Antony and Cleopatra — Act 4, Scene 3: The same. Before the palace.

On guard before the palace, soldiers watch through the night and exchange quiet remarks that tomorrow’s battle will decide everything. They ask one another whether any strange news is abroad, but hear only rumors. Suddenly they listen to music coming from under the earth, which alarms and puzzles them. One soldier says the sound must mean that the god Hercules, whom Antony once loved, is leaving him. The others are unsettled by the sign and move to a new post to follow the noise and see where it leads. They leave convinced that something unnatural is happening.