She shall be lov'd, and fear'd; Her own shall bless her: Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, And hang their heads with sorrow: Good grows with her: In her days, every man shall eat in safety As great in admiration as herself; So shall she leave her blessedness to one, (When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,) Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour, Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was, Shall be, and make new nations: He shall flourish, Shall see this, and bless heaven. 15 BEAUTIES OF SHAKSPEARE. PART III. TRAGEDIES. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. ACT I. LOVE THE NOBLENESS OF LIFE. LET' Rome in Tiber melt! and the wide arch Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space; Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life, Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair, [Embracing And such a twain can do't, in which, I bind, On pain of punishment, the world to weet.* We stand up peerless, Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony Will be himself. Ant. But stirr'd by Cleopatra,Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours. ANTONY'S VICES AND VIRTUES. I must not think, there are Evils enough to darken all his goodness * Know. † Procured by his own fault Cæs. You are too indulgent: Let us grant it is not Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy; To give a kingdom for a mirth; to sit And keep the turn of tippling with a slave; (As his composure must be rare indeed, Whom these things cannot blemish,) yet must No way excuse his soils, when we do bear Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones, As we rate boys; who, being mature in knowledge, Antony, Leave thy lascivious wassals.§ When thou once Did fame follow; whom thou fought'st against, The roughest berry on the rudest hedge; Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, * Levity. + Visit him. + Consume. § Feastings: in the old copy it is vaissailes, i. e. vassals. Urine. Stagnant, slimy water. CLEOPATRA'S SOLICITUDE ON THE ABSENCE OF ANTONY. O Charmian, Where thinkst 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 arm And burgonet* of men.-He's speaking now, ACT II. THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES. We, ignorant of ourselves, Begin often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good; so find we profit, By losing of our prayers. DESCRIPTION OF CLEOPATRA SAILING DOWN THE CYDNUS. The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold; Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were silver; Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made The water which they beat, to follow faster, As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, It beggar'd all description: she did lie * A Helmet. In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,) Agr. And made a gap in nature. CLEOPATRA'S INFINITE POWER IN PLEASING. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety: Other women Cloy the appetites they feed; but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies. For vilest things Become themselves in her; that the holy priests Bless her, when she's riggish.‡ THE UNSETTLED HUMOURS OF LOVERS. Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS Cleo. Give me some music; music, moody§ food Of us that trade in love. Attend. The music, ho! Enter MARDIAN. Cleo. Let it alone; let us to billiards: Come, Charmian. Char. My arm is sore, best play with Mardian. Cleo. As well a woman with an eunucn play'd As with a woman:---Come you'll play with me, sir! * Added to the warmth they were intended to diminish + Readily perform. Wanton. § Melancholy. |