Char. By your most gracious pardon,
I sing but after you.
Cleo. My salad days,
When I was green in judgement: cold in blood,
To say as I said then!"
Already we see and know her, her wiles, her passion, her quick temper,
her chameleon-like changes, her subtle charms of person and of word, and
yet we have not reached the end of the first act. Next to Falstaff and
to Hamlet, Cleopatra is the most astonishing piece of portraiture in all
Shakespeare. Enobarbus gives the soul of her:
"
Ant. She is cunning past man's thought.
Eno. Alack, sir, no; her passions are made of nothing
but the finest part of pure love....
Ant. Would I had never seen her!
Eno. O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful
piece of work; which not to have been blest withal would
have discredited your travel."
Here Shakespeare gives his true opinion of Mary Fitton: then comes the
miraculous expression:
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety.
Pages:
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435