Have comfort; for, I know, your plight is pitied
Of him that caus'd it.

Gal. You see how easily she may be surpris'd.

[PROCULEIUS, and two of the Guard, ascend the monument by a ladder, and come behind CLEOPATRA. Some of the Guard unbar and open the gates.

Guard her till Cæsar come'.

[To PROCULEIUS and the Guard. Exit GALLUS.

Iras. Royal queen!
Char. Oh Cleopatra! thou art taken, queen!—

Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

Pro.

[Drawing a dagger. Hold, worthy lady, hold! [Seizing and disarming her.

Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this

Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo.

What, of death, too,

Cleopatra,

That rids our dogs of languish?

Pro.

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.

Cleo.

Where art thou, death?

Come hither, come! come, come, and take a queen
Worth many babes and beggars!

Pro.

Oh, temperance, lady!

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir; If idle talk will once be accessary,

I'll not sleep neither'.

Do Cæsar what he can.

This mortal house I'll ruin,

Know, sir, that I

3 Some of the Guard unbar and open the gates.] This necessary stage-direction is wanting in the old copies. Malone formed one from Plutarch, with more particularity than seems required to explain the situation.

Guard her till Cæsar come.] In the folio, 1623, this speech is given to Proculeius, and the editor of the folio, 1632, (not Rowe, nor Pope, as stated by Theobald, and repeated by others,) perceiving that that must be an error, transferred it, by another blunder, to Charmian. It probably belongs to Gallus, to whom it was assigned by Malone.

5 If idle talk will once be ACCESSARY,

I'll not sleep neither.] The mere change of necessary to "accessary," the word substituted in the corr. fo. 1632, renders all speculation upon this disputed passage needless. Cleopatra expresses her determination to die by starvation, rather than live in bondage, and she adds that she will hasten her death by perpetual watchfulness, if "idle talk" will contribute to it, or be "accessary to it. The mistake was necessary for "accessary."

Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court,
Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up,
And show me to the shouting varletry

Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt
Be gentle grave to me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me stark nak'd, and let the water flies.
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My country's high pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro.

You do extend

These thoughts of horror farther, than you shall
Find cause in Cæsar.

What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows,

And he hath sent for thee: for the queen,

I'll take her to my guard.

Pro.

So, Dolabella,

It shall content me best: be gentle to her.—
To Cæsar I will speak what you

If you'll employ me to him.

Cleo.

shall please,

[To CLEOPATRA.

Dol. Most noble empress, you have heard of me?
Cleo. I cannot tell.

Dol.

Assuredly, you know me.

Cleo. No matter, sir, what I have heard, or known. You laugh, when boys, or women, tell their dreams; Is't not your trick?

Dol.

I understand not, madam. Cleo. I dream'd, there was an emperor Antony: Oh, such another sleep, that I might see

But such another man!

If it might please you,-

Dol.
Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck
A sun and moon, which kept their course, and lighted
The little O, the earth".

The little O, the earth.] This is substantially Theobald's amendment, the folios reading, "The little o' th' earth" (which Rowe continued), and he altering

VOL. VI.

R

Dol.

Most sovereign creature,

Cleo. His legs bestrid the ocean; his rear'd arm
Crested the world; his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
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 show'd his back above

The element they liv'd in: in his livery

Walk'd crowns, and crownets; realms and islands were
As plates dropp'd from his pocket.

Dol.

Cleopatra,

Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be, such a man As this I dream'd of?

Dol.

Gentle madam, no.

Cleo. You lie, up to the hearing of the gods:
But, if there be, or ever were one such,

It's past the size of dreaming: nature wants stuff
To vie strange forms with fancy'; yet, to imagine
An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite.

Dol.

Hear me, good madam.

Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it

As answering to the weight: would I might never
O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel,

By the rebound of your's, a grief that smites

My very heart at root'.

it to "The little O o' th' earth." There seems no necessity to add to the text, especially as "The little o' th' earth" might, after all, be the true reading.

7 - an AUTUMN 'twas,] "An Anthony 'twas" in the old copies: our text is one of Theobald's happy emendations. The error, doubtless, arose from "autumn" having been written with a capital letter.

8 As PLATES dropp'd from his pocket.] Plate was the term in use for silver money, plata being the Spanish word for it, which about this date seems to have been introduced into English.

9 TO VIE strange forms with fancy ;] To "vie" (as we have explained in Vol. ii. pp. 479. 481) was a gaming term, signifying to stake or challenge.

My very heart at root.] Smites" is printed suites in the folio, 1623, and the commentators have supposed that it was an error of the press for shoots; but surely, as the late Mr. Barron Field observed, it is much more likely to have been a misprint for "smites," which only varies in a single letter. The expression is then more natural, and it avoids the clash of shoots and "root." Suites is altered to "smites" in the corr. fo. 1632. We printed "smites" in our first edition, and Mr. Singer adopts it from thence, but without stating where he found it.

Cleo.

I thank you, sir.

Know you, what Cæsar means to do with me?

Dol. I am loath to tell you what I would you knew.
Cleo. Nay, pray you, sir,-.

Dol.

Though he be honourable,—

Cleo. He'll lead me, then, in triumph?

Dol. Madam, he will; I know't.

Within. Make way there!-Cæsar!

Enter CESAR, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, MECENAS, SELEUCUS, and

Attendants.

Cas. Which is the queen of Egypt?
Dol. It is the emperor, madam.
Cæs. Arise; you shall not kneel.

I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt.

Cleo.

[CLEOPATRA kneels.

[Raising her.

Sir, the gods

Will have it thus: my master and my lord
I must obey.

Cæs.

Take to you no hard thoughts:

The record of what injuries you did us,

Though written in our flesh, we shall remember

As things but done by chance.

Cleo.

Sole sir o' the world,

I cannot project mine own cause so well
To make it clear; but do confess I have
Been laden with like frailties, which before
Have often sham'd our sex.

Cæs.

Cleopatra, know,

We will extenuate rather than enforce.

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

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.

Cleo. And may through all the world: 'tis your's; and we,

Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall

Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.
Caes. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.

Cleo. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,
I am possess'd of: 'tis exactly valued;

Not petty things admitted.-Where's Seleucus ?
Sel. Here, madam.

Cleo. This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,
Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd

To myself nothing.-Speak the truth, Seleucus.
Sel. Madam,

I had rather seal my lips, than to my peril
Speak that which is not.

Cleo.

What have I kept back?

Sel. Enough to purchase what you have made known.
Cas. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve

Your wisdom in the deed.

Cleo.

See, Cæsar! Oh, behold,

How pomp is follow'd! mine will now be your's,
And, should we shift estates, your's would be mine.
The ingratitude of this Seleucus does

Even make me wild.-Oh slave, of no more trust

Than love that's hir'd!-What! goest thou back? thou shalt
Go back, I warrant thee; but I'll catch thine eyes,

Though they had wings. Slave, soul-less villain, dog!
Oh, rarely base!

Cæs.

Good queen, let us entreat you.

Cleo. Oh Cæsar! what a wounding shame is this; That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me,

Doing the honour of thy lordliness

To one so meek, that mine own servant should

Parcel the sum of my disgraces by

Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar,

That I some lady-trifles have reserv'd
Immoment toys, things of such dignity

3

As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
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 *?

Ye gods! it smites me

5

* I had rather SEAL my lips,] This again is one of the cases in which the commentators have understood an allusion to seeling the eyes of a hawk; but the common expression of sealing the lips requires no such explanation.

3 -MODERN friends] i. e. Common friends, a use of the word of which we have had repeated examples. See Vol. v. p. 159, where other earlier instances are pointed out.

WITH one that I have bred?] We should now say, " By one," &c. : another proof of licence in the old use of prepositions. "Ye,"

5 YE gods! it smites me] Another instance of old misprinting, The for “