feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/shmoop/The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra/section_36_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra.act iv.scene xii
feat_summary_id: act iv, scene xii
feat_summary: {"name": "Act IV, Scene xii", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210116191009/https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/antony-cleopatra/summary/act-iv-scene-xii", "summary": "Antony watches the battle at sea with Scarus and frets that he can't see Caesar's troops yet. He leaves Scarus to go look from a different vantage point. Scarus notes in an aside that the augurs were hesitant to state their predictions about this sea battle, which can't be good. Antony returns to Scarus in a fury--Cleopatra's fleet has deserted them again and Antony's fleet has yielded to Caesar's, greeting them like friends. He doesn't care to take revenge on his troops, only on Cleopatra. Antony is sure she's the one that led him to this course. Antony demands that all the remaining soldiers leave, as he doesn't care about them anymore. He privately laments that Fortune has deserted him and now favors Caesar instead. He damns Cleopatra for luring him to Egypt and identifies her as the cause of his loss. Cleopatra enters and Antony rages at her, saying she should go be part of Caesar's victory march for all the masses to see her. He even hopes Octavia might scratch up her face with her fingernails. Cleopatra flees Antony's fury. He's glad that woman's gone. He wishes he had killed her earlier, which would have saved many lives. He resolves that she'll die for selling him out to Caesar, whom he calls \"the young Roman boy.\"", "analysis": ""}
text: SCENE XII.
                    A hill near Alexandria
  
                    Enter ANTONY and SCARUS
  
    ANTONY. Yet they are not join'd. Where yond pine does stand
      I shall discover all. I'll bring thee word
      Straight how 'tis like to go.                           Exit
    SCARUS. Swallows have built
      In Cleopatra's sails their nests. The augurers
      Say they know not, they cannot tell; look grimly,
      And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony
      Is valiant and dejected; and by starts
      His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear
      Of what he has and has not.
                              [Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fight]
  
                        Re-enter ANTONY
  
    ANTONY. All is lost!
      This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me.
      My fleet hath yielded to the foe, and yonder
      They cast their caps up and carouse together
      Like friends long lost. Triple-turn'd whore! 'tis thou
      Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart
      Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly;
      For when I am reveng'd upon my charm,
      I have done all. Bid them all fly; begone.       Exit SCARUS
      O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more!
      Fortune and Antony part here; even here
      Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts
      That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
      Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
      On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd
      That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am.
      O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm-
      Whose eye beck'd forth my wars and call'd them home,
      Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end-
      Like a right gypsy hath at fast and loose
      Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss.
      What, Eros, Eros!
  
                        Enter CLEOPATRA
  
      Ah, thou spell! Avaunt!
    CLEOPATRA. Why is my lord enrag'd against his love?
    ANTONY. Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving
      And blemish Caesar's triumph. Let him take thee
      And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians;
      Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot
      Of all thy sex; most monster-like, be shown
      For poor'st diminutives, for doits, and let
      Patient Octavia plough thy visage up
      With her prepared nails.                      Exit CLEOPATRA
      'Tis well th'art gone,
      If it be well to live; but better 'twere
      Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death
      Might have prevented many. Eros, ho!
      The shirt of Nessus is upon me; teach me,
      Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage;
      Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' th' moon,
      And with those hands that grasp'd the heaviest club
      Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die.
      To the young Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall
      Under this plot. She dies for't. Eros, ho!              Exit
  
  ACT_4|SC_13
  
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Act IV, Scene xii
target: Antony watches the battle at sea with Scarus and frets that he can't see Caesar's troops yet. He leaves Scarus to go look from a different vantage point. Scarus notes in an aside that the augurs were hesitant to state their predictions about this sea battle, which can't be good. Antony returns to Scarus in a fury--Cleopatra's fleet has deserted them again and Antony's fleet has yielded to Caesar's, greeting them like friends. He doesn't care to take revenge on his troops, only on Cleopatra. Antony is sure she's the one that led him to this course. Antony demands that all the remaining soldiers leave, as he doesn't care about them anymore. He privately laments that Fortune has deserted him and now favors Caesar instead. He damns Cleopatra for luring him to Egypt and identifies her as the cause of his loss. Cleopatra enters and Antony rages at her, saying she should go be part of Caesar's victory march for all the masses to see her. He even hopes Octavia might scratch up her face with her fingernails. Cleopatra flees Antony's fury. He's glad that woman's gone. He wishes he had killed her earlier, which would have saved many lives. He resolves that she'll die for selling him out to Caesar, whom he calls "the young Roman boy."