Act IScene V
Alexandria. A Room in the Palace
Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras and Mardian.
Cleopatra
Charmian!
Charmian
Madam?
Cleopatra
Ha, ha!Give me to drink mandragora.
Charmian
Why, madam?
Cleopatra
That I might sleep out this great gap of timeMy Antony is away.
Charmian
You think of him too much.
Cleopatra
O, ’tis treason!
Charmian
Madam, I trust not so.
Cleopatra
Thou, eunuch Mardian!
Mardian
What’s your highness’ pleasure?
Cleopatra
Not now to hear thee sing. I take no pleasureIn aught an eunuch has. ’Tis well for theeThat, being unseminared, thy freer thoughtsMay not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?
Mardian
Yes, gracious madam.
Cleopatra
Indeed?
Mardian
Not in deed, madam, for I can do nothingBut what indeed is honest to be done.Yet have I fierce affections, and thinkWhat Venus did with Mars.
Cleopatra
O, Charmian,Where think’st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he?Or does he walk? Or is he on his horse?O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!Do bravely, horse, for wot’st thou whom thou mov’st?The demi-Atlas of this earth, the armAnd burgonet of men. He’s speaking now,Or murmuring “Where’s my serpent of old Nile?”For so he calls me. Now I feed myselfWith most delicious poison. Think on meThat am with Phœbus’ amorous pinches black,And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Caesar,When thou wast here above the ground, I wasA morsel for a monarch. And great PompeyWould stand and make his eyes grow in my brow;There would he anchor his aspect, and dieWith looking on his life.
Enter Alexas.
Alexas
Sovereign of Egypt, hail!
Cleopatra
How much unlike art thou Mark Antony!Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hathWith his tinct gilded thee.How goes it with my brave Mark Antony?
Alexas
Last thing he did, dear queen,He kissed—the last of many doubled kisses—This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart.
Cleopatra
Mine ear must pluck it thence.
Alexas
“Good friend,” quoth he,“Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt sendsThis treasure of an oyster; at whose foot,To mend the petty present, I will pieceHer opulent throne with kingdoms. All the east,Say thou, shall call her mistress.” So he noddedAnd soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed,Who neighed so high that what I would have spokeWas beastly dumbed by him.
Cleopatra
What, was he sad or merry?
Alexas
Like to the time o’ th’ year between the extremesOf hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry.
Cleopatra
O well-divided disposition!—Note him,Note him, good Charmian, ’tis the man; but note him:He was not sad, for he would shine on thoseThat make their looks by his; he was not merry,Which seemed to tell them his remembrance layIn Egypt with his joy; but between both.O heavenly mingle!—Be’st thou sad or merry,The violence of either thee becomes,So does it no man else.—Met’st thou my posts?
Alexas
Ay, madam, twenty several messengers.Why do you send so thick?
Cleopatra
Who’s born that dayWhen I forget to send to AntonyShall die a beggar.—Ink and paper, Charmian.—Welcome, my good Alexas.—Did I, Charmian,Ever love Caesar so?
Charmian
O that brave Caesar!
Cleopatra
Be choked with such another emphasis!Say “the brave Antony.”
Charmian
The valiant Caesar!
Cleopatra
By Isis, I will give thee bloody teethIf thou with Caesar paragon againMy man of men.
Charmian
By your most gracious pardon,I sing but after you.
Cleopatra
My salad days,When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,To say as I said then. But come, away,Get me ink and paper.He shall have every day a several greeting,Or I’ll unpeople Egypt.
Exeunt.