Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 15
The same. A monument.
Cleopatra : O Charmian, I will never go from hence.
Charmian : Be comforted, dear madam.
Cleopatra : No, I will not:
[p]All strange and terrible events are welcome,
[p]But
comforts we despise; our size of sorrow,
[p]Proportion'd to our cause,
must be as great
[p]As that which makes it.
[p][Enter, below,
DIOMEDES]
[p]How now! is he dead?
Diomedes : His death's upon him, but not dead.
[p]Look out o' the other side your
monument;
[p]His guard have brought him thither.
Cleopatra : O sun,
[p]Burn the great sphere thou movest in!
[p]darkling
stand
[p]The varying shore o' the world. O Antony,
[p]Antony, Antony!
Help, Charmian, help, Iras, help;
[p]Help, friends below; let's draw
him hither.
Cleopatra : So it should be, that none but Antony
[p]Should conquer Antony; but
woe 'tis so!
Cleopatra : I dare not, dear,--
[p]Dear my lord, pardon,--I dare not,
[p]Lest I be
taken: not the imperious show
[p]Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever
shall
[p]Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs,
[p]serpents,
have
[p]Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe:
[p]Your wife Octavia,
with her modest eyes
[p]And still conclusion, shall acquire no
honour
[p]Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony,--
[p]Help me, my
women,--we must draw thee up:
[p]Assist, good friends.
Cleopatra : Here's sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
[p]Our strength is all
gone into heaviness,
[p]That makes the weight: had I great Juno's
power,
[p]The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up,
[p]And set
thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,--
[p]Wishes were ever
fools,--O, come, come, come;
[p][They heave MARK ANTONY aloft to
CLEOPATRA]
[p]And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast
lived:
[p]Quicken with kissing: had my lips that power,
[p]Thus would
I wear them out.
All : A heavy sight!
Cleopatra : No, let me speak; and let me rail so high,
[p]That the false housewife
Fortune break her wheel,
[p]Provoked by my offence.
Cleopatra : They do not go together.
Cleopatra : My resolution and my hands I'll trust;
[p]None about Caesar.
Cleopatra : Noblest of men, woo't die?
[p]Hast thou no care of me? shall I
abide
[p]In this dull world, which in thy absence is
[p]No better than
a sty? O, see, my women,
[p][MARK ANTONY dies]
[p]The crown o' the
earth doth melt. My lord!
[p]O, wither'd is the garland of the
war,
[p]The soldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls
[p]Are
level now with men; the odds is gone,
[p]And there is nothing left
remarkable
[p]Beneath the visiting moon.
Charmian : O, quietness, lady!
Iras : She is dead too, our sovereign.
Charmian : Lady!
Iras : Madam!
Charmian : O madam, madam, madam!
Iras : Royal Egypt, Empress!
Charmian : Peace, peace, Iras!
Cleopatra : No more, but e'en a woman, and commanded
[p]By such poor passion as
the maid that milks
[p]And does the meanest chares. It were for
me
[p]To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods;
[p]To tell them that
this world did equal theirs
[p]Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's
but naught;
[p]Patience is scottish, and impatience does
[p]Become a
dog that's mad: then is it sin
[p]To rush into the secret house of
death,
[p]Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women?
[p]What, what!
good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian!
[p]My noble girls! Ah, women,
women, look,
[p]Our lamp is spent, it's out! Good sirs, take
heart:
[p]We'll bury him; and then, what's brave,
[p]what's
noble,
[p]Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
[p]And make death
proud to take us. Come, away:
[p]This case of that huge spirit now is
cold:
[p]Ah, women, women! come; we have no friend
[p]But resolution,
and the briefest end.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 1
