Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Africa: Vol. XXIV. 1876–79.
The Death of Antony
By William Shakespeare (15641616) CC
C
All strange and terrible events are welcome,
But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow,
Proportion’d to our cause, must be as great
D
Look out o’ the other side your monument;
His guard have brought him thither.
Burn the great sphere thou mov’st in!—darkling stand
The varying shore o’ the world. O Antony,
Antony, Antony!—Help, Charmian! help, Iras, help!
Help, friends below! let ’s draw him hither.
A
Not Cæsar’s valour hath o’erthrown Antony,
But Antony’s hath triumphed on itself.
C
Should conquer Antony; but woe ’t is so!
A
I here importune death awhile, until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon thy lips.—
C
(Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not,
Lest I be taken: not th’ imperious show
Of the full-fortun’d Cæsar ever shall
Be brooch’d with me; if knife, drugs, serpents have
Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe:
Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
Demuring upon me.—But come, come, Antony,—
Help me, my women,—we must draw thee up:—
Assist, good friends.
A
C
Our strength is all gone into heaviness,
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno’s power,
The strong-wing’d Mercury should fetch thee up,
And set thee by Jove’s side. Yet come a little,—
Wishers were ever fools;—Oh, come, come, come!
Quicken with kissing; had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.
A
A
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
C
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provok’d by my offence.
A
Of Cæsar seek your honour with your safety.—Oh!
C
A
None about Cæsar trust, but Proculeius.
C
None about Cæsar.
A
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,
Nor 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.[Dies.