Pro.

Cæsar, I shall. [Exit PROCULEIUS.

Cæs. Gallus, go you along.-Where's Dolabella, To second Proculeius?

[Exit GALLUS.

Cæs. Let him alone, for I remember now
How he's employed: he shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent, where you shall see
How hardly I was drawn into this war,
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and see
What I can show in this.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Alexandria. A Room in the Monument'.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, and IRAS.

Cleo. My desolation does begin to make
A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Cæsar:
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 Cæsar's.

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.

7 A Room in the Monument.] As in a former scene of the last Act, (p. 111) we must suppose Cleopatra and her two attendants in the monument above, at the back of the stage.

Cleo.

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo.

What's thy name?

Antony

Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd,

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 conquer'd Egypt for my son,
He gives me so much of mine own, as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.

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 dependancy, and you shall find
A conqueror, that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo.

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' the face.

Pro.
This I'll report, dear lady.
Have comfort; for, I know, your plight is pitied
Of him that caus'd it.

Gal. You see how easily she may be surpris'd.

[PROCULEIUS, and two of the Guard, ascend the Monument by a Ladder, and come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the Gates.

Some of the Guard unbar and open the Gates.] This necessary stagedirection is wanting in the old copies. Malone formed one from Plutarch, with more particularity than seems required to explain the situation.

Guard her till Cæsar come".

[TO PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit GALLUS.

Iras. Royal queen!

Char. O Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen !—

Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

Pro.

[Drawing a Dagger.

Hold, worthy lady, hold!

[Seizes and disarms her.

What, of death, too,

Cleopatra,

Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo.

That rids our dogs of languish?

Pro.

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

Cleo.

Where art thou, death?

Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen

Worth many babes and beggars!

Pro.

O, temperance, lady!
Cleo. 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 Cæsar what he can. Know, sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court,
Nor once be chastis'd 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 to me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark nak'd, and let the water flies.

9 Guard her till Cæsar come.] In the folio, 1623, this speech is given to Proculeius, and the editor of the folio, 1632, (not Rowe, nor Pope, as stated by Theobald, and repeated by others) perceiving that that must be an error, transferred it by another blunder to Charmian. It probably belongs to Gallus, to whom it was assigned by Malone.

Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro.

You do extend

These thoughts of horror farther, than you shall
Find cause in Cæsar.

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

So, Dolabella,

Pro.
It shall content me best: be gentle to her.―
To Cæsar I will speak what you shall please,

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 dream'd, 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 The little O, the earth.] This is substantially Theobald's amendment, the folios reading, The little o' th' earth, and he altering it to The little O o' th' earth. There seems no necessity to add to the text, especially as The little o' th' earth may, after all, be the true reading.

Dol.

Most sovereign creature,Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean; his rear'd 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 'twas2, That grew the more by reaping: his delights Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above The element they liv'd in: in his livery

Walk'd crowns, and crownets; realms and islands were As plates dropp'd from his pocket3.

Dol.

Cleopatra,

Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be, such a

man

As this I dream'd of?

Dol.

Gentle madam, no.

Cleo. 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, to imagine
An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite.

Dol.

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 pursu'd success, but I do feel,

By the rebound of your's, a grief that smites
My very heart at root.

2 - an AUTUMN 'twas,]

"An Anthony 'twas" in the old copies: one of Theobald's certain and happy emendations. The error, doubtless, arose from autumn having been written with a capital letter.

3 AS PLATES dropp'd from his pocket.] Plate was the term in use for silver money, plata being the Spanish word for it, which about this date seems to have been introduced into English.

4 TO VIE strange forms with fancy ;] To "vie" (as explained in Vol. iii. p. 147) was a term at cards, signifying to stake or challenge.

My very heart at root.] "Smites" is printed suites in the folio, 1623, and the commentators have supposed that it was an error of the press for shoots; but