William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra

ACT IV. 15. SCENE XV. Alexandria. A monument. (continued)

CLEOPATRA.
Here's sport indeed!--How heavy weighs my lord!
Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
That makes the weight: had I great Juno's power,
The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up,
And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little,--
Wishers were ever fools,--O come, come;

[They draw ANTONY up.]

And welcome, welcome! die where thou hast liv'd:
Quicken with kissing: had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.

ALL.
A heavy sight!

ANTONY.
I am dying, Egypt, dying:
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.

CLEOPATRA.
No, let me speak; and let me rail so high
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provok'd by my offence.

ANTONY.
One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety.--O!

CLEOPATRA.
They do not go together.

ANTONY.
Gentle, hear me:
None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.

CLEOPATRA.
My resolution and my hands I'll trust;
None about Caesar.

ANTONY.
The miserable change now at my end
Lament nor sorrow at: but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o' the world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
My countryman, a Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going:
I can no more.

CLEOPATRA.
Noblest of men, woo't die?
Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a sty?--O, see, my women,

[Antony dies.]

The crown o' the earth doth melt.--My lord!--
O, wither'd is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fallen: young boys and girls
Are level now with men: the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.

[Faints.]

CHARMIAN.
O, quietness, lady!