by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
If it be love indeed, tell me how much
Language: English
CLEOPATRA. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. ANTONY. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. CLEOPATRA. I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd. ANTONY. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. [...] CLEOPATRA. You must not stay here longer, your dismission Is come from Caesar; therefore hear it, Antony. [...]I am Egypt's queen. Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine Is Caesar's homager. [...] ANTONY. Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space. [...] We stand up peerless. CLEOPATRA. O false love! [...] I am sick and sullen. [...] ANTONY. I am sorry. [...] CLEOPATRA. Stand farther from me. [...] What says the married woman? [...] Would she had never given you leave to come! Let her not say 'tis I that keep you here: I have no power upon you; hers you are.[...] Nay, pray you, seek no colour for your going, But bid farewell, and go: when you su'd staying, Then was the time for words: no going then;— Eternity was in our lips and eyes, Bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor But was a race of heaven: they are so still, Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world, Art turn'd the greatest liar. [...] ANTONY. O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See How I convey my shame out of thine eyes By looking back, what I have left behind. [...] CLEOPATRA. O my lord, my lord, Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought You would have follow'd. ANTONY. [...] Thou knew'st too well My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings, And thou shouldst tow me after. [...] CLEOPATRA. Lord of lords! O infinite virtue, com'st thou smiling from The world's great snare uncaught? [...] ANTONY. Mine nightingale, We have beat them to their beds. What, girl! [...]Behold this man; Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand;— Kiss it, my warrior: he hath fought to-day As if a god. [...] CLEOPATRA. I'll give thee, friend, An armour all of gold; it was a king's. ANTONY. O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more: Fortune and Antony part here; even here Do we shake hands.—All come to this? I am dying, Egypt. [...] CLEOPATRA. Noblest of men, woo't die? Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide In this dull world, which in thy absence is No better than a sty?[...] The crown o' the earth doth melt.—My lord!— ANTONY. The miserable change now at my end 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. [...] Now my spirit is going: I can no more. CLEOPATRA. [...] And there is nothing left remarkable Beneath the visiting moon.
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Note: this text is abridged and reordered in many places, and uses material from Acts I.i, I.iii, III.xi, IV.viii, IV.xii, and IV.xiii. See also Noblest of men, woo't die?.
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Antony and Cleopatra [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Antony and Cleopatra", copyright © 2017 [vocal duet for soprano and baritone with piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-05-23
Line count: 88
Word count: 485