Antony and Cleopatra

 

ACT III SCENE II	Rome. An ante-chamber in Octavius Caesar’s house.
[ Enter AGRIPPA at one door, DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS at another ]
AGRIPPA	What, are the brothers parted?
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	They have dispatch’d with Pompey, he is gone;
	The other three are sealing. Octavia weeps
	To part from Rome; Caesar is sad; and Lepidus,
	Since Pompey’s feast, as Menas says, is troubled	5
	With the green sickness.
AGRIPPA	‘Tis a noble Lepidus.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	A very fine one: O, how he loves Caesar!
AGRIPPA	Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony!
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	Caesar? Why, he’s the Jupiter of men.	10
AGRIPPA	What’s Antony? The god of Jupiter.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	Spake you of Caesar? How! the non-pareil!
AGRIPPA	O Antony! O thou Arabian bird!
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	Would you praise Caesar, say ‘Caesar:’ go no further.
AGRIPPA	Indeed, he plied them both with excellent praises.	15
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	But he loves Caesar best; yet he loves Antony:
	Ho! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards,
	poets, cannot
	Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho!
	His love to Antony. But as for Caesar,	20
	Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder.
AGRIPPA	Both he loves.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	They are his shards, and he their beetle.
[Trumpets within]
	So;
	This is to horse. Adieu, noble Agrippa.	25
AGRIPPA	Good fortune, worthy soldier; and farewell.
[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, MARK ANTONY, LEPIDUS, and OCTAVIA]
MARK ANTONY	No further, sir.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	You take from me a great part of myself;
	Use me well in ‘t. Sister, prove such a wife
	As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest band	30
	Shall pass on thy approof. Most noble Antony,
	Let not the piece of virtue, which is set
	Betwixt us as the cement of our love,
	To keep it builded, be the ram to batter
	The fortress of it; for better might we	35
	Have loved without this mean, if on both parts
	This be not cherish’d.
MARK ANTONY	Make me not offended
	In your distrust.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	I have said.	40
MARK ANTONY	You shall not find,
	Though you be therein curious, the least cause
	For what you seem to fear: so, the gods keep you,
	And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!
	We will here part.	45
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well:
	The elements be kind to thee, and make
	Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well.
OCTAVIA	My noble brother!
MARK ANTONY	The April ‘s in her eyes: it is love’s spring,	50
	And these the showers to bring it on. Be cheerful.
OCTAVIA	Sir, look well to my husband’s house; and–
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	What, Octavia?
OCTAVIA	I’ll tell you in your ear.
MARK ANTONY	Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can	55
	Her heart inform her tongue,–the swan’s
	down-feather,
	That stands upon the swell at full of tide,
	And neither way inclines.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	[Aside to AGRIPPA] Will Caesar weep?	60
AGRIPPA	[Aside to DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS] He has a cloud in ‘s face.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	[Aside to AGRIPPA] He were the worse for that,
	were he a horse;
	So is he, being a man.
AGRIPPA	[Aside to DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS] Why, Enobarbus,	65
	When Antony found Julius Caesar dead,
	He cried almost to roaring; and he wept
	When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.
DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS	[Aside to AGRIPPA] That year, indeed, he was
	troubled with a rheum;	70
	What willingly he did confound he wail’d,
	Believe’t, till I wept too.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	No, sweet Octavia,
	You shall hear from me still; the time shall not
	Out-go my thinking on you.	75
MARK ANTONY	Come, sir, come;
	I’ll wrestle with you in my strength of love:
	Look, here I have you; thus I let you go,
	And give you to the gods.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Adieu; be happy!	80
LEPIDUS	Let all the number of the stars give light
	To thy fair way!
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Farewell, farewell!
[Kisses OCTAVIA]
MARK ANTONY	Farewell!
[Trumpets sound. Exeunt]

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 3, Scene 3
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Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 2
From Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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2. Despatched. Come to an agreement.

3. Sealing. Putting their seals to the agreement.

7. ‘Tis. The use of “it” is contemptuous here.

12. Nonpareil. One that has no equal.

13. Arabian. The phoenix which, according to fable, after death rose again from its own ashes.

19. Cast. Compute in figures.

19. Number. That is, tell in numbers or verses.

23. Shards. The horny wing cases of the beetle. He means Caesar and Antony are the wings which raise the dull and sluggish Lepidus.

31. Approof. And as I am ready to venture my strongest bond (band) as security for your conduct proving good.

32. Piece. Masterpiece.

33. Cement. Accent on the first syllable.

34. Ram. Battering rams were common implements of war before the days of firearms.

36. Mean. Means; that is, this alliance.

39. In. By your distrust of me.

42. Curious. Careful, anxious.

47. Elements. That is, on her voyage to Egypt.

56. Inform. Give it utterance.

61. Cloud. If a horse has a dark spot between his eyes he is said to have a cloud in his face, which is regarded as a blemish, as it is supposed to indicate bad temper.

70. Rheum. Was addicted to weeping.

58. Confound. Destroy.

58. Wail’d. Bewailed.

74. Still. Constantly, continually.

75. Out-go. That is, I will think of you as long as I live.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company, 1908.