from Act III, Scene 1 of the Italian opera
Giulio Cesare by George Frideric Handel
Libretto: Nicola Haym
Role: Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt
Voice Part: soprano Fach: dramatic coloratura
Setting: woods near Alexandria, Egypt, 48 B.C.
Synopsis: Her brother Tolomeo has ordered Cleopatra to prison for scheming with the now-apparently-drowned Caesar. Saddened by the turn of events, Cleopatra contemplates what fate has given her and how, when she is dead, she could come back and haunt her brother.