Flourish. Enter Proculeius, Caesar, Gallus, Maecenas, and others of his train ALL                  Make way, there! Caesar! CAESAR          Which is the Queen of Egypt? DOLABELLA   [to Cleopatra] It is the Emperor, madam. Cleopatra kneels CAESAR          Arise! You shall not kneel. I pray you rise, rise, Egypt. CLEOPATRA               [rising] Sir, the gods Will have it thus. My master and […]

DOLABELLA   Hear me, good madam: Your loss is as yourself, great, and you bear it As answering to the weight. Would I might never O’ertake pursued success but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites My very heart at root. CLEOPATRA  I thank you, sir. Know you what Caesar means […]

DOLABELLA                           Cleopatra— CLEOPATRA   Think you there was, or might be, such a man As this I dreamt of? DOLABELLA                           Gentle madam, no. CLEOPATRA   You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. But if there be, or ever were one such, It’s past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff To vie strange forms […]

CLEOPATRA   His face was as the heav’ns, and therein stuck A sun and moon, which kept their course and lighted The little O o’th’ earth. DOLABELLA               Most sovereign creature— CLEOPATRA His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared arm Crested the world. His voice was propertied As all the tunèd spheres, and that to friends; But […]

DOLABELLA   Most noble Empress, you have heard of me. CLEOPATRA   I cannot tell. DOLABELLA                           Assuredly you know me. CLEOPATRA No matter, sir, what I have heard or known. You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams; Is’t not your trick? DOLABELLA   I understand not, madam. CLEOPATRA I dreamt there was an Emperor […]

PROCULEIUS             You do extend These thoughts of horror further than you shall Find cause in Caesar. Enter Dolabella DOLABELLA               Proculeius, What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows, And he hath sent for thee. For the Queen, I’ll take her to my guard. PROCULEIUS So, Dolabella, It shall content me best. Be gentle to her. […]

CLEOPATRA  Sir, I will eat no meat. I’ll not drink, sir. If idle talk will once be necessary, I’ll not sleep, neither. This mortal house I’ll ruin, Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I Will not wait pinioned at your master’s court, Nor once be chastised with the sober eye Of dull Octavia. […]

CW: suicide   CLEOPATRA  [drawing a dagger] Quick, quick, good hands! PROCULEIUS             [disarming Cleopatra] Hold, worthy lady, hold! Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this Relieved but not betrayed. CLEOPATRA               What, of death too, That rids our dogs of languish? PROCULEIUS              Cleopatra, Do not abuse my master’s bounty by Th’undoing of yourself. Let […]

CLEOPATRA              Pray you, tell him I am his fortune’s 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. PROCULEIUS             This I’ll report, dear lady; Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied Of him that caused it.  [Enter Gallus […]

PROCULEIUS Be of good cheer. You’re fall’n into a princely hand; fear nothing. Make your full reference freely to my lord, Who is so 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 […]