Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra 5.1 - Octavius learns of Antony's suicide

Antony and Cleopatra

Please see the bottom of this page for explanatory notes and resources.

ACT V SCENE I	Alexandria. Octavius Caesar's camp.
[ Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA, DOLABELLA, MECAENAS, GALLUS, PROCULEIUS, and others, his council of war ]
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield;
	Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks
	The pauses that he makes.
DOLABELLA	Caesar, I shall.
[Exit]
[Enter DERCETAS, with the sword of MARK ANTONY]
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Wherefore is that? and what art thou that darest	5
	Appear thus to us?
DERCETAS	I am call'd Dercetas;
	Mark Antony I served, who best was worthy
	Best to be served: whilst he stood up and spoke,
	He was my master; and I wore my life	10
	To spend upon his haters. If thou please
	To take me to thee, as I was to him
	I'll be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not,
	I yield thee up my life.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	What is't thou say'st?	15
DERCETAS	I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead.
OCTAVIUS 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	20
	Is not a single doom; in the name lay
	A moiety of the world.
DERCETAS	He is dead, Caesar:
	Not by a public minister of justice,
	Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand,	25
	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 sword;
	I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd
	With his most noble blood.	30
OCTAVIUS 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	35
	Our most persisted deeds.
MECAENAS	His taints and honours
	Waged equal with him.
AGRIPPA	A rarer spirit never
	Did steer humanity: but you, gods, will give us	40
	Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touch'd.
MECAENAS	When such a spacious mirror's set before him,
	He needs must see himself.
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	O Antony!
	I have follow'd thee to this; but we do lance	45
	Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce
	Have shown to thee 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,	50
	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, and the heart
	Where mine his thoughts did kindle,--that our stars,	55
	Unreconciliable, should divide
	Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends--
	But I will tell you at some meeter season:
[Enter an Egyptian]
	The business of this man looks out of him;
	We'll hear him what he says. Whence are you?	60
Egyptian	A poor Egyptian yet. The queen my mistress,
	Confined in all she has, her monument,
	Of thy intents desires instruction,
	That she preparedly may frame herself
	To the way she's forced to.	65
OCTAVIUS 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 live
	To be ungentle.	70
Egyptian	So the gods preserve thee!
[Exit]
OCTAVIUS 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	75
	She do defeat us; for her life in Rome
	Would be eternal in our triumph: go,
	And with your speediest bring us what she says,
	And how you find of her.
PROCULEIUS	Caesar, I shall.	80
[Exit]
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Gallus, go you along.
[Exit GALLUS]
	Where's Dolabella,
	To second Proculeius?
All	Dolabella!
OCTAVIUS CAESAR	Let him alone, for I remember now	85
	How he's employ'd: he shall in time be ready.
	Go with me to my tent; where you shall see
	How hardly I was drawn into this war;
	How calm and gentle I proceeded still
	In all my writings: go with me, and see	90
	What I can show in this.
[Exeunt]

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2
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Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 1
From Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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2. Frustrate. Frustrated, worsted.

3. Pauses. His hesitation is a mere farce.

6. Thus. With Antony's drawn and bloody sword.

19. Civil. That is, so great a shock should have rent the world and shaken lions out of their dens into the streets of the town.

21. Single. Not the doom of Antony only.

22. Moiety. Half.

25. Self. That is, self same.

32. But it is. That is, if this news be not.

36. Persisted. Those deeds which we have persisted most to do.

38. Waged. That is, his good and bad qualities were equally balanced, like the stakes in a wager.

40. Steer. Control a human being.

46. Perforce. Necessarily.

48. Stall. Dwell side by side.

52. In top of all design. That is, my rival in loftiness of purpose and endeavor.

55. His. Its. That is, Caesar's heart.

57. Equalness. That is, should cause us, who started out equal in fortune, to come to such different ends.

58. Meeter. More fitting.

59. Looks out of him. That is, shows in his looks.

61. Yet. The force of this word is a matter of conjecture. Probably the meaning is "Still an Egyptian, even though conquered by Rome."

69. Live. That is, however long he lives, he cannot be ungentle.

77. Eternal. That is, to have her alive in Rome would be an eternal triumph.

88. Hardly. Reluctantly, only on the greatest provocation.

90. Writings. That is, letters.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. M. Eaton. Boston: Educational Publishing Company, 1908. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/antony_5_1.html >.

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