Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/124

112

Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.

Cleo. No, let me speak; and let me rail so high,

That the false housewife Fortune break her wheel,

Provok'd by my offence.

Ant. One word, sweet queen.

Of Cæsar seek your honour with your safety. O!

Cleo. They do not go together.

Ant. Gentle, hear me:

None about Cæsar trust, but Proculeius.

Cleo. My resolution and my hands I'll trust;

None about Cæsar.

Ant. The miserable change now at my end

Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts

In feeding them with those my former fortunes

Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o' the world,

The noblest; and do now not basely die,

Not cowardly put off my helmet to

My countryman; a Roman by a Roman

Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going;

I can no more.

Cleo. Noblest of men, woo 't die?

Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide

In this dull world, which in thy absence is

No better than a sty? O! see, my women,

The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord!

O! wither'd is the garland of the war,

The soldier's pole is fall'n; young boys and girls

Are level now with men; the odds is gone,

And there is nothing left remarkable

Beneath the visiting moon.

Char. O, quietness, lady!

 44 housewife: hussy

65 pole: pole-star, guiding star

66 the odds is gone; cf. n.

