SCENE XIII. The same. A Monument. Enter above, CLEOPATRA, CHAR MIAN, and IRAS. Cleo. O Charmian, I will never go from hence. Cleo. No, I will not: All strange and terrible events are welcome, As that which makes it.-How now? is he dead? Enter ANTONY, borne by the Guard. Cleo. O thou sun, Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in !-darkling stand Not Cæsar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, Cleo. So it should be, that none but Antony Cleo. I dare not, dear, (Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not, Lest I be taken :5 not the imperious show [3] According to the philosophy which prevailed from the age of Aristotle to that of Shakspeare, and long since, the sun was a planet, and was whirled round the earth by the motion of a solid sphere in which it was fixed.If the sun therefore was to set fire to the sphere, so as to consume it, the con. sequence must be, that itself for want of support,must drop through, and wander in endless space; and in this case the earth would be involved in endless night. HEATH. [4] I solicit death to delay; or, I trouble death by keeping him in waiting. JOHNS. [5] Mr. Theobald amends this passage by adding to the end of Antony's speech-Come down. His insertion seems misplaced, and should be placed at the end of the next line but one. I would therefore read: I lay upon thy lips. Cleo. I dare not, dear, (Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not come down. RITSQN. Be brooch'd with me, if knife, drugs, serpents, have Ant. O, quick, or I am gone. Cleo. Here's sport, indeed !8-How heavy weighs my Our strength is all gone into heaviness, [lord! That makes the weight: Had I great Juno's power, The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up, And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,— Wishers were ever fools :-O, come, come, come ; [They draw ANTONY uft. And welcome, welcome! die, where thou hast liv'd : Quicken with kissing; had my lips that power, Thus would I wear them out. All. A heavy sight! Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying: Give me some wine, and let me speak a little. Ant. One word, sweet queen : Of Cæsar seek your honour, with your safety.-O ! Ant. Gentle, hear me : None about Cæsar trust, but Proculeius. Cleo. My resolution, and my hands, I'll trust; Ant. The miserable change now at my end, Valiantly vanquish'd. Now, my spirit is going; A [6] Brooch'd in the text, means adorn'à, as it has been properly explained by Mr. Steevens. A brocch is always an ornament; whether a buckle or pin for the breast, hat, or hair, or whatever other shape it may assume. broach is a spit: the spires of churches are likewise so called in the northern counties, as Darnton broach. RITSON. [7] Sedate determination; silent coolness of resolution. JOHNS. [8] I suppose the meaning of these strange words is, here's trifling, you do not work in earnest. JOHNS. I can no more. Cleo. Noblest of men, woo't die? Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide In this dull world, which in thy absence is The crown o'the earth doth melt :-My lord!- [Dies. The soldier's pole is fallen; young boys, and girls, And there is nothing left remarkable Beneath the visiting moon. Iras. She is dead too, our sovereign. Iras. Madam,— Char. O madam, madam, madam ! Empress ! Char. Peace, peace, Iras. Cleo. No more but e'en a woman; [She faints. and commanded By such poor passion as the maid that milks, Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women? And make death proud to take us. Come, away : Ah, women, women! come; we have no friend [Exeunt; those above bearing off ANTONY's body. [7] He at whom the soldiers pointed as at a pageant held high for obser vation. JOHNS. [8] I have no more of my wonted greatness, but am even a woman on the level with other women; were I what I once was, It were for me To throw my scepter, &c. JOHNS. [9] That is, task work. Hence our term chare woman. STEEV. ACT V. SCENE I. CESAR's Camp before Alexandria. Enter CESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECENAS, GALLUS, PROCU LEIUS, and others. Cas. GO to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocks us by The pauses that he makes. Dol. Cæsar, I shall. [Exit DOLABELLA. Enter DERCETAS, with the sword of ANTONY. Cas. Wherefore is that? and what art thou, that dar'st Appear thus to us? Der. I am call'd Dercetas ; Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy Best to be serv'd: whilst he stood up, and spoke, He was my master; and I wore my life, To spend upon his haters: If thou please To take me to thee, as I was to him I'll be to Cæsar; if thou pleasest not, Cas. What is't thou say'st? Der. I say, O Cæsar, Antony is dead. Cas. The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater crack: The round world should have shook Lions into civil streets,* And citizens to their dens :-The death of Antony A moiety of the world. Der. He is dead, Cæsar; Not by a public minister of justice, Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand, Which writ his honour in the acts it did, Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd With his most noble blood. Cas. Look you sad, friends? The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings Agr. And strange it is, That nature must compel us to lament [ I think here is a line lost, after which it is in vain to go in quest. The sense seems to have been this: "The round world should have shook, and this great alteration of the system of things should send lions into streets, and citizens into dens." There is sense still, but it is harsh and violent. JOHNS. Our most persisted deeds. Mec. His taints and honours Waged equal with him.2 Agr. A rarer spirit never Did steer humanity: but you, gods, will give us Mec. When such a spacious mirror's set before him, He needs must see himself. Cas. O Antony ! I have follow'd thee to this ;-But we do lance Where mine his thoughts did kindle,-that our stars, Our equalness to this.-Hear me, good friends,— Enter a Messenger. The business of this man looks out of him, We'll hear him what he says.-Whence are you? Of thy intents desires instruction; That she preparedly may frame herself Cas. Bid her have good heart; She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, Determine for her for Cæsar cannot live To be ungentle. Mes. So the gods preserve thee! Ces. Come hither, Proculeius; Go, and say, [Exit. We purpose her no shame : give her what comforts The quality of her passion shall require ; Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke Would be eternal in our triumph: Go, [2] Read weigh with the second folio, where it is misspelt way. RITSON. [3] If this punctuation be right, the man means to say, that he is yet a servant to the queen of Egypt, though soon to become a subject of Rome. JOH. 33 VOL. VI. |