Alexandria. A Room in the Monument.
 Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN.

Cleopatra	My desolation does begin to make
	A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar:
	Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
	A minister of her will; and it is great
	To do that thing that ends all other deeds,
	Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change,
	Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung,
	The beggar's nurse and Caesar's.

                            Enter PROCULEIUS.

Proculeius	Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt,
	And bids thee study on what fair demands
	Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

Cleopatra										What's thy name?

Proculeius	My name is Proculeius.

Cleopatra								Antony
	Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but
	I do not greatly care to be deceived,
	That have no use for trusting. If your master
	Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him
	That majesty, to keep decorum, must
	No less beg than a kingdom. If he please
	To give me conquered Egypt for my son,
	He gives me so much of mine own as I
	Will kneel to him with thanks.

Proculeius									Be of good cheer;
	You're fall'n into a princely hand; fear nothing.
	Make your full reference freely to my lord,
	Who is so full of grace that it flows over
	On all that need. Let me report to him
	Your sweet dependency, and you shall find
	A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness,
	Where he for grace is kneeled to.

Cleopatra										Pray you, tell him
	I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him
	The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
	A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly
	Look him i'th' face.

Proculeius							This I'll report, dear lady.
	Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
	Of him that caused it.

                 SOLDIERS approach CLEOPATRA from behind.

	You see how easily she may be surprised.
	Guard her till Caesar come.

Iras	Royal queen!

Charmian	O Cleopatra! Thou art taken, queen.

Cleopatra	[Drawing a dagger.]
	Quick, quick, good hands.

Proculeius			[Disarming her.] Hold, worthy lady, hold!
	Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this
	Relieved, but not betrayed.

Cleopatra								What, of death too,
	That rids our dogs of languish?

Proculeius										Cleopatra,
	Do not abuse my master's bounty by
	The undoing of yourself. Let the world see
	His nobleness well acted, which your death
	Will never let come forth.

Cleopatra								Where art thou, death?
	Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queen
	Worth many babes and beggars!

Proculeius									O, temperance, lady!

Cleopatra	Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir;
	If idle talk will once be necessary,
	I'll not sleep neither. This mortal house I'll ruin,
	Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I
	Will not wait pinioned at your master's court,
	Nor once be chastised with the sober eye
	Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up
	And show me to the shouting varletry
	Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
	Be gentle grave unto me; rather on Nilus' mud
	Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies
	Blow me into abhorring; rather make
	My country's high pyramids my gibbet,
	And hang me up in chains.

Proculeius								You do extend
	These thoughts of horror further than you shall
	Find cause in Caesar.

                             Enter DOLABELLA.

Dolabella								Proculeius,
	What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,
	And he hath sent for thee. As for the queen,
	I'll take her to my guard.

Proculeius									So, Dolabella,
	It shall content me best. Be gentle to her.
	[To CLEOPATRA.]
	To Caesar I will speak what you shall please,
	If you'll employ me to him.

Cleopatra									Say I would die.
													[Exit PROCULEIUS.

Dolabella	Most noble empress, you have heard of me?

Cleopatra	I cannot tell.

Dolabella					Assuredly you know me.

Cleopatra	No matter, sir, what I have heard or known.
	You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams;
	Is't not your trick?

Dolabella							I understand not, madam.

Cleopatra	I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony-
	O such another sleep, that I might see
	But such another man!

Dolabella								If it might please ye-

Cleopatra	His face was as the heavens, and therein stuck
	A sun and moon, which kept their course and lighted
	The little O, the earth.

Dolabella							Most sovereign creature-

Cleopatra	His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared arm
	Crested the world; his voice was propertied
	As all the tund spheres, and that to friends;
	But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
	He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
	There was no winter in't; an autumn it was,
	That grew the more by reaping. His delights
	Were dolphin-like: they showed his back above
	The element they lived in. In his livery
	Walked crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
	As plates dropped from his pocket.

Dolabella										Cleopatra-

Cleopatra	Think you there was or might be such a man
	As this I dreamt of?

Dolabella							Gentle madam, no.

Cleopatra	You lie, up to the hearing of the gods.
	But if there be, or ever were one such,
	It's past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff
	To vie strange forms with fancy; yet t' imagine
	An Antony were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
	Condemning shadows quite.

Dolabella								Hear me, good madam.
	Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it
	As answering to the weight. Would I might never
	O'ertake pursued success, but I do feel,
	By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
	My very heart at root.

Cleopatra							I thank you, sir.
	Know you what Caesar means to do with me?

Dolabella	I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.

Cleopatra	Nay, pray you, sir.

Dolabella							Though he be honourable-

Cleopatra	He'll lead me then in triumph.

Dolabella	Madam, he will. I know't.

                                Flourish. 
   Enter PROCULEIUS, CAESAR, GALLUS, MAECENAS, and OTHERS of his train.

All	Make way there! Caesar!

Caesar	Which is the Queen of Egypt?

Dolabella	It is the emperor, madam.
													[CLEOPATRA kneels.

Caesar	Arise; you shall not kneel.
	I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.

Cleopatra									Sir, the gods
	Will have it thus; my master and my lord
	I must obey.

Caesar					Take to you no hard thoughts.
	The record of what injuries you did us,
	Though written in our flesh, we shall remember
	As things but done by chance.

Cleopatra									Sole sir o'th' world,
	I cannot project mine own cause so well
	To make it clear, but do confess I have
	Been laden with like frailties which before
	Have often shamed our sex.

Caesar								Cleopatra, know
	We will extenuate rather than enforce.
	If you apply yourself to our intents-
	Which towards you are most gentle - you shall find
	A benefit in this change; but if you seek
	To lay on me a cruelty by taking
	Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself
	Of my good purposes, and put your children
	To that destruction which I'll guard them from,
	If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave.

Cleopatra	And may through all the world: 'tis yours, and we,
	Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall
	Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.
													[Giving a paper.
Caesar	You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.

Cleopatra	This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels
	I am possessed of. 'Tis exactly valued,
	Not petty things admitted. Where's Seleucus?

                             Enter SELEUCUS.

Seleucus	Here, madam.

Cleopatra	This is my treasurer; let him speak, my lord,
	Upon his peril, that I have reserved
	To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus.

Seleucus	Madam,
	I had rather seel my lips than to my peril
	Speak that which is not.

Cleopatra								What have I kept back?

Seleucus	Enough to purchase what you have made known.

Caesar	Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve
	Your wisdom in the deed.

Cleopatra								See, Caesar! O behold
	How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yours,
	And should we shift estates, yours would be mine.
	The ingratitude of this Seleucus does
	Even make me wild. O slave, of no more trust
	Than love that's hired! What, goest thou back? Thou shalt
	Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes
	Though they had wings. Slave, soulless villain, dog!
	O rarely base!

Caesar					Good queen, let us entreat you.

Cleopatra	O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,
	That thou vouchsafing here to visit me,
	Doing the honour of thy lordliness
	To one so meek, that mine own servant should
	Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
	Addition of his envy. Say, good Caesar,
	That I some lady trifles have reserved,
	Immoment toys, things of such dignity
	As we greet modern friends withal; and say
	Some nobler token I have kept apart
	For Livia and Octavia, to induce
	Their mediation - must I be unfolded
	With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites me
	Beneath the fall I have. [To SELEUCUS.] Prithee go hence,
	Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits
	Through th' ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man,
	Thou wouldst have mercy on me.

Caesar									Forbear, Seleucus.
													[Exit SELEUCUS.

Cleopatra	Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought
	For things that others do; and when we fall
	We answer others' merits in our name,
	Are therefore to be pitied.

Caesar									Cleopatra,
	Not what you have reserved nor what acknowledged
	Put we i'th' roll of conquest. Still be't yours,
	Bestow it at your pleasure; and believe
	Caesar's no merchant, to make prize with you
	Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheered;
	Make not your thoughts your prisons. No, dear queen,
	For we intend so to dispose you as
	Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep.
	Our care and pity is so much upon you
	That we remain your friend. And so adieu.

Cleopatra	My master, and my lord!

Caesar									Not so. Adieu.
													[Flourish.
								   [Exeunt CAESAR and his TRAIN.

Cleopatra	He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not
	Be noble to myself. But hark thee Charmian.
													[Whispers to CHARMIAN.

Iras	Finish, good lady; the bright day is done,
	And we are for the dark.

Cleopatra								Hie thee again.
	I have spoke already, and it is provided;
	Go put it to the haste.

Charmian							Madam, I will.

                           Re-enter DOLABELLA.

Dolabella	Where's the queen?

Charmian						Behold, sir.
													[Exit.
Cleopatra										Dolabella!

Dolabella	Madam, as thereto sworn, by your command,
	Which my love makes religion to obey,
	I tell you this: Caesar through Syria
	Intends his journey, and within three days
	You with your children will he send before.
	Make you best use of this. I have performed
	Your pleasure and my promise.

Cleopatra									Dolabella,
	I shall remain your debtor.

Dolabella										I your servant.
	Adieu, good queen; I must attend on Caesar.

Cleopatra	Farewell, and thanks.
													[Exit DOLABELLA.
						Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
	Thou an Egyptian puppet shall be shown
	In Rome as well as I. Mechanic slaves
	With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers shall
	Uplift us to the view. In their thick breaths,
	Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded,
	And forced to drink their vapour.

Iras									The gods forbid!

Cleopatra	Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors
	Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers
	Ballad us out o'tune. The quick comedians
	Extemporally will stage us, and present
	Our Alexandrian revels. Antony
	Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
	Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
	I'th' posture of a whore.

Iras							O the good gods!

Cleopatra	Nay, that's certain.

Iras	I'll never see't; for I am sure my nails
	Are stronger than mine eyes.

Cleopatra										Why, that's the way
	To fool their preparation, and to conquer
	Their most absurd intents.

                            Re-enter CHARMIAN.

								Now, Charmian!
	Show me, my women, like a queen; go fetch
	My best attires. I am again for Cydnus,
	To meet Mark Antony. Sirrah Iras, go.
	Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed;
	And when thou hast done this chare, I'll give thee leave
	To play till doomsday. Bring our crown and all.
													[Exit IRAS.
													[A noise within.
	Wherefore's this noise?

                            Enter a GUARDSMAN.

Guardsman							Here is a rural fellow
	That will not be denied your highness' presence.
	He brings you figs.

Cleopatra	Let him come in.
													[Exit GUARDSMAN.
						What poor an instrument
	May do a noble deed! He brings me liberty.
	My resolution's placed, and I have nothing
	Of woman in me: now from head to foot
	I am marble-constant; now the fleeting moon
	No planet is of mine.

              Re-enter GUARDSMAN and a CLOWN with a basket.

Guardsman						This is the man.

Cleopatra	Avoid, and leave him.
													[Exit GUARDSMAN.
	Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there,
	That kills and pains not?

Clown	Truly I have him, but I would not be the party that should 
	desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal; those 
	that do die of it do seldom or never recover.

Cleopatra	Remember'st thou any that have died on't?

Clown	Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no 
	longer than yesterday; a very honest woman, but something 
	given to lie, as a woman should not do but in the way of 
	honesty; how she died of the biting of it, what pain she 
	felt. Truly she makes a very good report o'th' worm; but he 
	that will believe all that they say shall never be saved by 
	half that they do. But this is most falliable - the worm's 
	an odd worm.

Cleopatra	Get thee hence; farewell.

Clown	I wish you all joy of the worm.
													[Sets down the basket.
Cleopatra	Farewell.

Clown	You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his 
	kind.

Cleopatra	Ay, ay, farewell.

Clown	Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping 
	of wise people; for indeed there is no goodness in the 
	worm.

Cleopatra	Take thou no care, it shall be heeded.

Clown	Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for it is not worth 
	the feeding.

Cleopatra	Will it eat me?

Clown	You must not think I am so simple but I know the devil 
	himself will not eat a woman. I know that a woman is a dish 
	for the gods, if the devil dress her not. But truly, these 
	same whoreson devils do the gods great harm in their women, 
	for in every ten that they make, the devils mar five.

Cleopatra	Well, get thee gone; farewell.

Clown	Yes, forsooth. I wish you joy o'th' worm.
													[Exit.
             Enter IRAS with a robe, crown, and other jewels.

Cleopatra	Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
	Immortal longings in me. Now no more
	The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip.
	Yare, yare, good Iras; quick, methinks I hear
	Antony call. I see him rouse himself
	To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
	The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men
	To excuse their after wrath. Husband, I come.
	Now to that name my courage prove my title!
	I am fire and air; my other elements
	I give to baser life. So, have you done?
	Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
	Farewell, kind Charmian. Iras, long farewell.
							  [Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies.
	Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?
	If thou and nature can so gently part,
	The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,
	Which hurts, and is desired. Dost thou lie still?
	If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
	It is not worth leave-taking.

Charmian	Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say
	The gods themselves do weep.

Cleopatra									This proves me base;
	If she first meet the curld Antony
	He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss
	Which is my heaven to have.
						[To an asp.]	Come, thou mortal wretch,
	With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
	Of life at once untie.
								 [Putting the asp to her breast.
							Poor venomous fool,
	Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
	That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
	Unpolicied!

Charmian				O eastern star!

Cleopatra								Peace, peace!
	Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
	That sucks the nurse asleep?

Charmian										O, break! O, break!

Cleopatra	As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle-
	O Antony! - Nay, I will take thee too.
									[Applying an asp to her arm.
	What should I stay-
													[Dies.
Charmian	In this vile world? So fare thee well.
	Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
	A lass unparalleled. Downy windows, close,
	And golden Phoebus never be beheld
	Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry;
	I'll mend it, and then play.

                      Enter the GUARD, rustling in.

1st Guard	Where's the queen?

Charmian						Speak softly, wake her not.

1st Guard	Caesar hath sent-

Charmian						Too slow a messenger.
									[Applying an asp to her arm.
	O, come apace, dispatch; I partly feel thee.

1st Guard	Approach ho! All's not well; Caesar's beguiled.

2nd Guard	There's Dolabella sent from Caesar; call him.

1st Guard	What work is here, Charmian? Is this well done?

Charmian	It is well done, and fitting for a princess
	Descended of so many royal kings.
	Ah, soldier!
													[Dies.
                             Enter DOLABELLA.

Dolabella	How goes it here?

2nd Guard						All dead.

Dolabella								Caesar, thy thoughts
	Touch their effects in this. Thyself art coming
	To see performed the dreaded act which thou
	So sought'st to hinder.

All	A way there! A way for Caesar!

                Enter CAESAR and all his TRAIN, marching.

Dolabella	O sir, you are too sure an augurer;
	That you did fear, is done.

Caesar								Bravest at the last,
	She levelled at our purposes, and, being royal,
	Took her own way. The manner of their deaths?
	I do not see them bleed.

Dolabella							Who was last with them?

1st Guard	A simple countryman that brought her figs.
	This was his basket.

Caesar						Poisoned, then.

1st Guard										O Caesar,
	This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake.
	I found her trimming up the diadem
	On her dead mistress. Tremblingly she stood,
	And on the sudden dropped.

Caesar								O noble weakness!
	If they had swallowed poison 'twould appear
	By external swelling; but she looks like sleep,
	As she would catch another Antony
	In her strong toil of grace.

Dolabella										Here on her breast
	There is a vent of blood, and something blown;
	The like is on her arm.

1st Guard	This is an aspic's trail, and these fig-leaves
	Have slime upon them such as th' aspic leaves
	Upon the caves of Nile.

Caesar							Most probable
	That so she died; for her physician tells me
	She hath pursued conclusions infinite
	Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed,
	And bear her women from the monument.
	She shall be buried by her Antony.
	No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
	A pair so famous. High events as these
	Strike those that make them; and their story is
	No less in pity than his glory which
	Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
	In solemn show attend this funeral,
	And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see
	High order in this great solemnity.
													[Exeunt.

