With her prepared nails.' [Exit CLEOPATRA.] 'Tis well

thou'rt gone;

If it be well to live: But better 'twere

Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death
Might have prevented many.-Eros, ho!-
The shirt of Nessus is upon me: Teach me,
Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage;

Let me lodge, Lichas, on the horns o'the moon ;

And with those hands, that grasp'd the heaviest club,
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die;

To the Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot : she dies for't.-Eros, ho!

SCENE XI.

Alexandria. A Room in the Palace.

[Exit.

Enter CLEOPATRA,

CHARMIAN, IR AS, and MARDIAN.

Cleo. Help me, my women! O, he is more mad Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss'd.*

Char. To the monument;

There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.
The soul and body rive not more in parting,

Than greatness going off.

Cleo. To the monument :

Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself;
Say, that the last I spoke was, Antony,
And word it, pr'ythee, piteously: Hence,
Mardian; and bring me how he takes my death.-
To the monument.

The same.

[Exeunt.

Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me?

Eros. Ay, noble lord.

Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish; A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion,

A tower'd citadel, a pendant rock,

A forked mountain, or blue promontory

WARBURTON.

i. e. with nails which she suffered to grow for this purpose. This image our poet seems to have taken from Seneca's Hercules, who says, Lichas being launched into the air, sprinkled the clouds with his blood. Sophocles, on the same occasion, talks at a much soberer rate. WARBURTON.

[3] That is, than Ajax Telamon for the armour of Achilles, the most valuable part of which was the shield. The boar of Thessaly was the boar killed by Meleager. STEEVENS.

[4] Emboss'd---a bunting term: when a deer is hard run, and foams at the mouth, he is said to be imbost. HANMER.

ith trees upon't, that nod unto the world,

ad mock our eyes with air: Thou hast seen these signs; hey are black vesper's pageants.5

Eros. Ay, my lord.

Ant. That, which is now a horse, even with a thought, he rack dislimns ; and makes it indistinct,

s water is in water.

Eros. It does, my lord.

Ant. My good knave, Eros, now thy captain is ven such a body: here I am Antony;

et cannot hold this visible shape, my knave. made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,Whose heart, I thought, I had, for she had mine N. Which, whilst it was mine, had annex'd unto't million more, now lost,-she, Eros, has

ack'd cards with Cæsar, and false play'd my glory Into an enemy's triumph.

Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us

Enter MARDIAN.

Durselves to end ourselves.-O, thy vile lady!
She has robb'd me of my sword.

Mar. No, Antony ;

My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled
With thine entirely.

Ant. Hence, saucy eunuch; peace;

She hath betray'd me, and shall die the death.

Mar. Death of one person can be paid but once; And that she has discharg'd: What thou wouldst do, Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake

Was, Antony! most noble Antony.!

Then in the midst a tearing groan did break

The name of Antony; it was divided

Between her heart and lips: she render'd life,
Thy name so buried in her.

Ant. Dead then?

Mar. Dead.

Ant. Eros, unarm; the long day's task is done, And we must sleep :-That thou depart'st hence safe, Does pay thy labour richly; Go.-Off, pluck off;-The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep [Exit MARDIAN. The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!

[5] The beauty both of the expression and the allusion is lost, unless we recollect the frequency and the nature of these shows in Shakespeare's age. T. WARTON. [6] i. e. the fleeting away of the clouds destroys the picture, STEEVENS.

11

VOL. VIII.

Heart, once be stronger than thy continent,
Crack thy frail case !-Apace, Eros, apace.—
No more a soldier :-Bruised pieces, go;
You have been nobly borne.-From me a while.-
I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and
[Exit EROS.
Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
All length is torture :-Since the torch is out,
Lie down, and stray no further: Now all labour
Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles
Itself with strength: Seal then, and all is done."
Eros !—I come, my queen :-Eros !-Stay for me :
Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand,
And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze :
Dido and her Æneas shall want troops,

And all the haunt be ours.-Come, Eros, Eros !
Re-enter EROS.

Eros. What would my lord?
Ant. Since Cleopatra died,

I have liv'd in such dishonour, that the gods
Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword
Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back
With ships made cities, condemn myself, to lack
The courage of a woman; less noble mind
Than she, which, by her death, our Cæsar tells,
I am conqueror of myself. Thou art sworn, Eros,
That, when the exigent should come, (which now
Is come, indeed,) when I should see behind me
The inevitable prosecution of

Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,

Thou then wouldst kill me : Do't; the time is come › Thou strik'st not me, 'tis Cæsar thou defeat'st.

Put colour in thy cheek.

Eros. The gods withhold me!

Shall I do that, which all the Parthian darts,
Though enemy, lost aim, and could not?

Ant. Eros,

Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome, and see

Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down
His corrigible neck,' his face subdu'd

[8] Metaphor taken from civil contracts, where, when all is agreed on, the sealing completes the contract; so he hath determined to die, and nothing remained but to give the stroke. WARBURTON.

I believe the reading is: Seel then, and all is done.---

To seel hawks is to close their eyes.

JOHNSON.

[9] Pleach'd arms---arms folded in each other.

JOHNSON.

[1] Corrigible for corrected, as afterwards penetrative for penetrating. STEEVENS.

To penetrative shame; whilst the wheel'd seat
Of fortunate Cæsar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued ?2

Eros. I would not see't.

Ant. Come then; for with a wound I must be cur'd. Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn Most useful for thy country.

Eros. O, sir, pardon me.

Ant. When I did make thee free, swor'st thou not then To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once;

Or thy precedent services are all

But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come.

Eros. Turn from me then that noble countenance,

Wherein the worship of the whole world lies.

Ant. Lo thee.

Eros. My sword is drawn.

Ant. Then let it do at once

The thing why thou hast drawn it.

Eros. My dear master,

[Turning from him.

My captain, and my emperor! let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.
Ant. 'Tis said, man ;-and farewell.

Eros. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?
Ant. Now, Eros.

Eros. Why, there then :- -[Falls on his sword.] Thus, do I escape the sorrow

Of Antony's death.

Ant. Thrice nobler than myself!

Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what

I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros
Have, by their brave instruction, got upon me
A nobleness in record: But I will be
A bridegroom in my death, and run into't
As to a lover's bed. Come then; and, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar; to do thus

[Dies.

[Falling on his sword. How! not yet dead? not dead ?—

I learn'd of thee.
The guard !-ho!-O, despatch me.

Enter DERCETAS and Guard.

1 Guard. What's the noise?

Ant. I have done my work ill, friends; O, make an end

Of what I have begun.

2 Guard. The star is fallen.

[2] The poor conquered wretch that followed. JOHNSON.

1 Guard. And time is at his period.

All. Alas, and woe!

Ant. Let him that loves me, strike me dead.

1 Guard. Not I.

2 Guard. Nor I.

3 Guard. Nor any one.

[Exeunt Guard.

Der. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly. This sword but shown to Cæsar, with this tidings, Shall enter me with him.

Enter DIOMEdes.

Dio. Where's Antony?

Der. There, Diomed, there.

Dio. Lives he?

[Exit DERCETAS.

[give me

Ant. Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword, and

Wilt thou not answer, man?

Sufficing strokes for death.

Dio. Most absolute lord,

My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee.

Ant. When did she send thee?

Dio. Now, my lord.

Ant. Where is she?

Dio. Lock'd in her monument. She had a prophesying

Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw

(Which never shall be found,) you did suspect She had dispos'd with Cæsar, and that your rage

[fear

Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was dead;
But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent
Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come,

I dread, too late.

Ant. Too late, good Diomed: Call my guard, I pr’ythee. Dio. What, ho! the emperor's guard! The guard, Come, your lord calls. [what, ho!

Enter some of the Guard. Ant. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides; 'Tis the last service that I shall command you.

All

1 Guard. Woe are we, sir, you may not live to wear your true followers out.

All. Most heavy day!

Ant. Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate
To grace it with your sorrows : bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us, and we punish it
Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up :

I have led you oft; carry me now, good friends,
And have my thanks for all.

[Exeunt, bearing ANT.