SCENE IX.
Cæsar's Camp.
Sentinels on their Post. Enter Enobarbus.
1 Sold.
If we be not reliev'd within this hour,
We must return to the court of guard5 note: The night
Is shiny; and, they say, we shall embattle
By the second hour i' the morn.
2 Sold.
This last day was
A shrewd one to us.
Eno.
O, bear me witness, night,—
-- 357 --
3 Sold.
What man is this?
2 Sold.
Stand close, and list him6 note
.
Eno.
Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon,
When men revolted shall upon record
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
Before thy face repent!—
1 Sold.
Enobarbus!
3 Sold.
Peace;
Hark further.
Eno.
O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me7 note;
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me: Throw my heart8 note
Against the flint and hardness of my fault;
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder,
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular;
But let the world rank me in register
-- 358 --
A master-leaver, and a fugitive:
O Antony! O Antony!
[Dies.
2 Sold.
Let's speak
To him.
1 Sold.
Let's hear him, for the things he speaks
May concern Cæsar.
3 Sold.
Let's do so. But he sleeps.
1 Sold.
Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his
Was never yet for sleep9 note.
2 Sold.
Go we to him.
3 Sold.
Awake, awake, sir; speak to us.
2 Sold.
Hear you, sir?
1 Sold.
The hand of death hath raught him1 note. Hark, the drums
[Drums afar off.
Demurely2 note
wake the sleepers. Let us bear him
To the court of guard; he is of note: our hour
Is fully out.
3 Sold.
Come on, then;
He may recover yet.
[Exeunt with the Body.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
