ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. PERSONS REPRESENTED. M. ANTONY, a triumvir. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act 11. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 4; se 7; sc. 8; sc. 9; sc. 11. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 5; sc. 7; sc. 8; sc. 10; sc. 12; sc. 13. OCTAVIUS CAESAR, a triumvir. Appears, Act I. sc. 4. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 6; M. ÆMIL. LEPIDUS, a triumvir. Appears, Act I. sc. 4. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act III. sc. 2. SEXTUS POMPEIUS. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 6; sc. 7. DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, a friend of Antony. Appears. Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 5; sc. 7; sc. 8; sc. 11. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 6; sc. 9. VENTIDIUS, a friend of Antony. Appears, Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1. Appears, Act III. sc. 5; sc. 9. Act IV. sc. 4; sc. 5; sc. 7; sc. 12. SCARUS, a friend of Antony. Appears, Act III. sc. 8. Act IV. sc. 7; sc. 8; sc. 10. PHILO, a friend of Antony. MECENAS, a friend of Cæsar. Appears, Act II. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act III. sc. 6. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 6 Act V. sc. 1. DOLABELLA, a friend of Cæsar. Appears, Act III. sc. 10. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. Appears, Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. THYREUS, a friend of Cæsar. MENAS, a friend of Pompey. VARRIUS, a friend of Pompey. TAURUS, lieutenant-general to Cæsar. CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to Antony. SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius's army. EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Cæsar ALEXAS, an attendant on Cleopatra. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 5. Act III. sc. 3. Act IV. sc. 2. MARDIAN, an attendant on Cleopatra. Appears, Act 1. sc. 5. Act II. sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 11; sc. 2. DIOMEDES, an attendant on Cleopatra. Appears, Act 1. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 3. Appears, Act V. sc. 2. CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc 2; sc. 3; sc. 5. Act II. sc. 5. Act III sc. 3; sc. 7; sc. 9; sc. 11. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 8; sc.:0; sc. 11; sc. 13. Act V. sc. 2. OCTAVIA, sister to Cæsar, and wife to Antony. Appears, Act II. sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6. CHARMIAN, an attendant on Cleopatra. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 5. Act II. sc. 3. sc. 3; sc. 9; sc. 11. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 11; sc. 13. Act V. sc. 2. IRAS, an attendant on Cleopatra. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 5. Act II. sc. 5. sc. 3; sc. 9; sc. 11. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 11; sc. 13. sc. 2. Act I11. Act 111. Act V. Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE,-DISPERSED; IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ACT I. SCENE I.-Alexandria. A Room in Cleopatra's Palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, a Reneagues-renounces. This is usually spelt reneges. The orthography we have adopted gives us the proper pronunciation, as in league. Triple is here used in the sense of third, or one of three. So in All's Well that Ends Well' we have a triple eye for a third eye. We are not aware that any other author uses triple otherwise than in the ordinary sense of three-fold Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen, Cleo. Will be himself Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Exeunt ANT. and CLEOP., with their Train. Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius priz'd so slight? Phi. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, He comes too short of that great property Which still should go with Antony. Dem. I'm full sorry That he approves the common liar, who Thus speaks of him at Rome: But I will hope Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy! [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The same. Another Room. Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most anything Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? O, that I a Grates me-offends me; is grating to me. b Process-summons. Rang'd empire. Capell properly explains this-" Orderly ranged-whose parts are now eutire and distinct, like a number of well-built edifices." d To weet-to know. Antony accepts Cleopatra's belief of what he will be. He will be himself; but still under the influence of Cleopatra; and to show what that influence is, he continues, "Now, for the Love of Love," &c. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old, Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Sooth. You shall be more heloving than belov'd. Char. 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 Octavius Cæsar, and companion me with my mistress. Sooth. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. Char. O excellent! I love long life better than figs. Sooth. You have seen and prov'd a fairer former fortune Than that which is to approach. Char. Then, belike my children shall have no names: Prithee, how many boys and wenches must I have? Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb, And fertile every wish, a million. Char. Out, fool! I forgive thee for a witch. Alex. You think none but your sheets are privy to your wishes. Char. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. Alex. We'll know all our fortunes. Eno. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall be-drunk to bed. Iras. There's a palin presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth fa mine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear. Prithee, tell her but a worky-day fortune. Sooth. Your fortunes are alike. Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she? Char. 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 follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold 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 people! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a Change-vary, give a different appearance to. foul knave uncuckolded: Therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen. Aler. Lo, now! if it lay in their hands to make me a cuckold, they would make themselves whores but they'd do 't. Eno. Hush! here comes Antony. Enter CLEOPATRA. Eno. Cleo. Char. No, madam. Not he; the queen. No, lady. Was he not here? Cleo. He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sudden A Roman thought hath struck him.-Enobarbus,Eno. Madam. Cleo. Seek him, and bring him hither. Where's Alexas? Alex. Here, at your service.-My lord approaches. Enter ANTONY, with a Messenger and Attendants. Mess. Ay: But soon that war had end, and the time's state Whose better issue in the war, from Italy, Ant. Well, what worst? Mess. The nature of bad news infects the teller. Ant. When it concerns the fool, or coward.—On : Things that are past are done with me.-'T is thus : Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, I hear him as he flatter'd. Ant. Speak to me home, mince not the general tongue; Name Cleopatra as she 's call'd in Rome: Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase; and taunt my faults With such full licence as both truth and malice Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds When our quick winds lie still; and our ills told us, Is as our earing.b Fare thee well a while. Mess. At your noble pleasure. [Exit. Ant. From Sicyon how the news? Speak there. 1 Att. The man from Sicyon.-Is there such an one? 2 Att. He stays upon your will. Ant. Let him appear.— These strong Egyptian fetters I must break, Enter another Messenger. Or lose myself in dotage.-What are you? a Ertended-seized upon. Nearly all Shakspere's contemporaries make the second syllable of Euphrates short. b Malone proposes to read minds instead of winds. Before we adopt a new reading we must be satisfied that the old one is corrupt. When do we "bring forth weeds?" In a heavy and moist season, when there are no "quick winds" to mellow the earth, to dry up the exuberant moisture, to fit it for the plough. The quick winds, then are the voices which bring us true reports to put an end to our inaction. When these winds lie still we bring forth weeds. But the metaphor is carried farther: the winds have rendered the soil fit for the plough; but the know edge of our own faults-ills-is as the ploughing itself-the ⚫earing 2 Mess. Fulvia thy wife is dead Ant. 2 Mess. In Sicyon: Ant. Where die she Her length. of sickness, with what else more serious Eno. What's your pleasure, sir? Eno. 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. Ant. I must be gone. Eno. 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 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. Ant. She is cunning past man's thought. Eno. 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 shower of rain as well as Jove. Ant. 'Would I had never seen her! Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderfu! piece of work; which not to have been blessed withal, would have discredited your travel. Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Sir? Ant. Fulvia is dead. Eno. Fulvia? Ant. Dead. Eno. 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 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. Ant. The business she hath broached in the state Cannot endure my absence. Remains in use with you. Our Italy Till his deserts are past) begin to throw Eno. I shall do 't. SCENE III. Shines o'er with civil swords: Sextus Pompeius Breeds scrupulous faction: The hated, grown to strength, Cleo. Though age from folly could not give me free- It does from childishness :-Can Fulvia die! Cleo. See where he is, who 's with him, what he Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read does : b The garboils she awak'd; at the last, best; Cleo. Ant. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know Cleo. Ant. My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial. Our separation so abides, and flies, That thon, residing here, go'st yet with me, [Exeunt. SCENE IV.--Rome. An Apartment in Cæsar's Enter OCTAVIUS CESAR, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate One great competitor: from Alexandria This is the news: He fishes, drinks, and wastes Leave thy lascivious vassals. When thou once The roughest berry on the rudest hedge; Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh, Or vouchsaf'd to think he had partners: You shall So much as lank'd not. find there A man who is the abstract of all faults That all men follow. Lep. I must not think there are Cæs. 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 To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet With knaves that smell of sweat; say, this becomes him, (As his composure must be rare indeed Whom these things cannot blemish,) yet must Antony So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports * Give him much wrong'd. Cæs. Mess. Cæs. Antony, a Soils-defilements, taints. Lep. T is pity of him. Let his shames quickly Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of time My Antony is away. Char. Cleo. O, 't is treason! You think of him too much. Madam, I trust not so. What's your highness' pleasure? Cleo. Thou, eunuch! Mardian! Mar. Cleo. Not now to hear thee sing; I take no pleasure In aught an eunuch has: "T is well for thee, That, being unseminar'd, thy freer thoughts May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections? Cleo. Indeed? Mar. Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing Cleo. a Vassals. The spelling of the original is vassails. The modern reading is wassals. Now, in three other passages of the original, where he old English word wassal is used, it is pel: wassels. Wassal is employed by Shakspere in the strict meaning of drunken revelry; and that could scarcely be called "lascivious." On the contrary, "leave thy lascivious vassals expresses Cæsar's contempt for Cleopatra and her minions, who were strictly the vassals of Antony, the queen being one of his tributaries. |