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

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

Cleo. So it should be, 'that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony ; but, woe, 'tis fo!

Ant. I am dying, Ægypt, dying ; only yet (31) I here importune death a while, untili Of many thousand kisses the

poor

last
I lay upon thy lips, -Come down.

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, serpents, have
Edge, fting, or operation, I am fafe:
Your Wife Octavia, with her modeft eyes
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour,
Demuring upon me. Bat come, come, Antony,
Help me, my women; we must draw thee up-
Allilt, good friends.

(31) I bere importune Death a while, untill

of many thousand Kisses the poor last

I lay upon tby 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? Besides, how inconsistently is the Lady made to reply! Antony says, he only holds Life, till he can give her one last Kiss : and the cries, the dares not : What dares the not do? kiss Antony? But how fhould the ? the was above lock'd in her Monument; and he below, on the Outside of it. With a very night Addition, I think, I can core the whole; and have a Warrant from Plutarch for it into the Bargain. Now Plutarch says that “ Antony was carry'd in his Men's Arms « into the Entry of the Monument: Notwithftanding, Cleopatra would “ not open the Gates, but came to the high Windows, and cast out certain « Chains and Ropes, &c." -So that Antony might very reasona ably desire her to come down ; and the as reasonably excuse herself, for fear of being in nared by Cæfar.

Ant..

Ant. Oh, quick, or I am gone,
Cleo. 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'd-wing' Mercury fhould fetch thee up,
And set 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 hast liv’d;
Quicken with kifling; had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.

All. O heavy fight!
Ant. I am dying, Ægypt, dying.
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.

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

Ant. One word, fweet Queen.
Of Cæfar seek your honour, with your safety-oh-

Cleo. They do not go together.

Ant. Gentle, hear me ;
None about Cæfar truft, but Praculeius.

Cleo. My resolution, and my hands, I'll trust;
None about Cæfar.

Ant. The miserable 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 noblest once ; and do not now basely 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-
Cleo. Noblest 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 stye? O see, my women!
The crown o'th' earth doth melt my Lord!
Oh, wither'd is the garland of the war,

The

(Antony diesa

The foldier's pole is fall’n : young boys and girls
Are level row with men; the odds is gone ;
And there is nothing left remarkable,
Beneath the visiting moon.

[She faints.
Char. Oh, quietness, Lady!
Iras. She's dead too, our sovereign.
Cher. Lady!
Iras. Madam!
Char. Oh Madam, Madam, Madam
Iras. Royal Ægypt ! Empress !
Chur. Peace, Peace, Iras.

Cleo. No more but a meer woman, and commanded By such poor paffion as the maid that milks, And does the meaneft chares ! It were for me To throw my scepter at th' injurious Gods; To tell them, that this world did cqual theirs, 'Till they had stol'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 secret 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 case of that huge spirit now is cold. Ah, women, women! come, we have no friend But resolution, and the briefest end.

[Exeunt, bearing off Antony's body.

Come away,

ACT

(32) Enter Cæsar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Mecànas,

Gallus, and Train.

CÆ S A R.

Go

O to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;

Being so frustrate, tell him,
He mocks the pauses that he makes.
Dol. Cæfar, I fhall. (33)

[Exit Dolabella.

(32) Enter Cæsar, 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 Coast. We no where learn, expresly 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 speak, they have mark'd in the Margin, Mec. fo that, as Dr. Ibirlby sagaciously conjectur’d, we must cashier Menas, and fubftitute Mea canas in his Room. Menas, indeed, deserted to Casar no less 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 second Revolt over to Auguftus, U. C.717: and the next Year was Nain at the Siege of Belgrade in Pannonia, five Years before the Death of Antony.

(33) Dol. Cæsar, I shall.] I make no Doubt, but it should be mark'd here, that Dolabella goes out. 'Tis reasonable to imagine, he should presently depart, upon Cæsar's Command; so that the Speeches, placed to him in the Sequel of this Scene, must be transferr'd to Agrippa, or he is introduced as a Mute. Besides, that Dolabella should be gone out, appears from this, that when Cafar alks for him, he recollects that he had sent him on Business.

Enter

Enter Dercetas, with the sword of Antony

..

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

Der. I am callid Dercetas;
Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy
Best to be serv'd; whilft he stood up, and spoke,
He was my master, 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 Cesar : If thou pleaseft not,
I yield thee up my life.

Caf. What is't thou say'st ?
Der. I say, oh, Cæsar, Antony is dead.

Cees. The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater

crack. The round world should have shook Lions into civil streets, and citizens Into their dens

The death of Antony
Is not a single doom, in that name lay
A moiety of the world.

Der. He is dead, Cæfar,
Not by a publick minister 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 sword,
I robb’d his wound of it: behold it stain'd
With his most noble blood.

Cæs. Look you sad, friends :
The Gods rebuke me, but it is a tiding
To wash the eyes of Kings !

Agr. And ftrange it is,
That nature must compel us to lament
Our most perfifted deeds.

Mec. His taints and honours,
Weigh'd equal in him.

Agr. A rarer spirit never
Did steer humanity; but you Gods will give us
Some faults to make us men. Cæsar is touch'd.

Mes.