NeXTSTEP 3.2 for Intel/NeXTSTEP 3.2 for Intel.iso/NextLibrary/Literature/Shakespeare/Plays/Antony_and_Cleopatra/5.2

Text File | 1993-02-01 | 23.6 KB | 531 lines

{\rtf0\ansi{\fonttbl{\f0\froman Times Roman;}{\f1\fmodern Courier;}}
{\pard\f0\fs28{\fs48 Antony and Cleopatra
}\
\
{\b\fs36 5.2}
\
{\i         Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian\
}{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       My desolation does begin to make\
       A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar.\
       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,        {\fs20   5}\
       Which shackles accidents and bolts up change,\
       Which sleeps and never palates more the dung,\
       The beggar's nurse, and Caesar's.\
{\i         Enter Proculeius\
}{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS\
}       Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt,\
       And bids thee study on what fair demands        {\fs20  10}\
       Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                                          What's thy name?\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS\
}       My name is Proculeius.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}              Antony\
       Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but\
       I do not greatly care to be deceived,\
       That have no use for trusting. If your master        {\fs20  15}\
       Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him\
       That majesty, to keep decorum, must\
       No less beg than a kingdom. If he please\
       To give me conquered Egypt for my son,\
       He gives me so much of mine own as I            {\fs20  20}\
       Will kneel to him with thanks.\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}                            Be of good cheer.\
       You're fall'n into a princely hand; fear nothing.\
       Make your full reference freely to my lord,\
       Who is so full of grace that it flows over\
       On all that need. Let me report to him            {\fs20  25}\
       Your sweet dependency, and you shall find\
       A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness,\
       Where he for grace is kneeled to.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                                    Pray you, tell him\
       I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him\
       The greatness he has got. I hourly learn        {\fs20  30}\
       A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly\
       Look him i'th' face.\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}        This I'll report, dear lady;\
       Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied\
       Of him that caused it.\
{\i         [Enter Roman soldiers from behind]\
}{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}{\i   (to the soldiers)\
}       You see how easily she may be surprised.        {\fs20  35}\
       Guard her till Caesar come.\
{\b \fs24 IRAS}                                  Royal Queen\'b1\'b1\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN\
}       O Cleopatra, thou art taken, Queen!\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}{\i   (drawing a dagger)\
}       Quick, quick, good hands!\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}{\i   (disarming Cleopatra)}    Hold, worthy lady, hold!\
       Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this\
       Relieved but not betrayed.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                      What, of death too,        {\fs20  40}\
       That rids our dogs of languish?\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}                              Cleopatra,\
       Do not abuse my master's bounty by\
       Th'undoing of yourself. Let the world see\
       His nobleness well acted, which your death\
       Will never let come forth.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                      Where art thou, death?    {\fs20  45}\
       Come hither, come. Come, come, and take a queen\
       Worth many babes and beggars.\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}                          O temperance, lady!\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Sir, I will eat no meat. I'll not drink, sir.\
       If idle talk will once be necessary,\
       I'll not sleep, neither. This mortal house I'll ruin,    {\fs20  50}\
       Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I\
       Will not wait pinioned at your master's court,\
       Nor once be chastised with the sober eye\
       Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up\
       And show me to the shouting varletry            {\fs20  55}\
       Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt\
       Be gentle grave unto me; rather on Nilus' mud\
       Lay me stark naked, and let the waterflies\
       Blow me into abhorring; rather make\
       My country's high pyramides my gibbet,            {\fs20  60}\
       And hang me up in chains.\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}                  You do extend\
       These thoughts of horror further than you shall\
       Find cause in Caesar.\
{\i         Enter Dolabella\
}{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}          Proculeius,\
       What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,\
       And he hath sent for thee. For the Queen,        {\fs20  65}\
       I'll take her to my guard.\
{\b \fs24 PROCULEIUS}                    So, Dolabella,\
       It shall content me best. Be gentle to her.\
{\i      (To Cleopatra)}    To Caesar I will speak what you shall\
            please,\
       If you'll employ me to him.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                        Say I would die.\
{\i         Exit Proculeius\
}{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA\
}       Most noble Empress, you have heard of me.        {\fs20  70}\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       I cannot tell.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}    Assure\'c1dly you know me.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       No matter, sir, what I have heard or known.\
       You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams;\
       Is't not your trick?\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}          I understand not, madam.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony.            {\fs20  75}\
       O, such another sleep, that I might see\
       But such another man!\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}            If it might please ye\'b1\'b1\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       His face was as the heav'ns, and therein stuck\
       A sun and moon, which kept their course and lighted\
       The little O o'th' earth.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                    Most sovereign creature\'b1\'b1 {\fs20  80}\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared arm\
       Crested the world. His voice was propertied\
       As all the tune\'c1d spheres, and that to friends;\
       But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,\
       He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,        {\fs20  85}\
       There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas,\
       That grew the more by reaping. His delights\
       Were dolphin-like; they showed his back above\
       The element they lived in. In his livery\
       Walked crowns and crownets. Realms and islands were    {\fs20  90}\
       As plates dropped from his pocket.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                                      Cleopatra\'b1\'b1\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Think you there was, or might be, such a man\
       As this I dreamt of?\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}          Gentle madam, no.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       You lie, up to the hearing of the gods.\
       But if there be, or ever were one such,            {\fs20  95}\
       It's past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff\
       To vie strange forms with fancy; yet t'imagine\
       An Antony were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,\
       Condemning shadows quite.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                    Hear me, good madam:\
       Your loss is as yourself, great, and you bear it    {\fs20 100}\
       As answering to the weight. Would I might never\
       O'ertake pursued success but I do feel,\
       By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites\
       My very heart at root.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}              I thank you, sir.\
       Know you what Caesar means to do with me?        {\fs20 105}\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA\
}       I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Nay, pray you, sir.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}        Though he be honourable\'b1\'b1\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       He'll lead me then in triumph.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                              Madam, he will, I know't.\
{\i         Flourish. Enter Caesar, with Proculeius, Gallus,\
        Maecenas, and others of his train\
}{\b \fs24 ALL\
}       Make way, there! Caesar!\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                        Which is the Queen of Egypt?\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}{\i   (to Cleopatra)\
}       It is the Emperor, madam.\
{\i         Cleopatra kneels\
}{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                        Arise! You shall not kneel.    {\fs20 110}\
       I pray you rise, rise, Egypt.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}{\i   (rising)}    Sir, the gods\
       Will have it thus. My master and my lord\
       I must obey.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}    Take to you no hard thoughts.\
       The record of what injuries you did us,\
       Though written in our flesh, we shall remember        {\fs20 115}\
       As things but done by chance.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                            Sole sir o'th' world,\
       I cannot project mine own cause so well\
       To make it clear, but do confess I have\
       Been laden with like frailties which before\
       Have often shamed our sex.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                            Cleopatra, know        {\fs20 120}\
       We will extenuate rather than enforce.\
       If you apply yourself to our intents,\
       Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find\
       A benefit in this change; but if you seek\
       To lay on me a cruelty by taking            {\fs20 125}\
       Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself\
       Of my good purposes and put your children\
       To that destruction which I'll guard them from,\
       If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       And may through all the world! 'Tis yours, and we,    {\fs20 130}\
       Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall\
       Hang in what place you please.{\i   (Giving a paper)}    Here,\
            my good lord.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR\
}       You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels\
       I am possessed of. 'Tis exactly valued,            {\fs20 135}\
       Not petty things admitted. Where's Seleucus?\
{\i         [Enter Seleucus]\
}{\b \fs24 SELEUCUS}    Here, madam.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}{\i   (to Caesar)\
}       This is my treasurer. Let him speak, my lord,\
       Upon his peril, that I have reserved\
       To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.        {\fs20 140}\
{\b \fs24 SELEUCUS\
}       Madam, I had rather seal my lips\
       Than to my peril speak that which is not.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    What have I kept back?\
{\b \fs24 SELEUCUS\
}       Enough to purchase what you have made known.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR\
}       Nay, blush not, Cleopatra. I approve            {\fs20 145}\
       Your wisdom in the deed.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                  See, Caesar! O, behold\
       How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yours,\
       And should we shift estates, yours would be mine.\
       The ingratitude of this Seleucus does\
       Even make me wild.\'b1\'b1O slave, of no more trust    {\fs20 150}\
       Than love that's hired! What, goest thou back? Thou\
            shalt\
       Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes\
       Though they had wings. Slave, soulless villain, dog!\
       O rarely base!\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}    Good Queen, let us entreat you.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,        {\fs20 155}\
       That thou vouchsafing here to visit me,\
       Doing the honour of thy lordliness\
       To one so meek\'b1\'b1that mine own servant should\
       Parcel the sum of my disgraces by\
       Addition of his envy. Say, good Caesar,            {\fs20 160}\
       That I some lady trifles have reserved,\
       Immoment toys, things of such dignity\
       As we greet modern friends withal; and say\
       Some nobler token I have kept apart\
       For Livia and Octavia, to induce            {\fs20 165}\
       Their mediation\'b1\'b1must I be unfolded\
       With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites me\
       Beneath the fall I have.{\i   (To Seleucus)}    Prithee, go hence,\
       Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits\
       Through th'ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man        {\fs20 170}\
       Thou wouldst have mercy on me.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                                    Forbear, Seleucus.\
{\i         Exit Seleucus\
}{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought\
       For things that others do; and when we fall\
       We answer others' merits in our name,\
       Are therefore to be pitied.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                              Cleopatra,            {\fs20 175}\
       Not what you have reserved nor what acknowledged\
       Put we i'th' roll of conquest. Still be't yours.\
       Bestow it at your pleasure, and believe\
       Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you\
       Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheered.    {\fs20 180}\
       Make not your thoughts your prisons. No, dear\
            Queen;\
       For we intend so to dispose you as\
       Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep.\
       Our care and pity is so much upon you\
       That we remain your friend; and so adieu.        {\fs20 185}\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       My master and my lord!\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                    Not so. Adieu.\
{\i         Flourish. Exeunt Caesar and his train\
}{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not\
       Be noble to myself. But hark thee, Charmian.\
{\i         She whispers to Charmian\
}{\b \fs24 IRAS\
}       Finish, good lady. The bright day is done,\
       And we are for the dark.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}{\i   (to Charmian)}    Hie thee again.    {\fs20 190}\
       I have spoke already, and it is provided.\
       Go put it to the haste.\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}                  Madam, I will.\
{\i         Enter Dolabella\
}{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA\
}       Where's the Queen?\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}        Behold, sir.\
{\i         Exit\
}{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                            Dolabella!\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA\
}       Madam, as thereto sworn by your command\'b1\'b1\
       Which my love makes religion to obey\'b1\'b1        {\fs20 195}\
       I tell you this: Caesar through Syria\
       Intends his journey, and within three days\
       You with your children will he send before.\
       Make your best use of this. I have performed\
       Your pleasure, and my promise.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                              Dolabella,        {\fs20 200}\
       I shall remain your debtor.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                        I your servant.\
       Adieu, good Queen. I must attend on Caesar.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Farewell, and thanks.\
{\i         Exit Dolabella\
}                                                 Now, Iras, what think'st thou?\
       Thou, an Egyptian puppet shall be shown\
       In Rome, as well as I. Mechanic slaves            {\fs20 205}\
       With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers shall\
       Uplift us to the view. In their thick breaths,\
       Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded,\
       And forced to drink their vapour.\
{\b \fs24 IRAS}                                              The gods forbid!\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors        {\fs20 210}\
       Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers\
       Ballad us out o' tune. The quick comedians\
       Extemporally will stage us, and present\
       Our Alexandrian revels. Antony\
       Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see        {\fs20 215}\
       Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness\
       I'th' posture of a whore.\
{\b \fs24 IRAS}                              O, the good gods!\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Nay, that's certain.\
{\b \fs24 IRAS\
}       I'll never see't! For I am sure my nails\
       Are stronger than mine eyes.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                          Why, that's the way        {\fs20 220}\
       To fool their preparation and to conquer\
       Their most absurd intents.\
{\i         Enter Charmian\
}                                                           Now, Charmian!\
       Show me, my women, like a queen. Go fetch\
       My best attires. I am again for Cydnus\
       To meet Mark Antony. Sirrah Iras, go.            {\fs20 225}\
       Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed,\
       And when thou hast done this chore I'll give thee\
            leave\
       To play till doomsday.\'b1\'b1Bring our crown and all.\
{\i         [Exit Iras]\
        A noise within\
}       Wherefore's this noise?\
{\i         Enter a Guardsman\
}{\b \fs24 GUARDSMAN}              Here is a rural fellow\
       That will not be denied your highness' presence.    {\fs20 230}\
       He brings you figs.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Let him come in.\
{\i         Exit Guardsman\
}                                       What poor an instrument\
       May do a noble deed! He brings me liberty.\
       My resolution's placed, and I have nothing\
       Of woman in me. Now from head to foot            {\fs20 235}\
       I am marble-constant. Now the fleeting moon\
       No planet is of mine.\
{\i         Enter Guardsman, and Clown with a basket\
}{\b \fs24 GUARDSMAN}          This is the man.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Avoid, and leave him.\
{\i         Exit Guardsman\
}                                                 Hast thou the pretty worm\
       Of Nilus there, that kills and pains not?\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    Truly, I have him; but I would not be the party {\fs20 240}\
       that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is\
       immortal; those that do die of it do seldom or never\
       recover.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Remember'st thou any that have died on't?\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    Very many, men, and women too. I heard of one {\fs20 245}\
       of them no longer than yesterday, a very honest\
       woman, but something given to lie, as a woman should\
       not do but in the way of honesty, how she died of\
       the biting of it, what pain she felt. Truly, she makes a\
       very good report o'th' worm; but he that will believe    {\fs20 250}\
       all that they say shall never be saved by half that\
       they do; but this is most falliable: the worm's an odd\
       worm.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Get thee hence, farewell.\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    I wish you all joy of the worm.        {\fs20 255}\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Farewell.\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    You must think this, look you, that the worm will\
       do his kind.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Ay, ay; farewell.\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in {\fs20 260}\
       the keeping of wise people; for indeed there is no\
       goodness in the worm.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Take thou no care; it shall be heeded.\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for it is\
       not worth the feeding.                    {\fs20 265}\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Will it eat me?\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    You must not think I am so simple but I know\
       the devil himself will not eat a woman; I know that a\
       woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her not.\
       But truly, these same whoreson devils do the gods great    {\fs20 270}\
       harm in their women; for in every ten that they make,\
       the devils mar five.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}    Well, get thee gone, farewell.\
{\b \fs24 CLOWN}    Yes, forsooth. I wish you joy o'th' worm.\
{\i         Exit, leaving the basket\
        Enter [Iras] with a robe, crown, and other jewels\
}{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       Give me my robe. Put on my crown. I have        {\fs20 275}\
       Immortal longings in me. Now no more\
       The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip.\
{\i         Charmian and Iras help her to dress\
}       Yare, yare, good Iras, quick\'b1\'b1methinks I hear\
       Antony call. I see him rouse himself\
       To praise my noble act. I hear him mock            {\fs20 280}\
       The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men\
       To excuse their after wrath. Husband, I come.\
       Now to that name my courage prove my title.\
       I am fire and air; my other elements\
       I give to baser life. So, have you done?        {\fs20 285}\
       Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.\
{\i         She kisses them\
}       Farewell, kind Charmian. Iras, long farewell.\
{\i         Iras falls and dies\
}       Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?\
       If thou and nature can so gently part,\
       The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,        {\fs20 290}\
       Which hurts and is desired. Dost thou lie still?\
       If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world\
       It is not worth leave-taking.\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN\
}       Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say\
       The gods themselves do weep.\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                          This proves me base.    {\fs20 295}\
       If she first meet the curle\'c1d Antony\
       He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss\
       Which is my heaven to have.\
{\i         She takes an aspic from the basket and puts it to her\
        breast\
}                                                             Come, thou mortal wretch,\
       With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate\
       Of life at once untie. Poor venomous fool,        {\fs20 300}\
       Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,\
       That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass\
       Unpolicied!\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}    O eastern star!\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA}                                Peace, peace.\
       Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,\
       That sucks the nurse asleep?\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}                            O, break! O, break!        {\fs20 305}\
{\b \fs24 CLEOPATRA\
}       As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle.\
       O Antony!\
{\i         She puts another aspic to her arm\
}                         Nay, I will take thee too.\
       What should I stay\'b1\'b1\
{\i         She dies\
}{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}                      In this vile world? So, fare thee well.\
       Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies\
       A lass unparalleled. Downy windows, close,        {\fs20 310}\
       And golden Phoebus never be beheld\
       Of eyes again so royal. Your crown's awry.\
       I'll mend it, and then play\'b1\'b1\
{\i         Enter the Guard, rustling in\
}{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD}    Where's the Queen?\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}    Speak softly. Wake her not.        {\fs20 315}\
{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD\
}       Caesar hath sent\'b1\'b1\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN}                    Too slow a messenger.\
{\i         She applies an aspic\
}       O come apace, dispatch! I partly feel thee.\
{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD\
}       Approach, ho! All's not well. Caesar's beguiled.\
{\b \fs24 SECOND GUARD\
}       There's Dolabella sent from Caesar. Call him.\
{\i         [Exit a Guardsman]\
}{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD\
}       What work is here, Charmian? Is this well done?        {\fs20 320}\
{\b \fs24 CHARMIAN\
}       It is well done, and fitting for a princess\
       Descended of so many royal kings.\
       Ah, soldier!\
{\i         She dies\
        Enter Dolabella\
}{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA\
}       How goes it here?\
{\b \fs24 SECOND GUARD}    All dead.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                            Caesar, thy thoughts\
       Touch their effects in this. Thyself art coming        {\fs20 325}\
       To see performed the dreaded act which thou\
       So sought'st to hinder.\
{\b \fs24 ALL}                            A way there, a way for Caesar!\
{\i         Enter Caesar and all his train, marching\
}{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}{\i   (to Caesar)\
}       O sir, you are too sure an augurer.\
       That you did fear is done.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                            Bravest at the last,\
       She levelled at our purposes, and, being royal,        {\fs20 330}\
       Took her own way. The manner of their deaths?\
       I do not see them bleed.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}{\i   (to a Guardsman)}    Who was last with them?\
{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD\
}       A simple countryman that brought her figs.\
       This was his basket.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                Poisoned, then.\
{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD}                                    O Caesar,\
       This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake.    {\fs20 335}\
       I found her trimming up the diadem\
       On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,\
       And on the sudden dropped.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}                            O, noble weakness!\
       If they had swallowed poison, 'twould appear\
       By external swelling; but she looks like sleep,        {\fs20 340}\
       As she would catch another Antony\
       In her strong toil of grace.\
{\b \fs24 DOLABELLA}                          Here on her breast\
       There is a vent of blood, and something blown.\
       The like is on her arm.\
{\b \fs24 FIRST GUARD}            This is an aspic's trail,\
       And these fig-leaves have slime upon them such        {\fs20 345}\
       As th'aspic leaves upon the caves of Nile.\
{\b \fs24 CAESAR}    Most probable\
       That so she died; for her physician tells me\
       She hath pursued conclusions infinite\
       Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed,            {\fs20 350}\
       And bear her women from the monument.\
       She shall be buried by her Antony.\
       No grave upon the earth shall clip in it\
       A pair so famous. High events as these\
       Strike those that make them, and their story is        {\fs20 355}\
       No less in pity than his glory which\
       Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall\
       In solemn show attend this funeral,\
       And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see\
       High order in this great solemnity.            {\fs20 360}\
{\i         Exeunt all, soldiers bearing Cleopatra [on her\
        bed], Charmian, and Iras\
\