Complete Plays, The (340 page)
Read Complete Plays, The Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Second Merchant
Besides, I will be sworn these ears of mine
Heard you confess you had the chain of him
After you first forswore it on the mart:
And thereupon I drew my sword on you;
And then you fled into this abbey here,
From whence, I think, you are come by miracle.
Antipholus of Ephesus
I never came within these abbey-walls,
Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me:
I never saw the chain, so help me Heaven!
And this is false you burden me withal.
Duke Solinus
Why, what an intricate impeach is this!
I think you all have drunk of Circe’s cup.
If here you housed him, here he would have been;
If he were mad, he would not plead so coldly:
You say he dined at home; the goldsmith here
Denies that saying. Sirrah, what say you?
Dromio of Ephesus
Sir, he dined with her there, at the Porpentine.
Courtezan
He did, and from my finger snatch’d that ring.
Antipholus of Ephesus
’Tis true, my liege; this ring I had of her.
Duke Solinus
Saw’st thou him enter at the abbey here?
Courtezan
As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace.
Duke Solinus
Why, this is strange. Go call the abbess hither.
I think you are all mated or stark mad.
Exit one to Abbess
Aegeon
Most mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word:
Haply I see a friend will save my life
And pay the sum that may deliver me.
Duke Solinus
Speak freely, Syracusian, what thou wilt.
Aegeon
Is not your name, sir, call’d Antipholus?
And is not that your bondman, Dromio?
Dromio of Ephesus
Within this hour I was his bondman sir,
But he, I thank him, gnaw’d in two my cords:
Now am I Dromio and his man unbound.
Aegeon
I am sure you both of you remember me.
Dromio of Ephesus
Ourselves we do remember, sir, by you;
For lately we were bound, as you are now
You are not Pinch’s patient, are you, sir?
Aegeon
Why look you strange on me? you know me well.
Antipholus of Ephesus
I never saw you in my life till now.
Aegeon
O, grief hath changed me since you saw me last,
And careful hours with time’s deformed hand
Have written strange defeatures in my face:
But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice?
Antipholus of Ephesus
Neither.
Aegeon
Dromio, nor thou?
Dromio of Ephesus
No, trust me, sir, nor I.
Aegeon
I am sure thou dost.
Dromio of Ephesus
Ay, sir, but I am sure I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him.
Aegeon
Not know my voice! O time’s extremity,
Hast thou so crack’d and splitted my poor tongue
In seven short years, that here my only son
Knows not my feeble key of untuned cares?
Though now this grained face of mine be hid
In sap-consuming winter’s drizzled snow,
And all the conduits of my blood froze up,
Yet hath my night of life some memory,
My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left,
My dull deaf ears a little use to hear:
All these old witnesses — I cannot err —
Tell me thou art my son Antipholus.
Antipholus of Ephesus
I never saw my father in my life.
Aegeon
But seven years since, in Syracusa, boy,
Thou know’st we parted: but perhaps, my son,
Thou shamest to acknowledge me in misery.
Antipholus of Ephesus
The duke and all that know me in the city
Can witness with me that it is not so
I ne’er saw Syracusa in my life.
Duke Solinus
I tell thee, Syracusian, twenty years
Have I been patron to Antipholus,
During which time he ne’er saw Syracusa:
I see thy age and dangers make thee dote.
Re-enter Aemilia, with Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse
Aemelia
Most mighty duke, behold a man much wrong’d.
All gather to see them
Adriana
I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me.
Duke Solinus
One of these men is Genius to the other;
And so of these. Which is the natural man,
And which the spirit? who deciphers them?
Dromio of Syracuse
I, sir, am Dromio; command him away.
Dromio of Ephesus
I, sir, am Dromio; pray, let me stay.
Antipholus of Syracuse
Aegeon art thou not? or else his ghost?
Dromio of Syracuse
O, my old master! who hath bound him here?
Aemelia
Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds
And gain a husband by his liberty.
Speak, old Aegeon, if thou be’st the man
That hadst a wife once call’d Aemilia
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons:
O, if thou be’st the same Aegeon, speak,
And speak unto the same Aemilia!
Aegeon
If I dream not, thou art Aemilia:
If thou art she, tell me where is that son
That floated with thee on the fatal raft?
Aemelia
By men of Epidamnum he and I
And the twin Dromio all were taken up;
But by and by rude fishermen of Corinth
By force took Dromio and my son from them
And me they left with those of Epidamnum.
What then became of them I cannot tell
I to this fortune that you see me in.
Duke Solinus
Why, here begins his morning story right;
These two Antipholuses, these two so like,
And these two Dromios, one in semblance,—
Besides her urging of her wreck at sea,—
These are the parents to these children,
Which accidentally are met together.
Antipholus, thou camest from Corinth first?
Antipholus of Syracuse
No, sir, not I; I came from Syracuse.
Duke Solinus
Stay, stand apart; I know not which is which.
Antipholus of Ephesus
I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord,—
Dromio of Ephesus
And I with him.
Antipholus of Ephesus
Brought to this town by that most famous warrior,
Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle.
Adriana
Which of you two did dine with me to-day?
Antipholus of Syracuse
I, gentle mistress.
Adriana
And are not you my husband?
Antipholus of Ephesus
No; I say nay to that.
Antipholus of Syracuse
And so do I; yet did she call me so:
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here,
Did call me brother.
To Luciana
What I told you then,
I hope I shall have leisure to make good;
If this be not a dream I see and hear.
Angelo
That is the chain, sir, which you had of me.
Antipholus of Syracuse
I think it be, sir; I deny it not.
Antipholus of Ephesus
And you, sir, for this chain arrested me.
Angelo
I think I did, sir; I deny it not.
Adriana
I sent you money, sir, to be your bail,
By Dromio; but I think he brought it not.
Dromio of Ephesus
No, none by me.
Antipholus of Syracuse
This purse of ducats I received from you,
And Dromio, my man, did bring them me.
I see we still did meet each other’s man,
And I was ta’en for him, and he for me,
And thereupon these errors are arose.
Antipholus of Ephesus
These ducats pawn I for my father here.
Duke Solinus
It shall not need; thy father hath his life.
Courtezan
Sir, I must have that diamond from you.
Antipholus of Ephesus
There, take it; and much thanks for my good cheer.
Aemelia
Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains
To go with us into the abbey here
And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes:
And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this sympathized one day’s error
Have suffer’d wrong, go keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction.
Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; and till this present hour
My heavy burden ne’er delivered.
The duke, my husband and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossips’ feast and go with me;
After so long grief, such festivity!
Duke Solinus
With all my heart, I’ll gossip at this feast.
Exeunt all but Antipholus of Syracuse, Antipholus of Ephesus, Dromio of Syracuse and Dromio of Ephesus
Dromio of Syracuse
Master, shall I fetch your stuff from shipboard?
Antipholus of Ephesus
Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou embark’d?
Dromio of Syracuse
Your goods that lay at host, sir, in the Centaur.
Antipholus of Syracuse
He speaks to me. I am your master, Dromio:
Come, go with us; we’ll look to that anon:
Embrace thy brother there; rejoice with him.
Exeunt Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus
Dromio of Syracuse
There is a fat friend at your master’s house,
That kitchen’d me for you to-day at dinner:
She now shall be my sister, not my wife.
Dromio of Ephesus
Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother:
I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping?
Dromio of Syracuse
Not I, sir; you are my elder.
Dromio of Ephesus
That’s a question: how shall we try it?
Dromio of Syracuse
We’ll draw cuts for the senior: till then lead thou first.
Dromio of Ephesus
Nay, then, thus:
We came into the world like brother and brother;
And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.
Exeunt
Love’s Labour ’s Lost
T
ABLE
OF
C
ONTENTS
S
CENE
I. T
HE
KING
OF
N
AVARRE
’
S
PARK
.
T
HE
C
HARACTERS
OF
THE
P
LAY
Ferdinand
, King of Navarre
Biron
, Lord attending on the King
Longaville
, Lord attending on the King
Dumain
, Lord attending on the King
Boyet
, Lord attending on the Princess of France
Mercade
, Lord attending on the Princess of France
Don Adriano de Armado
, a fantastical Spaniard
Sir Nathaniel
, a Curate
Holofernes
, a Schoolmaster
Dull
, a Constable
Costard
, a Clown
Moth
, Page to Armado
A Forester
The Princess of France
Rosaline
, Lady attending on the Princess
Maria
, Lady attending on the Princess
Katharine
, Lady attending on the Princess
Jaquenetta
, a country wench
Officers and Others, Attendants on the King and Princess.
A
CT
I
S
CENE
I. T
HE
KING
OF
N
AVARRE
’
S
PARK
.
Enter Ferdinand king of Navarre, Biron, Longaville and Dumain
Ferdinand
Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live register’d upon our brazen tombs
And then grace us in the disgrace of death;
When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,
The endeavor of this present breath may buy
That honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge
And make us heirs of all eternity.
Therefore, brave conquerors,— for so you are,
That war against your own affections
And the huge army of the world’s desires,—
Our late edict shall strongly stand in force:
Navarre shall be the wonder of the world;
Our court shall be a little Academe,
Still and contemplative in living art.
You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville,
Have sworn for three years’ term to live with me
My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes
That are recorded in this schedule here:
Your oaths are pass’d; and now subscribe your names,
That his own hand may strike his honour down
That violates the smallest branch herein:
If you are arm’d to do as sworn to do,
Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep it too.