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 [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. 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 That majesty, to keep decorum, must No less beg than a kingdom: if he please Pro. Cleo. Pray you, tell him I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him Pro. 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 Cleo. That rids our dogs of languish? Pro. Do not abuse my master's bounty, by Cleo. Where art thou, death? Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen Worth many babes and beggars! Pro. O, temperance, lady! I'll not sleep neither. This mortal house I'll ruin, Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt 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 Pro. You do extend These thoughts of horror farther, than you shall What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows, So, Dolabella, Pro. 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: Dol. Hear me, good madam. Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it As answering to the weight: would I might never By the rebound of your's, a grief that smites 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 |