Part 6
CAESAR. Who is that?
APOLLODORUS. Cleopatra of Egypt.
CAESAR (_taking him into his confidence in his most winning manner_). Apollodorus: this is no time for playing with presents. Pray you, go back to the Queen, and tell her that if all goes well I shall return to the palace this evening.
APOLLODORUS. Caesar: I cannot return. As I approached the lighthouse, some fool threw a great leathern bag into the sea. It broke the nose of my boat; and I had hardly time to get myself and my charge to the shore before the poor little cockleshell sank.
CAESAR. I am sorry, Apollodorus. The fool shall be rebuked. Well, well: what have you brought me? The Queen will be hurt if I do not look at it.
RUFIO. Have we time to waste on this trumpery? The Queen is only a child.
CAESAR. Just so: that is why we must not disappoint her. What is the present, Apollodorus?
APOLLODORUS. Caesar: it is a Persian carpet--a beauty! And in it are--so I am told--pigeons' eggs and crystal goblets and fragile precious things. I dare not for my head have it carried up that narrow ladder from the causeway.
RUFIO. Swing it up by the crane, then. We will send the eggs to the cook; drink our wine from the goblets; and the carpet will make a bed for Caesar.
APOLLODORUS. The crane! Caesar: I have sworn to tender this bale of carpet as I tender my own life.
CAESAR (_cheerfully_). Then let them swing you up at the same time; and if the chain breaks, you and the pigeons' eggs will perish together. (_He goes to the chain and looks up along it, examining it curiously._)
APOLLODORUS (_to Britannus_). Is Caesar serious?
BRITANNUS. His manner is frivolous because he is an Italian; but he means what he says.
APOLLODORUS. Serious or not, he spake well. Give me a squad of soldiers to work the crane.
BRITANNUS. Leave the crane to me. Go and await the descent of the chain.
APOLLODORUS. Good. You will presently see me there (_turning to them all and pointing with an eloquent gesture to the sky above the parapet_) rising like the sun with my treasure.
_He goes back the way he came. Britannus goes into the lighthouse._
RUFIO (_ill-humoredly_). Are you really going to wait here for this foolery, Caesar?
CAESAR (_backing away from the crane as it gives signs of working_). Why not?
RUFIO. The Egyptians will let you know why not if they have the sense to make a rush from the shore end of the mole before our barricade is finished. And here we are waiting like children to see a carpet full of pigeons' eggs.
_The chain rattles, and is drawn up high enough to clear the parapet. It then swings round out of sight behind the lighthouse._
CAESAR. Fear not, my son Rufio. When the first Egyptian takes his first step along the mole, the alarm will sound; and we two will reach the barricade from our end before the Egyptians reach it from their end--we two, Rufio: I, the old man, and you, his biggest boy. And the old man will be there first. So peace; and give me some more dates.
APOLLODORUS (_from the causeway below_). Soho, haul away. So-ho-o-o-o! (_The chain is drawn up and comes round again from behind the lighthouse. Apollodorus is swinging in the air with his bale of carpet at the end of it. He breaks into song as he soars above the parapet._)
Aloft, aloft, behold the blue That never shone in woman's eyes--
Easy there: stop her. (_He ceases to rise._) Further round! (_The chain comes forward above the platform._)
RUFIO (_calling up_). Lower away there. (_The chain and its load begin to descend._)
APOLLODORUS (_calling up_). Gently--slowly--mind the eggs.
RUFIO (_calling up_). Easy there--slowly--slowly.
_Apollodorus and the bale are deposited safely on the flags in the middle of the platform. Rufio and Caesar help Apollodorus to cast off the chain from the bale._
RUFIO. Haul up.
_The chain rises clear of their heads with a rattle. Britannus comes from the lighthouse and helps them to uncord the carpet._
APOLLODORUS (_when the cords are loose_). Stand off, my friends: let Caesar see. (_He throws the carpet open._)
RUFIO. Nothing but a heap of shawls. Where are the pigeons' eggs?
APOLLODORUS. Approach, Caesar; and search for them among the shawls.
RUFIO (_drawing his sword_). Ha, treachery! Keep back, Caesar: I saw the shawl move: there is something alive there.
BRITANNUS (_drawing his sword_). It is a serpent.
APOLLODORUS. Dares Caesar thrust his hand into the sack where the serpent moves?
RUFIO (_turning on him_). Treacherous dog----
CAESAR. Peace. Put up your swords. Apollodorus: your serpent seems to breathe very regularly. (_He thrusts his hand under the shawls and draws out a bare arm._) This is a pretty little snake.
RUFIO (_drawing out the other arm_). Let us have the rest of you.
_They pull Cleopatra up by the wrists into a sitting position. Britannus, scandalized, sheathes his sword with a drive of protest._
CLEOPATRA (_gasping_). Oh, I'm smothered. Oh, Caesar; a man stood on me in the boat; and a great sack of something fell upon me out of the sky; and then the boat sank, and then I was swung up into the air and bumped down.
CAESAR (_petting her as she rises and takes refuge on his breast_). Well, never mind: here you are safe and sound at last.
RUFIO. Ay; and now that she is here, what are we to do with her?
BRITANNUS. She cannot stay here, Caesar, without the companionship of some matron.
CLEOPATRA (_jealously, to Caesar, who is obviously perplexed_). Aren't you glad to see me?
CAESAR. Yes, yes; _I_ am very glad. But Rufio is very angry; and Britannus is shocked.
CLEOPATRA (_contemptuously_). You can have their heads cut off, can you not?
CAESAR. They would not be so useful with their heads cut off as they are now, my sea bird.
RUFIO (_to Cleopatra_). We shall have to go away presently and cut some of your Egyptians' heads off. How will you like being left here with the chance of being captured by that little brother of yours if we are beaten?
CLEOPATRA. But you mustn't leave me alone. Caesar you will not leave me alone, will you?
RUFIO. What! Not when the trumpet sounds and all our lives depend on Caesar's being at the barricade before the Egyptians reach it? Eh?
CLEOPATRA. Let them lose their lives: they are only soldiers.
CAESAR (_gravely_). Cleopatra: when that trumpet sounds, we must take every man his life in his hand, and throw it in the face of Death. And of my soldiers who have trusted me there is not one whose hand I shall not hold more sacred than your head. (_Cleopatra is overwhelmed. Her eyes fill with tears._) Apollodorus: you must take her back to the palace.
APOLLODORUS. Am I a dolphin, Caesar, to cross the seas with young ladies on my back? My boat is sunk: all yours are either at the barricade or have returned to the city. I will hail one if I can: that is all I can do. (_He goes back to the causeway._)
CLEOPATRA (_struggling with her tears_). It does not matter. I will not go back. Nobody cares for me.
CAESAR. Cleopatra----
CLEOPATRA. You want me to be killed.
CAESAR (_still more gravely_). My poor child: your life matters little here to anyone but yourself. (_She gives way altogether at this, casting herself down on the faggots weeping. Suddenly a great tumult is heard in the distance, bucinas and trumpets sounding through a storm of shouting. Britannus rushes to the parapet and looks along the mole. Caesar and Rufio turn to one another with quick intelligence._)
CAESAR. Come, Rufio.
CLEOPATRA (_scrambling to her knees and clinging to him_). No, no. Do not leave me, Caesar. (_He snatches his skirt from her clutch._) Oh!
BRITANNUS (_from the parapet_). Caesar: we are cut off. The Egyptians have landed from the west harbor between us and the barricade!!!
RUFIO (_running to see_). Curses! It is true. We are caught like rats in a trap.
CAESAR (_ruthfully_). Rufio, Rufio: my men at the barricade are between the sea party and the shore party. I have murdered them.
RUFIO (_coming back from the parapet to Caesar's right hand_). Ay: that comes of fooling with this girl here.
APOLLODORUS (_coming up quickly from the causeway_). Look over the parapet, Caesar.
CAESAR. We have looked, my friend. We must defend ourselves here.
APOLLODORUS. I have thrown the ladder into the sea. They cannot get in without it.
RUFIO. Ay; and we cannot get out. Have you thought of that?
APOLLODORUS. Not get out! Why not? You have ships in the east harbor.
BRITANNUS (_hopefully, at the parapet_). The Rhodian galleys are standing in towards us already. (_Caesar quickly joins Britannus at the parapet._)
RUFIO (_to Apollodorus, impatiently_). And by what road are we to walk to the galleys, pray?
APOLLODORUS (_with gay, defiant rhetoric_). By the road that leads everywhere--the diamond path of the sun and moon. Have you never seen the child's shadow play of The Broken Bridge? "Ducks and geese with ease get over"--eh? (_He throws away his cloak and cap, and binds his sword on his back._)
RUFIO. What are you talking about?
APOLLODORUS. I will shew you. (_Calling to Britannus_) How far off is the nearest galley?
BRITANNUS. Fifty fathom.
CAESAR. No, no: they are further off than they seem in this clear air to your British eyes. Nearly quarter of a mile, Apollodorus.
APOLLODORUS. Good. Defend yourselves here until I send you a boat from that galley.
RUFIO. Have you wings, perhaps?
APOLLODORUS. Water wings, soldier. Behold!
_He runs up the steps between Caesar and Britannus to the coping of the parapet; springs into the air; and plunges head foremost into the sea._
CAESAR (_like a schoolboy--wildly excited_). Bravo, bravo! (_Throwing off his cloak_) By Jupiter, I will do that too.
RUFIO (_seizing him_). You are mad. You shall not.
CAESAR. Why not? Can I not swim as well as he?
RUFIO (_frantic_). Can an old fool dive and swim like a young one? He is twenty-five and you are fifty.
CAESAR (_breaking loose from Rufio_). Old!!!
BRITANNUS (_shocked_). Rufio: you forget yourself.
CAESAR. I will race you to the galley for a week's pay, father Rufio.
CLEOPATRA. But me! me!! me!!! What is to become of _me_?
CAESAR. I will carry you on my back to the galley like a dolphin. Rufio: when you see me rise to the surface, throw her in: I will answer for her. And then in with you after her, both of you.
CLEOPATRA. No, no, NO. I shall be drowned.
BRITANNUS. Caesar: I am a man and a Briton, not a fish. I must have a boat. I cannot swim.
CLEOPATRA. Neither can I.
CAESAR (_to Britannus_). Stay here, then, alone, until I recapture the lighthouse: I will not forget you. Now, Rufio.
RUFIO. You have made up your mind to this folly?
CAESAR. The Egyptians have made it up for me. What else is there to do? And mind where you jump: I do not want to get your fourteen stone in the small of my back as I come up. (_He runs up the steps and stands on the coping._)
BRITANNUS (_anxiously_). One last word, Caesar. Do not let yourself be seen in the fashionable part of Alexandria until you have changed your clothes.
CAESAR (_calling over the sea_). Ho, Apollodorus: (_he points skyward and quotes the barcarolle_)
The white upon the blue above--
APOLLODORUS (_swimming in the distance_)
Is purple on the green below--
CAESAR (_exultantly_). Aha! (_He plunges into the sea._)
CLEOPATRA (_running excitedly to the steps_). Oh, let me see. He will be drowned. (_Rufio seizes her._) Ah--ah--ah--ah! (_He pitches her screaming into the sea. Rufio and Britannus roar with laughter._)
RUFIO (_looking down after her_). He has got her. (_To Britannus_) Hold the fort, Briton. Caesar will not forget you. (_He springs off._)
BRITANNUS (_running to the steps to watch them as they swim_). All safe, Rufio?
RUFIO (_swimming_). All safe.
CAESAR (_swimming further of_). Take refuge up there by the beacon; and pile the fuel on the trap door, Britannus.
BRITANNUS (_calling in reply_). I will first do so, and then commend myself to my country's gods. (_A sound of cheering from the sea. Britannus gives full vent to his excitement_) The boat has reached him: Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!
ACT IV
_Cleopatra's sousing in the east harbor of Alexandria was in October 48 B. C. In March 47 she is passing the afternoon in her boudoir in the palace, among a bevy of her ladies, listening to a slave girl who is playing the harp in the middle of the room. The harpist's master, an old musician, with a lined face, prominent brows, white beard, moustache and eyebrows twisted and horned at the ends, and a consciously keen and pretentious expression, is squatting on the floor close to her on her right, watching her performance. Ftatateeta is in attendance near the door, in front of a group of female slaves. Except the harp player all are seated: Cleopatra in a chair opposite the door on the other side of the room; the rest on the ground. Cleopatra's ladies are all young, the most conspicuous being Charmian and Iras, her favorites. Charmian is a hatchet faced, terra cotta colored little goblin, swift in her movements, and neatly finished at the hands and feet. Iras is a plump, goodnatured creature, rather fatuous, with a profusion of red hair, and a tendency to giggle on the slightest provocation._
CLEOPATRA. Can I----
FTATATEETA (_insolently, to the player_). Peace, thou! The Queen speaks. (_The player stops._)
CLEOPATRA (_to the old musician_). I want to learn to play the harp with my own hands. Caesar loves music. Can you teach me?
MUSICIAN. Assuredly I and no one else can teach the Queen. Have I not discovered the lost method of the ancient Egyptians, who could make a pyramid tremble by touching a bass string? All the other teachers are quacks: I have exposed them repeatedly.
CLEOPATRA. Good: you shall teach me. How long will it take?
MUSICIAN. Not very long: only four years. Your Majesty must first become proficient in the philosophy of Pythagoras.
CLEOPATRA. Has she (_indicating the slave_) become proficient in the philosophy of Pythagoras?
MUSICIAN. Oh, she is but a slave. She learns as a dog learns.
CLEOPATRA. Well, then, I will learn as a dog learns; for she plays better than you. You shall give me a lesson every day for a fortnight. (_The musician hastily scrambles to his feet and bows profoundly._) After that, whenever I strike a false note you shall be flogged; and if I strike so many that there is not time to flog you, you shall be thrown into the Nile to feed the crocodiles. Give the girl a piece of gold; and send them away.
MUSICIAN (_much taken aback_). But true art will not be thus forced.
FTATATEETA (_pushing him out_). What is this? Answering the Queen, forsooth. Out with you.
_He is pushed out by Ftatateeta, the girl following with her harp, amid the laughter of the ladies and slaves._
CLEOPATRA. Now, can any of you amuse me? Have you any stories or any news?
IRAS. Ftatateeta----
CLEOPATRA. Oh, Ftatateeta, Ftatateeta, always Ftatateeta. Some new tale to set me against her.
IRAS. No: this time Ftatateeta has been virtuous. (_All the ladies laugh--not the slaves._) Pothinus has been trying to bribe her to let him speak with you.
CLEOPATRA (_wrathfully_). Ha! you all sell audiences with me, as if I saw whom you please, and not whom I please. I should like to know how much of her gold piece that harp girl will have to give up before she leaves the palace.
IRAS. We can easily find out that for you.
_The ladies laugh._
CLEOPATRA (_frowning_). You laugh; but take care, take care. I will find out some day how to make myself served as Caesar is served.
CHARMIAN. Old hooknose! (_They laugh again._)
CLEOPATRA (_revolted_). Silence. Charmian: do not you be a silly little Egyptian fool. Do you know why I allow you all to chatter impertinently just as you please, instead of treating you as Ftatateeta would treat you if she were Queen?
CHARMIAN. Because you try to imitate Caesar in everything; and he lets everybody say what they please to him.
CLEOPATRA. No; but because I asked him one day why he did so; and he said "Let your women talk; and you will learn something from them." What have I to learn from them? I said. "What they _are_," said he; and oh! you should have seen his eye as he said it. You would have curled up, you shallow things. (_They laugh. She turns fiercely on Iras_) At whom are you laughing--at me or at Caesar?
IRAS. At Caesar.
CLEOPATRA. If you were not a fool, you would laugh at me; and if you were not a coward you would not be afraid to tell me so. (_Ftatateeta returns._) Ftatateeta: they tell me that Pothinus has offered you a bribe to admit him to my presence.
FTATATEETA (_protesting_). Now by my father's gods----
CLEOPATRA (_cutting her short despotically_). Have I not told you not to deny things? You would spend the day calling your father's gods to witness to your virtues if I let you. Go take the bribe; and bring in Pothinus. (_Ftatateeta is about to reply._) Don't answer me. Go.
_Ftatateeta goes out; and Cleopatra rises and begins to prowl to and fro between her chair and the door, meditating. All rise and stand._
IRAS (_as she reluctantly rises_). Heigho! I wish Caesar were back in Rome.
CLEOPATRA (_threateningly_). It will be a bad day for you all when he goes. Oh, if I were not ashamed to let him see that I am as cruel at heart as my father, I would make you repent that speech! Why do you wish him away?
CHARMIAN. He makes you so terribly prosy and serious and learned and philosophical. It is worse than being religious, at _our_ ages. (_The ladies laugh._)
CLEOPATRA. Cease that endless cackling, will you. Hold your tongues.
CHARMIAN (_with mock resignation_). Well, well: we must try to live up to Caesar.
_They laugh again. Cleopatra rages silently as she continues to prowl to and fro. Ftatateeta comes back with Pothinus, who halts on the threshold._
FTATATEETA (_at the door_). Pothinus craves the ear of the----
CLEOPATRA. There, there: that will do: let him come in. (_She resumes her seat. All sit down except Pothinus, who advances to the middle of the room. Ftatateeta takes her former place._) Well, Pothinus: what is the latest news from your rebel friends?
POTHINUS (_haughtily_). I am no friend of rebellion. And a prisoner does not receive news.
CLEOPATRA. You are no more a prisoner than I am--than Caesar is. These six months we have been besieged in this palace by my subjects. You are allowed to walk on the beach among the soldiers. Can I go further myself, or can Caesar?
POTHINUS. You are but a child, Cleopatra, and do not understand these matters.
_The ladies laugh. Cleopatra looks inscrutably at him._
CHARMIAN. I see you do not know the latest news, Pothinus.
POTHINUS. What is that?
CHARMIAN. That Cleopatra is no longer a child. Shall I tell you how to grow much older, and much, _much_ wiser in one day?
POTHINUS. I should prefer to grow wiser without growing older.
CHARMIAN. Well, go up to the top of the lighthouse; and get somebody to take you by the hair and throw you into the sea. (_The ladies laugh._)
CLEOPATRA. She is right, Pothinus: you will come to the shore with much conceit washed out of you. (_The ladies laugh. Cleopatra rises impatiently._) Begone, all of you. I will speak with Pothinus alone. Drive them out, Ftatateeta. (_They run out laughing. Ftatateeta shuts the door on them._) What are _you_ waiting for?
FTATATEETA. It is not meet that the Queen remain alone with----
CLEOPATRA (_interrupting her_). Ftatateeta: must I sacrifice you to your father's gods to teach you that _I_ am Queen of Egypt, and not you?
FTATATEETA (_indignantly_). You are like the rest of them. You want to be what these Romans call a New Woman. (_She goes out, banging the door._)
CLEOPATRA (_sitting down again_). Now, Pothinus: why did you bribe Ftatateeta to bring you hither?
POTHINUS (_studying her gravely_). Cleopatra: what they tell me is true. You are changed.
CLEOPATRA. Do you speak with Caesar every day for six months: and _you_ will be changed.
POTHINUS. It is the common talk that you are infatuated with this old man.
CLEOPATRA. Infatuated? What does that mean? Made foolish, is it not? Oh no: I wish I were.
POTHINUS. You wish you were made foolish! How so?
CLEOPATRA. When I was foolish, I did what I liked, except when Ftatateeta beat me; and even then I cheated her and did it by stealth. Now that Caesar has made me wise, it is no use my liking or disliking; I do what must be done, and have no time to attend to myself. That is not happiness; but it is greatness. If Caesar were gone, I think I could govern the Egyptians; for what Caesar is to me, I am to the fools around me.
POTHINUS (_looking hard at her_). Cleopatra: this may be the vanity of youth.
CLEOPATRA. No, no: it is not that I am so clever, but that the others are so stupid.
POTHINUS (_musingly_). Truly, that is the great secret.
CLEOPATRA. Well, now tell me what you came to say?
POTHINUS (_embarrassed_). I! Nothing.
CLEOPATRA. Nothing!
POTHINUS. At least--to beg for my liberty: that is all.
CLEOPATRA. For that you would have knelt to Caesar. No, Pothinus: you came with some plan that depended on Cleopatra being a little nursery kitten. Now that Cleopatra is a Queen, the plan is upset.
POTHINUS (_bowing his head submissively_). It is so.
CLEOPATRA (_exultant_). Aha!
POTHINUS (_raising his eyes keenly to hers_). Is Cleopatra then indeed a Queen, and no longer Caesar's prisoner and slave?
CLEOPATRA. Pothinus: we are all Caesar's slaves--all we in this land of Egypt--whether we will or no. And she who is wise enough to know this will reign when Caesar departs.
POTHINUS. You harp on Caesar's departure.
CLEOPATRA. What if I do?
POTHINUS. Does he not love you?
CLEOPATRA. Love me! Pothinus: Caesar loves no one. Who are those we love? Only those whom we do not hate: all people are strangers and enemies to us except those we love. But it is not so with Caesar. He has no hatred in him: he makes friends with everyone as he does with dogs and children. His kindness to me is a wonder: neither mother, father, nor nurse have ever taken so much care for me, or thrown open their thoughts to me so freely.
POTHINUS. Well: is not this love?
CLEOPATRA. What! When he will do as much for the first girl he meets on his way back to Rome? Ask his slave, Britannus: he has been just as good to him. Nay, ask his very horse! His kindness is not for anything in _me_: it is in his own nature.
POTHINUS. But how can you be sure that he does not love you as men love women?
CLEOPATRA. Because I cannot make him jealous. I have tried.
POTHINUS. Hm! Perhaps I should have asked, then, do _you_ love _him_?