Alexandria. A Monument.
 Enter CLEOPATRA and her MAIDS aloft, with CHARMIAN and IRAS.

Cleopatra	O Charmian, I will never go from hence.

Charmian	Be comforted, dear madam.

Cleopatra								No, I will not.
	All strange and terrible events are welcome,
	But comforts we despise. Our size of sorrow,
	Proportioned to our cause, must be as great
	As that which makes it.

                          Enter DIOMEDES, below.

								How now, is he dead?

Diomedes	His death's upon him, but not dead.
	Look out o'th' other side your monument;
	His guard have brought him thither.

                 Enter, below, ANTONY borne by the GUARD.

Cleopatra										O sun,
	Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in; darkling stand
	The varying shore o'th' world! O Antony,
	Antony, Antony! Help, Charmian! Help, Iras, help!
	Help, friends below! Let's draw him hither.

Antony											Peace!
	Not Caesar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony,
	But Antony's hath triumphed on itself.

Cleopatra	So it should be, that none but Antony
	Should conquer Antony; but woe 'tis so!

Antony	I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
	I here importune death awhile, until
	Of many thousand kisses the poor last
	I lay upon thy lips.

Cleopatra							I dare not, dear; Dear my lord, 
	pardon. I dare not,
	Lest I be taken. Not th' imperious show
	Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
	Be brooched with me if knife, drugs, serpents, have
	Edge, sting, or operation. I am safe.
	Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
	And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
	Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony-
	Help me, my women - we must draw thee up.
	Assist, good friends.

Antony							O, quick, or I am gone.

Cleopatra	Here's sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
	Our strength is all gone into heaviness,
	That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power
	The strong-winged Mercury should fetch thee up
	And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little;
	Wishers were ever fools. O, come, come, come;
						  [They heave ANTONY aloft to CLEOPATRA.
	And welcome, welcome! Die when thou hast lived,
	Quicken with kissing. Had my lips that power,
	Thus would I wear them out.

All									A heavy sight!

Antony	I am dying, Egypt, dying.
	Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.

Cleopatra	No, let me speak, and let me rail so high
	That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
	Provoked by my offence.

Antony							One word, sweet queen:
	Of Caesar seek your honour with your safety. O!

Cleopatra	They do not go together.

Antony									Gentle, hear me:
	None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.

Cleopatra	My resolution and my hands I'll trust,
	None about Caesar.

Antony	The miserable change now at my end
	Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts
	In feeding them with those my former fortunes,
	Wherein I lived the greatest prince o'th' world,
	The noblest; and do now not basely die,
	Not cowardly put off my helmet to
	My countryman: a Roman by a Roman
	Valiantly vanquished. Now my spirit is going;
	I can no more.

Cleopatra					Noblest of men, woo't die?
	Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide
	In this dull world, which in thy absence is
	No better than a sty? O, see, my women,
	The crown o'th' earth doth melt.
													[ANTONY dies.
										My lord!
	O, withered is the garland of the war;
	The soldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls
	Are level now with men; the odds is gone,
	And there is nothing left remarkable
	Beneath the visiting moon.
													[Faints.
Charmian								O quietness, lady!

Iras	She's dead too, our sovereign.

Charmian								Lady!

Iras										Madam!

Charmian	O madam, madam, madam!

Iras	Royal Egypt! Empress!
													[CLEOPATRA recovers.
Charmian							Peace, peace, Iras!

Cleopatra	No more but e'en a woman, and commanded
	By such poor passion as the maid that milks
	And does the meanest chares. It were for me
	To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods;
	To tell them that this world did equal theirs
	Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's but naught:
	Patience is sottish, and impatience does
	Become a dog that's mad. Then is it sin
	To rush into the secret house of death
	Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women?
	What, what, good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian!
	My noble girls! Ah, women, women, look,
	Our lamp is spent, it's out. Good sirs, take heart.
	We'll bury him; and then, what's brave, what's noble,
	Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
	And make death proud to take us. Come, away;
	This case of that huge spirit now is cold.
	Ah, women, women! Come; we have no friend
	But resolution, and the briefest end.
							 [Exeunt, bearing off ANTONY's body.

