Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, and Iras. CLEOPATRA
My desolation does begin to make
A better life. ’Tis paltry to be Caesar;
Not being Fortune, he’s but Fortune’s knave,
A minister of her will. And it is great
To do that thing that ends all other deeds, 5
Which shackles accidents and bolts up change,
Which sleeps and never palates more the dung,
The beggar’s nurse, and Caesar’s. | Cleopatra curses Caesar for being a knave (or fool) of Fortune, and thus no better than anybody else (including her and Antony). |
Enter Proculeius. PROCULEIUS
Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt,
And bids thee study on what fair demands 10
Thou mean’st to have him grant thee. CLEOPATRA What’s thy name? PROCULEIUS
My name is Proculeius. CLEOPATRA Antony
Did tell me of you, bade me trust you, but 15
I do not greatly care to be deceived
That have no use for trusting. If your master
Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him
That majesty, to keep decorum, must
No less beg than a kingdom. If he please 20
To give me conquered Egypt for my son,
He gives me so much of mine own as I
Will kneel to him with thanks. | Just then, Proculeius enters. He asks what she wants from Caesar. She remembers this was the man Antony said she could trust, though she doesn’t really care to trust anyone just now. Still, she tells Proculeius that she’d like to have Egypt remain her kingdom for her son to rule. |
PROCULEIUS Be of good cheer.
You’re fall’n into a princely hand; fear nothing. 25
Make your full reference freely to my lord,
Who is so full of grace that it flows over
On all that need. Let me report to him
Your sweet dependency, and you shall find
A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness 30
Where he for grace is kneeled to. CLEOPATRA Pray you tell him
I am his fortune’s vassal and I send him
The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly 35
Look him i’ th’ face. PROCULEIUS This I’ll report, dear lady.
Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
Of him that caused it. | Proculeius promises Caesar will take care of Cleopatra, and tells her that he knows Caesar has sympathy for her situation. |
Gallus and Soldiers enter and seize Cleopatra. GALLUS
You see how easily she may be surprised. 40
Guard her till Caesar come. IRAS Royal queen! CHARMIAN
O, Cleopatra, thou art taken, queen! CLEOPATRA, drawing a dagger
Quick, quick, good hands! | As he’s leaving, Roman soldiers sneak in behind him to guard her. Cleopatra’s women, Iras and Charmian, alert her immediately of the infiltration, and she quickly draws a dagger to kill herself. |
PROCULEIUS, seizing the dagger Hold, worthy lady, hold! 45
Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this
Relieved, but not betrayed. CLEOPATRA What, of death, too,
That rids our dogs of languish? PROCULEIUS Cleopatra, 50
Do not abuse my master’s bounty by
Th’ undoing of yourself. Let the world see
His nobleness well acted, which your death
Will never let come forth. CLEOPATRA Where art thou, Death? 55
Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queen
Worth many babes and beggars. PROCULEIUS O, temperance, lady! CLEOPATRA
Sir, I will eat no meat; I’ll not drink, sir.
If idle talk will once be necessary— 60
I’ll not sleep neither. This mortal house I’ll ruin,
Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I
Will not wait pinioned at your master’s court,
Nor once be chastised with the sober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up 65
And show me to the shouting varletry
Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
Be gentle grave unto me; rather on Nilus’ mud
Lay me stark naked, and let the waterflies
Blow me into abhorring; rather make 70
My country’s high pyramides my gibbet
And hang me up in chains! | She is even more quickly stopped by Proculeius. He says she’s not being betrayed, but relieved. She resents this with a fury— she promises to starve or thirst herself to death, rather than be gawked at in Caesar’s court, or be a thing for Octavia to look down on. She says she would rather die in a ditch in Egypt, or be laid out naked on the Nile where the water-flies can plant maggots in her that will burst her body at its seams (ew), or even be hanged from chains at the pyramids, than go to Rome. She feels pretty strongly, then. |
PROCULEIUS You do extend
These thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find cause in Caesar. 75 Enter Dolabella. DOLABELLA Proculeius,
What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows,
And he hath sent for thee. For the Queen,
I’ll take her to my guard. PROCULEIUS So, Dolabella, 80
It shall content me best. Be gentle to her.
To Cleopatra. To Caesar I will speak what you
shall please,
If you’ll employ me to him. CLEOPATRA Say I would die. 85 Proculeius, Gallus, and Soldiers exit. DOLABELLA
Most noble empress, you have heard of me. CLEOPATRA
I cannot tell. DOLABELLA Assuredly you know me. | Just as Proculeius is promising that this is all pretty unnecessary, Dolabella arrives to take over the guard. Proculeius bids him to be kind to Cleopatra. |
CLEOPATRA
No matter, sir, what I have heard or known.
You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams; 90
Is ’t not your trick? DOLABELLA I understand not, madam. CLEOPATRA
I dreamt there was an emperor Antony.
O, such another sleep, that I might see
But such another man. 95 DOLABELLA If it might please you— CLEOPATRA
His face was as the heavens, and therein stuck
A sun and moon, which kept their course and
lighted
The little O, the Earth. 100 DOLABELLA Most sovereign creature— CLEOPATRA
His legs bestrid the ocean, his reared arm
Crested the world. His voice was propertied
As all the tunèd spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, 105
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
There was no winter in ’t; an autumn ’twas
That grew the more by reaping. His delights
Were dolphin-like; they showed his back above
The element they lived in. In his livery 110
Walked crowns and crownets; realms and islands
were
As plates dropped from his pocket. DOLABELLA Cleopatra— CLEOPATRA
Think you there was, or might be, such a man 115
As this I dreamt of? DOLABELLA Gentle madam, no. CLEOPATRA
You lie up to the hearing of the gods!
But if there be nor ever were one such,
It’s past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff 120
To vie strange forms with fancy, yet t’ imagine
An Antony were nature’s piece ’gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite. | Cleopatra tells Dolabella all about this dream she had, where Antony was noble and beautiful, holding the world in his raised hands, all full of natural and supernatural beauty. |
DOLABELLA Hear me, good madam.
Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it 125
As answering to the weight. Would I might never
O’ertake pursued success but I do feel,
By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
My very heart at root. CLEOPATRA I thank you, sir. 130
Know you what Caesar means to do with me? DOLABELLA
I am loath to tell you what I would you knew. CLEOPATRA
Nay, pray you, sir. DOLABELLA Though he be honorable— CLEOPATRA He’ll lead me, then, in triumph. 135 DOLABELLA Madam, he will. I know ’t. | As the Queen grieves and Dolabella watches, he’s moved to tell her the truth about what Caesar really plans to do with her. She guesses Caesar means to lead her in triumph (as part of his victory parade through the streets of Rome) and Dolabella confirms her suspicions. |
Flourish. Enter Caesar, Proculeius, Gallus, Maecenas,
and others of his train. ALL Make way there! Caesar! CAESAR Which is the Queen of Egypt? DOLABELLA It is the Emperor, madam. Cleopatra kneels. CAESAR Arise. You shall not kneel. 140
I pray you, rise. Rise, Egypt. CLEOPATRA Sir, the gods
Will have it thus. My master and my lord
I must obey. She stands. CAESAR Take to you no hard thoughts. 145
The record of what injuries you did us,
Though written in our flesh, we shall remember
As things but done by chance. CLEOPATRA Sole sir o’ th’ world,
I cannot project mine own cause so well 150
To make it clear, but do confess I have
Been laden with like frailties which before
Have often shamed our sex. CAESAR Cleopatra, know
We will extenuate rather than enforce. 155
If you apply yourself to our intents,
Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find
A benefit in this change; but if you seek
To lay on me a cruelty by taking
Antony’s course, you shall bereave yourself 160
Of my good purposes, and put your children
To that destruction which I’ll guard them from
If thereon you rely. I’ll take my leave. CLEOPATRA
And may through all the world. ’Tis yours, and we,
Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall 165
Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. | Caesar enters with his men. He is full of words and grace for her, and promises to spare her and her children if she does not choose Antony’s course of suicide. Still saucy, she retorts that she’ll be as the other signs of his conquest, that he might hang where he pleases. |
She holds out a paper. CAESAR
You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. CLEOPATRA
This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels
I am possessed of. ’Tis exactly valued,
Not petty things admitted.—Where’s Seleucus? 170 Enter Seleucus. SELEUCUS Here, madam. CLEOPATRA
This is my treasurer. Let him speak, my lord,
Upon his peril, that I have reserved
To myself nothing.—Speak the truth, Seleucus. | She gives Caesar a scroll that supposedly lists all the goods Cleopatra possesses. Cleopatra calls on her treasurer, Seleucus, to confirm that these are all her worldly possessions. |
SELEUCUS
Madam, I had rather seel my lips 175
Than to my peril speak that which is not. CLEOPATRA What have I kept back? SELEUCUS
Enough to purchase what you have made known. CAESAR
Nay, blush not, Cleopatra. I approve
Your wisdom in the deed. 180 | The treasurer contradicts Cleopatra, saying she's left at least half her wealth off the list. |
CLEOPATRA See, Caesar, O, behold
How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yours,
And should we shift estates, yours would be mine.
The ingratitude of this Seleucus does
Even make me wild.—O slave, of no more trust 185
Than love that’s hired! What, goest thou back? Thou
shalt
Go back, I warrant thee! But I’ll catch thine eyes
Though they had wings. Slave, soulless villain, dog!
O rarely base! 190 CAESAR Good queen, let us entreat you— CLEOPATRA
O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,
That thou vouchsafing here to visit me,
Doing the honor of thy lordliness
To one so meek, that mine own servant should 195
Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
Addition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,
That I some lady trifles have reserved,
Immoment toys, things of such dignity
As we greet modern friends withal, and say 200
Some nobler token I have kept apart
For Livia and Octavia, to induce
Their mediation, must I be unfolded
With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites me
Beneath the fall I have. To Seleucus. Prithee, go 205
hence,
Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits
Through th’ ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man,
Thou wouldst have mercy on me. CAESAR Forbear, Seleucus. 210 Seleucus exits. CLEOPATRA
Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought
For things that others do; and when we fall,
We answer others’ merits in our name—
Are therefore to be pitied. | Cleopatra rages against the treasurer for revealing her to be a liar, though Caesar says he doesn’t mind, and understands her holding back a little. Cleopatra claims what she’s held back are just a few lady’s trifles, presents for Octavia and friends. Eventually, she breaks down and says people are misjudged in their lives for the ills of others, and are called to account for the ills of others also. |
CAESAR Cleopatra, 215
Not what you have reserved nor what acknowledged
Put we i’ th’ roll of conquest. Still be ’t yours!
Bestow it at your pleasure, and believe
Caesar’s no merchant to make prize with you
Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be 220
cheered.
Make not your thoughts your prisons. No, dear
queen,
For we intend so to dispose you as
Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep. 225
Our care and pity is so much upon you
That we remain your friend. And so adieu. CLEOPATRA
My master and my lord! CAESAR Not so. Adieu. Flourish. Caesar and his train exit. | Caesar is "merciful" and tells her she doesn’t need to worry about it, he won’t take any of her things, listed or unlisted, as part of his conquest. He’s not a merchant, and he claims he’ll treat her as she wants to be treated. Cleopatra, seemingly calmed, calls Caesar her master and her lord. |
CLEOPATRA
He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not 230
Be noble to myself. But hark thee, Charmian.
She whispers to Charmian. IRAS
Finish, good lady. The bright day is done,
And we are for the dark. CLEOPATRA, to Charmian Hie thee again.
I have spoke already, and it is provided. 235
Go put it to the haste. CHARMIAN Madam, I will. | After Caesar leaves, Cleopatra tells her women that she knows Caesar’s charming words have something else at the bottom of them. Charmian and Iras, her faithful ladies, encourage her to continue on the course they set. In hushed tones, Cleopatra hears that what she’s asked for is being provided. Though we don’t know the specifics, we can guess what’s up. |
Enter Dolabella. DOLABELLA
Where’s the Queen? CHARMIAN Behold, sir. She exits. CLEOPATRA Dolabella. 240 DOLABELLA
Madam, as thereto sworn by your command,
Which my love makes religion to obey,
I tell you this: Caesar through Syria
Intends his journey, and within three days
You with your children will he send before. 245
Make your best use of this. I have performed
Your pleasure and my promise. CLEOPATRA Dolabella,
I shall remain your debtor. DOLABELLA I your servant. 250
Adieu, good queen. I must attend on Caesar. CLEOPATRA
Farewell, and thanks. He exits. Now, Iras, what think’st thou?
Thou an Egyptian puppet shall be shown
In Rome as well as I. Mechanic slaves 255
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers shall
Uplift us to the view. In their thick breaths,
Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded
And forced to drink their vapor. | Dolabella comes in, and since he has so nobly sworn devotion to her, he admits that Caesar will call for her and her children within three days, with the intentions of adding them to the victory march. Then he leaves. Cleopatra says "thanks" and then confers with her women. She can’t bear the idea of being shown amid all the common people of Rome, with their plain occupations and rank breath surrounding her as she’s played the fool. |
IRAS The gods forbid! 260 CLEOPATRA
Nay, ’tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors
Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers
Ballad us out o’ tune. The quick comedians
Extemporally will stage us and present
Our Alexandrian revels. Antony 265
Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
I’ th’ posture of a whore. IRAS O the good gods! CLEOPATRA Nay, that’s certain. 270 IRAS
I’ll never see ’t! For I am sure mine nails
Are stronger than mine eyes. | Cleopatra knows there will be mockeries of the Egyptian lifestyle and they’ll have some drunk fool acting as Antony and some young boy acting as her, probably making her look like a whore. |
CLEOPATRA Why, that’s the way
To fool their preparation and to conquer
Their most absurd intents. 275 Enter Charmian. Now, Charmian!
Show me, my women, like a queen. Go fetch
My best attires. I am again for Cydnus
To meet Mark Antony. Sirrah Iras, go.—
Now, noble Charmian, we’ll dispatch indeed, 280
And when thou hast done this chare, I’ll give thee
leave
To play till Doomsday.—Bring our crown and all.
Iras exits. A noise within.
Wherefore’s this noise? Enter a Guardsman. GUARDSMAN Here is a rural fellow 285
That will not be denied your Highness’ presence.
He brings you figs. CLEOPATRA
Let him come in. Guardsman exits.What poor an instrument
May do a noble deed! He brings me liberty. 290
My resolution’s placed, and I have nothing
Of woman in me. Now from head to foot
I am marble-constant. Now the fleeting moon
No planet is of mine. | Cleopatra won’t stand it, and she’s figured a way to beat them. She bids Charmian and Iras to go bring her crown and finest garments. A guard comes in, telling of a rural visitor who's brought Cleopatra a gift of figs. The guard leaves, and Cleopatra mysteriously states that this "poor instrument" brings her liberty. (Curious, are you?) |
Enter Guardsman and Countryman, with a basket. GUARDSMAN This is the man. 295 CLEOPATRA Avoid, and leave him. Guardsman exits.
Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there
That kills and pains not? COUNTRYMAN Truly I have him, but I would not be
the party that should desire you to touch him, for 300
his biting is immortal. Those that do die of it do
seldom or never recover. CLEOPATRA Remember’st thou any that have died on ’t? COUNTRYMAN Very many, men and women too. I
heard of one of them no longer than yesterday—a 305
very honest woman, but something given to lie, as a
woman should not do but in the way of honesty—
how she died of the biting of it, what pain she felt.
Truly, she makes a very good report o’ th’ worm.
But he that will believe all that they say shall never 310
be saved by half that they do. But this is most
falliable, the worm’s an odd worm. CLEOPATRA Get thee hence. Farewell. COUNTRYMAN I wish you all joy of the worm.
He sets down the basket. CLEOPATRA Farewell. 315 COUNTRYMAN You must think this, look you, that the
worm will do his kind. CLEOPATRA Ay, ay, farewell. COUNTRYMAN Look you, the worm is not to be trusted
but in the keeping of wise people, for indeed there 320
is no goodness in the worm. CLEOPATRA Take thou no care; it shall be heeded. COUNTRYMAN Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you,
for it is not worth the feeding. CLEOPATRA Will it eat me? 325
COUNTRYMAN You must not think I am so simple but
I know the devil himself will not eat a woman. I
know that a woman is a dish for the gods if the devil
dress her not. But truly these same whoreson devils
do the gods great harm in their women, for in every 330
ten that they make, the devils mar five. CLEOPATRA Well, get thee gone. Farewell. COUNTRYMAN Yes, forsooth. I wish you joy o’ th’
worm. He exits. | The rural man enters and is left with the Queen. She asks if he’s brought her the worm (serpent) of Nilus, and he confirms that he has. It brings death to anyone who touches it, he warns, and she asks for stories of people it's killed. Satisfied, she sends him off, and he wishes her "joy of the worm." |
Enter Iras bearing Cleopatra’s royal regalia. CLEOPATRA
Give me my robe. Put on my crown. I have 335
Immortal longings in me. Now no more
The juice of Egypt’s grape shall moist this lip.
Charmian and Iras begin to dress her.
Yare, yare, good Iras, quick. Methinks I hear
Antony call. I see him rouse himself
To praise my noble act. I hear him mock 340
The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men
To excuse their after wrath.—Husband, I come!
Now to that name my courage prove my title.
I am fire and air; my other elements
I give to baser life.—So, have you done? 345
Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
Farewell, kind Charmian.—Iras, long farewell.
She kisses them. Iras falls and dies.
Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?
If thou and nature can so gently part,
The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch, 350
Which hurts and is desired. Dost thou lie still?
If thus thou vanishest, thou tell’st the world
It is not worth leave-taking. | Iras dresses her in all her fine things, and Cleopatra says she hears Antony calling her, praising the deed she’s about to do. She claims she is now fire and air—all else of her she leaves on Earth. She bids her women kiss her lips for their last warmth—in doing so, Iras falls and dies. Cleopatra asks if death comes so easy, as a lover’s pinch. |
CHARMIAN
Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say
The gods themselves do weep! 355 CLEOPATRA This proves me base.
If she first meet the curlèd Antony,
He’ll make demand of her, and spend that kiss
Which is my heaven to have.—Come, thou mortal
wretch, She places an asp on her breast. 360
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie. Poor venomous fool,
Be angry and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
Unpolicied! 365 CHARMIAN O eastern star! CLEOPATRA Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep? CHARMIAN O, break! O, break! 370 CLEOPATRA
As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle—
O Antony!—Nay, I will take thee too.
She places an asp on her arm.
What should I stay— Dies. | Cleopatra then moves quickly to die herself, lest Iras find Antony first in death and steal his kisses. She first puts a snake on her breast, and as Charmian weeps she puts another one on her arm, and dies mid-sentence. |
CHARMIAN In this wild world? So, fare thee well.
Now boast thee, Death, in thy possession lies 375
A lass unparalleled. Downy windows, close,
She closes Cleopatra’s eyes.
And golden Phoebus, never be beheld
Of eyes again so royal. Your crown’s awry.
I’ll mend it, and then play— Enter the Guard rustling in. FIRST GUARD
Where’s the Queen? 380 CHARMIAN Speak softly. Wake her not. FIRST GUARD
Caesar hath sent— CHARMIAN Too slow a messenger.
She takes out an asp.
O, come apace, dispatch! I partly feel thee. FIRST GUARD
Approach, ho! All’s not well. Caesar’s beguiled. 385 SECOND GUARD
There’s Dolabella sent from Caesar. Call him. A Guardsman exits. FIRST GUARD
What work is here, Charmian? Is this well done? CHARMIAN
It is well done, and fitting for a princess
Descended of so many royal kings.
Ah, soldier! Charmian dies. 390 | A guard enters as Charmian finishes her lady’s sentence, saying there’s no reason to stay in this vile world. Then Charmian applies an snake to herself, and she dies, too. |
Enter Dolabella. DOLABELLA
How goes it here? SECOND GUARD All dead. DOLABELLA Caesar, thy thoughts
Touch their effects in this. Thyself art coming
To see performed the dreaded act which thou 395
So sought’st to hinder. Enter Caesar and all his train, marching. ALL A way there, a way for Caesar! DOLABELLA
O sir, you are too sure an augurer:
That you did fear is done. CAESAR Bravest at the last, 400
She leveled at our purposes and, being royal,
Took her own way. The manner of their deaths?
I do not see them bleed. | Dolabella, Caesar, and more men trickle in. Caesar wearily announces she must’ve guessed his intentions, and being royal and such, took her own way rather than suffer humiliation. |
DOLABELLA Who was last with them? FIRST GUARD
A simple countryman that brought her figs. 405
This was his basket. CAESAR Poisoned, then. FIRST GUARD O Caesar,
This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake.
I found her trimming up the diadem 410
On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,
And on the sudden dropped. CAESAR O, noble weakness!
If they had swallowed poison, ’twould appear
By external swelling; but she looks like sleep, 415
As she would catch another Antony
In her strong toil of grace. DOLABELLA Here on her breast
There is a vent of blood, and something blown.
The like is on her arm. 420 FIRST GUARD
This is an aspic’s trail, and these fig leaves
Have slime upon them, such as th’ aspic leaves
Upon the caves of Nile. | The men guess at the means by which the women died and, finding a wound on Cleopatra’s breast and the figs slimy with the trail of some serpent, realize the ladies had the rural visitor smuggle in snakes to do the deed. |
CAESAR Most probable
That so she died, for her physician tells me 425
She hath pursued conclusions infinite
Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed,
And bear her women from the monument.
She shall be buried by her Antony.
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it 430
A pair so famous. High events as these
Strike those that make them; and their story is
No less in pity than his glory which
Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
In solemn show attend this funeral, 435
And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see
High order in this great solemnity. They all exit, the Guards
bearing the dead bodies. | Caesar bids Cleopatra be buried next to Antony and states that their love engenders as much pity as Antony’s glory, which led them to all of their troubles in the first place. He and the army will attend the funeral and then head back to Rome. He bids Dolabella organize the funeral with great and befitting solemnity. |