Scene
2
Enter
Enobarbus
,
Lamprius
,
a
Soothsayer
,
Rannius
,
Lucillius
,
Charmian
,
Iras
,
Mardian
the
Eunuch
,
Alexas
,
and
Servants
.
CHARMIAN
Lord
Alexas
,
sweet
Alexas
,
most
anything
Alexas
,
almost
most
absolute
Alexas
,
where’s
the
soothsayer
that
you
praised
so
to
th’
Queen
?
O
,
that
I
knew
this
husband
which
you
say
must
charge
his
horns
with
garlands
!
ALEXAS
Soothsayer
!
SOOTHSAYER
Your
will
?
CHARMIAN
Is
this
the
man
?
—
Is
’t
you
,
sir
,
that
know
things
?
SOOTHSAYER
In
nature’s
infinite
book
of
secrecy
A
little
I
can
read
.
ALEXAS
,
to
Charmian
Show
him
your
hand
.
ENOBARBUS
,
to
Servants
Bring
in
the
banquet
quickly
,
wine
enough
Cleopatra’s
health
to
drink
.
CHARMIAN
,
giving
her
hand
to
the
Soothsayer
Good
sir
,
give
me
good
fortune
.
SOOTHSAYER
I
make
not
,
but
foresee
.
CHARMIAN
Pray
then
,
foresee
me
one
.
SOOTHSAYER
You
shall
be
yet
far
fairer
than
you
are
.
CHARMIAN
He
means
in
flesh
.
IRAS
No
,
you
shall
paint
when
you
are
old
.
CHARMIAN
Wrinkles
forbid
!
ALEXAS
Vex
not
his
prescience
.
Be
attentive
.
CHARMIAN
Hush
.
SOOTHSAYER
You
shall
be
more
beloving
than
beloved
.
CHARMIAN
I
had
rather
heat
my
liver
with
drinking
.
ALEXAS
Nay
,
hear
him
.
CHARMIAN
Good
now
,
some
excellent
fortune
!
Let
me
be
married
to
three
kings
in
a
forenoon
and
widow
them
all
.
Let
me
have
a
child
at
fifty
to
whom
Herod
of
Jewry
may
do
homage
.
Find
me
to
marry
me
with
Octavius
Caesar
,
and
companion
me
with
my
mistress
.
SOOTHSAYER
You
shall
outlive
the
lady
whom
you
serve
.
CHARMIAN
O
,
excellent
!
I
love
long
life
better
than
figs
.
SOOTHSAYER
You
have
seen
and
proved
a
fairer
former
fortune
Than
that
which
is
to
approach
.
CHARMIAN
Then
belike
my
children
shall
have
no
names
.
Prithee
,
how
many
boys
and
wenches
must
I
have
?
SOOTHSAYER
If
every
of
your
wishes
had
a
womb
,
And
fertile
every
wish
,
a
million
.
CHARMIAN
Out
,
fool
!
I
forgive
thee
for
a
witch
.
ALEXAS
You
think
none
but
your
sheets
are
privy
to
your
wishes
.
CHARMIAN
,
to
Soothsayer
Nay
,
come
.
Tell
Iras
hers
.
ALEXAS
We’ll
know
all
our
fortunes
.
ENOBARBUS
Mine
,
and
most
of
our
fortunes
tonight
,
shall
be
—
drunk
to
bed
.
IRAS
,
giving
her
hand
to
the
Soothsayer
There’s
a
palm
presages
chastity
,
if
nothing
else
.
CHARMIAN
E’en
as
the
o’erflowing
Nilus
presageth
famine
.
IRAS
Go
,
you
wild
bedfellow
,
you
cannot
soothsay
.
CHARMIAN
Nay
,
if
an
oily
palm
be
not
a
fruitful
prognostication
,
I
cannot
scratch
mine
ear
.
—
Prithee
tell
her
but
a
workaday
fortune
.
SOOTHSAYER
Your
fortunes
are
alike
.
IRAS
But
how
,
but
how
?
Give
me
particulars
.
SOOTHSAYER
I
have
said
.
IRAS
Am
I
not
an
inch
of
fortune
better
than
she
?
CHARMIAN
Well
,
if
you
were
but
an
inch
of
fortune
better
than
I
,
where
would
you
choose
it
?
IRAS
Not
in
my
husband’s
nose
.
CHARMIAN
Our
worser
thoughts
heavens
mend
.
Alexas
—
come
,
his
fortune
,
his
fortune
!
O
,
let
him
marry
a
woman
that
cannot
go
,
sweet
Isis
,
I
beseech
thee
,
and
let
her
die
,
too
,
and
give
him
a
worse
,
and
let
worse
follow
worse
,
till
the
worst
of
all
follow
him
laughing
to
his
grave
,
fiftyfold
a
cuckold
.
Good
Isis
,
hear
me
this
prayer
,
though
thou
deny
me
a
matter
of
more
weight
,
good
Isis
,
I
beseech
thee
!
IRAS
Amen
,
dear
goddess
,
hear
that
prayer
of
the
people
.
For
,
as
it
is
a
heartbreaking
to
see
a
handsome
man
loose-wived
,
so
it
is
a
deadly
sorrow
to
behold
a
foul
knave
uncuckolded
.
Therefore
,
dear
Isis
,
keep
decorum
and
fortune
him
accordingly
.
CHARMIAN
Amen
.
ALEXAS
Lo
now
,
if
it
lay
in
their
hands
to
make
me
a
cuckold
,
they
would
make
themselves
whores
but
they’d
do
’t
.
ENOBARBUS
Hush
,
here
comes
Antony
.
CHARMIAN
Not
he
.
The
Queen
.
Enter
Cleopatra
.
CLEOPATRA
Saw
you
my
lord
?
ENOBARBUS
No
,
lady
.
CLEOPATRA
Was
he
not
here
?
CHARMIAN
No
,
madam
.
CLEOPATRA
He
was
disposed
to
mirth
,
but
on
the
sudden
A
Roman
thought
hath
struck
him
.
—
Enobarbus
!
ENOBARBUS
Madam
?
CLEOPATRA
Seek
him
and
bring
him
hither
.
—
Where’s
Alexas
?
ALEXAS
Here
at
your
service
.
My
lord
approaches
.
Enter
Antony
with
a
Messenger
.
CLEOPATRA
We
will
not
look
upon
him
.
Go
with
us
.
All
but
Antony
and
the
Messenger
exit
.
MESSENGER
Fulvia
thy
wife
first
came
into
the
field
.
ANTONY
Against
my
brother
Lucius
?
MESSENGER
Ay
.
But
soon
that
war
had
end
,
and
the
time’s
state
Made
friends
of
them
,
jointing
their
force
’gainst
Caesar
,
Whose
better
issue
in
the
war
from
Italy
Upon
the
first
encounter
drave
them
.
ANTONY
Well
,
what
worst
?
MESSENGER
The
nature
of
bad
news
infects
the
teller
.
ANTONY
When
it
concerns
the
fool
or
coward
.
On
.
Things
that
are
past
are
done
,
with
me
.
’Tis
thus
:
Who
tells
me
true
,
though
in
his
tale
lie
death
,
I
hear
him
as
he
flattered
.
MESSENGER
Labienus
—
This
is
stiff
news
—
hath
with
his
Parthian
force
Extended
Asia
:
from
Euphrates
His
conquering
banner
shook
,
from
Syria
To
Lydia
and
to
Ionia
,
Whilst
—
ANTONY
“
Antony
,
”
thou
wouldst
say
?
MESSENGER
O
,
my
lord
!
ANTONY
Speak
to
me
home
;
mince
not
the
general
tongue
.
Name
Cleopatra
as
she
is
called
in
Rome
;
Rail
thou
in
Fulvia’s
phrase
,
and
taunt
my
faults
With
such
full
license
as
both
truth
and
malice
Have
power
to
utter
.
O
,
then
we
bring
forth
weeds
When
our
quick
winds
lie
still
,
and
our
ills
told
us
Is
as
our
earing
.
Fare
thee
well
awhile
.
MESSENGER
At
your
noble
pleasure
.
Messenger
exits
.
Enter
another
Messenger
.
ANTONY
From
Sicyon
how
the
news
?
Speak
there
.
SECOND
MESSENGER
The
man
from
Sicyon
—
ANTONY
Is
there
such
an
one
?
SECOND
MESSENGER
He
stays
upon
your
will
.
ANTONY
Let
him
appear
.
Second
Messenger
exits
.
These
strong
Egyptian
fetters
I
must
break
,
Or
lose
myself
in
dotage
.
Enter
another
Messenger
with
a
letter
.
What
are
you
?
THIRD
MESSENGER
Fulvia
thy
wife
is
dead
.
ANTONY
Where
died
she
?
THIRD
MESSENGER
In
Sicyon
.
Her
length
of
sickness
,
with
what
else
more
serious
Importeth
thee
to
know
,
this
bears
.
He
hands
Antony
the
letter
.
ANTONY
Forbear
me
.
Third
Messenger
exits
.
There’s
a
great
spirit
gone
!
Thus
did
I
desire
it
.
What
our
contempts
doth
often
hurl
from
us
,
We
wish
it
ours
again
.
The
present
pleasure
,
By
revolution
lowering
,
does
become
The
opposite
of
itself
.
She’s
good
,
being
gone
.
The
hand
could
pluck
her
back
that
shoved
her
on
.
I
must
from
this
enchanting
queen
break
off
.
Ten
thousand
harms
more
than
the
ills
I
know
My
idleness
doth
hatch
.
—
How
now
,
Enobarbus
!
Enter
Enobarbus
.
ENOBARBUS
What’s
your
pleasure
,
sir
?
ANTONY
I
must
with
haste
from
hence
.
ENOBARBUS
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
.
ANTONY
I
must
be
gone
.
ENOBARBUS
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
.
ANTONY
She
is
cunning
past
man’s
thought
.
ENOBARBUS
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
.
ANTONY
Would
I
had
never
seen
her
!
ENOBARBUS
O
,
sir
,
you
had
then
left
unseen
a
wonderful
piece
of
work
,
which
not
to
have
been
blest
withal
would
have
discredited
your
travel
.
ANTONY
Fulvia
is
dead
.
ENOBARBUS
Sir
?
ANTONY
Fulvia
is
dead
.
ENOBARBUS
Fulvia
?
ANTONY
Dead
.
ENOBARBUS
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
.
ANTONY
The
business
she
hath
broachèd
in
the
state
Cannot
endure
my
absence
.
ENOBARBUS
And
the
business
you
have
broached
here
cannot
be
without
you
,
especially
that
of
Cleopatra’s
,
which
wholly
depends
on
your
abode
.
ANTONY
No
more
light
answers
.
Let
our
officers
Have
notice
what
we
purpose
.
I
shall
break
The
cause
of
our
expedience
to
the
Queen
And
get
her
leave
to
part
.
For
not
alone
The
death
of
Fulvia
,
with
more
urgent
touches
,
Do
strongly
speak
to
us
,
but
the
letters
too
Of
many
our
contriving
friends
in
Rome
Petition
us
at
home
.
Sextus
Pompeius
Hath
given
the
dare
to
Caesar
and
commands
The
empire
of
the
sea
.
Our
slippery
people
,
Whose
love
is
never
linked
to
the
deserver
Till
his
deserts
are
past
,
begin
to
throw
Pompey
the
Great
and
all
his
dignities
Upon
his
son
,
who
—
high
in
name
and
power
,
Higher
than
both
in
blood
and
life
—
stands
up
For
the
main
soldier
;
whose
quality
,
going
on
,
The
sides
o’
th’
world
may
danger
.
Much
is
breeding
Which
,
like
the
courser’s
hair
,
hath
yet
but
life
And
not
a
serpent’s
poison
.
Say
our
pleasure
,
To
such
whose
place
is
under
us
,
requires
Our
quick
remove
from
hence
.
ENOBARBUS
I
shall
do
’t
.
They
exit
.