Help, Charmian; help, Iras, help; help, friends,
Below; let's draw him hither.

Ant. Peace.

Not Cæfar's valour hath o'er-thrown Antony,
But Antony hath triumph'd on himself.

Cleo. So it fhould be, that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony; but, woe, 'tis fo!
Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying; only yet
(31) I here importune death a while, untill
many thoufand kiffes the poor laft
-Come down.

Of

I lay upon thy lips,

Cleo. I dare not,

(Dear, dear my Lord, your pardon, that I dare not ;) Left I be taken; not th'imperious fhew

Of the full-fortun'd Cæfar ever shall

Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, ferpents, have
Edge, fting, or operation, I am safe :

Your Wife Octavia, with her modeft eyes
And ftill conclufion, fhall acquire no honour,
Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony,
Help me, my women; we must draw thee up-
Affift, good friends.

(31) I bere importune Death a while, untill
Of many thoufand Kiffes the poor laft
I lay upon thy Lips.

Cleo. I dare not, dear,

Dear my Lord, pardon; I dare not,

Left I be taken. What curious hobbling Verfification do we encounter here in the last Line but one? Befides, how inconfiftently is the Lady made to reply? Antony fays, he only holds Life, till he can give her one laft Kifs: and the cries, fhe dares not: What dares the not do? kiss Antony? But how fhould fhe? fhe was above lock'd in her Monument; and he below, on the Outside of it. With a very flight Addition, I think, I can cure the whole; and have a Warrant from Plutarch for it into the Bargain. Now Plutarch fays that "Antony was carry'd in his Men's Arms "into the Entry of the Monument: Notwithstanding, Cleopatra would "not open the Gates, but came to the bigh Windows, and caft out certain "Chains and Ropes, &c."- So that Antony might very reasonably defire her to come down; and the as reasonably excufe herself, for fear of being infnared by Cæfar.

Ant.

Ant. Oh, quick, or I am gone.

Cleo. Here's fport, indeed!-how heavy weighs my

Lord!

Our ftrength is all gone into heaviness,

That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power,
The ftrong'd-wing'd Mercury fhould fetch thee up,
And fet thee by Jove's fide. Yet come a little,----
Withers were ever fools. Oh come, come, come→→→

[They draw Antony up to Cleopatra,
And welcome, welcome. Die, where thou haft liv'd;
Quicken with kiffing; had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.

All. O heavy fight!

Ant. I am dying, Ægypt, dying.

Give me fome wine, and let me fpeak a little.
Cleo. No, let me speak, and let me rail fo high,
That the falfe hufwife Fortune break her wheel,
Provok'd by my offence.

Ant. One word, fweet Queen.

Of Cafar feek your honour, with your fafety—oh— Cleo. They do not go together.

Ant. Gentle, hear me ;

None about Cæfar truft, but Proculeius.

Cleo. My refolution, and my hands, I'll truft;
None about Cæfar.

Ant. The miferable change, now at my end,
Lament nor forrow at: but please your thoughts.
In feeding them with those my former fortunes,
Wherein I liv'd the greatest prince o'th' world,
The nobleft once; and do not now bafely die,
Nor 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

[Antony dies

Cleo. Nobleft of men!-woo't die ?
Haft thou no care of me? fhall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a ftye? O fee, my women!
The crown o'th' earth doth melt-my Lord!
Oh, wither'd is the garland of the war,

The

The foldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls
Are level now with men; the odds is gone;

And there is nothing left remarkable,

Beneath the vifiting moon.

Char. Oh, quietness, Lady!

Iras. She's dead too, our fovereign.

Char. Lady!

Iras. Madam!

Char. Oh Madam, Madam, Madam-
Iras. Royal Egypt! Emprefs!

Char. Peace, Peace, Iras.

[She faints.

Cleo. No more but a meer woman, and commanded By fuch poor paffion as the maid that milks,

And does the meaneft chares !It were for me
To throw my fcepter at th' injurious Gods;
To tell them, that this world did equal theirs,
'Till they had ftol'n our jewel. All's but naught:
Patience is fottish, and impatience does
Become a dog that's mad: Then is it fin,

To rush into the fecret house of death,

Ere death dare come to us? how do you, women?
What, what, good cheer! why, how now, Charmian?
My noble girls?-ah, women, women! look,
Our lamp is spent, it's out-good Sirs, take heart,
We'll bury him and then what's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us.
This cafe of that huge fpirit now is cold.
Ah, women, women! come, we have no friend
But refolution, and the briefest end.

Come away,

[Exeunt, bearing off Antony's body.

ACT

A CT V.

SCENE, Cæfar's Camp.

(32) Enter Cæfar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Mecànas, Gallus, and Train.

CESAR.

O to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;

G Being fo fruftrate, tell him,

He mocks the paufes that he makes.
Dol. Cæfar, I fhall. (33)

[Exit Dolabella.

(32) Enter Cæfar, Agrippa, Dolabella, and MENAS.] But Menas and Menecrates, we may remember, were the two famous Pirates link'd with Sextus Pompeius, and who affifted him to infest the Italian Coaft. We no where learn, exprefly in the Play, that Menas ever attach'd himself to Octavius's Party. Notwithstanding the old Folio's concur in marking the Entrance thus, yet in the two places in the Scene, where this Character is made to fpeak, they have mark'd in the Margin, MEC. fo that, as Dr. Thirlby fagaciously conjectur'd, we must cashier Menas, and fubftitute Mecanas in his Room. Menas, indeed, deferted to Cæfar no lefs than twice, and was preferr'd by him. But then we are to confider, Alexandria was taken, and Antony kill'd himself, Anno U. C. 723. Menas made the fecond Revolt over to Auguftus, U. C. 717:. and the next Year was flain at the Siege of Belgrade in Pannonia, five Years before the Death of Antony.

(33) Dol. Cæfar, I fhall.] I make no Doubt, but it should be mark'd here, that Dolabella goes out. 'Tis reasonable to imagine, he fhould prefently depart, upon Cafar's Command; fo that the Speeches, placed to him in the Sequel of this Scene, must be tranfferr'd to Agrippa, or he is introduced as a Mute. Befides, that Dolabella fhould be gone out, appears from this, that when Cæfar afks for him, he recollects that he had fent him on Bufinefs.

Enter

Enter Dercetas, with the fword of Antony..)

Caf. Wherefore is that? and what art thou, that dar’ft Appear thus to us?

Der. I am call'd Dercetas ;

Mark Antony I ferv'd, who beft was worthy
Beft to be ferv'd; whilst he stood up, and spoke,
He was my mafter, and I wore my life

To spend upon his haters. If thou please
To take me to thee, as I was to him

I'll be to Cæfar: If thou pleafeft not,
I yield thee up my life.

Caf. What is't thou fay'ft?

Der. I fay, oh, Cæfar, Antony is dead.

Cef. The breaking of fo great a thing fhould make A greater crack. The round world fhould have shook Lions into civil ftreets, and citizens

Into their dens

The death of Antony

Is not a fingle doom, in that name lay
A moiety of the world.

Der. He is dead, Cafar,

Not by a publick minifter of justice,

Nor by a hired knife; but that felf-hand,
Which writ his honour in the acts it did,

Hath with the courage, which the heart did lend it,
Splitted the heart. This is his fword,

I robb'd his wound of it: behold it stain’d
With his most noble blood.

Caf. Look you fad, friends:

The Gods rebuke me, but it is a tiding
To wash the eyes of Kings!

Agr. And ftrange it is,

That nature muft compel us to lament.

Our most persisted deeds.

Mec. His taints and honours

Weigh'd equal in him.

Agr. A rarer fpirit never

Did fteer humanity; but you Gods will give us
Some faults to make us men. Cæfar is touch'd.

Mec.