Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 5
Alexandria. CLEOPATRA’s palace.
Cleopatra : Charmian!
Charmian : Madam?
Cleopatra : Ha, ha!
[p]Give me to drink mandragora.
Charmian : Why, madam?
Cleopatra : That I might sleep out this great gap of time
[p]My Antony is away.
Charmian : You think of him too much.
Cleopatra : O, 'tis treason!
Charmian : Madam, I trust, not so.
Cleopatra : Thou, eunuch Mardian!
Mardian : What's your highness' pleasure?
Cleopatra : Not now to hear thee sing; I take no pleasure
[p]In aught an eunuch
has: 'tis well for thee,
[p]That, being unseminar'd, thy freer
thoughts
[p]May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?
Mardian : Yes, gracious madam.
Cleopatra : Indeed!
Mardian : Not in deed, madam; for I can do nothing
[p]But what indeed is honest
to be done:
[p]Yet have I fierce affections, and think
[p]What Venus
did with Mars.
Cleopatra : O Charmian,
[p]Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits
he?
[p]Or does he walk? or is he on his horse?
[p]O happy horse, to
bear the weight of Antony!
[p]Do bravely, horse! for wot'st thou whom
thou movest?
[p]The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
[p]And burgonet
of men. He's speaking now,
[p]Or murmuring 'Where's my serpent of old
Nile?'
[p]For so he calls me: now I feed myself
[p]With most delicious
poison. Think on me,
[p]That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches
black,
[p]And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Caesar,
[p]When
thou wast here above the ground, I was
[p]A morsel for a monarch: and
great Pompey
[p]Would stand and make his eyes grow in my
brow;
[p]There would he anchor his aspect and die
[p]With looking on
his life.
Alexas : Sovereign of Egypt, hail!
Cleopatra : How much unlike art thou Mark Antony!
[p]Yet, coming from him, that
great medicine hath
[p]With his tinct gilded thee.
[p]How goes it with
my brave Mark Antony?
Alexas : Last thing he did, dear queen,
[p]He kiss'd,--the last of many doubled
kisses,--
[p]This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart.
Cleopatra : Mine ear must pluck it thence.
Alexas : 'Good friend,' quoth he,
[p]'Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt
sends
[p]This treasure of an oyster; at whose foot,
[p]To mend the
petty present, I will piece
[p]Her opulent throne with kingdoms; all
the east,
[p]Say thou, shall call her mistress.' So he nodded,
[p]And
soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed,
[p]Who neigh'd so high, that
what I would have spoke
[p]Was beastly dumb'd by him.
Cleopatra : What, was he sad or merry?
Alexas : Like to the time o' the year between the extremes
[p]Of hot and cold,
he was nor sad nor merry.
Cleopatra : O well-divided disposition! Note him,
[p]Note him good Charmian, 'tis
the man; but note him:
[p]He was not sad, for he would shine on
those
[p]That make their looks by his; he was not merry,
[p]Which
seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay
[p]In Egypt with his joy; but
between both:
[p]O heavenly mingle! Be'st thou sad or merry,
[p]The
violence of either thee becomes,
[p]So does it no man else. Met'st
thou my posts?
Alexas : Ay, madam, twenty several messengers:
[p]Why do you send so thick?
Cleopatra : Who's born that day
[p]When I forget to send to Antony,
[p]Shall die a
beggar. Ink and paper, Charmian.
[p]Welcome, my good Alexas. Did I,
Charmian,
[p]Ever love Caesar so?
Charmian : O that brave Caesar!
Cleopatra : Be choked with such another emphasis!
[p]Say, the brave Antony.
Charmian : The valiant Caesar!
Cleopatra : By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth,
[p]If thou with Caesar paragon
again
[p]My man of men.
Charmian : By your most gracious pardon,
[p]I sing but after you.
Cleopatra : My salad days,
[p]When I was green in judgment: cold in blood,
[p]To
say as I said then! But, come, away;
[p]Get me ink and paper:
[p]He
shall have every day a several greeting,
[p]Or I'll unpeople Egypt.
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Next: Act 2 - Scene 1
