Antony and Cleopatra (14 page)
Read Antony and Cleopatra Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Enter a Soldier
How now, worthy soldier?
SOLDIER
O, noble emperor, do not fight by sea:
Trust not to
rotten planks
74
. Do you
misdoubt
This sword and these my wounds? Let th’Egyptians
And the
Phoenicians
76
go
a-ducking
: we
Have
used
77
to conquer standing on the earth
And fighting foot to foot.
ANTONY
Well, well, away!
Exeunt Antony, Cleopatra and Enobarbus
SOLDIER
By
Hercules
80
, I think I am i’th’right.
CANIDIUS
Soldier, thou art. But his whole
action grows
Not in the power on’t
81
. So our leader’s led,
And we are women’s
men
83
.
SOLDIER
You keep by land
The legions and the
horse whole
85
, do you not?
CANIDIUS
Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius,
Publicola and Caelius are for sea,
But we keep whole by land. This speed of Caesar’s
Carries
89
beyond belief.
SOLDIER
While he was
yet
90
in Rome,
His
power went out in such distractions
91
as
Beguiled
92
all spies.
CANIDIUS
Who’s his lieutenant, hear you?
SOLDIER
They say one Taurus.
CANIDIUS
Well I know the man.
Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER
The emperor calls Canidius.
CANIDIUS
With news the time’s in labour, and
throws forth
97
Each minute, some.
Exeunt
running scene 15
Location: Actium
Enter Caesar
[
and Taurus
]
with his army, marching
CAESAR
Taurus!
TAURUS
My lord?
CAESAR
Strike not by land. Keep
whole
3
, provoke not battle
Till we have done at sea. Do not
exceed
4
The
prescript
5
of this scroll: our fortune lies
Gives him a scroll
Upon this
jump
6
.
Exeunt
running scene 15 continues
Enter Antony and Enobarbus
ANTONY
Set we our squadrons on
yond
1
side o’th’hill
In
eye
2
of Caesar’s
battle
, from which place
We may the number of the ships behold
And so proceed accordingly.
Exeunt
running scene 15 continues
Canidius marcheth with his land army one way over the stage, and Taurus, the lieutenant of Caesar, the other way. After their going in, is heard the noise of a sea-fight.
Alarum
Enter Enobarbus
ENOBARBUS
Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no
longer:
Th’
Antoniad
, the Egyptian
admiral
2
,
With all their
sixty
3
, fly and turn the rudder:
To see’t mine eyes are
blasted
4
.
Enter Scarrus
SCARRUS
Gods and goddesses,
All the whole synod of them!
ENOBARBUS
What’s
thy passion
7
?
SCARRUS
The greater
cantle
8
of the world is lost
With very ignorance
9
. We have
kissed away
Kingdoms and provinces.
ENOBARBUS
How appears the fight?
SCARRUS
On our side, like the
tokened pestilence
12
Where death is sure.
Yon
13
ribaudred
nag
of Egypt —
Whom leprosy
o’ertake
14
! — i’th’midst o’th’fight
When
vantage
15
like a pair of twins appeared
Both as the same
16
, or rather ours the
elder
,
The
breeze
17
upon her, like a cow in June,
Hoists sails and
flies
18
.
ENOBARBUS
That I beheld:
Mine eyes did sicken at the sight and could not
Endure a further view.
SCARRUS
She once being
loofed
22
,
The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,
Claps on his sea-wing
24
and, like a
doting mallard
,
Leaving the fight
in
25
height, flies after her.
I never saw an
action
26
of such shame:
Experience, manhood, honour, ne’er before
Did violate so itself.
ENOBARBUS
Alack, alack!
Enter Canidius
CANIDIUS
Our fortune on the sea is out of breath
And sinks most lamentably. Had our general
Been what he
knew himself
32
, it had gone well.
O, he has given example for our flight
Most
grossly
34
by his own!
ENOBARBUS
Ay, are you
thereabouts
35
? Why, then,
goodnight
indeed.
CANIDIUS
Toward
Peloponnesus
36
are they fled.
SCARRUS
’Tis easy
to’t
37
, and there I will
attend
What further comes.
CANIDIUS
To Caesar will I
render
39
My legions and my horse: six kings already
Show me the way of yielding.
ENOBARBUS
I’ll yet follow
The wounded
chance
43
of Antony, though my reason
Sits in the wind against
44
me.
[
Exeunt separately
]
running scene 16
Location: unspecific
Enter Antony with Attendants
ANTONY
Hark! The land bids me tread no more upon’t:
It is ashamed to bear me. Friends, come hither.
I am so
lated
3
in the world that I
Have lost my way forever. I have a ship
Laden with gold: take that, divide it: fly
And make your peace with Caesar.
ALL
Fly? Not we.
ANTONY
I have fled myself and have instructed cowards
To run and show their shoulders. Friends, be gone:
I have myself resolved upon a course
Which has no need of you. Be gone.
My treasure’s in the harbour: take it. O,
I followed
that
13
I blush to look upon.
My very hairs do
mutiny
14
, for the white
Reprove the brown for rashness, and
they them
15
For fear and doting. Friends, be gone. You shall
Have letters from me to some friends that will
Sweep your way
18
for you. Pray you look not sad
Nor make replies of
loathness
19
: take the
hint
Which my
despair
20
proclaims.
Let that be left
Which leaves itself
. To the seaside straightway:
I will
possess you
22
of that ship and treasure.
Leave me, I pray, a
little
23
.
Pray you
now,
Nay do so, for indeed I have lost
command
24
:
Therefore I pray you, I’ll see you by and by.
Sits down
[
Exeunt Attendants
]
Enter Cleopatra led by Charmian
, [
Iras
]
and Eros
EROS
Nay, gentle madam, to him, comfort him.
IRAS
Do, most dear queen.
CHARMIAN
Do? Why, what else?
CLEOPATRA
Let me sit down. O
Juno
29
!
ANTONY
No, no, no, no, no!
EROS
See you here, sir?
ANTONY
O
fie
32
, fie, fie!
CHARMIAN
Madam!
IRAS
Madam, O good empress!
EROS
Sir, sir—
ANTONY
Yes, my lord
36
, yes; he at
Philippi
kept
His
sword e’en like a dancer
37
while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius, and ’twas I
That the
mad
39
Brutus
ended
: he
alone
Dealt on lieutenantry
40
, and no practice had
In the brave
squares
41
of war: yet now, no matter.
CLEOPATRA
Ah,
stand by
42
.
EROS
The queen, my lord, the queen!
IRAS
Go to him, madam, speak to him:
He’s
unqualitied
45
with very shame.
CLEOPATRA
Well then,
sustain
46
me. O!
EROS
Most noble sir, arise, the queen approaches.
Her head’s
declined
48
, and death will seize her,
but
Your
comfort
49
makes the rescue.
ANTONY
I have offended
reputation
50
,
A most unnoble
swerving
51
.
EROS
Sir, the queen!
ANTONY
O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See
How I
convey my shame out of thine
eyes
By looking back what I have left behind
’Stroyed
56
in dishonour
54
.
CLEOPATRA
O my lord, my lord,
Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought
You would have followed.
ANTONY
Egypt, thou knew’st too well
My heart was to thy rudder tied by th’
strings
61
And thou shouldst tow me after. O’er my spirit
Thy full supremacy thou knew’st, and that
Thy
beck
64
might from the
bidding
of the gods
Command me.
CLEOPATRA
O, my pardon!
ANTONY
Now I must
To the
young man
68
send humble
treaties
, dodge
And
palter
69
in the
shifts of lowness
, who
With half the bulk o’th’world played as I pleased,
Making and marring fortunes. You did know
How much you were my conqueror, and that
My
sword
73
, made weak by my
affection
, would
Obey it
on all cause
74
.
CLEOPATRA
Pardon, pardon!
ANTONY
Fall not a tear, I say. One of them
rates
76
All that is won and lost. Give me a kiss:
They kiss
Even this repays me.
We
sent our schoolmaster
79
: is
a
come back?
Love, I am
full of lead
80
. Some wine
Within there and our
viands
81
! Fortune knows
We scorn her most when most she offers blows.
Exeunt
running scene 17
Location: Caesar’s camp outside Alexandria
Enter Caesar, Agrippa and
[
Thidias
,]
Dolabella with others
CAESAR
Let him appear that’s come from Antony.
Know you him?
DOLABELLA
Caesar, ’tis his schoolmaster,
An
argument
4
that he is
plucked
, when hither
He sends so poor a
pinion
5
of his wing,
Which
6
had superfluous kings for messengers
Not many moons gone by.
Enter
Ambassador
from Antony
CAESAR
Approach, and speak.
AMBASSADOR
Such as I am, I come from Antony:
I was of late as
petty
10
to his
ends
As is the morn-dew on the
myrtle leaf
11
To
his grand sea
12
.
