SCENE XIII. Alexandria. CLEOPATRA's palace. Antony and Cleopatra  Shakespeare homepage  |  Antony and Cleopatra  | Act 3, Scene 13 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE XIII. Alexandria. CLEOPATRA's palace. 

 Enter CLEOPATRA, DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS, CHARMIAN, and IRAS  CLEOPATRA  What shall we do, Enobarbus? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Think, and die. 

 CLEOPATRA  Is Antony or we in fault for this? 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Antony only, that would make his will 

 Lord of his reason. What though you fled 

 From that great face of war, whose several ranges 

 Frighted each other? why should he follow? 

 The itch of his affection should not then 

 Have nick'd his captainship; at such a point, 

 When half to half the world opposed, he being 

 The meered question: 'twas a shame no less 

 Than was his loss, to course your flying flags, 

 And leave his navy gazing. 

 CLEOPATRA  Prithee, peace. 



 Enter MARK ANTONY with EUPHRONIUS, the Ambassador  MARK ANTONY  Is that his answer? 

 EUPHRONIUS  Ay, my lord. 

 MARK ANTONY  The queen shall then have courtesy, so she 

 Will yield us up. 

 EUPHRONIUS  He says so. 

 MARK ANTONY  Let her know't. 

 To the boy Caesar send this grizzled head, 

 And he will fill thy wishes to the brim 

 With principalities. 

 CLEOPATRA  That head, my lord? 

 MARK ANTONY  To him again: tell him he wears the rose 

 Of youth upon him; from which the world should note 

 Something particular: his coin, ships, legions, 

 May be a coward's; whose ministers would prevail 

 Under the service of a child as soon 

 As i' the command of Caesar: I dare him therefore 

 To lay his gay comparisons apart, 

 And answer me declined, sword against sword, 

 Ourselves alone. I'll write it: follow me. 



 Exeunt MARK ANTONY and EUPHRONIUS  DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  [Aside]  Yes, like enough, high-battled Caesar will 

 Unstate his happiness, and be staged to the show, 

 Against a sworder! I see men's judgments are 

 A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward 

 Do draw the inward quality after them, 

 To suffer all alike. That he should dream, 

 Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will 

 Answer his emptiness! Caesar, thou hast subdued 

 His judgment too. 



 Enter an Attendant  Attendant  A messenger from CAESAR. 

 CLEOPATRA  What, no more ceremony? See, my women! 

 Against the blown rose may they stop their nose 

 That kneel'd unto the buds. Admit him, sir. 



 Exit Attendant  DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  [Aside]  Mine honesty and I begin to square. 

 The loyalty well held to fools does make 

 Our faith mere folly: yet he that can endure 

 To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord 

 Does conquer him that did his master conquer 

 And earns a place i' the story. 



 Enter THYREUS  CLEOPATRA  Caesar's will? 

 THYREUS  Hear it apart. 

 CLEOPATRA  None but friends: say boldly. 

 THYREUS  So, haply, are they friends to Antony. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  He needs as many, sir, as Caesar has; 

 Or needs not us. If Caesar please, our master 

 Will leap to be his friend: for us, you know, 

 Whose he is we are, and that is, Caesar's. 

 THYREUS  So. 

 Thus then, thou most renown'd: Caesar entreats, 

 Not to consider in what case thou stand'st, 

 Further than he is Caesar. 

 CLEOPATRA  Go on: right royal. 

 THYREUS  He knows that you embrace not Antony 

 As you did love, but as you fear'd him. 

 CLEOPATRA  O! 

 THYREUS  The scars upon your honour, therefore, he 

 Does pity, as constrained blemishes, 

 Not as deserved. 

 CLEOPATRA  He is a god, and knows 

 What is most right: mine honour was not yielded, 

 But conquer'd merely. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  [Aside]             To be sure of that, 

 I will ask Antony. Sir, sir, thou art so leaky, 

 That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for 

 Thy dearest quit thee. 



 Exit  THYREUS  Shall I say to Caesar 

 What you require of him? for he partly begs 

 To be desired to give. It much would please him, 

 That of his fortunes you should make a staff 

 To lean upon: but it would warm his spirits, 

 To hear from me you had left Antony, 

 And put yourself under his shrowd, 

 The universal landlord. 

 CLEOPATRA  What's your name? 

 THYREUS  My name is Thyreus. 

 CLEOPATRA  Most kind messenger, 

 Say to great Caesar this: in deputation 

 I kiss his conquering hand: tell him, I am prompt 

 To lay my crown at 's feet, and there to kneel: 

 Tell him from his all-obeying breath I hear 

 The doom of Egypt. 

 THYREUS  'Tis your noblest course. 

 Wisdom and fortune combating together, 

 If that the former dare but what it can, 

 No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay 

 My duty on your hand. 

 CLEOPATRA  Your Caesar's father oft, 

 When he hath mused of taking kingdoms in, 

 Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place, 

 As it rain'd kisses. 



 Re-enter MARK ANTONY and DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  MARK ANTONY  Favours, by Jove that thunders! 

 What art thou, fellow? 

 THYREUS  One that but performs 

 The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest 

 To have command obey'd. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  [Aside]               You will be whipp'd. 

 MARK ANTONY  Approach, there! Ah, you kite! Now, gods 

 and devils! 

 Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried 'Ho!' 

 Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth, 

 And cry 'Your will?' Have you no ears? I am 

 Antony yet. 



 Enter Attendants  Take hence this Jack, and whip him. 

 DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  [Aside]  'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp 

 Than with an old one dying. 

 MARK ANTONY  Moon and stars! 

 Whip him. Were't twenty of the greatest tributaries 

 That do acknowledge Caesar, should I find them 

 So saucy with the hand of she here,--what's her name, 

 Since she was Cleopatra? Whip him, fellows, 

 Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face, 

 And whine aloud for mercy: take him hence. 

 THYREUS  Mark Antony! 

 MARK ANTONY  Tug him away: being whipp'd, 

 Bring him again: this Jack of Caesar's shall 

 Bear us an errand to him. 



 Exeunt Attendants with THYREUS  You were half blasted ere I knew you: ha! 

 Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome, 

 Forborne the getting of a lawful race, 

 And by a gem of women, to be abused 

 By one that looks on feeders? 

 CLEOPATRA  Good my lord,-- 

 MARK ANTONY  You have been a boggler ever: 

 But when we in our viciousness grow hard-- 

 O misery on't!--the wise gods seel our eyes; 

 In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us 

 Adore our errors; laugh at's, while we strut 

 To our confusion. 

 CLEOPATRA  O, is't come to this? 

 MARK ANTONY  I found you as a morsel cold upon 

 Dead Caesar's trencher; nay, you were a fragment 

 Of Cneius Pompey's; besides what hotter hours, 

 Unregister'd in vulgar fame, you have 

 Luxuriously pick'd out: for, I am sure, 

 Though you can guess what temperance should be, 

 You know not what it is. 

 CLEOPATRA  Wherefore is this? 

 MARK ANTONY  To let a fellow that will take rewards 

 And say 'God quit you!' be familiar with 

 My playfellow, your hand; this kingly seal 

 And plighter of high hearts! O, that I were 

 Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar 

 The horned herd! for I have savage cause; 

 And to proclaim it civilly, were like 

 A halter'd neck which does the hangman thank 

 For being yare about him. 



 Re-enter Attendants with THYREUS  Is he whipp'd? 

 First Attendant  Soundly, my lord. 

 MARK ANTONY  Cried he? and begg'd a' pardon? 

 First Attendant  He did ask favour. 

 MARK ANTONY  If that thy father live, let him repent 

 Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry 

 To follow Caesar in his triumph, since 

 Thou hast been whipp'd for following him: henceforth 

 The white hand of a lady fever thee, 

 Shake thou to look on 't. Get thee back to Caesar, 

 Tell him thy entertainment: look, thou say 

 He makes me angry with him; for he seems 

 Proud and disdainful, harping on what I am, 

 Not what he knew I was: he makes me angry; 

 And at this time most easy 'tis to do't, 

 When my good stars, that were my former guides, 

 Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires 

 Into the abysm of hell. If he mislike 

 My speech and what is done, tell him he has 

 Hipparchus, my enfranched bondman, whom 

 He may at pleasure whip, or hang, or torture, 

 As he shall like, to quit me: urge it thou: 

 Hence with thy stripes, begone! 



 Exit THYREUS  CLEOPATRA  Have you done yet? 

 MARK ANTONY  Alack, our terrene moon 

 Is now eclipsed; and it portends alone 

 The fall of Antony! 

 CLEOPATRA  I must stay his time. 

 MARK ANTONY  To flatter Caesar, would you mingle eyes 

 With one that ties his points? 

 CLEOPATRA  Not know me yet? 

 MARK ANTONY  Cold-hearted toward me? 

 CLEOPATRA  Ah, dear, if I be so, 

 From my cold heart let heaven engender hail, 

 And poison it in the source; and the first stone 

 Drop in my neck: as it determines, so 

 Dissolve my life! The next Caesarion smite! 

 Till by degrees the memory of my womb, 

 Together with my brave Egyptians all, 

 By the discandying of this pelleted storm, 

 Lie graveless, till the flies and gnats of Nile 

 Have buried them for prey! 

 MARK ANTONY  I am satisfied. 

 Caesar sits down in Alexandria; where 

 I will oppose his fate. Our force by land 

 Hath nobly held; our sever'd navy too 

 Have knit again, and fleet, threatening most sea-like. 

 Where hast thou been, my heart? Dost thou hear, lady? 

 If from the field I shall return once more 

 To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood; 

 I and my sword will earn our chronicle: 

 There's hope in't yet. 

 CLEOPATRA  That's my brave lord! 

 MARK ANTONY  I will be treble-sinew'd, hearted, breathed, 

 And fight maliciously: for when mine hours 

 Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives 

 Of me for jests; but now I'll set my teeth, 

 And send to darkness all that stop me. Come, 

 Let's have one other gaudy night: call to me 

 All my sad captains; fill our bowls once more; 

 Let's mock the midnight bell. 

 CLEOPATRA  It is my birth-day: 

 I had thought to have held it poor: but, since my lord 

 Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra. 

 MARK ANTONY  We will yet do well. 

 CLEOPATRA  Call all his noble captains to my lord. 

 MARK ANTONY  Do so, we'll speak to them; and to-night I'll force 

 The wine peep through their scars. Come on, my queen; 

 There's sap in't yet. The next time I do fight, 

 I'll make death love me; for I will contend 

 Even with his pestilent scythe. 



 Exeunt all but DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS  Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious, 

 Is to be frighted out of fear; and in that mood 

 The dove will peck the estridge; and I see still, 

 A diminution in our captain's brain 

 Restores his heart: when valour preys on reason, 

 It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek 

 Some way to leave him. 



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