Antony and Cleopatra | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team,
a team of
about twenty Project Gutenberg volunteers.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
by William Shakespeare
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
M.ANTONY, Triumvir
OCTAVIUS CAESAR, Triumvir
M.
AEMIL. LEPIDUS, Triumvir
SEXTUS POMPEIUS Triumvir

DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, friend to Antony
VENTIDIUS, friend to
Antony
EROS, friend to Antony
SCARUS, friend to Antony
DERCETAS, friend to Antony
DEMETRIUS, friend to Antony

PHILO, friend to Antony
MAECENAS, friend to Caesar
AGRIPPA,
friend to Caesar
DOLABELLA, friend to Caesar
PROCULEIUS,
friend to Caesar
THYREUS, friend to Caesar
GALLUS, friend to
Caesar
MENAS, friend to Pompey
MENECRATES, friend to
Pompey
VARRIUS, friend to Pompey
TAURUS,
Lieutenant-General to Caesar
CANIDIUS, Lieutenant-General to
Antony
SILIUS, an Officer in Ventidius's army
EUPHRONIUS, an
Ambassador from Antony to Caesar
ALEXAS, attendant on
Cleopatra
MARDIAN, attendant on Cleopatra
SELEUCUS,
attendant on Cleopatra
DIOMEDES, attendant on Cleopatra
A
SOOTHSAYER
A CLOWN
CLEOPATRA, Queen of Egypt
OCTAVIA, sister to Caesar and wife
to Antony
CHARMIAN, Attendant on Cleopatra
IRAS, Attendant
on Cleopatra
Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants
SCENE: Dispersed, in several parts of the Roman Empire.

ACT I.
SCENE I. Alexandria. A Room in CLEOPATRA'S palace.
[Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO.]
PHILO.
Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the
measure: those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the
war
Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
The office
and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,

Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his
breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan

To cool a gipsy's lust.
[Flourish within.]
Look where they come:
Take but good note, and you shall see in him

The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a strumpet's fool:
behold and see.
[Enter ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their trains; Eunuchs
fanning her.]
CLEOPATRA.
If it be love indeed, tell me how much.
ANTONY.
There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.
CLEOPATRA.
I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd.
ANTONY.
Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.
[Enter an Attendant.]
ATTENDANT.
News, my good lord, from Rome.
ANTONY.
Grates me:--the sum.

CLEOPATRA.
Nay, hear them, Antony:
Fulvia perchance is angry;
or who knows
If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent
His
powerful mandate to you: 'Do this or this;
Take in that kingdom and
enfranchise that;
Perform't, or else we damn thee.'
ANTONY.
How, my love!
CLEOPATRA.
Perchance! Nay, and most like:--
You must not
stay here longer,--your dismission
Is come from Caesar; therefore
hear it, Antony. --
Where's Fulvia's process?--Caesar's I would
say?--Both?--
Call in the messengers.--As I am Egypt's queen,

Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Caesar's homager:
else so thy cheek pays shame
When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds.--The
messengers!
ANTONY.
Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the
rang'd empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy
earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus
[Embracing]; when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do't, in
which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand
up peerless.
CLEOPATRA.
Excellent falsehood!
Why did he marry Fulvia,
and not love her?--
I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony
Will be
himself.
ANTONY.
But stirr'd by Cleopatra.--
Now, for the love of Love
and her soft hours,
Let's not confound the time with conference harsh:

There's not a minute of our lives should stretch
Without some
pleasure