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 […]

Enter Soothsayer ANTONY         Now, sirrah. You do wish yourself in Egypt? SOOTHSAYER                        Would I had never come from thence, nor you Gone thither. ANTONY                     If you can, your reason? SOOTHSAYER                        I see it in my motion, have it not in my tongue. But yet hie you again to Egypt. ANTONY                     Say to me […]

Enter Antony, Caesar, and Octavia between them ANTONY         The world and my great office will sometimes Divide me from your bosom. OCTAVIA                                All which time, Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers To them for you. ANTONY         [to Caesar] Good night, sir.— My Octavia, Read not my blemishes in the world’s report. I have […]

MAECENAS    If beauty, wisdom, modesty can settle The heart of Antony, Octavia is A blessèd lottery to him. AGRIPPA                                 Let us go. Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest Whilst you abide here. ENOBARBUS              Humbly, sir, I thank you. Exeunt             (2.2.239-243)   Maecenas is stubborn, and stubbornly Roman: he has to believe that Octavia is superior […]

ENOBARBUS              I saw her once Hop forty paces through the public street, And having lost her breath, she spoke and panted, That she did make defect perfectïon, And breathless, pour breath forth. MAECENAS                            Now Antony Must leave her utterly. ENOBARBUS              Never. He will not. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other […]

ENOBARBUS  Upon her landing Antony sent to her, Invited her to supper. She replied It should be better he became her guest, Which she entreated. Our courteous Antony, Whom ne’er the word of ‘No’ woman heard speak, Being barbered ten times o’er, goes to the feast, And for his ordinary pays his heart For what […]