ACT IV SCENE XII

Antony and Cleopatra

ACT IV 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	5
	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,	10
	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	15
	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,	20
	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	25
	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;	30
	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!	35
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	40
	Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown
	For poor’st diminutives, for dolts; and let
	Patient Octavia plough thy visage up
	With her prepared nails.
[Exit CLEOPATRA]
	‘Tis well thou’rt gone,	45
	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:	50
	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!	55
[Exit]

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, Scene 13
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Explanatory Notes for Act 4, Scene 12
From Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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1. Yet. As yet.

5. Swallows. This anecdote is related by Plutarch.

10. Fretted. Mingled of success and failure.

16. Triple-turned. Three times faithless, to Caesar, to Pompey, and now to me.

18. Novice. Innocent youth.

20. Charm. Charmer.

25. Spaniel’d. Followed and fawned on me like spaniels.

26. Discandy. Melt away, as above.

29. Grave. Deadly, poisonous charm.

30. Beck’d. Beckoned, called forth wars by a mere gesture.

31. Crownet. Crown.

32. Right. True, one who deserves the name.

32. Fast and loose. An old game used to cheat the trusting out of pennies.

35. Avaunt. Out of my sight.

39. Plebeians. The common people. Accented on the first syllable here.

41. Monster. Monstrosity, something unnatural.

41. Be shown, etc. That is, be made a show for the sport of the commonest and meanest rabble. Some editors change “dolt” to “doit,” and read, “Be exhibited for the smallest fee, like some strange monster at a show.”

44. Prepared. Which have grown long for the purpose.

49. Nessus. A centaur whom Hercules had slain with a poisoned arrow. He sent to his wife for a garment in which to offer sacrifice and she, being angry with him at the time, sent him a robe dipped in the poisonous blood of Nessus. The garment caused him such intense agony that he seized his faithful attendant, Lichas, and threw him into the sea.

50. Alcides. Another name for Hercules, who was the son of Alceus.

53. Worthiest. That is, my very worthy self — worthy in the sense of being your descendant.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company, 1908. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/antony_4_12.html >.