Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra was first published in the Folio of 1623, as the tenth of the tragedies. Along with ‘The booke of Pericles prynce of Tyre’, it had previously been entered by Edward Blount in the Stationers’ Register on 20 May 1608. Both Barnabe Barnes’s The Devil’s Charter (performed at Court on 2 February 1607) and Samuel Daniel’s ‘newly altered’ fourth edition of his tragedy Cleopatra (published in 1607) show knowledge of Shakespeare’s play. It was therefore probably completed sometime in 1606, roughly contemporaneously with the writing of Macbeth and shortly before Coriolanus.

The story of the tragic love affair was, of course, well known; literary references go back as far as Virgil and Horace, and Chaucer includes Cleopatra in his Legend of Good Women. Shakespeare almost certainly knew several Renaissance versions of the story, most notably the Countess of Pembroke’s tragedy Antonius (1592), adapted from Robert Garnier’s Marc Antoine, and Daniel’s Cleopatra, first published in 1594 and dedicated to the Countess of Pembroke. However, he depended mainly upon ‘The Life of Marcus Antonius’ in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, translated from Greek into French by Jacques Amyot, from French into English by Thomas North, and published in London in 1579. Shakespeare often follows North’s Plutarch closely – verbal borrowings are frequent – but he shapes the story to his own purposes, as the action constantly shifts location, ranging quickly back and forth across the Mediterranean.

Rome and Egypt are not merely the geographical poles of the action, but become powerful symbols of competing emotional and ethical values. Rome is a world of measure, Egypt of excess; Rome of pragmatism, Egypt of passion; Rome of political ambition, Egypt of emotional desire. Even stylistically the differences are marked: Roman speech is ‘Attic’, spare and direct; Egyptian speech is ‘Asiatic’, ornate and sensuous. However, the competing values are not wholly consistent, nor do they admit of easy judgements. If Roman values, judged on their own terms, appear disciplined and high-minded, by Egyptian standards they seem cold and inhuman; similarly, Egyptian values, judged on Egyptian terms as generous and life-affirming, by Roman standards appear self-indulgent and irresponsible. The play never allows an audience a secure and stable moral vantage-point from which to judge the action or the characters, giving us instead multiple perspectives and inviting constant reassessment of our responses.

Even death partakes at once of tragic loss and of a paradoxical victory and transcendence. Plutarch’s Antony seeks his own death in despair, ‘sith spiteful fortune hath taken from thee the only joy thou hadst’; Shakespeare’s Antony rather seeks death, to be reunited with his queen: ‘I will o’ertake thee, Cleopatra, and / Weep for my pardon.’ Antony would be ‘A bridegroom in [his] death’, and Cleopatra dies with a final magnificent claim to Antony, ‘Husband, I come!’ For them, at least, love does overcome death. From Cleopatra’s viewpoint indeed ‘’Tis paltry to be Caesar’. But, of course, Caesar survives to become Emperor of the world, and Rome will not ‘in Tiber melt’.

The moral contents of the play are projected in a succession of scenes, many of them brief, which exploit to the full the fluid staging practices of early Jacobean theatres. The proscenium stages and the realistic props and scenery which developed after 1660 ensured that Shakespeare’s play was superseded for a century or more by John Dryden’s neoclassical rewriting of the story as All for Love, or the World Well Lost (1678). When Antony and Cleopatra returned to the theatres of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, productions became ever more opulent and operatic. Spectacle disrupted the play’s own dramatic structure, and critics and reviewers regularly decried its apparent lack of unity. Simply set and played with the staccato rhythms marked by the text, the play has achieved notable, though infrequent, success on the modern stage, its principle of construction clear and effective, its moral design complex and compelling.

The 1995 Arden text is based on the 1623 First Folio.

LIST OF ROLES

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		triumvirs
CLEOPATRA		Queen of Egypt
Sextus Pompeius or POMPEY		rebel against the triumvirs
		followers of Antony
OCTAVIA		sister of Octavius Caesar
		followers of Caesar
		attendants on Cleopatra
		followers of Pompey
MESSENGERS
SOOTHSAYER
SERVANTS		of Pompey
BOY SINGER
CAPTAIN		in Antony»s army
SENTRIES and GUARDS
CLOWN
Eunuchs, Attendants, Captains, Soldiers, Servants

Antony and Cleopatra

1.1 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 glowed like plated Mars, now bend, now turn
The office and devotion of their view	5
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
CHARMIAN     and IRAS, the train, with eunuchs fanning her.
Look where they come!	10
Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet’s fool. Behold and see.
CLEOPATRA     If it be love indeed, tell me how much.
ANTONY
There’s beggary in the love that can be reckoned.	15
CLEOPATRA     I’ll set a bourn how far to be beloved.
ANTONY
Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new
earth.
Enter a Messenger.
MESSENGER     News, my good lord, from Rome.
ANTONY     Grates me! The sum.
CLEOPATRA     Nay, hear them, Antony.	20
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.’
ANTONY     How, my love?	25
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,	30
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!
ANTONY     Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space!	35
Kingdoms are clay! Our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man. The nobleness of life
Is to do thus, when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do’t, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet	40
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.
ANTONY     But stirred by Cleopatra.
Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,	45
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.
ANTONY     Fie, wrangling queen,
Whom everything becomes – to chide, to laugh,	50
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admired!
No messenger but thine, and all alone
Tonight we’ll wander through the streets and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen!	55
Last night you did desire it. [to the Messenger] Speak
not to us.
Exeunt Antony and Cleopatra with the 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	60
That he approves the common liar who
Thus speaks of him at Rome, but I will hope
Of better deeds tomorrow. Rest you happy!     Exeunt.

1.2 Enter ENOBARBUS and other Roman officers, a Soothsayer, CHARMIAN, IRAS, MARDIAN the Eunuch and ALEXAS.

CHARMIAN     Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most anything
Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where’s the
soothsayer that you praised so to th’ Queen? O, that I
knew this husband which you say must charge his
horns with garlands!	5
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	10
A little I can read.
ALEXAS     Show him your hand.
ENOBARBUS
Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough
Cleopatra’s health to drink.
Enter servants with wine and other refreshments and exeunt.
CHARMIAN     [Gives her hand to the Soothsayer.] Good sir,
give me good fortune.	15
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.	20
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.	25
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	30
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.	35
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.	40
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.
ENOBARBUS     Mine, and most of our fortunes tonight,	45
shall be drunk to bed.
IRAS     [Holds out her hand.] There’s a palm presages
chastity, if nothing else.
CHARMIAN     E’en as the o’erflowing Nilus presageth
famine.	50
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 workaday fortune.
SOOTHSAYER     Your fortunes are alike.	55
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?	60
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 worse	65
follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing
to his grave, fiftyfold 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	70
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.	75
ALEXAS     Lo now, if it lay in their hands to make me a
cuckold, they would make themselves whores, but
they’d do’t.
Enter CLEOPATRA.
ENOBARBUS     Hush, here comes Antony.
CHARMIAN     Not he, the Queen.	80
CLEOPATRA     Saw you my lord?
ENOBARBUS     No, lady.
CLEOPATRA     Was he not here?
CHARMIAN     No, madam.
CLEOPATRA
He was disposed to mirth, but on the sudden	85
A Roman thought hath struck him. Enobarbus!
ENOBARBUS     Madam?
CLEOPATRA
Seek him and bring him hither.     Exit Enobarbus.
Where’s Alexas?
ALEXAS     Here, at your service. My lord approaches.
Enter ANTONY with a Messenger.
CLEOPATRA     We will not look upon him. Go with us.	90
Exeunt all but Antony and Messenger.
MESSENGER     Fulvia thy wife first came into the field.
ANTONY     Against my brother Lucius?
MESSENGER     Ay,
But soon that war had end, and the time’s state
Made friends of them, jointing their force ’gainst
Caesar,	95
Whose better issue in the war from Italy
Upon the first encounter drave them.
ANTONY     Well, what worst?
MESSENGER     The nature of bad news infects the teller.
ANTONY     When it concerns the fool or coward. On!	100
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 flattered.
MESSENGER     Labienus –
This is stiff news – hath with his Parthian force
Extended Asia. From Euphrates	105
His conquering banner shook, from Syria
To Lydia, and to Ionia,
Whilst –
ANTONY     ‘Antony’, thou wouldst say –
MESSENGER     O, my lord!
ANTONY
Speak to me home; mince not the general tongue;
Name Cleopatra as she is called in Rome;	110
Rail thou in Fulvia’s phrase, and taunt my faults
With such full licence as both truth and malice
Have power to utter. Oh, then we bring forth weeds
When our quick minds lie still, and our ills told us
Is as our earing. Fare thee well awhile.	115
MESSENGER     At your noble pleasure.     Exit Messenger.
Enter another Messenger.
ANTONY     From Sicyon how the news? Speak there!
2 MESSENGER     The man from Sicyon –
ANTONY     Is there such a one?
2 MESSENGER     He stays upon your will.
ANTONY     Let him appear.
Exit Second Messenger.
These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,	120
Or lose myself in dotage.
Enter another Messenger with a letter.
What are you?
MESSENGER     Fulvia thy wife is dead.
ANTONY     Where died she?
3 MESSENGER     In Sicyon.
Her length of sickness, with what else more serious	125
Importeth thee to know, this bears.
[Gives him the letter.]
ANTONY     Forbear me.
Exit Third Messenger.
There’s a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it.
What our contempts doth often hurl from us
We wish it ours again. The present pleasure,
By revolution lowering, does become	130
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!	135
Enter ENOBARBUS.
ENOBARBUS     What’s your pleasure, sir?
ANTONY     I must with haste from hence.
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.	140
ANTONY     I must be gone.
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	145
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.
ANTONY     She is cunning past man’s thought.	150
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	155
shower of rain as well as Jove.
ANTONY     Would I had never seen her!
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.	160
ANTONY     Fulvia is dead.
ENOBARBUS     Sir?
ANTONY     Fulvia is dead.
ENOBARBUS     Fulvia?
ANTONY     Dead.	165
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	170
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.	175
ANTONY     The business she hath broached in the state
Cannot endure my absence.
ENOBARBUS     And the business you have broached here
cannot be without you, especially that of Cleopatra’s,
which wholly depends on your abode.	180
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,	185
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,	190
Whose love is never linked 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	195
For the main soldier; whose quality going on,
The sides o’th’ 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	200
Our quick remove from hence.
ENOBARBUS     I shall do’t.     Exeunt.

1.3 Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, ALEXAS and IRAS.

CLEOPATRA     Where is he?
CHARMIAN     I did not see him since.
CLEOPATRA     [to Alexas]
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	5
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 in nothing.	10
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.
Enter ANTONY.
But here comes Antony.
CLEOPATRA     I am sick and sullen.
ANTONY     I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose –	15
CLEOPATRA     Help me away, dear Charmian! I shall fall!
It cannot be thus long; the sides of nature
Will not sustain it.
ANTONY     Now, my dearest queen –
CLEOPATRA     Pray you, stand farther from me!
ANTONY     What’s the matter?
CLEOPATRA
I know by that same eye there’s some good news.	20
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.
ANTONY     The gods best know –
CLEOPATRA     O, never was there queen	25
So mightily betrayed! Yet at the first
I saw the treasons planted.
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,	30
To be entangled with those mouth-made vows
Which break themselves in swearing!
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.	35
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 turned the greatest liar.
ANTONY     How now, lady?	40
CLEOPATRA
I would I had thy inches! Thou shouldst know
There were a heart in Egypt!
ANTONY     Hear me, queen.
The strong necessity of time commands
Our services awhile, but my full heart
Remains in use with you. Our Italy	45
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 condemned Pompey,	50
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,	55
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?
ANTONY     She’s dead, my queen. [Gives her the letters.]	60
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,	65
In Fulvia’s death how mine received shall be.
ANTONY     Quarrel no more, but be prepared to know
The purposes I bear; which are, or cease,
As you shall give th’advice. By the fire
That quickens Nilus’ slime, I go from hence	70
Thy soldier, servant, making peace or war
As thou affects.
CLEOPATRA     Cut my lace, Charmian, come!
But let it be; I am quickly ill and well –
So Antony loves.
ANTONY     My precious queen, forbear,
And give true evidence to his love, which stands	75
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	80
Like perfect honour.
ANTONY     You’ll heat my blood. No more.
CLEOPATRA     You can do better yet, but this is meetly.
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	85
The carriage of his chafe.
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;	90
That you know well. Something it is I would –
Oh, my oblivion is a very Antony,
And I am all forgotten!
ANTONY     But that your royalty
Holds idleness your subject, I should take you
For idleness itself.
CLEOPATRA     ’Tis sweating labour	95
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,	100
And all the gods go with you! Upon your sword
Sit laurel victory, and smooth success
Be strewed before your feet!
ANTONY     Let us go. Come.
Our separation so abides and flies
That thou, residing here, goes yet with me,	105
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee.
Away!     Exeunt.

1.4 Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR reading a letter, LEPIDUS and their train.

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 manlike	5
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	10
Evils enough 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.	15
CAESAR     You are too indulgent. Let’s 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	20
With knaves that smells 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 foils, when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. If he filled	25
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	30
As we rate boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure
And so rebel to judgement.
Enter a Messenger.
LEPIDUS     Here’s more news.
MESSENGER
Thy biddings have been done, and every hour,
Most noble Caesar, shalt thou have report	35
How ’tis abroad. Pompey is strong at sea,
And it appears he is beloved of those
That only have feared Caesar. To the ports
The discontents repair, and men’s reports
Give him much wronged.
CAESAR     I should have known no less.	40
It hath been taught us from the primal state
That he which is was wished until he were,
And the ebbed man, ne’er loved till ne’er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,	45
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion.
Enter another Messenger.
2 MESSENGER     Caesar, I bring thee word
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
Makes the sea serve them, which they ear and wound	50
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	55
Than could his war resisted.
CAESAR     Antony,
Leave thy lascivious wassails! When thou once
Was beaten from Modena, where thou slew’st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel
Did famine follow, whom thou fought’st against,	60
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.	65
Yea, like the stag when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsed. 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 –	70
Was borne so like a soldier that thy cheek
So much as lanked not.
LEPIDUS     ’Tis pity of him.
CAESAR     Let his shames quickly
Drive him to Rome. ’Tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i’th’ field, and to that end	75
Assemble we immediate council. Pompey
Thrives in our idleness.
LEPIDUS     Tomorrow, Caesar,
I shall be furnished to inform you rightly
Both what by sea and land I can be able
To front this present time.
CAESAR     Till which encounter,	80
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.
CAESAR     Doubt not, sir.
I knew it for my bond.     Exeunt by different doors.	85

1.5 Enter C LEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS and MARDIAN.

CLEOPATRA     Charmian!
CHARMIAN     Madam?
CLEOPATRA     [Yawns.] Ha, ha.
Give me to drink mandragora.
CHARMIAN     Why, madam?
CLEOPATRA
That I might sleep out this great gap of time	5
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	10
In aught an eunuch has. ’Tis well for thee
That, being unseminared, thy freer thoughts
May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?
MARDIAN     Yes, gracious madam.
CLEOPATRA     Indeed?	15
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?	20
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
mov’st?
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men! He’s speaking now,	25
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,	30
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.	35
Enter ALEXAS from Antony.
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?	40
ALEXAS     Last thing he did, dear queen,
He kissed – 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	45
This treasure of an oyster, at whose foot,
To mend this 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	50
Who neighed so high that what I would have spoke
Was beastly dumbed by him.
CLEOPATRA     What, was he sad or merry?
ALEXAS
Like to the time o’th’ year between the extremes
Of hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry.	55
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 seemed to tell them his remembrance lay	60
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.	65
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!	70
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,	75
I sing but after you.
CLEOPATRA     My salad days,
When I was green in judgement, 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	80
Or I’ll unpeople Egypt!     Exeunt.

2.1 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,	5
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	10
Says it will come to th’ 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 flattered; but he neither loves,	15
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,	20
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	25
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour
Even till a Lethe’d dullness –
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	30
A space for farther travel.
POMPEY     I could have given less matter
A better ear. Menas, I did not think
This amorous surfeiter would have donned his helm
For such a petty war. His soldiership	35
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.	40
His wife that’s dead did trespasses to Caesar;
His brother warred 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,	45
’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.	50
Be’t as our gods will have’t! It only stands
Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.
Come, Menas.     Exeunt.

2.2 Enter ENOBARBUS and LEPIDUS.

LEPIDUS     Good Enobarbus, ’tis a worthy deed,
And shall become you well, to entreat your captain
To soft and gentle speech.
ENOBARBUS     I shall entreat him
To answer like himself. If Caesar move him,
Let Antony look over Caesar’s head	5
And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,
Were I the wearer of Antonio’s beard,
I would not shave’t today!
LEPIDUS     ’Tis not a time
For private stomaching.
ENOBARBUS     Every time
Serves for the matter that is then born in’t.	10
LEPIDUS
But small to greater matters must give way.
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 ANTONY and VENTIDIUS.
ENOBARBUS     And yonder Caesar.
Enter CAESAR, MAECENAS and AGRIPPA.
ANTONY     If we compose well here, to Parthia.	15
Hark, Ventidius.
CAESAR     I do not know, Maecenas. Ask Agrippa.
LEPIDUS     Noble friends,
That which combined us was most great, and let not
A leaner action rend us. What’s amiss,	20
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,	25
Nor curstness grow to th’ matter.
ANTONY     ’Tis spoken well.
Were we before our armies, and to fight,
I should do thus.     [Flourish.]
CAESAR     Welcome to Rome.
ANTONY     Thank you.	30
CAESAR     Sit.
ANTONY     Sit, sir.
CAESAR     Nay then. [Caesar sits, then Antony.]
ANTONY     I learn you take things ill which are not so,
Or being, concern you not.
CAESAR     I must be laughed at	35
If, or for nothing or a little, I
Should say myself offended, and with you
Chiefly i’th’ world; more laughed at that I should
Once name you derogately when to sound your name
It not concerned me.
ANTONY     My being in Egypt, Caesar,	40
What was’t to you?
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.
ANTONY     How intend you, ‘practised’?	45
CAESAR     You may be pleased to catch at mine intent
By what did here befall me. Your wife and brother
Made wars upon me, and their contestation
Was theme for you; you were the word of war.
ANTONY
You do mistake your business. My brother never	50
Did urge me in his act. I did enquire 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,	55
Having alike your cause? Of this my letters
Before did satisfy you. If you’ll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have to make it with,
It must not be with this.
CAESAR     You praise yourself
By laying defects of judgement to me, but	60
You patched up your excuses.
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	65
Which fronted mine own peace. As for my wife,
I would you had her spirit in such another.
The third o’th’ world is yours, which with a snaffle
You may pace easy, but not such a wife.
ENOBARBUS Would we had all such wives, that the men	70
might go to wars with the women!
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	75
But say I could not help it.
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.
ANTONY     Sir,
He fell upon me ere admitted, then.	80
Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want
Of what I was i’th’ morning. But next day
I told him of myself, which was as much
As to have asked him pardon. Let this fellow
Be nothing of our strife; if we contend,	85
Out of our question wipe him.
CAESAR     You have broken
The article of your oath, which you shall never
Have tongue to charge me with.
LEPIDUS     Soft, Caesar!
ANTONY     No, Lepidus, let him speak.	90
The honour is sacred which he talks on now,
Supposing that I lacked it. But on, Caesar:
‘The article of my oath –’
CAESAR
To lend me arms and aid when I required them,
The which you both denied.
ANTONY     Neglected, rather;	95
And then when poisoned 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,	100
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.
MAECENAS     If it might please you to enforce no further	105
The griefs between ye; to forget them quite
Were to remember that the present need
Speaks to atone you.
LEPIDUS     Worthily spoken, Maecenas.
ENOBARBUS Or, if you borrow one another’s love for the
instant, you may, when you hear no more words of	110
Pompey, return it again. You shall have time to
wrangle in when you have nothing else to do.
ANTONY     Thou art a soldier only. Speak no more.
ENOBARBUS     That truth should be silent, I had almost
forgot.	115
ANTONY
You wrong this presence; therefore speak no more.
ENOBARBUS     Go to, then! Your considerate stone.
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	120
So differing in their acts. Yet, if I knew
What hoop should hold us staunch, from edge to
edge
O’th’ world I would pursue it.
AGRIPPA     Give me leave, Caesar.
CAESAR     Speak, Agrippa.
AGRIPPA     Thou hast a sister by the mother’s side,	125
Admired Octavia. Great Mark Antony
Is now a widower.
CAESAR     Say not so, Agrippa.
If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
Were well deserved of rashness.
ANTONY     I am not married, Caesar. Let me hear	130
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	135
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	140
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,	145
By duty ruminated.
ANTONY     Will Caesar speak?
CAESAR     Not till he hears how Antony is touched
With what is spoke already.
ANTONY     What power is in Agrippa,
If I would say, ‘Agrippa, be it so’,	150
To make this good?
CAESAR     The power of Caesar, and
His power unto Octavia.
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	155
The heart of brothers govern in our loves
And sway our great designs!
CAESAR     There’s my hand.
[They clasp hands.]
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	160
Fly off our loves again!
LEPIDUS     Happily, amen!
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;	165
At heel of that, defy him.
LEPIDUS     Time calls upon’s.
Of us must Pompey presently be sought
Or else he seeks out us.
ANTONY     Where lies he?
CAESAR     About the Mount Misena.	170
ANTONY     What is his strength by land?
CAESAR     Great and increasing, but by sea
He is an absolute master.
ANTONY     So is the fame.
Would we had spoke together! Haste we for it.
Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we	175
The business we have talked of.
CAESAR     With most gladness,
And do invite you to my sister’s view,
Whither straight I’ll lead you.
ANTONY     Let us, Lepidus, not lack your company.
LEPIDUS     Noble Antony, not sickness should detain me.	180
Flourish. Exeunt all except Enobarbus, Agrippa, Maecenas.
MAECENAS     Welcome from Egypt, sir.
ENOBARBUS Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Maecenas!
My honourable friend, Agrippa!
AGRIPPA     Good Enobarbus!
MAECENAS     We have cause to be glad that matters are	185
so well digested. You stayed well by’t in Egypt.
ENOBARBUS     Ay, sir, we did sleep day out of countenance
and made the night light with drinking.
MAECENAS     Eight wild boars roasted whole at a
breakfast, and but twelve persons there. Is this true?	190
ENOBARBUS     This was but as a fly by an eagle. We had
much more monstrous matter of feast, which worthily
deserved noting.
MAECENAS     She’s a most triumphant lady, if report be
square to her.	195
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.
ENOBARBUS I will tell you.	200
The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned 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	205
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggared all description: she did lie
In her pavilion, cloth-of-gold of tissue,
O’erpicturing that Venus where we see	210
The fancy outwork nature. On each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling cupids,
With divers-coloured fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did.
AGRIPPA     O, rare for Antony!	215
ENOBARBUS     Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many mermaids, tended her i’th’ 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	220
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’th’ market-place, did sit alone,	225
Whistling to th’air, which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra, too,
And made a gap in nature.
AGRIPPA     Rare Egyptian!
ENOBARBUS Upon her landing, Antony sent to her;
Invited her to supper. She replied	230
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 barbered ten times o’er, goes to the feast,
And, for his ordinary, pays his heart	235
For what his eyes eat only.
AGRIPPA     Royal wench!
She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed.
He ploughed her, and she cropped.
ENOBARBUS     I saw her once
Hop forty paces through the public street
And, having lost her breath, she spoke and panted,	240
That she did make defect perfection,
And, breathless, pour breath forth.
MAECENAS     Now Antony must leave her utterly.
ENOBARBUS     Never! He will not.
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale	245
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.	250
MAECENAS     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.
ENOBARBUS     Humbly, sir, I thank you.	255
Exeunt.

2.3 Enter ANTONY, CAESAR; OCTAVIA between them.

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.
ANTONY     Good night, sir. My Octavia,
Read not my blemishes in the world’s report.	5
I have not kept my square, but that to come
Shall all be done by th’ rule. Good night, dear lady.
OCTAVIA     Good night, sir.
CAESAR     Good night.     Exeunt Caesar and Octavia.
Enter Soothsayer.
ANTONY     Now, sirrah! You do wish yourself in Egypt?	10
SOOTHSAYER
Would I had never come from thence, nor you
thither!
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.
ANTONY     Say to me,
Whose fortunes shall rise higher, Caesar’s or mine?	15
SOOTHSAYER     Caesar’s.
Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side.
Thy daemon – that thy spirit which keeps thee – is
Noble, courageous, high unmatchable,
Where Caesar’s is not. But near him, thy angel	20
Becomes afeard, as being o’erpowered; therefore
Make space enough between you.
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	25
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.
ANTONY     Get thee gone.
Say to Ventidius I would speak with him.	30
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	35
When it is all to naught, and his quails ever
Beat mine, inhooped, at odds. I will to Egypt;
And though I make this marriage for my peace,
I’th’ East my pleasure lies.
Enter VENTIDIUS.
O come, Ventidius.
You must to Parthia. Your commission’s ready.	40
Follow me and receive’t.     Exeunt.

2.4 Enter LEPIDUS, MAECENAS 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 soldiers’ dress,
Which will become you both, farewell.
MAECENAS     We shall,	5
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.
MAECENAS, AGRIPPA     Sir, good success!	10
LEPIDUS     Farewell.     Exeunt.

2.5 Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS and ALEXAS.

CLEOPATRA     Give me some music – music, moody food
Of us that trade in love.
ALL     The music, ho!
Enter MARDIAN the Eunuch.
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 played	5
As with a woman. Come, you’ll play with me, sir?
MARDIAN     As well as I can, madam.
CLEOPATRA
And when good will is showed, though’t come too
short,
The actor may plead pardon. I’ll none now.
Give me mine angle; we’ll to th’ river. There,	10
My music playing far off, I will betray
Tawny-finned 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!’
CHARMIAN     ’Twas merry when	15
You wagered on your angling; when your diver
Did hang a salt fish on his hook, which he
With fervency drew up.
CLEOPATRA     That time? O times!
I laughed him out of patience, and that night
I laughed him into patience, and next morn,	20
Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed,
Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst
I wore his sword Philippan.
Enter a Messenger.
Oh, from Italy!
Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears,
That long time have been barren!
MESSENGER     Madam, madam –	25
CLEOPATRA     Antonio’s dead! If thou say so, villain,
Thou kill’st thy mistress; but well and free,
If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here
My bluest veins to kiss, a hand that kings
Have lipped, and trembled, kissing.	30
MESSENGER     First, madam, he is well.
CLEOPATRA     Why, there’s more gold.
But sirrah, mark, we use
To say the dead are well. Bring it to that,
The gold I give thee will I melt and pour
Down thy ill-uttering throat.
MESSENGER     Good madam, hear me.	35
CLEOPATRA     Well, go to, I will.
But there’s no goodness in thy face if Antony
Be free and healthful. So tart a favour
To trumpet such good tidings! If not well,
Thou shouldst come like a Fury crowned with
snakes,	40
Not like a formal man.
MESSENGER     Will’t please you hear me?
CLEOPATRA
I have a mind to strike thee ere thou speak’st.
Yet if thou say Antony lives, is well,
Or friends with Caesar, or not captive to him,
I’ll set thee in a shower of gold and hail	45
Rich pearls upon thee.
MESSENGER     Madam, he’s well.
CLEOPATRA     Well said!
MESSENGER     And friends with Caesar.
CLEOPATRA     Thou’rt an honest man!
MESSENGER
Caesar and he are greater friends than ever.
CLEOPATRA     Make thee a fortune from me!
MESSENGER     But yet, madam –
CLEOPATRA     I do not like ‘But yet’. It does allay	50
The good precedence. Fie upon ‘But yet’!
‘But yet’ is as a gaoler to bring forth
Some monstrous malefactor. Prithee, friend,
Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear,
The good and bad together. He’s friends with Caesar,	55
In state of health, thou sayst, and, thou sayst, free.
MESSENGER     Free, madam? No. I made no such report.
He’s bound unto Octavia.
CLEOPATRA     For what good turn?
MESSENGER     For the best turn i’th’ bed.
CLEOPATRA     I am pale, Charmian.
MESSENGER     Madam, he’s married to Octavia.	60
CLEOPATRA     The most infectious pestilence upon thee!
[Strikes him down.]
MESSENGER     Good madam, patience!
CLEOPATRA     What say you?
[Strikes him.]     Hence,
Horrible villain, or I’ll spurn thine eyes
Like balls before me! I’ll unhair thy head!
[She hales him up and down.]
Thou shalt be whipped with wire and stewed in brine,	65
Smarting in lingering pickle!
MESSENGER     Gracious madam,
I that do bring the news made not the match.
CLEOPATRA     Say ’tis not so, a province I will give thee,
And make thy fortunes proud. The blow thou hadst
Shall make thy peace for moving me to rage,	70
And I will boot thee with what gift beside
Thy modesty can beg.
MESSENGER     He’s married, madam.
CLEOPATRA     Rogue, thou hast lived too long!
[Draws a knife.]
MESSENGER     Nay then, I’ll run.
What mean you, madam? I have made no fault.     Exit.
CHARMIAN
Good madam, keep yourself within yourself.	75
The man is innocent.
CLEOPATRA
Some innocents ’scape not the thunderbolt.
Melt Egypt into Nile, and kindly creatures
Turn all to serpents! Call the slave again!
Though I am mad, I will not bite him. Call!	80
CHARMIAN     He is afeard to come.
CLEOPATRA     I will not hurt him.
Exit Charmian.
These hands do lack nobility that they strike
A meaner than myself, since I myself
Have given myself the cause.
Enter the Messenger again with CHARMIAN.
Come hither, sir.
Though it be honest, it is never good	85
To bring bad news. Give to a gracious message
An host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell
Themselves when they be felt.
MESSENGER     I have done my duty.
CLEOPATRA     Is he married?
I cannot hate thee worser than I do	90
If thou again say ‘Yes’.
MESSENGER     He’s married, madam.
CLEOPATRA
The gods confound thee! Dost thou hold there still?
MESSENGER     Should I lie, madam?
CLEOPATRA     Oh, I would thou didst,
So half my Egypt were submerged and made
A cistern for scaled snakes! Go, get thee hence!	95
Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me
Thou wouldst appear most ugly. He is married?
MESSENGER     I crave your highness’ pardon.
CLEOPATRA     He is married?
MESSENGER
Take no offence that I would not offend you.
To punish me for what you make me do	100
Seems much unequal. He’s married to Octavia.
CLEOPATRA
Oh, that his fault should make a knave of thee
That act not what thou’rt sure of! Get thee hence!
The merchandise which thou hast brought from
Rome
Are all too dear for me. Lie they upon thy hand	105
And be undone by ’em.     Exit Messenger.
CHARMIAN     Good your highness, patience.
CLEOPATRA
In praising Antony, I have dispraised Caesar.
CHARMIAN     Many times, madam.
CLEOPATRA     I am paid for’t now.
Lead me from hence;
I faint! O Iras, Charmian! ’Tis no matter.	110
Go to the fellow, good Alexas, bid him
Report the feature of Octavia, her years,
Her inclination; let him not leave out
The colour of her hair. Bring me word quickly.
Exit Alexas.
Let him for ever go! Let him not, Charmian.	115
Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon,
The other way’s a Mars. [to Iras] Bid you Alexas
Bring me word how tall she is. Pity me, Charmian,
But do not speak to me. Lead me to my chamber.
Exeunt.