Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO carried in a chair, and Officers, with IAGO, prisoner. Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief Oth. 'Tis pitiful: but yet Iago knows A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it: And she did gratify his amorous works With that recognisance and pledge of love Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand: My father gave my mother. Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers! Iago. Come, hold your peace Emil. Twill out, 'twill out;-I hold my peace, Sir? no; No, I will speak as liberal as the air; Let heaven, and men, and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak. Emil. I will not. Gra. Fie! Your sword upon a woman! [IAGO offers to stab his wife. [speak'st of Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou I found by fortune, and did give my husband; For often, with a solemn earnestness, (More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle,) He begg'd of me to steal it. Iago. Villanous whore! Emil. She gave it Cassio! no, alas; I found it, And I did give 't my husband. lago. Filth, thou liest. Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gentlemen.O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool Do with so good a wife? [IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out. Oth. Are there no stones in heaven But what serve for the thunder?-Precious villain! Gra. The woman falls; sure, he has kill'd his wife. Emil. Ay, ay:-0, lay me by my mistress' side! Gra. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd. Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon, Which I have here recover'd from the Moor. Come, guard the door without; let him not pass, But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain, For 'tis a damned slave. [Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. Oth. I am not valiant neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword:But why should honour outlive honesty? Let it go all. Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber, [Dies. Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. [dear; Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. Re-enter GRATIANO. Gra. What is the matter? Oth. Behold, I have a weapon; Upon a soldier's thigh. I have seen the day, Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now. Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd; e Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear; And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!) Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!-Whip me, ye devils, From the possession of this heavenly sight! Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur! Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead! 'Dead! O! O! 01 Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? Oth. That's he that was Othello;-here I am. Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. Oth. I look down towards his feet;-but that's a If thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [fable. [OTHELLO wounds IAGO. Lod. Wrench his sword from him. Iago. I bleed, Sir; but not kill'd. Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live; Lod. O thou Othello! that wert once so good, Oth. Why, anything: An honourable murderer, if you will: For naught I did in hate, but all in honour. Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany. Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. Iago. Demand me nothing: what you know, you know: From this time forth I never will speak word. Lod. What, not to pray? Gra. Torments will ope your lips. Oth. Well, thou dost best. Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befallen, Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo; Oth. O villain! Cas. Most heathenish, and most gross! Lod. Now, here's another discontented paper Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; But that, belike, Iago in the interim Came in and satisfied him. Oth. O the pernicious caitiff!— How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief Cas. I found it in my chamber: And he himself confess'd, but even now, Oth. O fool! fool! fool! Cas. There is, besides, in Roderigo's letter,- Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with us If there be any cunning cruelty That can torment him much, and hold him long, I have done the state some service, and they know it No more of that.-I pray you, in your letters, Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, of one that loved, not wisely, but too well; of LA Oth. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee;-no way but this, [Falling upon DESDEMONA. Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. [Dies. Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; For he was great of heart PHILO, MECENAS, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, Friends to CESAR PROCULEIUS, THYREUS, GALLUS, TAURUS, Lieutenant-general to CÆSAR. SILIUS, an Officer in VENTIDIUS' Army. EUPHRONIUS, an Ambassador from ANTONY to CESAR. ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES, Attend ants on CLEOPATRA. A Soothsayer.-A Clown. CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt. OCTAVIA, Sister to CESAR, and Wife to ANTONY. Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants SCENE,-Dispersed; in several Parts of the ROMAN EMPIRE. АСТ І. SCENE I.-ALEXANDRIA. A Room in CLEOPATRA'S Verlichtheit Palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, Take but good note, and you shall see in him Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Fulvia, perchance, is angry: or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent His powerful mandate to you, "Do this, or this; Call in the messengers.-As I am Egypt's queen, Is to do thus; [Embracing.] when such a mutual pair, Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra.- Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours, Let's not confound the time with conference harsh: There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now: what sport to-night? Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom everything becomes,-to chide, to laugh, [Exeunt ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their train Dem. I am full sorry That he approves the common liar, who 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? 0, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with garlands ! Alex. Soothsayer! Sooth. Your will? A little I can read. Alex. Shew him your hand. Enter ENOBARBUS. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good Sir, give me good fortune. Sooth. I make not, but foresee. Char. Pray then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Char. He means in flesh. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. Char. Hush! Sooth. You shall be more beloving, than beloved. 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 proved a fairer former Than that which is to approach. [fortune Char. Then, belike, my children shall have no names: -pr'ythee, 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 sa palm presages chastity, if nothing else. Char. Even as the overflowing Nilus presageth famine. Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay. Char. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear.-Pr'ythee, 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. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune better than I, where would you choose it? Iras. Not in my husband's nose. Char. Our worser thoughts heaven 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 foul knave uncuckolded; therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly! Char. Amen. 2 Mess. In Sicyon: Her length of sickness, with what else more serious [Gives a letter. 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 de parture, 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 wonderful 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 shews 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. Eno. And the business you have broached here cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode. Ant. No more light answers. Let our officers The empire of the sea: our slippery people Eno. I shall do't. SCENE III.-The same. [Exeunt. Another Room. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS. Cleo. Where is he? Char. I did not see him since. Cleo. See where he is, who's with him, what he does :I did not send you. If you find him sad, Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report That I am sudden sick: quick, and return. [Exit ALEX. But here comes Antony. Cleo. I am sick and sullen. Ant. I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose,Cleo. Help me away, dear Charmian; I shall fall: It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature Will not sustain it. Ant. Now, my dearest queen, Cleo. Pray you, stand further from me. Cleo. I know by that same eye there's some good news. I have no power upon you; hers you are. Ant. The gods best know, Cleo. O, never was there queen So mightily betray'd! yet at the first I saw the treasons planted. Ant. Cleopatra, Cleo. Why should I think you can be mine, and true, Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness, To be entangled with those mouth-made vows, Which break themselves in swearing! Ant. Most sweet queen,— Cleo. Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your going, But bid farewell, and go: when you sued staying, Then was the time for words: no going then ;Eternity was in ou. lips and eyes, Bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor, Ant. How now, lady! Our services a while; but my full heart Remains in use with you. Our Italy 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 freedom, It does from childishness:-can Fulvia die? Ant. She's dead, my queen: Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read Cleo. O most false love! Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see, In Fulvia's death, how mine received shall be. Cleo. Cut my lace, Charmian, come;- Ant. My precious queen, forbear; And give true evidence to his love, which stands An honourable trial. Cleo. So Fulvia told me. I pr'ythee, turn aside and weep for her; Ant. You'll heat my blood; no more. Cleo. And target. Still he mends; But this is not the best-look, pr'ythee, Charmian, Ant. I'll leave you, lady. Cleo. Courteous lord, one word. n Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it: Ant. But that your royalty Holds idleness your subject, I should take you For idleness itself. Cleo. 'Tis sweating labour To bear such idleness so near the heart, And all the gods go with you! upon your sword Ant. Let us go. Come; Our separation so abides and flies, That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. Away! 2 [Exeunt SCENE IV.-ROME. An Apartment in CESAR's House. Enter OCTAVIUS Cæsar, LEPIDUS, and Attendants. Cæs. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, It is not Cæsar's natural vice to hate One great competitor: from Alexandria Lep. I must not think there are [there Cæs. You are too indulgent. Let us grant it is not Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy; To give a kingdom for a mirth; to si And keep the turn of tippling with a slave; To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet Whom these things cannot blemish,) yet must Antony As his own state and ours,-'tis to be chid As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge, Enter a Messenger. Lep. Here's more news. Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st? The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm Mess. Thy biddings have been done; and every hour, That only have fear'd Cæsar: to the ports Cas. I should have known no less: It hath been taught us from the primal state, And the ebb'd man ne'er loved, till ne'er worth love, Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide, Mess. Cæsar, I bring thee word, Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound Taken as seen; for Pompey's name strikes more Cæs. Antony, Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, Lep. It is pity of him. Cas. Let his shames quickly Drive him to Rome: 'tis time we twain Did shew ourselves i' the field; and, to that end, Assemble we immediate council: Pompey Thrives in our idleness. Lep. To-morrow, Cæsar," I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly, Both what by sea and land I can be able, To front this present time. Cas. Till which encounter, It is my business too. Farewell. с h Lep. Farewell, my lord: what you shall know mean Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, Sir, To let me be partaker. [time Cas. Doubt not, Sir; I knew it for my bond. [Exeunt. And burgonet of men.-He's speaking now, Or murmuring, "Where's my serpent of old Nile?" Enter ALEXAS. Alex. Sovereign of Egypt, hail! Cleo. How much unlike art thou Mark Antony ! How goes it with my brave Mark Antony? He kiss'd, the last of many doubled kisses,- Cleo. What, was he sad or merry? Alex. Like to the time o' the year between the ex Of hot and cold; he was nor sad nor merry. [tremes Cleo. O well-divided disposition-Note him, O heavenly mingle!-Be'st thou sad or merry, So does it no man else.-Mett'st thou my posts? Cleo. Who's born that day When I forget to send to Antony, Shall die a beggar.-Ink and paper, Charmian.- Char. O, that brave Cæsar! Cleo. Be choked with such another emphasis! Say, the brave Antony. Char. The valiant Cæsar! Cleo. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth, If thou with Cæsar paragon again My man of men. Char. By your most gracious pardon, I sing but after you. Cleo. My salad days, When I was green in judgment:-cold in blood, To say as I said then!-But come, away; Get me ink and paper: he shall have every day A several greeting, or I'll unpeople Egypt. [Exeunt |