Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/118

106

All length is torture; since the torch is out,

Lie down, and stray no further. Now all labour

Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles

Itself with strength; seal then, and all is done.

Eros!—I come, my queen.—Eros!—Stay for me:

Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand,

And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze;

Dido and her Æneas shall want troops,

And all the haunt be ours. Come, Eros! Eros!

Eros. What would my lord?

Ant. Since Cleopatra died,

I have liv'd in such dishonour, that the gods

Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword

Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back

With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack

The courage of a woman; less noble mind

Than she, which by her death our Cæsar tells

'I am conqueror of myself.' Thou art sworn, Eros,

That, when the exigent should come,—which now

Is come indeed,—when I should see behind me

The inevitable prosecution of

Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,

Thou then wouldst kill me: do 't; the time is come.

Thou strik'st not me, 'tis Cæsar thou defeatfst.

Put colour in thy cheek.

Eros. The gods withhold me!

Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts,

Though enemy, lost aim and could not?

Ant. Eros,

Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome, and see

 48, 49 yea, very force strength; cf. n.

49 seal: bring to a conclusion

52 port: bearing, demeanor

63 exigent: emergency

