Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent ANT. Too late, good Diomed.--Call my guard, Dro. What, ho! the emperor's guard! The guard, what, ho! Come, your lord calls! Not Cæsar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, CLEO. So it should be, that none but Antony Should conquer Antony; but woe 't is so! ANT. I am dying,-Egypt,-dying; only I here impórtune death a while, until Of many thousand kisses the last I lay upon thy lips.CLEO. poor I dare not, dear, Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe: ANT. [Exeunt, bearing ANTONY. SCENE XV.—The same. A Monument. Enter, above, CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. CLEO. O, Charmian, I will never go from hence. CHAR. Be comforted, dear madam. CLEO. No, I will not: All strange and terrible events are welcome, But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great As that which makes it. Enter, below, DIOMEDES. How now! is he dead? DIO. His death's upon him, but not dead. a- - dispos'd with Cæsar,-] See note (1), p. 563. b-brooch'd-] Adorned, decorated. So in "Titus Andronicus," Act 1. Sc. 1, "Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome Here's sport, indeed !] The pathos of this exclamation, so O, quick, or I am gone! CLEO. Here's sport, indeed!—How heavy weighs my lord! Our strength is all gone into heaviness; The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up, That the false housewife, Fortune," break her wheel, Provok'd by my offence. ANT. One word, sweet queen: Of Cæsar seek your honour, with your safety.-O! CLEO. They do not go together. ANT. Gentle, hear me ; None about Cæsar trust but Proculeius. CLEO. My resolution and my hands I'll trust; None about Cæsar. ANT. The miserable change now at my end, I can no more.- [ANTONY dies. [Faints. O, quietness, lady! housewife, Fortune,-] "Housewife" is here used in the loose sense, which it often bore, of hussy, or harlot. So in "Henry V." Act V. Sc. 1, Pistol asks,-" Doth Fortune play the huswife with me now?" CLEO. No more, but e'en * What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, away: This case of that huge spirit now is cold.-- [Exeunt; those above bearing off ANTONY's body. (*) First folio, in, corrected by Capell. of addressing women was not unusual; and, consequently, that the modern stage direction here, "[To the Guard below," is improper. Thus, as quoted by Mr. Dyce from Beaumont and Fletcher's play of "The Coxcomb," Act IV. Sc. 3, the mother, speaking to Viola, Nan. and Madge, says, "Sirs, to your tasks, and shew this little novice How to bestir herself," &c. Again, as quoted by Mr. Dyce from the same authors' "A King and No King," Act III. Sc. 1, "Spa. I do beseech you, madam, send away A few sad words, which, set against your joys, Pan. Sirs, leave me all. [Exeunt Waiting-women. I have follow'd thee to this; —but we do lance Where mine his thoughts did kindle,—that our The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's] CES. Let him alone, for I remember now How he's employed: he shall in time be ready. Go with me to my tent; where you shall see How hardly I was drawn into this war; How calm and gentle I proceeded still In all my writings. Go with me, and see What I can show in this. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Alexandria. A Room in the Monument. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS. CLEO. My desolation does begin to make A better life. "Tis paltry to be Cæsar ; Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave, A minister of her will: and it is great To do that thing that ends all other deeds; Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change; Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug, The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's. C Enter, to the gates of the Monument, PROCULEIUS, GALLUS, and Soldiers. PRO. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of Egypt, (*) Old text, leave. Corrected by Southern In the old copies we have, "and never palates more the dung," &c. an obvious misprint, though not wanting defenders, which was corrected by Warburton. |