SCENE XII. Another part of the same. Antony and Cleopatra  Shakespeare homepage  |  Antony and Cleopatra  | Act 4, Scene 12 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE XII. Another part of the same. 

 Enter MARK ANTONY and SCARUS  MARK ANTONY  Yet they are not join'd: where yond pine 

 does stand, 

 I shall discover all: I'll bring thee word 

 Straight, how 'tis like to go. 



 Exit  SCARUS  Swallows have built 

 In Cleopatra's sails their nests: the augurers 

 Say they know not, they cannot tell; look grimly, 

 And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony 

 Is valiant, and dejected; and, by starts, 

 His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, 

 Of what he has, and has not. 



 Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fight 

 Re-enter MARK ANTONY  MARK ANTONY  All is lost; 

 This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me: 

 My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder 

 They cast their caps up and carouse together 

 Like friends long lost. Triple-turn'd whore! 

 'tis thou 

 Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart 

 Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly; 

 For when I am revenged upon my charm, 

 I have done all. Bid them all fly; begone. 



 Exit SCARUS  O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more: 

 Fortune and Antony part here; even here 

 Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts 

 That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave 

 Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets 

 On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd, 

 That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am: 

 O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,-- 

 Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home; 

 Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,-- 

 Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose, 

 Beguiled me to the very heart of loss. 

 What, Eros, Eros! 



 Enter CLEOPATRA  Ah, thou spell! Avaunt! 

 CLEOPATRA  Why is my lord enraged against his love? 

 MARK ANTONY  Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving, 

 And blemish Caesar's triumph. Let him take thee, 

 And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians: 

 Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot 

 Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown 

 For poor'st diminutives, for doits; and let 

 Patient Octavia plough thy visage up 

 With her prepared nails. 



 Exit CLEOPATRA  'Tis well thou'rt gone, 

 If it be well to live; but better 'twere 

 Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death 

 Might have prevented many. Eros, ho! 

 The shirt of Nessus is upon me: teach me, 

 Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage: 

 Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon; 

 And with those hands, that grasp'd the heaviest club, 

 Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die: 

 To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall 

 Under this plot; she dies for't. Eros, ho! 



 Exit  Shakespeare homepage  |  Antony and Cleopatra  | Act 4, Scene 12 

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