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- Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives (1595):
- . . . [Cleopatra] disdained to set forward otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus, the poop whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, and the oars of silver, which kept stroke in rowing after the sound of the music of lutes, hautboys, citherns, viols, and such other instruments as they played upon in the barge. And now for the person of herself: she was laid under a pavilion of cloth of gold of tissue, appareled and attired like the goddess Venus commonly drawn in picture; and hard by her, on either hand of her, pretty fair boys appareled as painters do set forth god Cupid, with little fans in their hands, with the which they fanned wind upon her. Her ladies and gentlewomen also, the fairest of them were appareled like the nymphs Nereides (which are the mermaids of the waters) and like the Graces, some steering the helm, others tending the tackle and ropes of the barge, out of the which there came a wonderful passing sweet savor of perfumes that perfumed the wharf's side, pestered with innumerable multitudes of people. Some of them followed the barge all alongst the river's side; others also ran out of the city to see her coming in. So that in the end, there ran such multitudes of people one after another to see her that Antonius was left post alone in the market place in his imperial seat to give audience, and there went a rumor in the people's mouths that the goddess Venus was come to play with the god Bacchus for the general good of all Asia. When Cleopatra landed, Antonius sent to invite her to supper to him. But she sent him word again, he should do better rather to come and sup with her. Antonius, therefore, to show himself courteous unto her at her arrival, was contented to obey her, and went to supper to her, where he found such passing sumptuous fare that no tongue can express it.
- William Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra (1603-07):
- DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
- I will tell you.
- The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
- Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
- Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
- The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
- Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
- The water which they beat to follow faster,
- As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
- It beggar'd all description: she did lie
- In her pavilion--cloth-of-gold of tissue--
- O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
- The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
- Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
- With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
- To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
- And what they undid did.
- AGRIPPA
- O, rare for Antony!
- DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
- Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
- So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,
- And made their bends adornings: at the helm
- A seeming mermaid steers: the silken tackle
- Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands,
- That yarely frame the office. From the barge
- A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
- Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
- Her people out upon her; and Antony,
- Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone,
- Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,
- Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
- And made a gap in nature.
- AGRIPPA
- Rare Egyptian!
- DOMITIUS ENOBARBUS
- Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
- Invited her to supper: she replied,
- It should be better he became her guest;
- Which she entreated: our courteous Antony,
- Whom ne'er the word of 'No' woman heard speak,
- Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast,
- And for his ordinary pays his heart
- For what his eyes eat only.
- John Dryden’s All for Love (1678):
- ANTONY
- To clear herself,
- For sending him no aid, she came from Egypt.
- Her galley down the silver Cydnus rowed,
- The tackling silk, the streamers waved with gold;
- The gentle winds were lodged in purple sails:
- Her nymphs, like Nereids, round her couch were placed;
- Where she, another sea-born Venus, lay.
- DOLABELLA
- No more; I would not hear it.
- ANTONY
- Oh, you must!
- She lay, and leant her cheek upon her hand,
- And cast a look so languishingly sweet,
- As if, secure of all beholders' hearts,
- Neglecting, she could take them: boys, like Cupids,
- Stood fanning, with their painted wings, the winds
- That played about her face. But if she smiled
- A darting glory seemed to blaze abroad,
- That men's desiring eyes were never wearied,
- But hung upon the object: To soft flutes
- The silver oars kept time; and while they played,
- The hearing gave new pleasure to the sight;
- And both to thought. 'Twas heaven, or somewhat more;
- For she so charmed all hearts, that gazing crowds
- Stood panting on the shore, and wanted breath
- To give their welcome voice.
- T S Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ (1922):
- The Burial of the Dead
- The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
- Glowed on the marble, where the glass
- Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
- From which a golden Cupidon peeped out
- (Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
- Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
- Reflecting light upon the table as
- The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
- From satin cases poured in rich profusion;
- In vials of ivory and coloured glass
- Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes,
- Unguent, powdered, or liquid—troubled, confused
- And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air
- That freshened from the window, these ascended
- In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
- Flung their smoke into the laquearia,
- Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.
- Huge sea-wood fed with copper
- Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone,
- In which sad light a carved dolphin swam.
- Above the antique mantel was displayed
- As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
- The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
- So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
- Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
- And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
- "Jug Jug" to dirty ears.
- And other withered stumps of time
- Were told upon the walls; staring forms
- Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed.
- Footsteps shuffled on the stair.
- Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
- Spread out in fiery points
- Glowed into words, then would be savagely still.
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