William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (461 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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ANTONY (
to Eros
)
to Eros
)
I will reward thee
Once for thy sprightly comfort, and tenfold
For thy good valour. Come thee on.
For thy good valour. Come thee on.
SCARUS
I’ll halt after.
Exeunt
Alarum. Enter Antony again in a march; drummers and trumpeters; Scarus, with others
ANTONY
We have beat him to his camp. Run one before,
And let the Queen know of our gests.
And let the Queen know of our gests.
⌈
Exit
a
soldier
⌉
Tomorrow,
Before the sun shall see’s, we’ll spill the blood
That has today escaped. I thank you all,
For doughty-handed are you, and have fought
Not as you served the cause, but as’t had been
Each man’s like mine. You have shown all Hectors.
Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends,
Tell them your feats whilst they with joyful tears
Wash the congealment from your wounds, and kiss
The honoured gashes whole.
That has today escaped. I thank you all,
For doughty-handed are you, and have fought
Not as you served the cause, but as’t had been
Each man’s like mine. You have shown all Hectors.
Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends,
Tell them your feats whilst they with joyful tears
Wash the congealment from your wounds, and kiss
The honoured gashes whole.
Enter Cleopatra
(To Scarus)
Give me thy hand.
To this great fairy I’ll commend thy acts,
Make her thanks bless thee.
(To Cleopatra, embracing her)
O’thou day o’th’ world,
Chain mine armed neck; leap thou, attire and all,
Through proof of harness to my heart, and there
Ride on the pants triumphing.
Make her thanks bless thee.
(To Cleopatra, embracing her)
O’thou day o’th’ world,
Chain mine armed neck; leap thou, attire and all,
Through proof of harness to my heart, and there
Ride on the pants triumphing.
CLEOPATRA
Lord of lords!
O infinite virtue, com’st thou smiling from
The world’s great snare uncaught?
The world’s great snare uncaught?
ANTONY
My nightingale,
We have beat them to their beds. What, girl, though
grey
Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet
ha’ we
A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can
Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man.
Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand;
Kiss it, my warrior.
grey
Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet
ha’ we
A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can
Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man.
Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand;
Kiss it, my warrior.
Scarus kisses Cleopatra’s hand
He hath fought today
As if a god, in hate of mankind, had
Destroyed in such a shape.
Destroyed in such a shape.
CLEOPATRA
I’ll give thee, friend,
An armour all of gold. It was a king’s.
ANTONY
He has deserved it, were it carbuncled
Like holy Phoebus’ car. Give me thy hand.
Through Alexandria make a jolly march.
Bear our hacked targets like the men that owe them.
Had our great palace the capacity
To camp this host, we all would sup together
And drink carouses to the next day’s fate,
Which promises royal peril. Trumpeters,
With brazen din blast you the city’s ear;
Make mingle with our rattling taborins,
That heaven and earth may strike their sounds
together,
Applauding our approach.
Like holy Phoebus’ car. Give me thy hand.
Through Alexandria make a jolly march.
Bear our hacked targets like the men that owe them.
Had our great palace the capacity
To camp this host, we all would sup together
And drink carouses to the next day’s fate,
Which promises royal peril. Trumpeters,
With brazen din blast you the city’s ear;
Make mingle with our rattling taborins,
That heaven and earth may strike their sounds
together,
Applauding our approach.
Trumpets sound. Exeunt
4.10Enter a Sentry and his company; Enobarbus follows
SENTRY
If we be not relieved within this hour
We must return to th’ court of guard. The night
Is shiny, and they say we shall embattle
By th’ second hour i’th’ morn.
We must return to th’ court of guard. The night
Is shiny, and they say we shall embattle
By th’ second hour i’th’ morn.
FIRST WATCH
This last day was
A shrewd one to’s.
ENOBARBUS
O bear me witness, night—
SECOND WATCH
What man is this?
FIRST WATCH
Stand close, and list him.
ENOBARBUS
Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon,
When men revolted shall upon record
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
Before thy face repent.
When men revolted shall upon record
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
Before thy face repent.
SENTRY
Enobarbus?
SECOND WATCH
Peace; hark further.
ENOBARBUS
O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me. Throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault,
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder,
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular,
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and a fugitive.
O Antony! O Antony!
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me. Throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault,
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder,
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular,
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and a fugitive.
O Antony! O Antony!
He dies
FIRST WATCH Let’s speak to him.
SENTRY
Let’s hear him, for the things he speaks
May concern Caesar.
May concern Caesar.
SECOND WATCH
Let’s do so. But he sleeps.
SENTRY
Swoons, rather; for so bad a prayer as his
Was never yet for sleep.
Was never yet for sleep.
FIRST WATCH
Go we to him.
SECOND WATCH
Awake, sir, awake; speak to us.
FIRST WATCH
Hear you, sir?
SENTRY
The hand of death hath raught him.
Drums afar off
Hark, the drums
Demurely wake the sleepers. Let us bear him
To th’ court of guard; he is of note. Our hour
Is fully out.
To th’ court of guard; he is of note. Our hour
Is fully out.
SECOND WATCH
Come on, then. He may recover yet.
Exeunt with the body
4.11Enter Antony and Scarus with their army
ANTONY
Their preparation is today by sea;
We please them not by land.
We please them not by land.
SCARUS
For both, my lord.
ANTONY
I would they’d fight i‘th’ fire or i’th’ air;
We’d fight there too. But this it is: our foot
Upon the hills adjoining to the city
Shall stay with us. Order for sea is given.
They have put forth the haven—
Where their appointment we may best discover,
And look on their endeavour.
We’d fight there too. But this it is: our foot
Upon the hills adjoining to the city
Shall stay with us. Order for sea is given.
They have put forth the haven—
Where their appointment we may best discover,
And look on their endeavour.
Exeunt
4.12Enter Caesar and his army
CAESAR
But being charged, we will be still by land—
Which, as I take’t, we shall, for his best force
Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales,
And hold our best advantage.
Which, as I take’t, we shall, for his best force
Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales,
And hold our best advantage.
Exeunt
4.13⌈
Alarum afar off,
as at
a
sea
fight.
⌉ Enter Antony and Scarus
ANTONY
Yet they are not joined. Where yon pine does stand
I shall discover all. I’ll bring thee word
Straight how ’tis like to go.
I shall discover all. I’ll bring thee word
Straight how ’tis like to go.
Exit
SCARUS
Swallows have built
In Cleopatra’s sails their nests. The augurs
Say they know not, they cannot tell, look grimly,
And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony
Is valiant, and dejected, and by starts
His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear
Of what he has and has not.
Say they know not, they cannot tell, look grimly,
And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony
Is valiant, and dejected, and by starts
His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear
Of what he has and has not.
Enter Antony
ANTONY
All is lost.
This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me.
My fleet hath yielded to the foe, and yonder
They cast their caps up, and carouse together
Like friends long lost. Triple-turned whore! ’Tis thou
Hast sold me to this novice, and my heart
Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly;
For when I am revenged upon my charm,
I have done all. Bid them all fly. Be gone.
O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more.
Fortune and Antony part here; even here
Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts
That spanieled me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is barked
That overtopped them all. Betrayed I am.
O this false soul of Egypt! This grave charm,
Whose eye becked forth my wars and called them home,
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,
Like a right gipsy hath at fast and loose
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.
What, Eros, Eros!
My fleet hath yielded to the foe, and yonder
They cast their caps up, and carouse together
Like friends long lost. Triple-turned whore! ’Tis thou
Hast sold me to this novice, and my heart
Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly;
For when I am revenged upon my charm,
I have done all. Bid them all fly. Be gone.
⌈
Exit Scarus
⌉
Fortune and Antony part here; even here
Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts
That spanieled me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is barked
That overtopped them all. Betrayed I am.
O this false soul of Egypt! This grave charm,
Whose eye becked forth my wars and called them home,
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,
Like a right gipsy hath at fast and loose
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.
What, Eros, Eros!
Enter Cleopatra
Ah, thou spell! Avaunt.
CLEOPATRA
Why is my lord enraged against his love?
ANTONY
Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving
And blemish Caesar’s triumph. Let him take thee
And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians;
Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot
Of all thy sex; most monster-like be shown
For poor’st diminutives, for dolts, and let
Patient Octavia plough thy visage up
With her prepared nails.
And blemish Caesar’s triumph. Let him take thee
And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians;
Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot
Of all thy sex; most monster-like be shown
For poor’st diminutives, for dolts, and let
Patient Octavia plough thy visage up
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’th’ moon,
And with those hands that grasped the heaviest club
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die.
To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot. She dies for’t. Eros, ho!
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’th’ moon,
And with those hands that grasped the heaviest club
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die.
To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
Under this plot. She dies for’t. Eros, ho!
Exit
Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, Mardian
CLEOPATRA
Help me, my women! O, he’s more mad
Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly
Was never so embossed.
Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly
Was never so embossed.
CHARMIAN
To th’ monument!
There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.
The soul and body rive not more in parting
Than greatness going off.
The soul and body rive not more in parting
Than greatness going off.
CLEOPATRA
To th’ monument!
Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself.
Say that the last I spoke was ‘Antony’,
And word it, prithee, piteously. Hence, Mardian,
And bring me how he takes my death. To th’
monument!
Say that the last I spoke was ‘Antony’,
And word it, prithee, piteously. Hence, Mardian,
And bring me how he takes my death. To th’
monument!
Exeunt
Enter Antony and Eros
ANTONY
Eros, thou yet behold’st me?
EROS
Ay, noble lord.
ANTONY
Sometime we see a cloud that’s dragonish,
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
A towered citadel, a pendent rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon’t that nod unto the world
And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs;
They are black vesper’s pageants.
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
A towered citadel, a pendent rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon’t that nod unto the world
And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs;
They are black vesper’s pageants.
EROS
Ay, my lord.
ANTONY
That which is now a horse even with a thought
The rack distains, and makes it indistinct
As water is in water.
The rack distains, and makes it indistinct
As water is in water.
EROS
It does, my lord.
ANTONY
My good knave Eros, now thy captain is
Even such a body. Here I am Antony,
Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
I made these wars for Egypt, and the Queen—
Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine,
Which whilst it was mine had annexed unto’t
A million more, now lost—she, Eros, has
Packed cards with Caesar, and false-played my glory
Unto an enemy’s triumph.
Nay, weep not, gentle Eros. There is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.
Even such a body. Here I am Antony,
Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
I made these wars for Egypt, and the Queen—
Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine,
Which whilst it was mine had annexed unto’t
A million more, now lost—she, Eros, has
Packed cards with Caesar, and false-played my glory
Unto an enemy’s triumph.
Nay, weep not, gentle Eros. There is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.
Enter
Mardian
O thy vile lady,
She has robbed me of my sword!
MARDIAN
No, Antony,
My mistress loved thee, and her fortunes mingled
With thine entirely.
With thine entirely.
ANTONY
Hence, saucy eunuch, peace!
She hath betrayed me, and shall die the death.
MARDIAN
Death of one person can be paid but once,
And that she has discharged. 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 rendered life,
Thy name so buried in her.
And that she has discharged. 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 rendered life,
Thy name so buried in her.
ANTONY
Dead, then?
MARDIAN
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