Re-enter IRAS, with a Robe, Crown, &c.

Cleo. Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me 34: Now no more

The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:-
Yare, yare 35, good Iras; quick.—Methinks, I hear
Antony call; I see him rouse himself

To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
The luck of Cæsar, which the gods give men
To excuse their after wrath: Husband, I come :
Now to that name my courage prove my title!
I am fire, and air; my other elements

I give to baser life 36.-So,-have you done?
Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
Farewell, kind Charmian;-Iras, long farewell.
[Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies.
Have I the aspick in my lips? Dost fall 37 ?
If thou and nature can so gently part,
The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,
Which hurts, and is desir'd. Dost thou lie still?
If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
It is not worth leave-taking.

Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may

say,

The gods themselves do weep!

Cleo.

This proves me base :

If she first meet the curled Antony,

34 From hence probably Addison in Cato:This longing after immortality.'

35 i. e. be nimble, be ready. See Act iii. Sc. 5, note 6.

36 Thus in King Henry V.:- He is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him.' Homer speaks as contemptuously of the grosser elements we spring from, Iliad vii. v. 99:

̓Αλλ ἐμεῖς μὲν πάντες ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα γενοισθε.

37 Iras must be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while her mistress was settling her dress, to account for her falling so soon.

He'll make demand of her; and spend that kiss, Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou mortal wretch,

[To the Asp, which she applies to her Breast. With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate Of life at once untie; poor venomous fool, Be angry, and despatch. O, could'st thou speak! That I might hear thee call great Cæsar, ass Unpolicied 38!

Char.

Cleo.

O eastern star!

Peace, peace!

O, break! O, break!

Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?

Char.

Cleo. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,— O Antony!-Nay, I will take thee too;

[Applying another Asp to her Arm.
What should I stay- [Falls on a Bed, and dies.
Char. In this wild world?-So, fare thee well.-
Now boast thee, death! in thy possession lies
A lass unparallel'd.-Downy windows, close 39;
And golden Phoebus never be beheld

Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry;
I'll mend it, and then play 40.

Enter the Guard, rushing in.

1 Guard. Where is the queen? Char.

Speak softly, wake her not.

38 i. e. an ass without more wit or policy than to leave the means of death within my reach, and thereby defeat his own purpose.

39 Charmian may be supposed to close Cleopatra's eyes, the first melancholy office performed after death.

40 Charmian remembers the words uttered to her by her beloved mistress just before :

when thou hast done this chare, I'll give thee leave, To play till doomsday.'

1 Guard. Cæsar hath sent

Char.

Too slow a messenger.

[Applies the Asp.

O, come; apace, despatch; I partly feel thee. 1 Guard. Approach, ho! All's not well: Cæsar's beguil❜d.

2 Guard. There's Dolabella sent from Cæsar:

call him.

1 Guard. What work is here ?-Charmian, is this well done?

Char. It is well done, and fitting for a princess Descended of so many royal kings.

Ah, soldier!

[Dies.

Touch their effects in this Thyself art coming
To see perform'd the dreaded act, which thou
So sought'st to hinder.

Within.

A way there, a way for Cæsar!

Enter CESAR, and Attendants.

Dol. O, sir, you are too sure an augurer;

That you did fear, is done.

Cæs.

Bravest at the last:

She levell❜d at our purposes, and, being royal,

Took her own way.-The

I do not see them bleed.

Dol.

manner of their deaths?

Who was last with them?

1 Guard. A simple countryman, that brought her

figs;

This was his basket.

This Charmian lived but now; she stood, and spake:
I found her trimming up the diadem

On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,
And on the sudden dropp'd.

Cæs.

O noble weakness!—

If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear
By external swelling: but she looks like sleep,
As she would catch another Antony

In her strong toil of

Dol.

grace.

Here, on her breast, There is a vent of blood, and something blown 11 : The like is on her arm.

1 Guard. This is an aspick's trail: and these figleaves

Have slime upon them, such as the aspick leaves Upon the caves of Nile.

Cæs.

Most probable,

That so she died; for her physician tells me,

She hath pursu'd conclusions 42 infinite

Of easy ways to die.-Take up her bed;
And bear her women from the monument:—
She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
A pair so famous. High events as these

41 i. e. swelled, puffed. See p. 487, note 2.

42 To pursue conclusions is to try experiments. So in Hamlet:like the famous ape

To try conclusions.'

Such an 6 easy way to die' was by the aspick's venom. Thus Lucan, lib. ix. l. 1815 :—

'At tibi Leve miser fixus præcordia pressit

Niliaca serpente cruor; nulloque dolore

Testatus morsus subita caligine mortem

Accipis, et Stygias somno descendis ad umbras.'

Strike those that make them: and their story is
No less in pity, than his glory, which

Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall,
In solemn show, attend this funeral;

And then to Rome.-Come, Dolabella, see
High order in this great solemnity.

[Exeunt.

THIS play keeps curiosity always busy, and the passions always interested. The continual hurry of the action, the variety of incidents, and the quick succession of one personage to another, call the mind forward without intermission from the first act to the last. But the power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of the scene; for, except the feminine arts, some of which are too low, which distinguish Cleopatra, no character is very strongly discriminated. Upton, who did not easily miss what he desired to find, has discovered that the language of Antony is, with great skill and learning, made pompous and superb, according to his real practice. But I think his diction not distinguishable from that of others: The most tumid speech in the play is that which Cæsar makes to Octavia.

The events, of which the principal are described according to history, are produced without any art of connection or care of disposition. JOHNSON.

END OF VOL. VIII.

C. and C. Whittingham, College House, Chiswick,