Monologue

Ventidius Monologue from All for Love

From All for Love by John Dryden

male · anguished · 1:04 min

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How sorrow shakes him! (Aside.) So, now the tempest tears him up by the roots, And on the ground extends the noble ruin. (ANTONY having thrown himself down.) Lie there, thou shadow of an emperor; The place thou pressest on thy mother earth Is all thy empire now: now it contains thee; Some few days hence, and then 'twill be too large, When thou'rt contracted in thy narrow urn, Shrunk to a few ashes; then Octavia (For Cleopatra will not live to see it), Octavia then will have thee all her own, And bear thee in her widowed hand to Caesar; Caesar will weep, the crocodile will weep, To see his rival of the universe Lie still and peaceful there. I'll think no more on't.

About this piece

Ventidius reflects on the death of a once-great emperor, expressing sorrow and the inevitability of mortality as he contemplates the impact of this loss on those left behind.

30s · sadness · death · loss · betrayal · love

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