Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in!-darkling!"

stand

The varying shore o'the world!-0 Antony!
Antony, Antony!-Charmian, help; help, Iras;
Help, friends below; let's draw him hither.
Ant.
Not Cæsar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony,
But Antony's hath triumphed on itself.

Peace:

Cleo. So it should be, that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony; but woe 'tis so!
Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
I here impórtune death a while, until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon thy lips.—

Cleo.
I dare not, dear,
(Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not,

Lest I be taken: not the imperious show
Of the full-fortun'd Cæsar ever shall

Be brooch'd with me;' if knife, drugs, serpents, have
Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe:

Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes,
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
Demuring upon me.-But come, come, Antony,—
Help me, my women,—we must draw thee up ;—
Assist, good friends.

9

Ant.

O, quick, or I am gone. Cleo. Here's sport, indeed!3-How heavy weighs my lord!

darkling] i. e. without light.

'Be brooch'd with me;] Be brooch'd, i. e. adorn'd. A brooch was an ornament formerly worn in the hat.

2

still conclusion,] Sedate determination; silent coolness of resolution.

Here's sport indeed!] Cleopatra, perhaps, by this affected levity, this phrase which has no determined signification, only wishes to inspire Antony with cheerfulness, and encourage those who are engaged in the melancholy task of drawing him up into the monument.

Our strength is all gone into heaviness,'
That makes the weight: Had I great Juno's power,
The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up,
And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,—
Wishers were ever fools ;-O, come, come, come;
[They draw ANTONY up.
And welcome, welcome! die, where thou hast liv'd:
Quicken with kissing; had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.

All.

A heavy sight!
Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying:

Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
Cleo. No, let me speak; and let me rail so high,
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.-0! 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, Lament nor sorrow at: but please your thoughts, In feeding them with those my former fortunes Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o'the world, The noblest and do now not basely die, Nor cowardly; put off my helmet to My countryman, a Roman, by a Roman Valiantly vanquish'd. Now, my spirit is going; I can no more.

Cleo.

Noblest of men, woo't die?

Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide

In this dull world, which in thy absence is

[Dies.

3 —— into heaviness,] Heaviness is here used equivocally for sorrow and weight.

• Quicken with kissing;] That is, Revive by my

kiss.

No better than a stye?-O, see, my women,
The crown o'the earth doth melt:-My lord!-
O, wither'd is the garland of the war,

The soldier's pole is fallen; young boys, and girls, Are level now with men: the odds is gone,

And there is nothing left remarkable

Beneath the visiting moon.

Char.

Iras. She is dead too, our sovereign.

Char.

Iras.

[She faints.

O, quietness, lady!

Char. O madam, madam, madam!

Iras.

Empress

Char. Peace, peace, Iras.

Cleo. No more, but e'en a woman; and com-
manded

By such poor passion as the maid that milks,
And does the meanest chares."-It were for me
To throw my scepter at the injurious gods ;
To tell them, that this world did equal theirs,
Till they had stolen our jewel. All's but naught;
Patience is sottish; and impatience does
Become a dog that's mad: Then is it sin,
To rush into the secret house of death,

Ere death dare come to us ?-How do you, women? What, what? good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian?

My noble girls!—Ah, women, women! look,
Our lamp is spent, it's out:-Good sirs, take heart:-
[To the Guard below.
We'll bury him: and then, what's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,

The soldier's pole-] He at whom the soldiers pointed, as at a pageant held high for observation.

6 the meanest chares.] i. e. task-work. Hence our term chare-woman.

And make death proud to take us. Come, away: This case of that huge spirit now is cold.

Ah, women, women! come; we have no friend But resolution, and the briefest end.

[Exeunt; those above bearing off ANTONY'S Body.

ACT V.

SCENE 1. Cæsar's Camp before Alexandria.

Enter CESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECÆNAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and Others.

Cas. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; Being so frustrate,' tell him, he mocks us by The pauses that he makes.

Dol.

Cæsar, I shall. [Exit DOLABELLA.

Enter DERCETAS, with the Sword of ANTONY.

Cas. Wherefore is that? and what art thou, that dar'st

Appear thus to us ?8

Der.

I am call'd Dercetas ; Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy Best to be serv'd: whilst he stood up, and spoke, He was my master; and I wore my life, To spend upon his haters: If thou please To take me to thee, as I was to him I'll be to Cæsar; if thou pleasest not, I yield thee up my life.

Cas.

What is't thou say'st?

Being so frustrate,-] Frustrate, for frustrated, was the language of Shakspeare's time.

thy hand.

thus to us?] i. e. with a drawn and bloody sword in

Der. I say, O Cæsar, Antony is dead.

Cas. The breaking of so great a thing should make

A greater crack: The round world should have shook Lions into civil streets,

And citizens to their dens :-The death of Antony Is not a single doom; in the name lay

A moiety of the world.

Der.

He is dead, Cæsar;
Not by a publick minister of justice,
Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand,

Which writ his honour in the acts it did,

Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, Splitted the heart.-This is his sword,

I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd

With his most noble blood.

Cæs.

The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings
To wash the eyes of kings."

Agr.

Look you sad, friends?

And strange it is,

His taints and honours

A rarer spirit never

That nature must compel us to lament
Our most persisted deeds.

Mec.

Waged equal with him.
Agr.
Did steer humanity: but you, gods, will give us
Some faults to make us men. Cæsar is touch'd.
Mec.When such a spacious mirror's set before him,
He needs must see himself.

O Antony!

Cæs.
I have follow'd thee to this ;-But we do lance
Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce

9 but it is a tidings

To wash the eyes of kings.] That is, May the gods rebuke me, if this be not tidings to make kings weep.

But we do lance

Diseases in our bodies:] When we have any bodily complaint,