Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/115

Antony and Cleopatra, IV. xi

If it be well to live; but better 'twere

Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death

Might have prevented many. Eros, ho!

The shirt of Nessus is upon me; teach me,

Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage;

Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon;

And with those hands, that grasp'd the heaviest club,

Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die:

To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall

Under this plot; she dies for 't. Eros, ho!

Cleo. Help me, my women! O! he is more mad

Than Telamon for his shield; the boar of Thessaly

Was never so emboss'd.

Char. To the monument!

There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.

The soul and body rive not more in parting

Than greatness going off.

Cleo. To the monument!

Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself;

Say that the last I spoke was 'Antony,'

And word it, prithee, piteously. Hence,

Mardian, and bring me how he takes my death.

To the monument!

 57 Alcides, thou mine ancestor; cf. n.

60 worthiest: noblest  1, 2 O! he is more mad Thessaly; cf. n.

3 emboss'd: foaming at the mouth

5 rive: are torn 