University of Virginia Library

Scene I

Alexandria. The palace of the Ptolomies. Cleopatra sits on her throne, her chin deep in her hand, her eyes narrow as a crocodile's on the top of the water. Charmian fans her. In the foreground, to the left and right, groups of women and eunuchs are just seen.
Charmian.
Madam, what is it you are coveting?
[Cleopatra is silent. Charmian fans for a while in silence.
Madam, your sighs are for the world? Such sighs!
Not as the winds that rise and fall again
On their own breath, but rather hurricanes
That go forth over provinces and kingdoms!
Are they for Persia?
[Cleopatra does not answer.
No—then Araby,
The desert-brazier, sand and spice together? . . .
For Ethiopia and the amber streams,
Or Syria's merchant coasts? . . .
Or for Judæa's milk and honey, Egypt
Has ever coveted?
Ah, madam, madam!
They are for Jericho. So often laying
Your myrrhs and balsams to your flesh, you quarrel
With the poor jars that are your sole possession,
While the myrrh-bearing, balsam-scented city
Stands alien by its waters. Jericho!
[Cleopatra slides her eyes towards Charmian.
You are grown still, you do not eat. I fear you.

Cleopatra.
Seleucus!
[Her eyes wake and glitter as her treasurer enters.
Did you find a hoard of money?
And had the goddess jewels?

Seleucus.
Tremblingly
We crept about the temple in the dusk,
Sepulchral hours, between the nadir darkness
And dawn—we dared not light a lamp.

Cleopatra.
You found?

Seleucus.
This gold.

Cleopatra
(trying it in her hand).
Loaden with joy—Seleucus! And the jewels?

Seleucus
(untying a striped silk).
These rubies—pearls from off their string. . . .

Cleopatra.
The gold
Build up in your rock-treasuries and seal.
These in my lap to feed me as with music!
[Exit Seleucus.
See my red roses, Charmian; see
My lilies in this basket . . .
[The gems lie in the hollow of her knees.
And my dew
Of a whole daydreak. Ha, what pilfering
Of Heaven! Poor Isis!

[She covers the jewels with her hands.
Charmian.
Have you no alarm?
Madam . . . the goddess! It is daylight now—
Her ravaged image . . .

Cleopatra.
Blasphemy!—
Her image!
This veil embraces me, and it is mine,
To the finest dint of the temples—I am Isis,
Soothing her jewels with my hands. Behold them!
[Plunging her hands into the mass.
These do not faint, nor fleet, nor fade—behold,
Pale are my fingers from this luxury
And contact as they pat the crystal flesh
Of all this light and bloom a-dangle.
(Settling herself.)
Peace
To one desire—but one!

Charmian.
Unbosom, Queen!
I fear you . . .
The passion of some great aggrandisement
Contracts your face.

Cleopatra.
Chick, I will not unbosom.
I will be wary as the very young,
Who speak aside in tremblings of the blood,
And change the jewels in their eyes, and let
Their love sweep past in havoc on their cheeks,
Leaving all clean.

Alexas
(advancing).
The Tetrarch of Judæa!

[Cleopatra motions he shall be admitted.
Herod enters and salutes her.
Herod.
I come with a petition
To your great Majesty. I crave a ship
To bear me swift to Rome.
[Cleopatra is silent.
Cassius was mine,
My friend, and dearly favouring me. I go
To seek my pardon of his conqueror,
Now Cassius is dead . . .
You are mute, madam.
I speak as kings to kings . . .
(With a changed voice.)
I crave a ship
To seek my pardon of Mark Antony.
Will you not speed my sails?

Cleopatra.
You crave a ship.
If I should give you a full-freighted vessel . . .
Oh, you are easily content! I thought
You had ambition.

Herod.
I must sail to Rome:
My fortunes hang upon my speed.

Cleopatra.
O puppet,
Frank-spoken babe! And how will you achieve?
Will you malign dead Cassius?

Herod.
My terms
Are proffer of a service of the girth
I stretched to my dear friend, dead Cassius.
My prelude will be praise of Cassius.

Cleopatra
(to Charmian and her women).
Have you considered him—this lofty Idumæan,
This Tetrarch who is Tetrarch on the ruins
Of the old royal house? How soaringly
Composed the bushy blackness of his hair!
How he aspires!
Behold him
Suppliant to me and suppliant for a ship!
[She rises suddenly, and all the goddess's

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jewels fall about her with the sound of hail. The women and eunuchs go down on their knees.
'Tis death to touch one droplet.
Call Seleucus
To number them and dress them on a dish.
(To Herod.)
If I should give you a full-freighted vessel . . .
I will not: you must take another boon.
For you shall be the Captain of my forces,
My Ethiopians, Numidian bands,
My varied hosts from Syria and from Gaul.
My hosts with intermingled tongues shall learn
Your watchwords, your command.
Now ask as greatly
As I confer. Be level with us, Herod.
The sports of royalties are royal sports.
So modest—so the Jew!
[Caressingly catching at one of the chains hung about his neck.
And Mariamne
Despises you, O Splendour of the Desert!
Will you be as the thick-tiäred Romans,
Who can take ship, reluctant as Æneas,
Swift ship to Rome?
Will you not stay awhile,
My cavaliering Herod? This impatience
Is of the wilds. . . . Will you not stay
With Cleopatra? This is her petition,
Coupled with angry and forbidding tears.

Herod.
Queen, I must follow, where your heart is gone,
To Antony. I am unfortunate
In such deep need of pardon.

[Seleucus re-enters.
Cleopatra.
Antony
Is here, and all your grace.

Herod.
You are all bounty, all forgiveness, madam!
For you and your august protection, tribute!
The honey of a province—for the ship
That you will grant my need, since I must sail.

[He lays a heavy purse in her hands.
Cleopatra
(holding it out).
Seleucus, tribute!
[She lays it on the great dish amid the pearls and rubies. Exit Seleucus.
I will send my letter
By post as swift as Auster. Have no fear.
Mark Antony to kiss the manuscript
Would diadem you king of all Judæa. . . .
Come, closer. . . . All your secrets
Are cherished in my bosom. Alexandra
Has wept me all her wrongs. . . . Herod, there are
Soft deaths that buoy our rule—a priest's, my brother's—
Scarcely fifteen. And on your side a priest,
Almost a brother, in the dawn of youth,
They say, has died from you. . . .
Are you so angry?
Do not be angry! Hush!
Out of the clay of Nile our lotus-flower
Lifts a perfumed and mitred face.
Fear me not—I can cover many sins.

Herod.
Why should I fear you? I have naught to fear
From women's machinations or their wiles.
If you will grant no ship—my way to Rome
Is by the sea. . . . Farewell!

[He turns to the door.
Cleopatra
(to Charmian).
He does not fire; he is a beast and slow,
A sullen beast—an elephant
Of drowsy mood. . . . What shall I put before him,
What blood of mulberries, what blood of grapes,
To rouse his blood to answerable tides?
Herod, come back!
My Captain Herod. . . .
Do you see the storm?
Even as a sorceress I know our winds;
This storm will wreck you.

Herod.
I am bound for Rome,
No peril on that voyage! What command,
What message shall I bear to Antony?

Cleopatra.
Is Antony away?
Herod, my fleets shall dance into the port,
Soon as the waves grow small to ripples, soon
As the air floats again: you shall have choice
Of all my painted sails.
Embark not now,
Not now . . .
[Herod flees.
[A whirlwind enters the palace.
(Calling after him.)
Æneas! Nay,
No Roman! Cæsar, Antony, Pompeius!—
No Roman!—Gone
Away, as from the wife of Potiphar,
From me, from Egypt—me!
Alexas! heigh, Alexas!
[He comes to her.
Have they yet strangled us the Jewish slave
Of Antony's, who spurned our image? No?
Then strangle us the slave as with our hands.
[She shrieks.
Light! Swing the curtains! Light!
[The curtains are swung wide.
Am I turned owl? It hurts me . . .
Nakedness!
My ceremonies gone!
[The curtains are drawn round.
A stifling dark—such heat!
(In a whisper.)
Bid them fetch snow
From the Moon-mountains, where I may conceive
The snow eternal. Let my coursers strain
South to the mountains, and should any fall,
Leave them to starve! Snow from the mountains, snow!
Charmian, if I fail . . . Time is so slack. . . .
Bring me cyprinum-oil to turn my senses
Hard, lest I faint and die . . .
A strong scent! . . . Jasminum!

[She lies back among her cushions, covering with each hand the gold stars embroidered on each breast.