ACT 1
Scene 2
...Rest you happy!
Enter Enobarbus, Lamprius, a Soothsayer, Rannius, Lucillius, Charmian, Iras, Mardian the Eunuch, Alexas, and Servants.
...him your hand.
to Servants
Bring in the banquet quickly, wine enough
Cleopatra’s health to drink.
...all our fortunes.
Mine, and most of our fortunes tonight,
shall be—drunk to bed.
...they’d do ’t.
Hush, here comes Antony.
...you my lord?
No, lady.
...hath struck him.—Enobarbus!
Madam?
...Go with us.
All but Antony and the Messenger exit.
...hatch.—How now, Enobarbus!
Enter Enobarbus.
What’s your pleasure, sir?
...haste from hence.
Why then we kill all our women. We see
how mortal an unkindness is to them. If they suffer
our departure, death’s the word.
...must be gone.
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.
...past man’s thought.
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.
...never seen her!
O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful
piece of work, which not to have been blest
withal would have discredited your travel.
...Fulvia is dead.
Sir?
...Fulvia is dead.
Fulvia?
... Dead.
Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice.
When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a
man from him, it shows 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.
...endure my absence.
And the business you have broached here
cannot be without you, especially that of Cleopatra’s,
which wholly depends on your abode.
...remove from hence.
I shall do ’t.
They exit.
ACT 2
Scene 2
...hands. Come, Menas.
Enter Enobarbus and Lepidus.
...and gentle speech.
I shall entreat him
To answer like himself. If Caesar move him,
Let Antony look over Caesar’s head
And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,
Were I the wearer of Antonio’s beard,
I would not shave ’t today.
...for private stomaching.
Every time serves for the matter that is
then born in ’t.
...must give way.
Not if the small come first.
...Antony and Ventidius.
And yonder Caesar.
...sir. Nay, then.
They sit.
...such a wife.
Would we had all such wives, that the men
might go to wars with the women!
...Worthily spoken, Maecenas.
Or, if you borrow one another’s love for
the instant, you may, when you hear no more words
of Pompey, return it again. You shall have time to
wrangle in when you have nothing else to do.
...Speak no more.
That truth should be silent I had almost
forgot.
...speak no more.
Go to, then. Your considerate stone.
...from Egypt, sir.
Half the heart of Caesar, worthy
Maecenas!—My honorable friend Agrippa!
...’t in Egypt.
Ay, sir, we did sleep day out of countenance
and made the night light with drinking.
...Is this true?
This was but as a fly by an eagle. We had
much more monstrous matter of feast, which worthily
deserved noting.
...square to her.
When she first met Mark Antony, she
pursed up his heart upon the river of Cydnus.
...well for her.
I will tell you.
The barge she sat in like a burnished throne
Burned on the water. The poop was beaten gold,
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were lovesick with them. The oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggared all description: she did lie
In her pavilion—cloth-of-gold, of tissue—
O’erpicturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature. On each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colored fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did.
...rare for Antony!
Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many mermaids, tended her i’ th’ eyes,
And made their bends adornings. At the helm
A seeming mermaid steers. The silken tackle
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands
That yarely frame the office. From the barge
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
Her people out upon her; and Antony,
Enthroned i’ th’ market-place, did sit alone,
Whistling to th’ air, which but for vacancy
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too
And made a gap in nature.
... Rare Egyptian!
Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
Invited her to supper. She replied
It should be better he became her guest,
Which she entreated. Our courteous Antony,
Whom ne’er the word of “No” woman heard speak,
Being barbered ten times o’er, goes to the feast,
And for his ordinary pays his heart
For what his eyes eat only.
...and she cropped.
I saw her once
Hop forty paces through the public street,
And having lost her breath, she spoke and panted,
That she did make defect perfection,
And breathless pour breath forth.
...leave her utterly.
Never. He will not.
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies. For vilest things
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish.
...you abide here.
Humbly, sir, I thank you.
They exit.
Scene 6
...to my chamber.
Flourish. Enter Pompey and Menas at one door, with Drum and Trumpet; at another Caesar, Lepidus, Antony, Enobarbus, Maecenas, and Agrippa, with Soldiers marching.
...heard Apollodorus carried—
No more of that. He did so.
...I pray you?
A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress.
...far’st thou, soldier?
Well,
And well am like to do, for I perceive
Four feasts are toward.
...envied thy behavior.
Sir,
I never loved you much, but I ha’ praised you
When you have well deserved ten times as much
As I have said you did.
...have known, sir.
At sea, I think.
...We have, sir.
You have done well by water.
...you by land.
I will praise any man that will praise me,
though it cannot be denied what I have done by
land.
...done by water.
Yes, something you can deny for your own
safety: you have been a great thief by sea.
...you by land.
There I deny my land service. But give me
your hand, Menas. They clasp hands.
If our eyes
had authority, here they might take two thieves
kissing.
...their hands are.
But there is never a fair woman has a true
face.
...They steal hearts.
We came hither to fight with you.
...away his fortune.
If he do, sure he cannot weep ’t back
again.
...married to Cleopatra?
Caesar’s sister is called Octavia.
...of Caius Marcellus.
But she is now the wife of Marcus
Antonius.
...Pray you, sir?
’Tis true.
...forever knit together.
If I were bound to divine of this unity, I
would not prophesy so.
...of the parties.
I think so, too. But you shall find the band
that seems to tie their friendship together will be
the very strangler of their amity. Octavia is of a holy,
cold, and still conversation.
...his wife so?
Not he that himself is not so, which is
Mark Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again.
Then shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in
Caesar, and, as I said before, that which is the
strength of their amity shall prove the immediate
author of their variance. Antony will use his affection
where it is. He married but his occasion here.
...health for you.
I shall take it, sir. We have used our throats
in Egypt.
...Come, let’s away.
They exit.
Scene 7
...disaster the cheeks.
A sennet sounded. Enter Caesar, Antony, Pompey, Lepidus, Agrippa, Maecenas, Enobarbus, Menas, with other Captains and a Boy.
...I’ll ne’er out.
aside
Not till you have slept. I fear me
you’ll be in till then.
...for him, Pompey.
Here’s to thee, Menas.
...cup be hid.
pointing to the Servant carrying Lepidus
There’s a strong fellow, Menas.
... Why?
He bears
The third part of the world, man. Seest not?
...go on wheels.
Drink thou. Increase the reels.
...much in one.
to Antony
Ha, my brave emperor,
Shall we dance now the Egyptian bacchanals
And celebrate our drink?
...and delicate Lethe.
All take hands.
Make battery to our ears with the loud music,
The while I’ll place you; then the boy shall sing.
The holding every man shall beat as loud
As his strong sides can volley.
Music plays. Enobarbus places them hand in hand.
...hairs be crowned.
Cup us till the world go round,
Cup us till the world go round.
...into the boat.
Take heed you fall not. Menas, I’ll not on shore.
...flourish, with drums.
Hoo, says ’a! There’s my cap!
He throws his cap in the air.
...Noble captain, come.
They exit.
ACT 3
Scene 2
...there, pass along!
Enter Agrippa at one door, Enobarbus at another.
...the brothers parted?
They have dispatched with Pompey; he is gone.
The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps
To part from Rome. Caesar is sad, and Lepidus,
Since Pompey’s feast, as Menas says, is troubled
With the greensickness.
...a noble Lepidus.
A very fine one. O, how he loves Caesar!
...adores Mark Antony!
Caesar? Why, he’s the Jupiter of men.
...god of Jupiter.
Spake you of Caesar? How, the nonpareil!
...thou Arabian bird!
Would you praise Caesar, say “Caesar.” Go no further.
...with excellent praises.
But he loves Caesar best, yet he loves Antony.
Hoo, hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot
Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number—hoo!—
His love to Antony. But as for Caesar,
Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.
...Both he loves.
They are his shards and he their beetle.
Trumpet within.
So,
This is to horse. Adieu, noble Agrippa.
...neither way inclines.
aside to Agrippa
Will Caesar weep?
...in ’s face.
He were the worse for that were he a horse;
So is he being a man.
...found Brutus slain.
That year indeed he was troubled with a rheum.
What willingly he did confound he wailed,
Believe ’t, till I wept too.
...Octavia. Farewell.
Trumpets sound. They exit.
Scene 5
...has mind to.
Enter Enobarbus and Eros.
How now, friend Eros?
...news come, sir.
What, man?
...wars upon Pompey.
This is old. What is the success?
...enlarge his confine.
Then, world, thou hast a pair of chaps, no more,
And throw between them all the food thou hast,
They’ll grind the one the other. Where’s Antony?
...That murdered Pompey.
Our great navy’s rigged.
...have told hereafter.
’Twill be naught,
But let it be. Bring me to Antony.
... Come, sir.
They exit.
Scene 7
...My dear’st sister!
Enter Cleopatra and Enobarbus.
...doubt it not.
But why, why, why?
...is not fit.
Well, is it, is it?
...there in person?
Well, I could reply:
If we should serve with horse and mares together,
The horse were merely lost. The mares would bear
A soldier and his horse.
...’t you say?
Your presence needs must puzzle Antony,
Take from his heart, take from his brain, from ’s time
What should not then be spared. He is already
Traduced for levity, and ’tis said in Rome
That Photinus, an eunuch, and your maids
Manage this war.
...Antony and Canidius.
Nay, I have done.
Here comes the Emperor.
...us to ’t.
So hath my lord dared him to single fight.
...so should you.
Your ships are not well manned,
Your mariners are muleteers, reapers, people
Engrossed by swift impress. In Caesar’s fleet
Are those that often have ’gainst Pompey fought.
Their ships are yare, yours heavy. No disgrace
Shall fall you for refusing him at sea,
Being prepared for land.
...sea, by sea.
Most worthy sir, you therein throw away
The absolute soldiership you have by land,
Distract your army, which doth most consist
Of war-marked footmen, leave unexecuted
Your own renownèd knowledge, quite forgo
The way which promises assurance, and
Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard
From firm security.
...Well, well, away.
Antony, Cleopatra, and Enobarbus exit.
Scene 9
...Upon this jump.
Enter Antony and Enobarbus.
...so proceed accordingly.
They exit.
Scene 10
...a sea fight.
Alarum. Enter Enobarbus.
Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer.
Th’ Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,
With all their sixty, fly and turn the rudder.
To see ’t mine eyes are blasted.
...synod of them!
What’s thy passion?
...Kingdoms and provinces.
How appears the fight?
...sails and flies.
That I beheld.
Mine eyes did sicken at the sight and could not
Endure a further view.
...violate so itself.
Alack, alack.
...by his own.
Ay, are you thereabouts? Why then goodnight indeed.
...way of yielding.
I’ll yet follow
The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason
Sits in the wind against me.
He exits.
Scene 13
...Caesar, I shall.
Enter Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, and Iras.
...we do, Enobarbus?
Think, and die.
...fault for this?
Antony only, that would make his will
Lord of his reason. What though you fled
From that great face of war, whose several ranges
Frighted each other? Why should he follow?
The itch of his affection should not then
Have nicked his captainship, at such a point,
When half to half the world opposed, he being
The merèd question. ’Twas a shame no less
Than was his loss, to course your flying flags
And leave his navy gazing.
...it. Follow me.
aside
Yes, like enough, high-battled Caesar will
Unstate his happiness and be staged to th’ show
Against a sworder! I see men’s judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them
To suffer all alike. That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will
Answer his emptiness! Caesar, thou hast subdued
His judgment too.
...buds.—Admit him, sir.
aside
Mine honesty and I begin to square.
The loyalty well held to fools does make
Our faith mere folly. Yet he that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fall’n lord
Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i’ th’ story.
...friends to Antony.
He needs as many, sir, as Caesar has,
Or needs not us. If Caesar please, our master
Will leap to be his friend. For us, you know
Whose he is we are, and that is Caesar’s.
...But conquered merely.
aside
To be sure of that,
I will ask Antony. Sir, sir, thou art so leaky
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee.
Enobarbus exits.
...it rained kisses.
Enter Antony and Enobarbus.
...have command obeyed.
You will be whipped.
...and whip him.
aside
’Tis better playing with a lion’s whelp
Than with an old one dying.
...his pestilent scythe.
Now he’ll outstare the lightning. To be furious
Is to be frighted out of fear, and in that mood
The dove will peck the estridge; and I see still
A diminution in our captain’s brain
Restores his heart. When valor preys on reason,
It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek
Some way to leave him.
He exits.
ACT 4
Scene 2
...waste. Poor Antony.
Enter Antony, Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, Iras, with others.
...with me, Domitius?
No.
...should he not?
He thinks, being twenty times of better fortune,
He is twenty men to one.
...thou fight well?
I’ll strike and cry “Take all.”
...What means this?
aside to Cleopatra
’Tis one of those odd tricks which sorrow shoots
Out of the mind.
...does he mean?
aside to Cleopatra
To make his followers weep.
...you for ’t!
What mean you, sir,
To give them this discomfort? Look, they weep,
And I, an ass, am onion-eyed. For shame,
Transform us not to women.
...And drown consideration.
They exit.
Scene 6
...honest men. Dispatch.—Enobarbus!
Flourish. Enter Agrippa, Caesar, with Enobarbus and Dolabella.
...fury Upon himself.
Alexas did revolt and went to Jewry on
Affairs of Antony, there did dissuade
Great Herod to incline himself to Caesar
And leave his master Antony. For this pains,
Caesar hath hanged him. Canidius and the rest
That fell away have entertainment but
No honorable trust. I have done ill,
Of which I do accuse myself so sorely
That I will joy no more.
...of his mules.
I give it you.
...still a Jove.
I am alone the villain of the Earth,
And feel I am so most. O Antony,
Thou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid
My better service, when my turpitude
Thou dost so crown with gold! This blows my heart.
If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean
Shall outstrike thought, but thought will do ’t, I feel.
I fight against thee? No. I will go seek
Some ditch wherein to die; the foul’st best fits
My latter part of life.
He exits.
Scene 9
...Applauding our approach.
Enter a Sentry and his company. Enobarbus follows.
...one to ’s.
O, bear me witness, night—
...and list him.
Be witness to me, O thou blessèd moon,
When men revolted shall upon record
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
Before thy face repent.
...Peace! Hark further.
O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night dispunge 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.
...may recover yet.
They exit, carrying Enobarbus’ body.