Oth. O the pernicious caitiff! I found it in my chamber: 320 How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife's? Cas. Oth. Iago set him on. Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with us: Your power and your command is taken off, 330 And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave, If there be any cunning cruelty That can torment him much and hold him long, Till that the nature of your fault be known To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away. I have done the state some service, and they know't. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. Set you down this; And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk I took by the throat the circumcised dog, Lod. O bloody period! Gra. 340 350 [Stabs himself. All that's spoke is marr'd. [Falls on the bed, and dies. Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; For he was great of heart. Lod. [To Lago] O Spartan dog, More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea! 361 For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor, The time, the place, the torture O, enforce it! 370 MENECRATES, friends to Cæsar. TAURUS, lieutenant-general to CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius's EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Cæsar. ALEXAS, MARDIAN, a Eunuch, DIOMEDES, A Soothsayer. A Clown. attendants on Cleo. patra. CLEOPATRA, queen of Egypt. OCTAVIA, Sister to Cæsar and wife to Antony. CHARMIAN, attendants on Cleo IRAS, friends to patra. Officers. Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE: In several parts of the Roman empire. ACT I. SCENE I. Alexandria. A room in Cleopatra's palace. Enter DEMETRIUS and PHILO. Phi. Nay, but this dotage of our general's O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes, That o'er the files and musters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn, Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst To cool a gipsy's lust. Flourish. Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, her Ladies, the Look, where they come: Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved. 10 Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. Enter an Attendant. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Grates me. the sum. 20 Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar have not sent His powerful mandate to you, "Do this, or this; Ant. How, my love! You must not stay here longer, your dismission Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's I would say? both? Cleo. Will be himself. Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra. [Embracing. Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours, 40 Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. To weep; whose every passion fully strives 50 [Exeunt Ant. and Cleo. with their train. Dem. Is Cæsar with Antonius prized so slight? Phi. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, He comes too short of that great property Which still should go with Antony. Dem. I am full sorry Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope SCENE II. The same. Another room. 60 [Exeunt. Enter CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS, and a Soothsayer. Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? O, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with garlands! Alex. Soothsayer! Sooth. Your will? Char. Is this the man? Is't you, sir, that know things? Sooth. In nature's infinite book of secrecy A little I can read. Eno. Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough Cleopatra's health to drink. Char. Good sir, give me good fortune. Sooth, I make not, but foresee. Char. Pray, then, foresee me one. Sooth. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. Char, Wrinkles forbid! Alex. Vex not his prescience; be attentive. 10 20 |