Antony and Cleopatra

 

ACT III SCENE XI	Alexandria. Cleopatra’s palace
[Enter MARK ANTONY with Attendants]
MARK ANTONY	Hark! the land bids me tread no more upon’t;
	It is ashamed to bear me! Friends, come hither:
	I am so lated in the world, that I
	Have lost my way for ever: I have a ship
	Laden with gold; take that, divide it; fly,	5
	And make your peace with Caesar.
All	Fly! not we.
MARK ANTONY	I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards
	To run and show their shoulders. Friends, be gone;
	I have myself resolved upon a course	10
	Which has no need of you; be gone:
	My treasure’s in the harbour, take it. O,
	I follow’d that I blush to look upon:
	My very hairs do mutiny; for the white
	Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them	15
	For fear and doting. Friends, be gone: you shall
	Have letters from me to some friends that will
	Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad,
	Nor make replies of loathness: take the hint
	Which my despair proclaims; let that be left	20
	Which leaves itself: to the sea-side straightway:
	I will possess you of that ship and treasure.
	Leave me, I pray, a little: pray you now:
	Nay, do so; for, indeed, I have lost command,
	Therefore I pray you: I’ll see you by and by.	25
[Sits down]
[ Enter CLEOPATRA led by CHARMIAN and IRAS; EROS following ]
EROS	Nay, gentle madam, to him, comfort him.
IRAS	Do, most dear queen.
CHARMIAN	Do! why: what else?
CLEOPATRA	Let me sit down. O Juno!
MARK ANTONY	No, no, no, no, no.	30
EROS	See you here, sir?
MARK ANTONY	O fie, fie, fie!
CHARMIAN	Madam!
IRAS	Madam, O good empress!
EROS	Sir, sir,–	35
MARK ANTONY	Yes, my lord, yes; he at Philippi kept
	His sword e’en like a dancer; while I struck
	The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and ’twas I
	That the mad Brutus ended: he alone
	Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practise had	40
	In the brave squares of war: yet now–No matter.
CLEOPATRA	Ah, stand by.
EROS	The queen, my lord, the queen.
IRAS	Go to him, madam, speak to him:
	He is unqualitied with very shame.	45
CLEOPATRA	Well then, sustain him: O!
EROS	Most noble sir, arise; the queen approaches:
	Her head’s declined, and death will seize her, but
	Your comfort makes the rescue.
MARK ANTONY	I have offended reputation,	50
	A most unnoble swerving.
EROS	Sir, the queen.
MARK ANTONY	O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See,
	How I convey my shame out of thine eyes
	By looking back what I have left behind	55
	‘Stroy’d in dishonour.
CLEOPATRA	O my lord, my lord,
	Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought
	You would have follow’d.
MARK ANTONY	Egypt, thou knew’st too well	60
	My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings,
	And thou shouldst tow me after: o’er my spirit
	Thy full supremacy thou knew’st, and that
	Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
	Command me.	65
CLEOPATRA	O, my pardon!
MARK ANTONY	Now I must
	To the young man send humble treaties, dodge
	And palter in the shifts of lowness; who
	With half the bulk o’ the world play’d as I pleased,	70
	Making and marring fortunes. You did know
	How much you were my conqueror; and that
	My sword, made weak by my affection, would
	Obey it on all cause.
CLEOPATRA	Pardon, pardon!	75
MARK ANTONY	Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates
	All that is won and lost: give me a kiss;
	Even this repays me. We sent our schoolmaster;
	Is he come back? Love, I am full of lead.
	Some wine, within there, and our viands! Fortune knows	80
	We scorn her most when most she offers blows.
[Exeunt]

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 3, Scene 12
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Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 11
From Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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3. Lated. Belated.

18. Sweep your way. Make your reconciliation with Caesar easy.

19. Loathness. Unwillingness to leave me.

22. Possess you. Put you in possession of them.

24. Command. That is, I have lost the power to command you.

37. Dancer. Caesar, at the Battle of Philippi, did not draw his sword, but wore it as if he were at a dance.

39. Ended. That is, it was I that ended the mad Brutus.

40. Lieutenantry. Acted by means of his lieutenants instead of fighting himself.

41. Squares. Squadrons.

45. Unqualitied. Has lost his natural qualities, is not himself.

48. But. Except, unless.

50. Offended. Sinned against my reputation.

51. Unnoble. Ignoble.

55. Looking back. Some editors explain this passage by “See, how by looking another way, I withdraw my ignominy from your sight.” Others give it a wider meaning: “See how I am trying to hide my shame from you by holding myself aloof and bitterly meditating on the ruin of my power and reputation.”

56. ‘Stroy’d. Destroyed.

61. Strings. That is, by the heart strings.

68. Treaties. Entreaties, proposals of peace.

69. Palter. Equivocate, use tricks.

76. Fall. Do not let fall.

76. Rates. Equals in value.

78. Schoolmaster. One Euphronius, the teacher of Antony and Cleopatra’s children.

79. Lead. Heavy of heart.

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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_3_11.html >.

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