town is yielded, Caesar's at the gates.

_Cleo._ He comes too late to invade the rights of death.
Haste, bare my arm, and rouse the serpent's fury.
[_Holds out her arm, and draws it back._
Coward flesh,
Would'st thou conspire with Caesar to betray me,
As thou wert none of mine? I'll force thee to it,
And not be sent by him,
But bring myself, my soul, to Antony.
[_Turns aside, and then shows her arm bloody._
Take hence; the work is done.

_Serap._ Break ope the door, [_Within._
And guard the traitor well.

_Char._ The next is ours.

_Iras._ Now, Charmion, to be worthy
Of our great queen and mistress. [_They apply the aspicks._

_Cleo._ Already, death, I feel thee in my veins:
I go with such a will to find my lord,
That we shall quickly meet.
A heavy numbness creeps through every limb,
And now 'tis at my head: My eye-lids fall,
And my dear love is vanished in a mist.
Where shall I find him, where? O turn me to him,
And lay me on his breast!--Caesar, thy worst;
Now part us, if thou canst. [_Dies._
[IRAS _sinks down at her feet, and dies;_ CHARMION
_stands behind her chair, as dressing her head._

_Enter_ SERAPION, _two Priests,_ ALEXAS _bound, Egyptians._

_Priest._ Behold, Serapion, what havock death has made!

_Serap._ 'Twas what I feared.--
Charmion, is this well done?

_Char._ Yes, 'tis well done, and like a queen, the last
Of her great race: I follow her. [_Sinks down; dies._

_Alex._ 'Tis true,
She has done well: Much better thus to die,
Than live to make a holiday in Rome.

_Serap._ See, how the lovers sit in state together,
As they were giving laws to half mankind!
The impression of a smile, left in her face,
Shows she died pleased with him for whom she lived.
And went to charm him in another
Caesar's just entering: grief has now no leisure.
Secure that villain, as our pledge of safety,
To grace the imperial triumph.--Sleep, blest pair,
Secure from human chance, long ages out,
While all the storms of fate fly o'er your tomb;
And fame to late posterity shall tell,
No lovers lived so great, or died so well. [_Exeunt._

Footnotes:
1. There was anciently some foolish idea about a wren soaring on an
eagle's back. Colley Cibber, as Dr Johnson observed, converted the
wren into a lin