Act III, Scene 3 Alexandria. CLEOPATRA's palace.

Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS

 

CLEOPATRA Where is the fellow?
ALEXAS Half afeard to come.
CLEOPATRA Go to, go to.
  [Enter the Messenger as before]
  Come hither, sir.
ALEXAS Good majesty,
Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you
But when you are well pleased.
CLEOPATRA That Herod's head
I'll have: but how, when Antony is gone
Through whom I might command it? Come thou near.
Messenger Most gracious majesty,--
CLEOPATRA Didst thou behold Octavia?
Messenger Ay, dread queen.
CLEOPATRA Where?
Messenger Madam, in Rome;
I look'd her in the face, and saw her led
Between her brother and Mark Antony.
CLEOPATRA Is she as tall as me?
Messenger She is not, madam.
CLEOPATRA Didst hear her speak? is she shrill-tongued or low?
Messenger Madam, I heard her speak; she is low-voiced.
CLEOPATRA That's not so good: he cannot like her long.
CHARMIAN Like her! O Isis! 'tis impossible.
CLEOPATRA I think so, Charmian: dull of tongue, and dwarfish!
What majesty is in her gait? Remember,
If e'er thou look'dst on majesty.
Messenger She creeps:
Her motion and her station are as one;
She shows a body rather than a life,
A statue than a breather.
CLEOPATRA Is this certain?
Messenger Or I have no observance.
CHARMIAN Three in Egypt
Cannot make better note.
CLEOPATRA He's very knowing;
I do perceive't: there's nothing in her yet:
The fellow has good judgment.
CHARMIAN Excellent.
CLEOPATRA Guess at her years, I prithee.
Messenger Madam,
She was a widow,--
CLEOPATRA Widow! Charmian, hark.
Messenger And I do think she's thirty.
CLEOPATRA Bear'st thou her face in mind? is't long or round?
Messenger Round even to faultiness.
CLEOPATRA For the most part, too, they are foolish that are so.
Her hair, what colour?
Messenger Brown, madam: and her forehead
As low as she would wish it.
CLEOPATRA There's gold for thee.
Thou must not take my former sharpness ill:
I will employ thee back again; I find thee
Most fit for business: go make thee ready;
Our letters are prepared.
  [Exit Messenger]
CHARMIAN A proper man.
CLEOPATRA Indeed, he is so: I repent me much
That so I harried him. Why, methinks, by him,
This creature's no such thing.
CHARMIAN Nothing, madam.
CLEOPATRA The man hath seen some majesty, and should know.
CHARMIAN Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend,
And serving you so long!
CLEOPATRA I have one thing more to ask him yet, good Charmian:
But 'tis no matter; thou shalt bring him to me
Where I will write. All may be well enough.
CHARMIAN I warrant you, madam.
  [Exeunt]

 

Act III, Scene 4 Athens. A room in MARK ANTONY's house.

Enter MARK ANTONY and OCTAVIA

 

MARK ANTONY Nay, nay, Octavia, not only that,--
That were excusable, that, and thousands more
Of semblable import,--but he hath waged
New wars 'gainst Pompey; made his will, and read it
To public ear:
Spoke scantly of me: when perforce he could not
But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly
He vented them; most narrow measure lent me:
When the best hint was given him, he not took't,
Or did it from his teeth.
OCTAVIA O my good lord,
Believe not all; or, if you must believe,
Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady,
If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
Praying for both parts:
The good gods me presently,
When I shall pray, 'O bless my lord and husband!'
Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud,
'O, bless my brother!' Husband win, win brother,
Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway
'Twixt these extremes at all.
MARK ANTONY Gentle Octavia,
Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks
Best to preserve it: if I lose mine honour,
I lose myself: better I were not yours
Than yours so branchless. But, as you requested,
Yourself shall go between 's: the mean time, lady,
I'll raise the preparation of a war
Shall stain your brother: make your soonest haste;
So your desires are yours.
OCTAVIA Thanks to my lord.
The Jove of power make me most weak, most weak,
Your reconciler! Wars 'twixt you twain would be
As if the world should cleave, and that slain men
Should solder up the rift.
MARK ANTONY When it appears to you where this begins,
Turn your displeasure that way: for our faults
Can never be so equal, that your love
Can equally move with them. Provide your going;
Choose your own company, and command what cost
Your heart has mind to.
  [Exeunt]

 

To view other scenes from the show:

Full Text Act III, Scene 7 Near Actium Mark Antony's camp.
Act I, Scene 1 Alexandria. A room in Cleopatra's palace. Act III, Scene 8 A plain near Actium/Act III, Scene 9 Another part of the plain./Act III, Scene 10. Another part of the plain.
Act I, Scene 2 The same. Another room. Act III, Scene 11 Alexandria. Cleopatra's palace./Act III, Scene 12 Egypt Octavius' camp.
Act I, Scene 3 The same. Another room. Act III, Scene 13 Alexandria. Cleopatra's palace.
Act I, Scene 4 Rome. Octavius Caesar's house. Act IV, Scene 1 Before Alexandria. Octavius' camp. /Act IV, Scene 2 Alexandria. Cleopatra's palace.
Act I, Scene 5 Alexandria Cleopatra's palace. Act IV, Scene 3 The same. Before the palace./Act IV, Scene 4 The same. A room in the palace.
Act II, Scene 1 Messina Pompey's house. Act IV, Scene 5 Alexandria. Mark Antony's camp/Act IV, Scene 6 Alexandria Octavius' camp.
Act II, Scene 2 Rome. The house of Lepidus. Act IV, Scene 7 Field of battle between the camps./Act IV, Scene 8 Under the walls of Alexandria.
Act II, Scene 3 The same Octavius Caesar's house./Act II, Scene 4 The same. A street. Act IV, Scene 9 Octavius Caesar's camp/Act IV, Scene 10 Between the two camps. /Act IV, Scene 11 Another part of the same.
Act II, Scene 5 Alexandria. Cleopatra's palace. Act IV, Scene 12 Another part of the same./Act IV, Scene 13 Alexandria Cleopatra's palace.
Act II, Scene 6 Near Misenum. Act IV, Scene 14 The same. Another room.
Act II, Scene 7 On board Pompey's galley, off Misenum Act IV, Scene 15 The same. A monument.
Act III, Scene 1 A plain in Syria/ Act III Scene 2 An ante-chamber in Octavius Caesar's house. Act V, Scene 1 Octavius Caesar's camp.
Act III, Scene 3Alexandria Cleopatra's palace./Act III, Scene 4 Athens.  A room in Mark Antony's house. Act V, Scene 2 A room in the monument.
Act III, Scene 5 The same. Another room./Act III, Scene 6 Octavius Caesar's house.  

 

To view other Antony and Cleopatra sections:

Main Play Page      Play Text     Scene by Scene Synopsis     Character Directory     Commentary  

 

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All's Well the Ends Well Antony & Cleopatra As You Like It Cardenio Comedy of Errors Coriolanus
Cymbeline Edward III Hamlet Henry IV, Part 1 Henry IV, Part 2 Henry V
Henry VI, Part 1 Henry VI, Part 2 Henry VI, Part 3 Henry VIII Julius Caesar King John
King Lear Love's Labours Lost Love's Labours Wonne Macbeth Measure for Measure Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor A Mid Summer Night's Dream  Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II
Richard III Romeo & Juliet Sir Thomas More Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night Two Gentlemen of Verona The Two Noble Kinsman The Winter's Tale

 

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