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Alexandria. A Room in the Palace. | |
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Enter ANTONY and Attendants. | |
| Ant. Hark! the land bids me tread no more upon ’t; | |
| It is asham’d to bear me. Friends, come hither: | |
| I am so lated in the world that I | 5 |
| Have lost my way for ever. I have a ship | |
| Laden with gold; take that, divide it; fly, | |
| And make your peace with Cæsar. | |
| Att. Fly! not we. | |
| Ant. I have fled myself, and have instructed cowards | 10 |
| To run and show their shoulders. Friends, be gone; | |
| I have myself resolv’d upon a course | |
| Which has no need of you; be gone: | |
| My treasure’s in the harbour, take it. O! | |
| I follow’d that I blush to look upon: | 15 |
| My very hairs do mutiny, for the white | |
| Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them | |
| For fear and doting. Friends, be gone; you shall | |
| Have letters from me to some friends that will | |
| Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad, | 20 |
| Nor make replies of loathness; take the hint | |
| Which my despair proclaims; let that be left | |
| Which leaves itself; to the sea-side straightway; | |
| I will possess you of that ship and treasure. | |
| Leave me, I pray, a little; pray you now: | 25 |
| Nay, do so; for, indeed, I have lost command, | |
| Therefore I pray you. I’ll see you by and by. [Sits down. | |
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Enter EROS following CLEOPATRA, led by CHARMIAN and IRAS. | |
| Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him, comfort him. | |
| Iras. Do, most dear queen. | 30 |
| Char. Do! Why, what else? | |
| Cleo. Let me sit down. O Juno! | |
| Ant. No, no, no, no, no. | |
| Eros. See you here, sir? | |
| Ant. O fie, fie, fie! | 35 |
| Char. Madam! | |
| Iras. Madam; O good empress! | |
| Eros. Sir, sir! | |
| Ant. Yes, my lord, yes. He, at Philippi kept | |
| His sword e’en like a dancer, while I struck | 40 |
| The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and ’twas I | |
| That the mad Brutus ended: he alone | |
| Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had | |
| In the brave squares of war: yet now—No matter. | |
| Cleo. Ah! stand by. | 45 |
| Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen. | |
| Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him; | |
| He is unqualitied with very shame. | |
| Cleo. Well then, sustain me: O! | |
| Eros. Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches: | 50 |
| Her head’s declin’d, and death will seize her, but | |
| Your comfort makes the rescue. | |
| Ant. I have offended reputation, | |
| A most unnoble swerving. | |
| Eros. Sir, the queen. | 55 |
| Ant. O! whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See, | |
| How I convey my shame out of thine eyes | |
| By looking back what I have left behind | |
| ’Stroy’d in dishonour. | |
| Cleo. O my lord, my lord! | 60 |
| Forgive my fearful sails: I little thought | |
| You would have follow’d. | |
| Ant. Egypt, thou knew’st too well | |
| My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings, | |
| And thou shouldst tow me after; o’er my spirit | 65 |
| Thy full supremacy thou knew’st, and that | |
| Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods | |
| Command me. | |
| Cleo. O! my pardon. | |
| Ant. Now I must | 70 |
| To the young man send humble treaties, dodge | |
| And palter in the shifts of lowness, who | |
| With half the bulk o’ the world play’d as I pleas’d, | |
| Making and marring fortunes. You did know | |
| How much you were my conqueror, and that | 75 |
| My sword, made weak by my affection, would | |
| Obey it on all cause. | |
| Cleo. Pardon, pardon! | |
| Ant. Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates | |
| All that is won and lost. Give me a kiss; | 80 |
| Even this repays me. We sent our school-master; | |
| Is he come back? Love, I am full of lead. | |
| Some wine, within there, and our viands! Fortune knows, | |
| We scorn her most when most she offers blows. [Exeunt. | |
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