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Enter CLEOPATRA and
ENOBARBUS
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CLEOPATRA and
ENOBARBUS enter.
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CLEOPATRA I will be even with thee, doubt it not.
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CLEOPATRA I’ll be straight with you. Do not doubt it.
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ENOBARBUS But why, why, why?
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ENOBARBUS But why, why, why?
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CLEOPATRA Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars
And sayst it is not fit.
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CLEOPATRA You opposed my taking part in the war. You said it wasn’t
proper.
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ENOBARBUS Well, is it, is
it?
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ENOBARBUS Well, is it? Is it?
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CLEOPATRA
5Is ’t not denounced against us? Why should not
we
Be there in person?
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CLEOPATRA Isn’t this war against me? Why shouldn’t I be there in
person?
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ENOBARBUS Well, I could reply,
If we should serve with horse and mares together,
The horse were merely lost. The mares would bear
A soldier and his horse.
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ENOBARBUS Well, I could answer that if we went to war on male and female
horses alike—the male horses would be totally distracted and
useless. The mares would be ridden by their riders and the male
horses.
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CLEOPATRA What is ’t you
say?
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CLEOPATRA What do you mean?
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ENOBARBUS
10Your presence needs must puzzle Antony,
Take from his heart, take from his brain, from ’s time
What should not then be spared. He is already
Traduced for levity, and ’tis said in Rome
That Photinus, an eunuch, and your maids
15Manage this war.
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ENOBARBUS Antony will necessarily be distracted by your presence. You will
affect his heart and his head. You’ll take up time he can’t afford
to lose. He’s already criticized for frivolous behavior. In Rome
they say that your eunuch Photinus and your maids run the war.
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CLEOPATRA Sink Rome! And their tongues
rot
That speak against us! A charge we bear i’ th’ war,
And as the president of my kingdom will
Appear there for a man. Speak not against it.
I will not stay behind.
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CLEOPATRA Let Rome fall! May the tongues of our critics rot! I have
responsibilities in this war, and as the absolute ruler of my
kingdom I will carry out my duties as if I were a man. Don’t argue
against it. I won’t stay behind.
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