How hardly I was drawn into this war; [Exeunt. SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument. Enter CLEOPATRA,' CHARMIAN, and IRAs. Cleo. My desolation does begin to make Enter, to the gates of the monument, PROCUleius, GALLUS, and Soldiers. Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of Egypt; And bids thee study on what fair demands Thou mean'st to have him grant thee. Cleo. [Within.] Pro. My name is Proculeius. Cleo. [Within.] What's thy name? 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, No less beg than a kingdom. If he please To give me conquered Egypt for my son, 1 The Poet here has attempted to exhibit at once the outside and the inside of a building. 2 Servant. 3 Voluntary death (says Cleopatra) is an act which bolts up change; it produces a state which has no longer need of the gross and terrene sustenance, in the use of which Cæsar and the beggar are on a level. He gives me so much of mine own, as I1 1 Pro. Be of good cheer; You are fallen 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, 2 Where he for grace is kneeled to. Cleo. [Within.] Pray you, tell him Pro. Gal. You see how easily she may be surprised; the monument by a ladder placed against a window, and, having descended, come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the gates.* Guard her till Cæsar come. [TO PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit GALLUS. Iras. Royal queen! Char. O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen!— Pro. [Drawing a dagger. Hold, worthy lady, hold. 1 Mason would change as I, to and I; but I have shown in another place that as was used by Shakspeare and his contemporaries for that. 2 Praying in aid is a term used for a petition made in a court of justice for the calling in of help from another that hath an interest in the cause in question. 3 By these words, Cleopatra means "In yielding to him, I only give him that honor which he himself achieved." 4 There is no stage direction in the old copy; that which is now inserted is formed on the old translation of Plutarch. Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this Cleo. That rids our dogs of languish? Pro. What, of death too, Cleopatra, Do not abuse my master's bounty, by The undoing of yourself. Let the world see Cleo. Where art thou, death? Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen Worth many babes and beggars! Pro. I'll not sleep neither. This mortal house I'll ruin, Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt. My country's high pyramides my gibbet, Pro. You do extend These thoughts of horror further than you shall Dol. Enter DOLAbella. Proculeius, What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows, 1 It should be remembered that once is used as once for all by Shakspeare. The meaning of this line, which is evidently parenthetical, appears to be, "Once for all, if idle talk be necessary about my purposes." 2 Pyramides is so written and used as a quadrisyllable by Sandys and by Drayton. And he hath sent for thee. For the queen, Pro. So, Dolabella, It shall content me best; be gentle to her.— If you'll employ me to him. Cleo. [TO CLEOPATRA. Say, I would die. [Exeunt PROCULEIUS and Soldiers. Dol. Most noble empress, you have heard of me? Cleo. I cannot tell. Dol. Assuredly, you know me. Cleo. No matter, sir, what I have heard, or known. You laugh, when boys or women tell their dreams; Is't not your trick? Dol. I understand not, madam. Cleo. I dreamed there was an emperor Antony. O, such another sleep, that I might see But such another man! Dol. If it might please you, Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck A sun and moon; which kept their course, and lighted The little O, the earth.1 Dol. Most sovereign creature,Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm Crested the world; his voice was propertied As all the tuned 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 'twas, 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. 1 Shakspeare uses O for an orb or circle. 2 Dr. Percy thinks that "this is an allusion to some of the old crests in heraldry, where a raised arm on a wreath was mounted on the helmet." To crest is to surmount. 3 Plates means silver money. In heraldry, the roundlets in an escutcheon, if or, or yellow, are called besants; if argents, or white, plates, VOL. VI. 26 Dol. Cleopatra, Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be, such a man As this I dreamed of? Dol. Gentle madam, no. Cleo. You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. It's past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff Dol. Your loss is as yourself, great; Hear me, good madam. 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 shoots My very heart at root. Cleo. I thank you, sir. Know you what Cæsar means to do with me? Dol. I am loath to tell you what I would you knew. Cleo. Nay, pray you, sir, Dol. Though he be honorable, Madam, he will; Cleo. He'll lead me then in triumph? Dol. I know it. Within. Make way there!-Cæsar! Enter CESAR, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, MECENAS, SELEUCUS, and Attendants. which are round, flat pieces of silver money, perhaps without any stamp or impress. To vie here has its metaphorical sense of to contend in rivalry. |