CLEOPATRA
O Charmian, I will never go from .
CHARMIAN
Be comforted, dear madam.
CLEOPATRA
No, I will not.
All strange and terrible events are welcome,
But comforts we despise. Our size of sorrow,
Proportioned to our cause, must be as great
As that which makes it.
CLEOPATRA
How now! Is he dead?
DIOMEDES
His death’s upon him, but not dead.
Look out o’ th’ other side your monument;
His guard have brought him .
CLEOPATRA
O sun,
Burn the great sphere mov’st in! Darkling stand
The varying shore o’ th’ world. O Antony,
Antony, Antony! Help, Charmian! Help, Iras, help!
Help, friends below! Let’s draw him .
ANTONY
Peace!
Not Caesar’s valour o’erthrown Antony,
But Antony’s triumphed on itself.
CLEOPATRA
So it should be, that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony, but woe so!
ANTONY
I am dying, Egypt, dying. Only
I here importune death awhile until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon lips.
CLEOPATRA
I dare not, dear
Dear my lord, pardon. I dare not,
Lest I be taken. Not th’ imperious show
Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
Be brooched with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have
Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe.
Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony—
Help me, my women—we must draw up.
Assist, good friends.
ANTONY
O, quick, or I am gone.
CLEOPATRA
Here’s sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno’s power,
The strong-winged Mercury should fetch up
And set by Jove’s side. Yet come a little;
Wishers were ever fools. O come, come come,
CLEOPATRA
And welcome, welcome! Die where lived;
Quicken with kissing. Had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.
ALL
A heavy sight!
ANTONY
I am dying, Egypt, dying.
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
CLEOPATRA
No, let me speak, and let me rail so high
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provoked by my offence.
ANTONY
One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety. O!
CLEOPATRA
They do not go together.
ANTONY
Gentle, hear me.
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
CLEOPATRA
My resolution and my hands I’ll trust;
None about Caesar.
ANTONY
The miserable change now at my end
Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
Wherein I lived the greatest prince o’ th’ world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
My countryman; a Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquished. Now my spirit is going;
I can no more.
CLEOPATRA
Noblest of men, woo’t die?
no care of me? Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in absence is
No better than a sty? O, see, my women,
CLEOPATRA
The crown o’ th’ earth melt.—My lord!
O, withered is the garland of the war,
The soldier’s pole is fallen; young boys and girls
Are level now with men. The odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.
CHARMIAN
O, quietness, lady!
IRAS
She is dead too, our sovereign.
CHARMIAN
Lady!
IRAS
Madam!
CHARMIAN
O madam, madam, madam!
IRAS
Royal Egypt, Empress!
CHARMIAN
Peace, peace, Iras!
CLEOPATRA
No more but a woman, and commanded
By such poor passion as the maid that milks
And does the meanest chares. It were for me
To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods,
To tell them that this world did equal theirs
Till they had stolen our jewel. All’s but ;
Patience is sottish, and impatience does
Become a dog that’s mad. Then is it sin
To rush into the secret house of death
death dare come to us? How do you, women?
What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian?
My noble girls! Ah, women, women! Look,
Our lamp is spent, it’s out! Good sirs, take heart.
We’ll bury him; and then, what’s brave, what’s noble,
Let’s do it after the high Roman fashion
And make death proud to take us. Come, away.
This case of that huge spirit now is cold.
Ah, women, women! Come, we have no friend
But resolution and the briefest end.