MESSENGER  Free, madam? No, I made no such report. He’s bound unto Octavia. CLEOPATRA   For what good turn? MESSENGER  For the best turn i’th’ bed. CLEOPATRA   I am pale, Charmian. MESSENGER  Madam, he’s married to Octavia. CLEOPATRA   The most infectious pestilence upon thee! [She] strikes him down MESSENGER  Good madam, patience! CLEOPATRA   What say you? […]

MESSENGER  Madam, he’s well. CLEOPATRA   Well said. MESSENGER  And friends with Caesar. CLEOPATRA   Thou’rt an honest man. MESSENGER  Caesar and he are greater friends than ever. CLEOPATRA   Make thee a fortune from me. MESSENGER  But yet, madam— CLEOPATRA   I do not like ‘But yet’, it does allay The good precedence. Fie upon ‘But yet’. ‘But […]

MESSENGER              Good madam, hear me. CLEOPATRA   Well, go to, I will. But there’s no goodness in thy face. If Antony Be free and healthful, so tart a favour To trumpet such good tidings! If not well, Thou shouldst come like a Fury crowned with snakes, Not like a formal man. MESSENGER              Will’t please you hear […]

MESSENGER  Madam, madam! CLEOPATRA   Antonius dead? If thou say so, villain, Thou kill’st thy mistress; but well and free, If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here My bluest veins to kiss—a hand that kings Have lipped, and trembled kissing. MESSENGER  First, madam, he is well. CLEOPATRA   Why, there’s more gold. But, sirrah, […]

CLEOPATRA               That time—O times!— I laughed him out of patience, and that night I laughed him into patience, and next morn, Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed, Then put my tires and mantles on him whilst I wore his sword Philippan. Enter a Messenger O, from Italy. Ram thou thy fruitful […]

CLEOPATRA   Give me mine angle. We’ll to th’ river. There, My music playing far off, I will betray Tawny-finned fishes. My bended hook shall pierce Their slimy jaws, and as I draw them up I’ll think them every one an Antony, And say ‘Ah ha, you’re caught!’ CHARMIAN                             ’Twas merry when You wagered on your […]

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas CLEOPATRA   Give me some music—music, moody food Of us that trade in love. CHARMIAN, IRAS, ALEXAS    The music, ho! Enter Mardian, the eunuch CLEOPATRA   Let it alone. Let’s to billiards. Come, Charmian. CHARMIAN     My arm is sore. Best play with Mardian. CLEOPATRA   As well a woman with an eunuch […]

Enter Lepidus, Maecenas, and Agrippa LEPIDUS         Trouble yourselves no further. Pray you, hasten Your generals after. AGRIPPA                     Sir, Mark Antony Will e’en but kiss Octavia, and we’ll follow. LEPIDUS         Till I shall see you in your soldier’s dress, Which will become you both, farewell. MAECENAS                                        We shall, As I conceive the journey, be at the […]

ANTONY                                 Be it art or hap, He hath spoken true. The very dice obey him, And in our sports my better cunning faints Under his chance. If we draw lots, he speeds. His cocks do win the battle still of mine When it is all to nought, and his quails ever Beat mine, inhooped, at […]

ANTONY                     Speak this no more. SOOTHSAYER                        To none but thee; no more but when to thee. If thou dost play with him at any game Thou art sure to lose; and of that natural luck He beats thee ’gainst the odds. Thy lustre thickens When he shines by. I say again, thy spirit Is […]