| ACT IV SCENE XIV | The same. Another room. | |
| [Enter MARK ANTONY and EROS] |
| MARK ANTONY | Eros, thou yet behold'st me? |
| EROS | Ay, noble lord. |
| MARK ANTONY | Sometimes we see a cloud that's dragonish; |
| A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, |
| A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock, | 5 |
| 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. | 10 |
| EROS | Ay, my lord, |
| MARK ANTONY | That which is now a horse, even with a thought |
| The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct, |
| As water is in water. |
| EROS | It does, my lord. | 15 |
| MARK 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; | 20 |
| Which whilst it was mine had annex'd unto't |
| A million more, now lost,--she, Eros, has |
| Pack'd cards with Caesar, and false-play'd my glory |
| Unto an enemy's triumph. |
| Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us | 25 |
| Ourselves to end ourselves. |
[Enter MARDIAN] |
| O! thy vile lady! |
| She has robb'd me of my sword. |
| MARDIAN | No, Antony; |
| My mistress loved thee, and her fortunes mingled | 30 |
| With thine entirely. |
| MARK ANTONY | Hence, saucy eunuch; peace! |
| She hath betray'd 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 | 35 |
| 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 render'd life, | 40 |
| Thy name so buried in her. |
| MARK ANTONY | Dead, then? |
| MARDIAN | Dead. |
| MARK ANTONY | Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done, |
| And we must sleep. | 45 |
[To MARDIAN] |
| That thou depart'st hence safe, |
| Does pay thy labour richly; go. |
[Exit MARDIAN] |
| Off, pluck off: |
| The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep |
| The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides! | 50 |
| Heart, once be stronger than thy continent, |
| Crack thy frail case! Apace, Eros, apace. |
| No more a soldier: bruised pieces, go; |
| You have been nobly borne. From me awhile. |
[Exit EROS] |
| I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and | 55 |
| Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now |
| All length is torture: since the torch is out, |
| Lie down, and stray no farther: now all labour |
| Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles |
| Itself with strength: seal then, and all is done. | 60 |
| Eros!--I come, my queen:--Eros!--Stay for me: |
| Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand, |
| And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze: |
| Dido and her AEneas shall want troops, |
| And all the haunt be ours. Come, Eros, Eros! | 65 |
| [Re-enter EROS] |
| EROS | What would my lord? |
| MARK ANTONY | Since Cleopatra died, |
| I have lived in such dishonour, that the gods |
| Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword |
| Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back | 70 |
| With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack |
| The courage of a woman; less noble mind |
| Than she which by her death our Caesar tells
|
| 'I am conqueror of myself.' Thou art sworn, Eros, |
| That, when the exigent should come, which now | 75 |
| Is come indeed, when I should see behind me |
| The inevitable prosecution of |
| Disgrace and horror, that, on my command, |
| Thou then wouldst kill me: do't; the time is come: |
| Thou strikest not me, 'tis Caesar thou defeat'st. | 80 |
| Put colour in thy cheek. |
| EROS | The gods withhold me! |
| Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts, |
| Though enemy, lost aim, and could not? |
| MARK ANTONY | Eros, | 85 |
| Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome and see |
| Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down |
| His corrigible neck, his face subdued |
| To penetrative shame, whilst the wheel'd seat |
| Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded | 90 |
| His baseness that ensued? |
| EROS | I would not see't. |
| MARK ANTONY | Come, then; for with a wound I must be cured. |
| Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn |
| Most useful for thy country. | 95 |
| EROS | O, sir, pardon me! |
| MARK ANTONY | When I did make thee free, sworest thou not then |
| To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once; |
| Or thy precedent services are all |
| But accidents unpurposed. Draw, and come. | 100 |
| EROS | Turn from me, then, that noble countenance, |
| Wherein the worship of the whole world lies. |
| MARK ANTONY | Lo thee! |
| [Turning from him] |
| EROS | My sword is drawn. |
| MARK ANTONY | Then let it do at once | 105 |
| The thing why thou hast drawn it. |
| EROS | My dear master, |
| My captain, and my emperor, let me say, |
| Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell. |
| MARK ANTONY | 'Tis said, man; and farewell. | 110 |
| EROS | Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? |
| MARK ANTONY | Now, Eros. |
| EROS | Why, there then: thus I do escape the sorrow |
| Of Antony's death. |
| [Kills himself] |
| MARK ANTONY | Thrice-nobler than myself! | 115 |
| Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what |
| I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros |
| Have by their brave instruction got upon me |
| A nobleness in record: but I will be |
| A bridegroom in my death, and run into't | 120 |
| As to a lover's bed. Come, then; and, Eros, |
| Thy master dies thy scholar: to do thus |
[Falling on his sword] |
| I learn'd of thee. How! not dead? not dead? |
| The guard, ho! O, dispatch me! |
| [Enter DERCETAS and Guard] |
| First Guard | What's the noise? | 125 |
| MARK ANTONY | I have done my work in, friends: O, make an end |
| Of what I have begun. |
| Second Guard | The star is fall'n. |
| First Guard | And time is at his period. |
| All | Alas, and woe! | 130 |
| MARK ANTONY | Let him that loves me strike me dead. |
| First Guard | Not I. |
| Second Guard | Nor I. |
| Third Guard | Nor any one. |
| [Exeunt Guard] |
| DERCETAS | Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly. | 135 |
| This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings, |
| Shall enter me with him. |
| [Enter DIOMEDES] |
| DIOMEDES | Where's Antony? |
| DERCETAS | There, Diomed there. |
| DIOMEDES | Lives he? | 140 |
| Wilt thou not answer, man? |
| [Exit DERCETAS] |
| MARK ANTONY | Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword, and give me |
| Sufficing strokes for death. |
| DIOMEDES | Most absolute lord, |
| My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee. | 145 |
| MARK ANTONY | When did she send thee? |
| DIOMEDES | Now, my lord. |
| MARK ANTONY | Where is she? |
| DIOMEDES | Lock'd in her monument. She had a prophesying fear |
| Of what hath come to pass: for when she saw-- | 150 |
| Which never shall be found--you did suspect |
| She had disposed with Caesar, and that your rage |
| Would not be purged, she sent you word she was dead; |
| But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent |
| Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come, | 155 |
| I dread, too late. |
| MARK ANTONY | Too late, good Diomed: call my guard, I prithee. |
| DIOMEDES | What, ho, the emperor's guard! The guard, what, ho! |
| Come, your lord calls! |
| [Enter four or five of the Guard of MARK ANTONY] |
| MARK ANTONY | Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides; | 160 |
| 'Tis the last service that I shall command you. |
| First Guard | Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not live to wear |
| All your true followers out. |
| All | Most heavy day! |
| MARK ANTONY | Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp fate | 165 |
| To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welcome |
| Which comes to punish us, and we punish it |
| Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up: |
| I have led you oft: carry me now, good friends, |
| And have my thanks for all. | 170 |
| [Exeunt, bearing MARK ANTONY] |
Plutarch's Influence on Shakespeare and Other Writers of the Sixteenth Century