< Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Antony and Cleopatra, I. ii
9
 

By revolution lowering, does become

The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone;
The hand could pluck her back that shov'd her on.136
I must from this enchanting queen break off;
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,
My idleness doth hatch. How now! Enobarbus!

Enter Enobarbus.

Eno. What's your pleasure, sir?140

Ant. I must with haste from hence.

Eno. Why, then, we kill all our women. We
see how mortal an unkindness is to them; if
they suffer our departure, death's the word.144

Ant. I must be gone.

Eno. Under a compelling occasion let women
die. It were pity to cast them away for nothing;
though between them and a great cause they148
should be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching
but the least noise of this, dies instantly; I
have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer
moment. I do think there is mettle in death152
which commits some loving act upon her, she
hath such a celerity in dying.

Ant. She is cunning past man's thought.

Eno. Alack! sir, no; her passions are made156
of nothing but the finest part of pure love. We
cannot call her winds and waters sighs and
tears; they are greater storms and tempests
than almanacs can report: this cannot be160
cunning in her; if it be, she makes a shower of
rain as well as Jove.

Ant. Would I had never seen her!

Eno. O, sir! you had then left unseen a wonderful164
piece of work which not to have been
blessed withal would have discredited your travel.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.