Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,

Like a right gipsy hath at fast and loose

Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.

What, Eros, Eros!

Enter Cleopatra

Ah, thou spell! Avaunt.

CLEOPATRA

Why is my lord enraged against his love?

ANTONY

Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving

And blemish Caesar’s triumph. Let him take thee

And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians;

Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot

Of all thy sex; most monster-like be shown

For poor’st diminutives, for dolts, and let

Patient Octavia plough thy visage up

With her prepared nails.

Exit Cleopatra

’Tis well thou’rt gone,

If it be well to live. But better ’twere

Thou fell’st into my fury, for one death

Might have prevented many. Eros, ho!

The shirt of Nessus is upon me. Teach me,

Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage.

Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o’th’ moon,

And with those hands that grasped the heaviest club

Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die.

To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall

Under this plot. She dies for’t. Eros, ho!

Exit

4.14 Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, Mardian

CLEOPATRA

Help me, my women! O, he’s more mad

Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly

Was never so embossed.

CHARMIAN

To th’ monument!

There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.

The soul and body rive not more in parting

Than greatness going off.

CLEOPATRA

To th’ monument!

Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself.

Say that the last I spoke was ‘Antony’,

And word it, prithee, piteously. Hence, Mardian,

And bring me how he takes my death. To th’

monument!

Exeunt

4.15 Enter Antony and Eros

ANTONY

Eros, thou yet behold’st me?

EROS

Ay, noble lord.

ANTONY

Sometime we see a cloud that’s dragonish,

A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,

A towered citadel, a pendent rock,

A forked mountain, or blue promontory

With trees upon’t that nod unto the world

And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs;

They are black vesper’s pageants.

EROS

Ay, my lord.

ANTONY

That which is now a horse even with a thought

The rack distains, and makes it indistinct

As water is in water.

EROS

It does, my lord.

ANTONY

My good knave Eros, now thy captain is

Even such a body. Here I am Antony,

Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.

I made these wars for Egypt, and the Queen—

Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine,

Which whilst it was mine had annexed unto’t

A million more, now lost—she, Eros, has

Packed cards with Caesar, and false-played my glory

Unto an enemy’s triumph.

Nay, weep not, gentle Eros. There is left us

Ourselves to end ourselves.

Enter Mardian

O thy vile lady,

She has robbed me of my sword!

MARDIAN

No, Antony,

My mistress loved thee, and her fortunes mingled

With thine entirely.

ANTONY

Hence, saucy eunuch, peace!

She hath betrayed me, and shall die the death.

MARDIAN

Death of one person can be paid but once,

And that she has discharged. What thou wouldst do

Is done unto thy hand. The last she spake

Was ‘Antony, most noble Antony!’

Then in the midst a tearing groan did break

The name of Antony. It was divided

Between her heart and lips. She rendered life,

Thy name so buried in her.

ANTONY

Dead, then?

MARDIAN

Dead.

ANTONY

Unarm, Eros. The long day’s task is done,

And we must sleep. (To Mardian) That thou depart’st

hence safe

Does pay thy labour richly. Go.

Exit Mardian

Off, pluck off.

Eros helps Antony to unarm

The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep

The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!

Heart, once be stronger than thy continent;

Crack thy frail case. Apace, Eros, apace.

No more a soldier. Bruised pieces, go;

You have been nobly borne.—From me a while.

Exit Eros

I will o’ertake thee, Cleopatra, and

Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now

All length is torture. Since the torch is out,

Lie down, and stray no farther. Now all labour

Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles

Itself with strength. Seal, then, and all is done.

Eros!-I come, my queen.-Eros!-Stay for me.

Where souls do couch on flowers we’ll hand in hand,

And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze.

Dido and her Aeneas shall want troops,

And all the haunt be ours. Come, Eros, Eros!

Enter Eros

EROS

What would my lord?

ANTONY

Since Cleopatra died

I have lived in such dishonour that the gods

Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword

Quartered the world, and o’er green Neptune’s back

With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack