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him Ill be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not, I yield thee up my life. CAESAR. What ist thou sayst? DERCETUS. I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead. CAESAR. The breaking of so great a thing should make A greater crack. The round world Should have shook lions into civil streets, And citizens to their dens. The death of Antony
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Is not a single doom; in the name lay A moiety of the world. DERCETUS. He is dead, Caesar, Not by a public minister of justice, Nor by a hired knife, but that self hand Which writ his honour in the acts it did Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, Splitted the heart. This is his
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sword. I robbed his wound of it. Behold it stained With his most noble blood. CAESAR. Look you sad, friends? The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings To wash the eyes of kings. AGRIPPA. And strange it is That nature must compel us to lament Our most persisted deeds. MAECENAS. His taints and honours Waged equal with him. AGRIPPA.
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A rarer spirit never Did steer humanity, but you gods will give us Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touched. MAECENAS. When such a spacious mirrors set before him, He needs must see himself. CAESAR. O Antony, I have followed thee to this, but we do lance Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce Have shown to thee
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such a declining day Or look on thine. We could not stall together In the whole world. But yet let me lament With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts, That thou, my brother, my competitor In top of all design, my mate in empire, Friend and companion in the front of war, The arm of mine own body,
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and the heart Where mine his thoughts did kindle, that our stars, Unreconciliable, should divide Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends Enter an Egyptian. But I will tell you at some meeter season. The business of this man looks out of him; Well hear him what he says. Whence are you? EGYPTIAN. A poor Egyptian yet. The queen,
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my mistress, Confined in all she has, her monument, Of thy intents desires instruction, That she preparedly may frame herself To the way shes forced to. CAESAR. Bid her have good heart. She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, How honourable and how kindly we Determine for her. For Caesar cannot lean To be ungentle. EGYPTIAN. So
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the gods preserve thee! [_Exit._] CAESAR. Come hither, Proculeius. Go and say We purpose her no shame. Give her what comforts The quality of her passion shall require, Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke She do defeat us, for her life in Rome Would be eternal in our triumph. Go, And with your speediest bring us what she
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says And how you find of her. PROCULEIUS. Caesar, I shall. [_Exit Proculeius._] CAESAR. Gallus, go you along. [_Exit Gallus._] Wheres Dolabella, to second Proculeius? ALL. Dolabella! CAESAR. Let him alone, for I remember now How hes employed. He shall in time be ready. Go with me to my tent, where you shall see How hardly I was drawn into
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this war, How calm and gentle I proceeded still In all my writings. Go with me and see What I can show in this. [_Exeunt._] SCENE II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument. Enter Cleopatra, Charmian and Iras. CLEOPATRA. My desolation does begin to make A better life. Tis paltry to be Caesar; Not being Fortune, hes but Fortunes knave,
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A minister of her will. And it is great To do that thing that ends all other deeds, Which shackles accidents and bolts up change, Which sleeps and never palates more the dung, The beggars nurse and Caesars. Enter Proculeius. PROCULEIUS. Caesar sends greetings to the queen of Egypt, And bids thee study on what fair demands Thou meanst to
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have him grant thee. CLEOPATRA. Whats thy name? PROCULEIUS. My name is Proculeius. CLEOPATRA. Antony Did tell me of you, bade me trust you, but I do not greatly care to be deceived That have no use for trusting. If your master Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him That majesty, to keep decorum, must No less
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beg than a kingdom. If he please To give me conquered Egypt for my son, He gives me so much of mine own as I Will kneel to him with thanks. PROCULEIUS. Be of good cheer. You are fallen into a princely hand; fear nothing. Make your full reference freely to my lord, Who is so full of grace that
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it flows over On all that need. Let me report to him Your sweet dependency, and you shall find A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness Where he for grace is kneeled to. CLEOPATRA. Pray you tell him I am his fortunes vassal and I send him The greatness he has got. I hourly learn A doctrine of
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obedience, and would gladly Look him i th face. PROCULEIUS. This Ill report, dear lady. Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied Of him that caused it. Enter Gallus and Roman Soldiers. You see how easily she may be surprised. Guard her till Caesar come. IRAS. Royal queen! CHARMIAN. O Cleopatra, thou art taken, queen! CLEOPATRA. Quick, quick,
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good hands. [_Drawing a dagger._] PROCULEIUS. Hold, worthy lady, hold! [_Seizes and disarms her._] Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this Relieved, but not betrayed. CLEOPATRA. What, of death too, That rids our dogs of languish? PROCULEIUS. Cleopatra, Do not abuse my masters bounty by Th undoing of yourself. Let the world see His nobleness well acted, which
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your death Will never let come forth. CLEOPATRA. Where art thou, Death? Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queen Worth many babes and beggars! PROCULEIUS. O, temperance, lady! CLEOPATRA. Sir, I will eat no meat; Ill not drink, sir; If idle talk will once be necessary, Ill not sleep neither. This mortal house Ill ruin, Do Caesar what
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he can. Know, sir, that I Will not wait pinioned at your masters court, Nor once be chastised with the sober eye Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up And show me to the shouting varletry Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt Be gentle grave unto me! Rather on Nilus mud Lay me stark-naked, and let the
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water-flies Blow me into abhorring! Rather make My countrys high pyramides my gibbet And hang me up in chains! PROCULEIUS. You do extend These thoughts of horror further than you shall Find cause in Caesar. Enter Dolabella. DOLABELLA. Proculeius, What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows, And he hath sent for thee. For the queen, Ill take her to
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my guard. PROCULEIUS. So, Dolabella, It shall content me best. Be gentle to her. [_To Cleopatra._] To Caesar I will speak what you shall please, If youll employ me to him. CLEOPATRA. Say I would die. [_Exeunt Proculeius and Soldiers._] DOLABELLA. Most noble empress, you have heard of me? CLEOPATRA. I cannot tell. DOLABELLA. Assuredly you know me. CLEOPATRA. No
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matter, sir, what I have heard or known. You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams; Ist not your trick? DOLABELLA. I understand not, madam. CLEOPATRA. I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony. O, such another sleep, that I might see But such another man! DOLABELLA. If it might please you CLEOPATRA. His face was as the heavens, and
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therein stuck A sun and moon, which kept their course, and lighted The little O, the earth. DOLABELLA. Most sovereign creature CLEOPATRA. His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared arm Crested the world; his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling
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thunder. For his bounty, There was no winter int; an autumn twas That grew the more by reaping. His delights Were dolphin-like; they showed his back above The element they lived in. In his livery Walked crowns and crownets; realms and islands were As plates dropped from his pocket. DOLABELLA. Cleopatra CLEOPATRA. Think you there was or might be such
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a man As this I dreamt of? DOLABELLA. Gentle madam, no. CLEOPATRA. You lie up to the hearing of the gods! But if there be nor ever were one such, Its past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff To vie strange forms with fancy; yet t imagine An Antony were natures piece gainst fancy, Condemning shadows quite. DOLABELLA. Hear
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me, good madam. Your loss is, as yourself, great; and you bear it As answering to the weight. Would I might never Oertake pursued success, but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites My very heart at root. CLEOPATRA. I thank you, sir. Know you what Caesar means to do with me? DOLABELLA. I am
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loath to tell you what I would you knew. CLEOPATRA. Nay, pray you, sir. DOLABELLA. Though he be honourable CLEOPATRA. Hell lead me, then, in triumph. DOLABELLA. Madam, he will. I know it. Flourish. Enter Caesar, Proculeius, Gallus, Maecenas and others of his train. ALL. Make way there! Caesar! CAESAR. Which is the Queen of Egypt? DOLABELLA. It is the
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Emperor, madam. [_Cleopatra kneels._] CAESAR. Arise, you shall not kneel. I pray you, rise. Rise, Egypt. CLEOPATRA. Sir, the gods Will have it thus. My master and my lord I must obey. CAESAR. Take to you no hard thoughts. The record of what injuries you did us, Though written in our flesh, we shall remember As things but done by
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chance. CLEOPATRA. Sole sir o th world, I cannot project mine own cause so well To make it clear, but do confess I have Been laden with like frailties which before Have often shamed our sex. CAESAR. Cleopatra, know We will extenuate rather than enforce. If you apply yourself to our intents, Which towards you are most gentle, you shall
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find A benefit in this change; but if you seek To lay on me a cruelty by taking Antonys course, you shall bereave yourself Of my good purposes, and put your children To that destruction which Ill guard them from If thereon you rely. Ill take my leave. CLEOPATRA. And may, through all the world. Tis yours, and we, Your
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scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. CAESAR. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. CLEOPATRA. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels I am possessed of. Tis exactly valued, Not petty things admitted. Wheres Seleucus? Enter Seleucus. SELEUCUS. Here, madam. CLEOPATRA. This is my treasurer. Let
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him speak, my lord, Upon his peril, that I have reserved To myself nothing. Speak the truth, Seleucus. SELEUCUS. Madam, I had rather seal my lips Than to my peril speak that which is not. CLEOPATRA. What have I kept back? SELEUCUS. Enough to purchase what you have made known. CAESAR. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra. I approve Your wisdom in
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the deed. CLEOPATRA. See, Caesar! O, behold, How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yours And should we shift estates, yours would be mine. The ingratitude of this Seleucus does Even make me wild. O slave, of no more trust Than love thats hired! What, goest thou back? Thou shalt Go back, I warrant thee! But Ill catch thine
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eyes Though they had wings. Slave, soulless villain, dog! O rarely base! CAESAR. Good queen, let us entreat you. CLEOPATRA. O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this, That thou vouchsafing here to visit me, Doing the honour of thy lordliness To one so meek, that mine own servant should Parcel the sum of my disgraces by Addition of his
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envy! Say, good Caesar, That I some lady trifles have reserved, Immoment toys, things of such dignity As we greet modern friends withal; and say Some nobler token I have kept apart For Livia and Octavia, to induce Their mediation, must I be unfolded With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites me Beneath the fall I have.
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[_To Seleucus_.] Prithee go hence, Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits Through th ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man, Thou wouldst have mercy on me. CAESAR. Forbear, Seleucus. [_Exit Seleucus._] CLEOPATRA. Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought For things that others do; and when we fall, We answer others merits in our
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name, Are therefore to be pitied. CAESAR. Cleopatra, Not what you have reserved nor what acknowledged Put we i th roll of conquest. Still bet yours; Bestow it at your pleasure, and believe Caesars no merchant to make prize with you Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheered; Make not your thoughts your prisons. No, dear queen; For we
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intend so to dispose you as Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep. Our care and pity is so much upon you That we remain your friend; and so, adieu. CLEOPATRA. My master and my lord! CAESAR. Not so. Adieu. [_Flourish. Exeunt Caesar and his train._] CLEOPATRA. He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not Be
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noble to myself. But hark thee, Charmian! [_Whispers to Charmian._] IRAS. Finish, good lady. The bright day is done, And we are for the dark. CLEOPATRA. Hie thee again. I have spoke already, and it is provided. Go put it to the haste. CHARMIAN. Madam, I will. Enter Dolabella. DOLABELLA. Wheres the Queen? CHARMIAN. Behold, sir. [_Exit._] CLEOPATRA. Dolabella! DOLABELLA.
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Madam, as thereto sworn by your command, Which my love makes religion to obey, I tell you this: Caesar through Syria Intends his journey, and within three days You with your children will he send before. Make your best use of this. I have performed Your pleasure and my promise. CLEOPATRA. Dolabella, I shall remain your debtor. DOLABELLA. I your
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servant. Adieu, good queen. I must attend on Caesar. CLEOPATRA. Farewell, and thanks. [_Exit Dolabella._] Now, Iras, what thinkst thou? Thou an Egyptian puppet shall be shown In Rome as well as I. Mechanic slaves With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers shall Uplift us to the view. In their thick breaths, Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded, And
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forced to drink their vapour. IRAS. The gods forbid! CLEOPATRA. Nay, tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers Ballad us out o tune. The quick comedians Extemporally will stage us and present Our Alexandrian revels; Antony Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness I
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th posture of a whore. IRAS. O the good gods! CLEOPATRA. Nay, thats certain. IRAS. Ill never seet, for I am sure mine nails Are stronger than mine eyes. CLEOPATRA. Why, thats the way To fool their preparation and to conquer Their most absurd intents. Enter Charmian. Now, Charmian! Show me, my women, like a queen. Go fetch My best
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attires. I am again for Cydnus To meet Mark Antony. Sirrah, Iras, go. Now, noble Charmian, well dispatch indeed, And when thou hast done this chare, Ill give thee leave To play till doomsday. Bring our crown and all. [_Exit Iras. A noise within._] Wherefores this noise? Enter a Guardsman. GUARDSMAN. Here is a rural fellow That will not be
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denied your highness presence. He brings you figs. CLEOPATRA. Let him come in. [_Exit Guardsman._] What poor an instrument May do a noble deed! He brings me liberty. My resolutions placed, and I have nothing Of woman in me. Now from head to foot I am marble-constant. Now the fleeting moon No planet is of mine. Enter Guardsman and Clown
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with a basket. GUARDSMAN. This is the man. CLEOPATRA. Avoid, and leave him. [_Exit Guardsman._] Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there That kills and pains not? CLOWN. Truly, I have him, but I would not be the party that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal. Those that do die of it do seldom
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or never recover. CLEOPATRA. Rememberst thou any that have died ont? CLOWN. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer than yesterdaya very honest woman, but something given to lie; as a woman should not do but in the way of honestyhow she died of the biting of it, what pain she felt. Truly
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she makes a very good report o th worm; but he that will believe all that they say shall never be saved by half that they do. But this is most falliable, the worms an odd worm. CLEOPATRA. Get thee hence. Farewell. CLOWN. I wish you all joy of the worm. [_Sets down the basket._] CLEOPATRA. Farewell. CLOWN. You must
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think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind. CLEOPATRA. Ay, ay, farewell. CLOWN. Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping of wise people; for indeed there is no goodness in the worm. CLEOPATRA. Take thou no care; it shall be heeded. CLOWN. Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, for
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it is not worth the feeding. CLEOPATRA. Will it eat me? CLOWN. You must not think I am so simple but I know the devil himself will not eat a woman. I know that a woman is a dish for the gods if the devil dress her not. But truly, these same whoreson devils do the gods great harm in
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their women, for in every ten that they make, the devils mar five. CLEOPATRA. Well, get thee gone. Farewell. CLOWN. Yes, forsooth. I wish you joy o th worm. [_Exit._] Enter Iras with a robe, crown, &c. CLEOPATRA. Give me my robe. Put on my crown. I have Immortal longings in me. Now no more The juice of Egypts grape
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shall moist this lip. Yare, yare, 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 Caesar, 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
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other elements I give to baser life.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 aspic in my lips? Dost fall? If thou and nature can so gently part, The stroke of death is as a lovers pinch, Which hurts
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and is desired. Dost thou lie still? If thus thou vanishest, thou tellst the world It is not worth leave-taking. CHARMIAN. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say The gods themselves do weep! CLEOPATRA. This proves me base. If she first meet the curled Antony, Hell make demand of her, and spend that kiss Which is my heaven
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to have.Come, thou mortal wretch, [_To an 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 dispatch. O couldst thou speak, That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass Unpolicied! CHARMIAN. O eastern star! CLEOPATRA. Peace, peace! Dost thou not see my baby
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at my breast That sucks the nurse asleep? CHARMIAN. O, break! O, break! CLEOPATRA. 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 [_Dies._] CHARMIAN. In this vile world? So, fare thee well. Now boast thee, Death, in thy possession lies A
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lass unparalleled. Downy windows, close, And golden Phbus never be beheld Of eyes again so royal! Your crowns awry; Ill mend it and then play. Enter the Guard rustling in. FIRST GUARD. Wheres the queen? CHARMIAN. Speak softly. Wake her not. FIRST GUARD. Caesar hath sent CHARMIAN. Too slow a messenger. [_Applies an asp._] O, come apace, dispatch! I partly
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feel thee. FIRST GUARD. Approach, ho! Alls not well. Caesars beguiled. SECOND GUARD. Theres Dolabella sent from Caesar. Call him. FIRST GUARD. What work is here, Charmian? Is this well done? CHARMIAN. It is well done, and fitting for a princess Descended of so many royal kings. Ah, soldier! [_Charmian dies._] Enter Dolabella. DOLABELLA. How goes it here? SECOND GUARD.
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All dead. DOLABELLA. Caesar, thy thoughts Touch their effects in this. Thyself art coming To see performed the dreaded act which thou So soughtst to hinder. Enter Caesar and all his train, marching. ALL. A way there, a way for Caesar! DOLABELLA. O sir, you are too sure an augurer: That you did fear is done. CAESAR. Bravest at the
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last, She levelled at our purposes and, being royal, Took her own way. The manner of their deaths? I do not see them bleed. DOLABELLA. Who was last with them? FIRST GUARD. A simple countryman that brought her figs. This was his basket. CAESAR. Poisoned then. FIRST GUARD. O Caesar, This Charmian lived but now; she stood and spake. I
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found her trimming up the diadem On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood, And on the sudden dropped. CAESAR. O noble weakness! If they had swallowed poison twould appear By external swelling; but she looks like sleep, As she would catch another Antony In her strong toil of grace. DOLABELLA. Here on her breast There is a vent of blood,
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and something blown. The like is on her arm. FIRST GUARD. This is an aspics trail, and these fig leaves Have slime upon them, such as th aspic leaves Upon the caves of Nile. CAESAR. Most probable That so she died, for her physician tells me She hath pursued conclusions infinite Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed,
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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 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
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this funeral, And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see High order in this great solemnity. [_Exeunt omnes._] AS YOU LIKE IT Contents ACT I Scene I. An Orchard near Olivers house Scene II. A Lawn before the Dukes Palace Scene III. A Room in the Palace ACT II Scene I. The Forest of Arden Scene II. A Room in the
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Palace Scene III. Before Olivers House Scene IV. The Forest of Arden Scene V. Another part of the Forest Scene VI. Another part of the Forest Scene VII. Another part of the Forest ACT III Scene I. A Room in the Palace Scene II. The Forest of Arden Scene III. Another part of the Forest Scene IV. Another part of
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the Forest. Before a Cottage Scene V. Another part of the Forest ACT IV Scene I. The Forest of Arden Scene II. Another part of the Forest Scene III. Another part of the Forest ACT V Scene I. The Forest of Arden Scene II. Another part of the Forest Scene III. Another part of the Forest Scene IV. Another part
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of the Forest Epilogue Dramatis Person ORLANDO, youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys OLIVER, eldest son of Sir Rowland de Boys JAQUES DE BOYS, second son of Sir Rowland de Boys ADAM, Servant to Oliver DENNIS, Servant to Oliver ROSALIND, Daughter of Duke Senior CELIA, Daughter of Duke Frederick TOUCHSTONE, a Clown DUKE SENIOR (Ferdinand), living in exile JAQUES,
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Lord attending on the Duke Senior AMIENS, Lord attending on the Duke Senior DUKE FREDERICK, Brother to the Duke, and Usurper of his Dominions CHARLES, his Wrestler LE BEAU, a Courtier attending upon Frederick CORIN, Shepherd SILVIUS, Shepherd PHOEBE, a Shepherdess AUDREY, a Country Wench WILLIAM, a Country Fellow, in love with Audrey SIR OLIVER MARTEXT, a Vicar A person
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representing HYMEN Lords belonging to the two Dukes; Pages, Foresters, and other Attendants. The scene lies first near Olivers house; afterwards partly in the Usurpers court and partly in the Forest of Arden. ACT I SCENE I. An Orchard near Olivers house Enter Orlando and Adam. ORLANDO. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will
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but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayst, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well; and there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit. For my part, he keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call
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you that keeping, for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better, for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage and to that end riders dearly hired; but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth, for the which his animals on
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his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take from me. He lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This
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is it, Adam, that grieves me, and the spirit of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against this servitude. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it. Enter Oliver. ADAM. Yonder comes my master, your brother. ORLANDO. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he
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will shake me up. [_Adam retires._] OLIVER. Now, sir, what make you here? ORLANDO. Nothing. I am not taught to make anything. OLIVER. What mar you then, sir? ORLANDO. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness. OLIVER. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be naught awhile. ORLANDO.
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Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury? OLIVER. Know you where you are, sir? ORLANDO. O, sir, very well: here in your orchard. OLIVER. Know you before whom, sir? ORLANDO. Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I know you are my
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eldest brother, and in the gentle condition of blood you should so know me. The courtesy of nations allows you my better in that you are the first-born, but the same tradition takes not away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us. I have as much of my father in me as you, albeit I confess your coming before
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me is nearer to his reverence. OLIVER. What, boy! ORLANDO. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this. OLIVER. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain? ORLANDO. I am no villain. I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys; he was my father, and he is thrice a villain that says such a father begot villains.
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Wert thou not my brother, I would not take this hand from thy throat till this other had pulled out thy tongue for saying so. Thou has railed on thyself. ADAM. [_Coming forward_.] Sweet masters, be patient. For your fathers remembrance, be at accord. OLIVER. Let me go, I say. ORLANDO. I will not till I please. You shall hear
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me. My father charged you in his will to give me good education. You have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it. Therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery
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my father left me by testament; with that I will go buy my fortunes. OLIVER. And what wilt thou do? Beg when that is spent? Well, sir, get you in. I will not long be troubled with you. You shall have some part of your will. I pray you leave me. ORLANDO. I no further offend you than becomes me
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for my good. OLIVER. Get you with him, you old dog. ADAM. Is old dog my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in your service. God be with my old master. He would not have spoke such a word. [_Exeunt Orlando and Adam._] OLIVER. Is it even so? Begin you to grow upon me? I will physic your
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rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither. Holla, Dennis! Enter Dennis. DENNIS Calls your worship? OLIVER. Was not Charles, the Dukes wrestler, here to speak with me? DENNIS So please you, he is here at the door and importunes access to you. OLIVER. Call him in. [_Exit Dennis._] Twill be a good way, and tomorrow the wrestling is. Enter
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Charles. CHARLES. Good morrow to your worship. OLIVER. Good Monsieur Charles. Whats the new news at the new court? CHARLES. Theres no news at the court, sir, but the old news. That is, the old Duke is banished by his younger brother the new Duke, and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose
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lands and revenues enrich the new Duke; therefore he gives them good leave to wander. OLIVER. Can you tell if Rosalind, the Dukes daughter, be banished with her father? CHARLES. O, no; for the Dukes daughter, her cousin, so loves her, being ever from their cradles bred together, that she would have followed her exile or have died to stay
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behind her. She is at the court and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daughter, and never two ladies loved as they do. OLIVER. Where will the old Duke live? CHARLES. They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood
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of England. They say many young gentlemen flock to him every day and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world. OLIVER. What, you wrestle tomorrow before the new Duke? CHARLES. Marry, do I, sir, and I came to acquaint you with a matter. I am given, sir, secretly to understand that your younger brother Orlando hath
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a disposition to come in disguised against me to try a fall. Tomorrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit, and he that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him well. Your brother is but young and tender, and for your love I would be loath to foil him, as I must for my own honour if he come
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in. Therefore, out of my love to you, I came hither to acquaint you withal, that either you might stay him from his intendment, or brook such disgrace well as he shall run into, in that it is a thing of his own search and altogether against my will. OLIVER. Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which
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thou shalt find I will most kindly requite. I had myself notice of my brothers purpose herein, and have by underhand means laboured to dissuade him from it; but he is resolute. Ill tell thee, Charles, it is the stubbornest young fellow of France, full of ambition, an envious emulator of every mans good parts, a secret and villainous contriver
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against me his natural brother. Therefore use thy discretion. I had as lief thou didst break his neck as his finger. And thou wert best look tot; for if thou dost him any slight disgrace, or if he do not mightily grace himself on thee, he will practise against thee by poison, entrap thee by some treacherous device, and never
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leave thee till he hath taen thy life by some indirect means or other. For I assure thee (and almost with tears I speak it) there is not one so young and so villainous this day living. I speak but brotherly of him, but should I anatomize him to thee as he is, I must blush and weep, and thou
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must look pale and wonder. CHARLES. I am heartily glad I came hither to you. If he come tomorrow Ill give him his payment. If ever he go alone again Ill never wrestle for prize more. And so, God keep your worship. [_Exit._] OLIVER. Farewell, good Charles. Now will I stir this gamester. I hope I shall see an end
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of him; for my soulyet I know not whyhates nothing more than he. Yet hes gentle, never schooled and yet learned, full of noble device, of all sorts enchantingly beloved, and indeed so much in the heart of the world, and especially of my own people, who best know him, that I am altogether misprized. But it shall not be
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so long; this wrestler shall clear all. Nothing remains but that I kindle the boy thither, which now Ill go about. [_Exit._] SCENE II. A Lawn before the Dukes Palace Enter Rosalind and Celia. CELIA. I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry. ROSALIND. Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mistress of, and would you yet
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I were merrier? Unless you could teach me to forget a banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any extraordinary pleasure. CELIA. Herein I see thou lovst me not with the full weight that I love thee. If my uncle, thy banished father, had banished thy uncle, the Duke my father, so thou hadst been still with
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me, I could have taught my love to take thy father for mine. So wouldst thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously tempered as mine is to thee. ROSALIND. Well, I will forget the condition of my estate to rejoice in yours. CELIA. You know my father hath no child but I, nor none is
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like to have; and truly, when he dies thou shalt be his heir, for what he hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render thee again in affection. By mine honour I will! And when I break that oath, let me turn monster. Therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear Rose, be merry. ROSALIND. From henceforth I will, coz,
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and devise sports. Let me seewhat think you of falling in love? CELIA. Marry, I prithee do, to make sport withal; but love no man in good earnest, nor no further in sport neither than with safety of a pure blush thou mayst in honour come off again. ROSALIND. What shall be our sport, then? CELIA. Let us sit and
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mock the good housewife Fortune from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally. ROSALIND. I would we could do so, for her benefits are mightily misplaced, and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in her gifts to women. CELIA. Tis true, for those that she makes fair she scarce makes honest, and those that she makes
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honest she makes very ill-favouredly. ROSALIND. Nay, now thou goest from Fortunes office to Natures. Fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in the lineaments of Nature. Enter Touchstone. CELIA. No? When Nature hath made a fair creature, may she not by Fortune fall into the fire? Though Nature hath given us wit to flout at Fortune, hath not
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Fortune sent in this fool to cut off the argument? ROSALIND. Indeed, there is Fortune too hard for Nature, when Fortune makes Natures natural the cutter-off of Natures wit. CELIA. Peradventure this is not Fortunes work neither, but Natures, who perceiveth our natural wits too dull to reason of such goddesses, and hath sent this natural for our whetstone; for
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