broached in the state
Cannot endure my absence. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS And the business you have broached here cannot be
without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which
wholly depends on your abode. 
MARK ANTONY No more light answers. Let our officers
Have notice what we purpose. I shall break
The cause of our expedience to the queen,
And get her leave to part. For not alone
The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches,
Do strongly speak to us; but the letters too
Of many our contriving friends in Rome
Petition us at home: Sextus Pompeius
Hath given the dare to Caesar, and commands
The empire of the sea: our slippery people,
Whose love is never link'd to the deserver
Till his deserts are past, begin to throw
Pompey the Great and all his dignities
Upon his son; who, high in name and power,
Higher than both in blood and life, stands up
For the main soldier: whose quality, going on,
The sides o' the world may danger: much is breeding,
Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life,
And not a serpent's poison. Say, our pleasure,
To such whose place is under us, requires
Our quick remove from hence. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS I shall do't. 
[Exeunt]

Scene III The same. Another room.

[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS] 
CLEOPATRA Where is he? 
CHARMIAN I did not see him since. 
CLEOPATRA See where he is, who's with him, what he does:
I did not send you: if you find him sad,
Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick: quick, and return. 
[Exit ALEXAS] 
CHARMIAN Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly,
You do not hold the method to enforce
The like from him. 
CLEOPATRA What should I do, I do not? 
CHARMIAN In each thing give him way, cross him nothing. 
CLEOPATRA Thou teachest like a fool; the way to lose him. 
CHARMIAN Tempt him not so too far; I wish, forbear:
In time we hate that which we often fear.
But here comes Antony. 
[Enter MARK ANTONY] 
CLEOPATRA I am sick and sullen. 
MARK ANTONY I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose,-- 
CLEOPATRA Help me away, dear Charmian; I shall fall:
It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature
Will not sustain it. 
MARK ANTONY Now, my dearest queen,-- 
CLEOPATRA Pray you, stand further from me. 
MARK ANTONY What's the matter? 
CLEOPATRA I know, by that same eye, there's some good news.
What says the married woman? You may go:
Would she had never given you leave to come!
Let her not say 'tis I that keep you here:
I have no power upon you; hers you are. 
MARK ANTONY The gods best know,-- 
CLEOPATRA O, never was there queen
So mightily betray'd! yet at the first
I saw the treasons planted. 
MARK ANTONY Cleopatra,-- 
CLEOPATRA Why should I think you can be mine and true,
Though you in swearing shake the throned gods,
Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness,
To be entangled with those mouth-made vows,
Which break themselves in swearing! 
MARK ANTONY Most sweet queen,-- 
CLEOPATRA Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your going,
But bid farewell, and go: when you sued staying,
Then was the time for words: no going then;
Eternity was in our lips and eyes,
Bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor,
But was a race of heaven: they are so still,
Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world,
Art turn'd the greatest liar. 
MARK ANTONY How now, lady! 
CLEOPATRA I would I had thy inches; thou shouldst know
There were a heart in Egypt. 
MARK ANTONY Hear me, queen:
The strong necessity of time commands
Our services awhile; but my full heart
Remains in use with you. Our Italy
Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius
Makes his approaches to the port of Rome:
Equality of two domestic powers
Breed scrupulous faction: the hated, grown to strength,
Are newly grown to love: the condemn'd Pompey,
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace,
Into the hearts of such as have not thrived
Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten;
And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge
By any desperate change: my more particular,
And that which most with you should safe my going,
Is Fulvia's death. 
CLEOPATRA Though age from folly could not give me freedom,
It does from childishness: can Fulvia die? 
MARK ANTONY She's dead, my queen:
Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read
The garboils she awaked; at the last, best:
See when and where she died. 
CLEOPATRA O most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia's death, how mine received shall be. 
MARK ANTONY Quarrel no more, but be prepared to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give the advice. By the fire
That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence
Thy soldier, servant; making peace or war
As thou affect'st. 
CLEOPATRA Cut my lace, Charmian, come;
But let it be: I am quickly ill, and well,
So Antony loves. 
MARK ANTONY My precious queen, forbear;
And give true evidence to his love, which stands
An honourable trial. 
CLEOPATRA So Fulvia told me.
I prithee, turn aside and weep for her,
Then bid adieu to me, and say the tears
Belong to Egypt: good now, play one scene
Of excellent dissembling; and let it look
Life perfect honour. 
MARK ANTONY You'll heat my blood: no more. 
CLEOPATRA You can do better yet; but this is meetly. 
MARK ANTONY Now, by my sword,-- 
CLEOPATRA And target. Still he mends;
But this is not the best. Look, prithee, Charmian,
How this Herculean Roman does become
The carriage of his chafe. 
MARK ANTONY I'll leave you, lady. 
CLEOPATRA Courteous lord, one word.
Sir, you and I must part, but that's not it:
Sir, you and I have loved, but there's not it;
That you know well: something it is I would,
O, my oblivion is a very Antony,
And I am all forgotten. 
MARK ANTONY But that your royalty
Holds idleness your subject, I should take you
For idleness itself. 
CLEOPATRA 'Tis sweating labour
To bear such idleness so near the heart
As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me;
Since my becomings kill me, when they do not
Eye well to you: your honour calls you hence;
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly.
And all the gods go with you! upon your sword
Sit laurel victory! and smooth success
Be strew'd before your feet! 
MARK ANTONY Let us go. Come;
Our separation so abides, and flies,
That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me,
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. Away! 
[Exeunt] 

Scene IV Rome. OCTAVIUS CAESAR's house.

[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, reading a letter, LEPIDUS,
and their Train] 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar's natural vice to hate
Our great competitor: from Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more man-like
Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners: you shall find there
A man who is the abstract of all faults
That all men follow. 
LEPIDUS I must not think there are
Evils enow to darken all his goodness:
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary,
Rather than purchased; what he cannot change,
Than what he chooses. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR You are too indulgent. Let us grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy;
To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave;
To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet
With knaves that smell of sweat: say this
becomes him,--
As his composure must be rare indeed
Whom these things cannot blemish,--yet must Antony
No way excuse his soils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones,
Call on him for't: but to confound such time,
That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud
As his own state and ours,--'tis to be chid
As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And so rebel to judgment. 
[Enter a Messenger] 
LEPIDUS Here's more news. 
Messenger Thy biddings have been done; and every hour,
Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report
How 'tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea;
And it appears he is beloved of those
That only have fear'd Caesar: to the ports
The discontents repair, and men's reports
Give him much wrong'd. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR I should have known no less.
It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he which is was wish'd until he were;
And the ebb'd man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love,
Comes dear'd by being lack'd. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion. 
Messenger Caesar, I bring thee word,
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind: many hot inroads
They make in Italy; the borders maritime
Lack blood to think on't, and flush youth revolt:
No vessel can peep forth, but 'tis as soon
Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more
Than could his war resisted. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Antony,
Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer: thou didst drink
The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsed'st; on the Alps
It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on: and all this--
It wounds thine honour that I speak it now--
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
So much as lank'd not. 
LEPIDUS 'Tis pity of him. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Let his shames quickly
Drive him to Rome: 'tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i' the field; and to that end
Assemble we immediate council: Pompey
Thrives in our idleness. 
LEPIDUS To-morrow, Caesar,
I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able
To front this present time. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Till which encounter,
It is my business too. Farewell. 
LEPIDUS Farewell, my lord: what you shall know meantime
Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir,
To let me be partaker. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Doubt not, sir;
I knew it for my bond. 
[Exeunt] 

Scene V Alexandria. CLEOPATRA's palace.

[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN] 
CLEOPATRA Charmian! 
CHARMIAN Madam? 
CLEOPATRA Ha, ha!
Give me to drink mandragora. 
CHARMIAN Why, madam? 
CLEOPATRA That I might sleep out this great gap of time
My Antony is away. 
CHARMIAN You think of him too much. 
CLEOPATRA O, 'tis treason! 
CHARMIAN Madam, I trust, not so. 
CLEOPATRA Thou, eunuch Mardian! 
MARDIAN What's your highness' pleasure? 
CLEOPATRA Not now to hear thee sing; I take no pleasure
In aught an eunuch has: 'tis well for thee,
That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts
May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections? 
MARDIAN Yes, gracious madam. 
CLEOPATRA Indeed! 
MARDIAN Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing
But what indeed is honest to be done:
Yet have I fierce affections, and think
What Venus did with Mars. 
CLEOPATRA O Charmian,
Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he?
Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?
O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou movest?
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men. He's speaking now,
Or murmuring 'Where's my serpent of old Nile?'
For so he calls me: now I feed myself
With most delicious poison. Think on me,
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Caesar,
When thou wast here above the ground, I was
A morsel for a monarch: and great Pompey
Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow;
There would he anchor his aspect and die
With looking on his life. 
[Enter ALEXAS, from OCTAVIUS CAESAR] 
ALEXAS Sovereign of Egypt, hail! 
CLEOPATRA How much unlike art thou Mark Antony!
Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath
With his tinct gilded thee.
How goes it with my brave Mark Antony? 
ALEXAS Last thing he did, dear queen,
He kiss'd,--the last of many doubled kisses,--
This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart. 
CLEOPATRA Mine ear must pluck it thence. 
ALEXAS 'Good friend,' quoth he,
'Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt sends
This treasure of an oyster; at whose foot,
To mend the petty present, I will piece
Her opulent throne with kingdoms; all the east,
Say thou, shall call her mistress.' So he nodded,
And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed,
Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke
Was beastly dumb'd by him. 
CLEOPATRA What, was he sad or merry? 
ALEXAS Like to the time o' the year between the extremes
Of hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry. 
CLEOPATRA O well-divided disposition! Note him,
Note him good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note him:
He was not sad, for he would shine on those
That make their looks by his; he was not merry,
Which seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay
In Egypt with his joy; but between both:
O heavenly mingle! Be'st thou sad or merry,
The violence of either thee becomes,
So does it no man else. Met'st thou my posts? 
ALEXAS Ay, madam, twenty several messengers:
Why do you send so thick? 
CLEOPATRA Who's born that day
When I forget to send to Antony,
Shall die a beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.
Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I, Charmian,
Ever love Caesar so? 
CHARMIAN O that brave Caesar! 
CLEOPATRA Be choked with such another emphasis!
Say, the brave Antony. 
CHARMIAN The valiant Caesar! 
CLEOPATRA By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth,
If thou with Caesar paragon again
My man of men. 
CHARMIAN By your most gracious pardon,
I sing but after you. 
CLEOPATRA My salad days,
When I was green in judgment: cold in blood,
To say as I said then! But, come, away;
Get me ink and paper:
He shall have every day a several greeting,
Or I'll unpeople Egypt. 
[Exeunt] 

Act II

Scene I Messina. POMPEY's house.

[Enter POMPEY, MENECRATES, and MENAS, in
warlike manner] 
POMPEY If the great gods be just, they shall assist
The deeds of justest men. 
MENECRATES Know, worthy Pompey,
That what they do delay, they not deny. 
POMPEY Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays
The thing we sue for. 
MENECRATES We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers. 
POMPEY I shall do well:
The people love me, and the sea is mine;
My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope
Says it will come to the full. Mark Antony
In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make
No wars without doors: Caesar gets money where
He loses hearts: Lepidus flatters both,
Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves,
Nor either cares for him. 
MENAS Caesar and Lepidus
Are in the field: a mighty strength they carry. 
POMPEY Where have you this? 'tis false. 
MENAS From Silvius, sir. 
POMPEY He dreams: I know they are in Rome together,
Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,
Salt Cleopatra, soften thy waned lip!
Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both!
Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite;
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour
Even till a Lethe'd dulness! 
[Enter VARRIUS] 
How now, Varrius! 
VARRIUS This is most certain that I shall deliver:
Mark Antony is every hour in Rome
Expected: since he went from Egypt 'tis
A space for further travel. 
POMPEY I could have given less matter
A better ear. Menas, I did not think
This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm
For such a petty war: his soldiership
Is twice the other twain: but let us rear
The higher our opinion, that our stirring
Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck
The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony. 
MENAS I cannot hope
Caesar and Antony shall well greet together:
His wife that's dead did trespasses to Caesar;
His brother warr'd upon him; although, I think,
Not moved by Antony. 
POMPEY I know not, Menas,
How lesser enmities may give way to greater.
Were't not that we stand up against them all,
'Twere pregnant they should square between
themselves;
For they have entertained cause enough
To draw their swords: but how the fear of us
May cement their divisions and bind up
The petty difference, we yet not know.
Be't as our gods will have't! It only stands
Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.
Come, Menas. 
[Exeunt] 

Scene II Rome. The house of LEPIDUS.

[Enter DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS and LEPIDUS] 
LEPIDUS Good Enobarbus, 'tis a worthy deed,
And shall become you well, to entreat your captain
To soft and gentle speech. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS I shall entreat him
To answer like himself: if Caesar move him,
Let Antony look over Caesar's head
And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,
Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard,
I would not shave't to-day. 
LEPIDUS 'Tis not a time
For private stomaching. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Every time
Serves for the matter that is then born in't. 
LEPIDUS But small to greater matters must give way. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Not if the small come first. 
LEPIDUS Your speech is passion:
But, pray you, stir no embers up. Here comes
The noble Antony. 
[Enter MARK ANTONY and VENTIDIUS] 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS And yonder, Caesar. 
[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, MECAENAS, and AGRIPPA] 
MARK ANTONY If we compose well here, to Parthia:
Hark, Ventidius. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR I do not know,
Mecaenas; ask Agrippa. 
LEPIDUS Noble friends,
That which combined us was most great, and let not
A leaner action rend us. What's amiss,
May it be gently heard: when we debate
Our trivial difference loud, we do commit
Murder in healing wounds: then, noble partners,
The rather, for I earnestly beseech,
Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms,
Nor curstness grow to the matter. 
MARK ANTONY 'Tis spoken well.
Were we before our armies, and to fight.
I should do thus. 
[Flourish] 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Welcome to Rome. 
MARK ANTONY Thank you. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Sit. 
MARK ANTONY Sit, sir. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Nay, then. 
MARK ANTONY I learn, you take things ill which are not so,
Or being, concern you not. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR I must be laugh'd at,
If, or for nothing or a little, I
Should say myself offended, and with you
Chiefly i' the world; more laugh'd at, that I should
Once name you derogately, when to sound your name
It not concern'd me. 
MARK ANTONY My being in Egypt, Caesar,
What was't to you? 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR No more than my residing here at Rome
Might be to you in Egypt: yet, if you there
Did practise on my state, your being in Egypt
Might be my question. 
MARK ANTONY How intend you, practised? 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR You may be pleased to catch at mine intent
By what did here befal me. Your wife and brother
Made wars upon me; and their contestation
Was theme for you, you were the word of war. 
MARK ANTONY You do mistake your business; my brother never
Did urge me in his act: I did inquire it;
And have my learning from some true reports,
That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather
Discredit my authority with yours;
And make the wars alike against my stomach,
Having alike your cause? Of this my letters
Before did satisfy you. If you'll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have not to make it with,
It must not be with this. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR You praise yourself
By laying defects of judgment to me; but
You patch'd up your excuses. 
MARK ANTONY Not so, not so;
I know you could not lack, I am certain on't,
Very necessity of this thought, that I,
Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought,
Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars
Which fronted mine own peace. As for my wife,
I would you had her spirit in such another:
The third o' the world is yours; which with a snaffle
You may pace easy, but not such a wife. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Would we had all such wives, that the men might go
to wars with the women! 
MARK ANTONY So much uncurbable, her garboils, Caesar
Made out of her impatience, which not wanted
Shrewdness of policy too, I grieving grant
Did you too much disquiet: for that you must
But say, I could not help it. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR I wrote to you
When rioting in Alexandria; you
Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts
Did gibe my missive out of audience. 
MARK ANTONY Sir,
He fell upon me ere admitted: then
Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want
Of what I was i' the morning: but next day
I told him of myself; which was as much
As to have ask'd him pardon. Let this fellow
Be nothing of our strife; if we contend,
Out of our question wipe him. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR You have broken
The article of your oath; which you shall never
Have tongue to charge me with. 
LEPIDUS Soft, Caesar! 
MARK ANTONY No,
Lepidus, let him speak:
The honour is sacred which he talks on now,
Supposing that I lack'd it. But, on, Caesar;
The article of my oath. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR To lend me arms and aid when I required them;
The which you both denied. 
MARK ANTONY Neglected, rather;
And then when poison'd hours had bound me up
From mine own knowledge. 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. Truth is, that Fulvia,
To have me out of Egypt, made wars here;
For which myself, the ignorant motive, do
So far ask pardon as befits mine honour
To stoop in such a case. 
LEPIDUS 'Tis noble spoken. 
MECAENAS If it might please you, to enforce no further
The griefs between ye: to forget them quite
Were to remember that the present need
Speaks to atone you. 
LEPIDUS Worthily spoken, Mecaenas. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Or, if you borrow one another's love for the
instant, 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. 
MARK ANTONY Thou art a soldier only: speak no more. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS That truth should be silent I had almost forgot. 
MARK ANTONY You wrong this presence; therefore speak no more. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Go to, then; your considerate stone. 
OCTAVIUS 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
So differing in their acts. Yet if I knew
What hoop should hold us stanch, from edge to edge
O' the world I would pursue it. 
AGRIPPA Give me leave, Caesar,-- 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Speak, Agrippa. 
AGRIPPA Thou hast a sister by the mother's side,
Admired Octavia: great Mark Antony
Is now a widower. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Say not so, Agrippa:
If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
Were well deserved of rashness. 
MARK ANTONY I am not married, Caesar: let me hear
Agrippa further speak. 
AGRIPPA To hold you in perpetual amity,
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. By this marriage,
All little jealousies, which now seem great,
And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing: truths would be tales,
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both
Would, each to other and all loves to both,
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke;
For 'tis a studied, not a present thought,
By duty ruminated. 
MARK ANTONY Will Caesar speak? 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd
With what is spoke already. 
MARK ANTONY What power is in Agrippa,
If I would say, 'Agrippa, be it so,'
To make this good? 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR The power of Caesar, and
His power unto Octavia. 
MARK ANTONY May I never
To this good purpose, that so fairly shows,
Dream of impediment! Let me have thy hand:
Further this act of grace: and from this hour
The heart of brothers govern in our loves
And sway our great designs! 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR There is 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! 
LEPIDUS Happily, amen! 
MARK ANTONY I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst Pompey;
For he hath laid strange courtesies and great
Of late upon me: I must thank him only,
Lest my remembrance suffer ill report;
At heel of that, defy him. 
LEPIDUS Time calls upon's:
Of us must Pompey presently be sought,
Or else he seeks out us. 
MARK ANTONY Where lies he? 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR About the mount Misenum. 
MARK ANTONY What is his strength by land? 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Great and increasing: but by sea
He is an absolute master. 
MARK ANTONY So is the fame.
Would we had spoke together! Haste we for it:
Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we
The business we have talk'd of. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR With most gladness:
And do invite you to my sister's view,
Whither straight I'll lead you. 
MARK ANTONY Let us, Lepidus,
Not lack your company. 
LEPIDUS Noble Antony,
Not sickness should detain me. 
[Flourish. Exeunt OCTAVIUS CAESAR, MARK ANTONY,
and LEPIDUS] 
MECAENAS Welcome from Egypt, sir. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Mecaenas! My
honourable friend, Agrippa! 
AGRIPPA Good Enobarbus! 
MECAENAS We have cause to be glad that matters are so well
digested. You stayed well by 't in Egypt. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance, and
made the night light with drinking. 
MECAENAS Eight wild-boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and
but twelve persons there; is this true? 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS This was but as a fly by an eagle: we had much more
monstrous matter of feast, which worthily deserved noting. 
MECAENAS She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square to
her. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up
his heart, upon the river of Cydnus. 
AGRIPPA There she appeared indeed; or my reporter devised
well for her. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS I will tell you.
The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick 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. For her own person,
It beggar'd all description: she did lie
In her pavilion--cloth-of-gold of tissue--
O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did. 
AGRIPPA O, rare for Antony! 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,
And made their bends adornings: at the helm
A seeming mermaid steers: the silken tackle
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands,
That yarely frame the office. From the barge
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
Her people out upon her; and Antony,
Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone,
Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
And made a gap in nature. 
AGRIPPA Rare Egyptian! 
DOMITIUS 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 barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast,
And for his ordinary pays his heart
For what his eyes eat only. 
AGRIPPA Royal wench!
She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed:
He plough'd her, and she cropp'd. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS I saw her once
Hop forty paces through the public street;
And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted,
That she did make defect perfection,
And, breathless, power breathe forth. 
MECAENAS Now Antony must leave her utterly. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Never; he will not:
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed: but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
Become themselves in her: that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish. 
MECAENAS If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle
The heart of Antony, Octavia is
A blessed lottery to him. 
AGRIPPA Let us go.
Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest
Whilst you abide here. 
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS Humbly, sir, I thank you. 
[Exeunt] 

Scene III The same. OCTAVIUS CAESAR's house.

[Enter MARK ANTONY, OCTAVIUS CAESAR, OCTAVIA between
them, and Attendants] 
MARK ANTONY The world and my great office will sometimes
Divide me from your bosom. 
OCTAVIA All which time
Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers
To them for you. 
MARK ANTONY Good night, sir. My Octavia,
Read not my blemishes in the world's report:
I have not kept my square; but that to come
Shall all be done by the rule. Good night, dear lady.
Good night, sir. 
OCTAVIUS CAESAR Good night. 
[Exeunt OCTAVIUS CAESAR and OCTAVIA] 
[Enter Soothsayer] 
MARK ANTONY Now, sirrah; you do wish yourself in Egypt? 
Soothsayer Would I had never come from thence, nor you Thither! 
MARK ANTONY If you can, your reason? 
Soothsayer I see it in
My motion, have it not in my tongue: but yet
Hie you to Egypt again. 
MARK ANTONY Say to me,
Whose fortunes shall rise higher, Caesar's or mine? 
Soothsayer Caesar's.
Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side:
Thy demon, that's thy spirit which keeps thee, is
Noble, courageous high, unmatchable,
Where Caesar's is not; but, near him, thy angel
Becomes a fear, as being o'erpower'd: therefore
Make space enough between you. 
MARK ANTONY Speak this no more. 
Soothsayer To none but thee; no more, but when to thee.
If thou dost play with him at any game,
Thou art sure to lose; and, of that natural luck,
He beats thee 'gainst the odds: thy lustre thickens,
When he shines by: I say again, thy spirit
Is all afraid to govern thee near him;
But, he away, 'tis noble. 
MARK ANTONY Get thee gone:
Say to Ventidius I would speak with him: 
[Exit Soothsayer] 
He shall to Parthia. Be it art or hap,
He hath spoken true: the very dice obey him;
And in our sports my better cunning faints
Under his chance: if we draw lots, he speeds;
His cocks do win the battle still of mine,
When it is all to nought; and his quails ever
Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds. I will to Egypt:
And though I make this marriage for my peace,
I' the east my pleasure lies. 
[Enter VENTIDIUS] 
O, come, Ventidius,
You must to Parthia: your commission's ready;
Follow me, and receive't. 
[Exeunt] 

Scene IV The same. A street.

[Enter LEPIDUS, MECAENAS, and AGRIPPA] 
LEPIDUS Trouble yourselves no further: pray you, hasten
Your generals after. 
AGRIPPA Sir, Mark Antony
Will e'en but kiss Octavia, and we'll follow. 
LEPIDUS Till I shall see you in your soldier's dress,
Which will become you both, farewell. 
MECAENAS We shall,
As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount
Before you, Lepidus. 
LEPIDUS Your way is shorter;
My purposes do draw me much about:
You'll win two days upon me. 
MECAENAS 

AGRIPPA 

 |
| Sir, good success!
| 
LEPIDUS Farewell. 
[Exeunt] 

Scene V Alexandria. CLEOPATRA's palace.

[Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS] 
CLEOPATRA Give me some music; music, moody food
Of us that trade in love. 
Attendants The music, ho! 
[Enter MARDIAN] 
CLEOPATRA Let it alone; let's to billiards: come, Charmian. 
CHARMIAN My arm is sore; best play with Mardian. 
CLEOPATRA As well a woman with an eunuch play'd
As with a woman. Come, you'll play with me, sir? 
MARDIAN As well as I can, madam. 
CLEOPATRA And when good will is show'd, though't come
too short,
The actor may plead pardon. I'll none now:
Give me mine angle; we'll to the river: there,
My music playing far off, I will betray
Tawny-finn'd fishes; my bended hook shall pierce
Their slimy jaws; and, as I draw them up,
I'll think them every one an Antony,
And say 'Ah, ha! you're caught.' 
CHARMI