Nay, weep not, gentle Eros, there is left us

Our selves to end our selves. Oh the vile Lady!

Enter Mardian.

She has robb'd me of my Sword.

Mar. No, Antony,

My Mistress lov'd thee, and her Fortunes mingled

With thine intirely.

Ant. Hence, lawcy Eunuch, peace, she hath betraid me, And the thall die the death.

Mar. Death of one Person can be paid but once, And that she has difcharg'd. What thou would'st do Is done unto thy Hand; the last she spake

Was Antony! most noble Antony!

Then in the midst a tearing Groan did break
The Name of Antony; it was divided
Between her Heart and Lips; she rendred Life
Thy Name so buried in her.
Ant. Dead then ?

Mar. Dead.

Ant. Unarm me, Eros, the long Day's task is done, And we must sleep; that thou depart'st hence safe Does pay thy labour richly; go. Oh, pluck off,

[Exit Mardian.

The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep
The battery from my Heart. Oh cleave my fides.
Heart, once be stronger than thy Continent, [Unarming himself.
Crack thy frail Cafe. Apace, Eros, apace,
No more a Soldier-bruised pieces go,

You have been nobly born; from me a while. (Exit Eros.
I will o'er-take thee, Cleopatra, and

Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now
All length is Torture; fince the Torch is out,
Lye down and stray no farther. Now all labour
Marrs what it does, yea, very force entangles
It felf with strength; feal then and all is done.
Eros! I come, my Queen Eros! Stay for me,
Where Souls do couch on Flowers, we'll Hand in Hand,
And with our sprightly Port make the Ghosts gaze;
Dido, and her Aneas shall want Troops,

And all the haunt be ours. Come, Eros, Eros!

Enter

A Minister of her will; and it is great,
To do that thing that ends all other deeds,
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change,
Which sleeps, and never pallats more the dung,
The Beggar's Nurse, and Cafar's.

Enter Proculeius.

Pro. Cafar sends greeting to the Queen of Ægypt,

And bids thee study on what fair demands
Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.

Cleo. What's thy name?

Pro. My name is Proculeius.

Cleo. Antony

Did tell me of you, bad me trust you, but

I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd

That have no use for trusting.

If your Master

Would have a Queen his Beggar, you must tell him,

That Majesty, to keep decorum, muft
No less beg than a Kingdom: If he please
To give me conquer'd Ægypt for my Son,
He gives me fo much of mine own, as I
Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro. Be of good cheer:
You're faln into a princely Hand, fear nothing,
Make your full reference freely to my Lord,
Who is fo 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,
Where he for Grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. Pray you tell him,

I am his Fortunes Vassal, and I send him
The greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A Doctrine of Obedience, and would gladly
Look him i'th' Face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear Lady,
Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied
Of him that caus'd it.

Char. You see how easily she may be surpris'd:

Guard her 'till Cafar come.

Iras. Royal Queen.

Char. Oh Cleopatra, thou art taken Queen.

1

Cleo

Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

Pro. Hold, worthy Lady, hold:

Do not your self fuch wrong, who are in this

Reliev'd, but not betray'd.

Cleo. What of Death too that rids our Dogs of languish?

Pro. Cleopatra, do not abuse my Master's bounty, by

Th' undoing of your self: Let the World fee

His Nobleness well acted, which your Death
Will never let come forth.

Cleo. Where art thou, Death?

Come hither, come: Oh! Come, and take the 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 necessary,

I'll not fleep neither. Tis mortal house I'll ruir,
Do Cafar what he can. Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinnion'd at your Master's Court,
Not once to be chastis'd with the fober Eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up,
And shew me to the shouting Varlotry
Of censuring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt.
But gentle, Grave, unto 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 further than you shall

Find cause in Cafar.

Dol. Proculeius,

Enter Dolabella.

What thou haft done, my Master Cafar knows,
And he hath sent for thee: as for the Queen,

I'll take her to my Guard.

Pro. So, Dolabella,

It shall content me best; be gentle to her :

To Cafar I will speak what you thall please,

If you'll employ me to him.

Cieo. Say, I would die.

[Exit Proculeius.

Dol. Moft Noble Empress, you have heard of me.

Cleo.

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 Dreamt there was an Emperor Antony;

Oh fuch another Sleep, that I might fee
But fuch another Man.

Dol. If it might please ye

Cleo. His Face was as the Heav'ns, and therein stuck A Sun and Moon, which kept their course, and lighted The little o'th' Earth

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 ratling Thunder. For his bounty,
There was no Winter in't. An Antony it was,
That grew the more by reaping: his delights
Were Dolphin-like, they shew'd his back above
The Element they liv'd in; In his Livery
Walk'd Crowns and Crownets: Realms and Islands
As Plates dropt from his Pocket.

Dol. Cleopatra

Cleo. Think you there was, or might be such a Man As this I dreamt of?

Dol. Gentle Madam, no.

Cleo. You lie up to the hearing of the gods;

But if there be, or ever were one fuch,

It's past the size of dreaming: Nature wants stuff
To vy strange forms with Fancy, yet t'imagine
An Antony were Nature's piece, 'gainst Fancy,
Condemning Shadows quite.

Dol. Hear me, good Madam:

Your loss is as your felf, great; and you bear it
As answering to the weight: would I might never
O'er-take pursu'd Success, but I do feel

By the rebound of yours, a grief that fuits

My very Heart at Roor,

Cleo.

Cleo. I thank you, Sir,

Know you what Cafar means to do with me?

Dol. I am loth 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.

Enter Cæfar, Gallus, Mecenas, Proculeius and Attendants.

All. Make way there-Cafar.

Caf. Which is the Queen of Egypt?

Dol. It is the Emperor, Madam.

Caf. Arife, you shall not kneel:

I pray you rife, rise, Ægypt.

Cleo. Sir, the gods will have it thus, My Master and my Lord I must obey.

[Cleo. kneels.

Caf. 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'th' 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.

Caf. Cleopatra, know,

We will extenuate rather than inforce :
If you apply your self to our intents,

A

:

Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find
A benefit in this change, but if you feek
To lay on me a Cruelty, by taking
Antony's course, you shall bereave your felf
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 yours, and we
Your Scutcheons, and your signs of Conquest shall
Hang in what place you please. Here, my good Lord.
Caf. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra.
Cleo. This is the brief: of Mony, Plate, and Jewels
I am possest of, 'tis exactly valued,

Not petty things admitted. Where's Seleucus ?

T

Sel.