Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Demetrius and Philo. PHILO
Nay, but this dotage of our general’s
O’erflows the measure. Those his goodly eyes,
That o’er the files and musters of the war
Have glowed like plated Mars, now bend, now turn
The office and devotion of their view 5
Upon a tawny front. His captain’s heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gypsy’s lust. 10 Flourish. Enter Antony, Cleopatra, her Ladies, the Train,
with Eunuchs fanning her. Look where they come.
Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet’s fool. Behold and see. | Two Roman soldiers, Demetrius and Philo, are at Cleopatra’s palace in Alexandria, Egypt. They discuss how their dear leader and friend, Mark Antony, is totally smitten with Egypt’s queen, Cleopatra. Because of this, he acts less like a ruler and more like a teenager in love. |
CLEOPATRA
If it be love indeed, tell me how much. 15 ANTONY
There’s beggary in the love that can be reckoned. CLEOPATRA
I’ll set a bourn how far to be beloved. ANTONY
Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new
Earth. | Cleopatra and Antony show up, and Cleopatra demands that Antony tell her how much he loves her. He does...and he lays it on thick. |
Enter a Messenger. MESSENGER News, my good lord, from Rome. 20 ANTONY Grates me, the sum. CLEOPATRA Nay, hear them, Antony.
Fulvia perchance is angry. Or who knows
If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent
His powerful mandate to you: “Do this, or this; 25
Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that.
Perform ’t, or else we damn thee.” ANTONY How, my love? CLEOPATRA Perchance? Nay, and most like.
You must not stay here longer; your dismission 30
Is come from Caesar. Therefore hear it, Antony.
Where’s Fulvia’s process? Caesar’s, I would say—
both?
Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt’s queen,
Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine 35
Is Caesar’s homager; else so thy cheek pays shame
When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers! | A messenger arrives with news from Rome, and Cleopatra taunts him that the message is either from Antony’s wife Fulvia, who’s angry about his absence, or maybe orders from Octavius Caesar in Rome. |
ANTONY
Let Rome in Tiber melt and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall. Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay. Our dungy earth alike 40
Feeds beast as man. The nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do ’t, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless. 45 CLEOPATRA Excellent falsehood!
Why did he marry Fulvia and not love her?
I’ll seem the fool I am not. Antony
Will be himself. | Antony insists he won’t hear the message, because everything he cares about is in front of him. Cleopatra again taunts her love: she wonders whether Antony might care as little for her as for Fulvia, his wife back home. |
ANTONY But stirred by Cleopatra. 50
Now for the love of Love and her soft hours,
Let’s not confound the time with conference harsh.
There’s not a minute of our lives should stretch
Without some pleasure now. What sport tonight? CLEOPATRA
Hear the ambassadors. 55 ANTONY Fie, wrangling queen,
Whom everything becomes—to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admired!
No messenger but thine, and all alone 60
Tonight we’ll wander through the streets and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen,
Last night you did desire it. To the Messenger.
Speak not to us. Antony and Cleopatra exit with the Train. | Antony scolds her for being so hot and cold. They leave the messenger without hearing the message. |
DEMETRIUS
Is Caesar with Antonius prized so slight? 65 PHILO
Sir, sometimes when he is not Antony
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony. DEMETRIUS I am full sorry
That he approves the common liar who 70
Thus speaks of him at Rome; but I will hope
Of better deeds tomorrow. Rest you happy! They exit. | Demetrius and Philo lament that all the rumors in Rome about Antony having fallen off the manly wagon are true. |