Again, If any Syracusan born, Come to the bay of Ephesus, he dies, Ege. Yet this my comfort; when your words are Ege. A heavier task could not have been impos'd, And by me, too, had not our hap been bad. And, which was strange, the one so like the other A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd, A doubtful warrant of immediate death; Dispers'd those vapours that offended us; Duke. Nay, forward, old man, do not break off so; For we may pity, though not pardon thee. Ege. O, had the gods done so, I had not now Worthily term'd them merciless to us! For ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues, [for, Duke. And, for the sake of them thou sorrowest Do me the favour to dilate at full What hath befall'n of them, and thee, till now. To bear the extremity of dire mishap ! Gaol. I will, my lord. Ege. Hopeless, and helpless, doth Ægeon wend But to procrastinate his lifeless end. [Exeunt. Mer. Therefore, give out, you are of Epidamnum, Is apprehended for arrival here; Ant. S. Go, bear it to the Centaur, where we host, Dro. S. Many a man would take you at your word, And go indeed, having so good a mean. [Exit. Ant. S. A trusty villain, sir, that very oft, When I am dull with care and melancholy, Lightens my humour with his merry jests. What, will you walk with me about the town, And then go to my inn and dine with me? Mer. I am invited, sir, to certain merchants, Of whom I hope to make much benefit ; I crave your pardon. Soon at five o'clock, Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart, And afterward consort you till bed-time; My present business calls me from you now. Ant. S. Farewell till then I will go lose myself, And wander up and down, to view the city. Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit Merchant. Ant. S. He that commends me to mine own conCommends me to the thing I cannot get. [tent I to the world am like a drop of water, That in the ocean seeks another drop; Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, Here comes the almanack of my true date.- late: The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit; Ant. S. Stop in your wind, sir; tell me this, I pray : Where have you left the money that I gave you? Dro. E. 0,-sixpence, that I had o' Wednesday To pay the saddler for my mistress' crupper; [last, The saddler had it, sir; I kept it not. Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humour now: Tell me, and dally not, where is the money? We being strangers here, how dar'st thou trust So great a charge from thine own custody? Dro. E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner: I from my mistress come to you in post; If I return, I shall be post indeed; For she will score your fault upon my pate. Methinks, your maw, like mine, should be your clock, And strike you home without a messenger. Reserve them till a merrier hour than this: Home to your house, the Phoenix, sir, to dinner; My mistress and her sister stay for you. Ant. S. Now, as I am a christian, answer me, In what safe place you have bestow'd my money; Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours, That stands on tricks when I am undispos'd: Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me? Dro. E. I have some marks of yours upon my pate, Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders, But not a thousand marks between you both. If I should pay your worship those again, Perchance, you will not bear them patiently. Ant. S. Thy mistress' marks? what mistress, slave, hast thou? [Phoenix; Dro. E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the She that doth fast till you come home to dinner, And prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. Ant. S. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? There, take you that, sir knave. Dro. E. What mean you, sir? for God's sake, hold your hands; Nay, an you will not, sir, I'll take my heels. ACT II. SCENE I-A public Place. Enter Adriana and Luciana. [Exit. Adr. Neither my husband, nor the slave return'd, That in such haste I sent to seek his master! Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock. Luc. Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner. Good sister, let us dine, and never fret : A man is master of his liberty: Time is their master; and, when they see time, They'll go, or come: If so, be patient, sister. Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more? Luc. Because their business still lies out o' door. Adr. Look, when I serve him so, he takes it ill. Luc. O, know, he is the bridle of your will. Adr. There's none but asses will be bridled so. Luc. Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe. There's nothing situate under heaven's eye But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky: The beasts, the fis!.es, and the winged fowls, Are their males' subjects, and at their controls: Men, more divine, the masters of all these, Lords of the wide world, and wild watery seas, Indued with in ellectual sense and souls, Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls, Are masters to their females, and their lords : Then let your will attend on their accords. A ir. This servitude makes you to keep unwed. VOL. I. Luc. Not this, but troubles of the marriage-bed. Adr. But were you wedded you would bear some sway. Luc. Ere I learn love, I'll practise to obey. Adr. How if your husband start some other where ? Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear. Adr. Patience, unmov'd, no marvel Lough she pause; They can be meek that have no other cause. But were we burden'd with like weight of pain, Adr. Say, is your tardy master now at hand? Dro. E. Nay, he is at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness. Adr. Say, didst thou speak with him? know'st thou his mind? Dro. E. Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear. Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it. Luc. Spake he so doubtfully thou couldst not feel his meaning? Dro. E. Nay, he struck so plainly I could too well feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully that I could scarce understand them. Adr. But say, I prithee, is he coming home? It seems he hath great care to please his wife. Dro. E. Why, mistress, sure my master is hornmad. Adr. Horn-mad, thou villain? [stark mad : Dro. E. I mean not cuckold mad; but, sure, he's When I desir'd him to come home to dinner, He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold : "T is dinner-time,' quoth I; 'My gold,' quoth he; 'Your meat doth burn,' quoth I; 'My gold,' quoth 6 My mistress, sir,' quoth I; ‘Hang up thy mistress; I know not thy mistress; out on thy mistress!' Dro. E. Quoth my master : 'I know,' quoth he, 'no house, no wife, no mistress; ' So that my errand, due unto my tongue, I thank him, I bare home upon my shoulders; Adr. Go back again, thou slave, and fetch him home. Dro. E. Go back again, and be new beaten home? For God's sake send some other messenger. Adr. Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across. Dro. E. And he will bless that cross with other Between you I shall have a holy head. [beating: Adr. Hence, prating peasant; fetch thy master home. Dro. E. Am I so round with you, as you with me, That like a football you do spurn me thus? You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither: If I last in this service you must case me in leather. [Exit. H Luc. Fye, how impatience loureth in your face! Will lose his beauty; and though gold 'bides still, SCENE II.-The same. Enter Antipholus of Syracuse. [Exeunt. Ant. S. The gold I gave to Dromio is laid up How now, sir? is your merry humour alter'd? Dro. S. What answer, sir? when spake I such a Ant. S. Even now, even here, not half an hour Dro. S. I did not see you since you sent me hence, Home to the Centaur, with the gold you gave me. Ant. S. Villain, thou didst deny the gold's receipt, And told'st me of a mistress, and a dinner; For which, I hope, thou felt'st I was displeas'd. Dro. S. I am glad to see you in this merry vein: What means this jest? I pray you, master, tell me. Ant. S. Yea, dost thou jeer, and flout me in the teeth? Think'st thou I jest? Hold, take thou that, and that. If you will jest with me know my aspect, And fashion your demeanour to my looks, Or I will beat this method in your sconce. Dro. S. Sconce, call you it? so you would leave battering, I had rather have it a head: an you use these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head, and insconce it too; or else I shall seek my wit in my shoulders. But, I pray sir, why am I beaten? Ant. S. Dost thou not know? Dro. S. Nothing, sir; but that I am beaten. Dro. S. Ay, sir, and wherefore; for, they say, every why hath a wherefore. Ant. S. Why, first,-for flouting me; and then, For urging it the second time to me. [wherefore,Dro. S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out Ant. S. Well, sir, then 't will be dry. Dro. S. If it be, sir, I pray you eat none of it. Ant. S. Your reason? Dro. S. Lest it make you choleric, and purchase me another dry basting. Ant. S. Well, sir, learn to jest in good time. There's a time for all things. Dro. S. I durst have denied that, before you were Ant. S. By what rule, sir? [so choleric. Dro. S. Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of father Time himself. Ant. S. Let's hear it. Dro. S. There's no time for a man to recover his hair, that grows bald by nature. Ant. S. May he not do it by fine and recovery? Dro. S. Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover the lost hair of another man. Ant. S. Why is Time such a niggard of hair, being, as it is, so plentiful an excrement? Dro. S. Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts: and what he hath scanted men in hair, he hath given them in wit. Ant. S. Why, but there's many a man hath more hair than wit. Dro. S. Not a man of those but he hath the wit to lose his hair. Ant. S. Why, thou didst conclude hairy men plain dealers without wit. Dro. S. The plainer dealer, the sooner lost: Yet he loseth it in a kind of jollity. Ant. S. For what reason? Dro. S. For two; and sound ones too. Ant. S. Nay, not sure, in a thing falsing. Ant. S. Name them. Dro. S. The one, to save the money that he spends in tiring; the other, that at dinner they should not drop in his porridge. Ant. S. You would all this time have proved there is no time for all things Dro. S. Marry, and did, sir; namely, in no time to recover hair lost by nature. Ant. S. But your reason was not substantial, why there is no time to recover. Dro. S. Thus I mend it: Time himself is bald, and therefore, to the world's end, will have bald followers. Ant. S. I knew 't would be a bald conclusion : But soft! who wafts us yonder? Enter Adriana and Luciana. Adr. Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange, and frown: The time was once, when thou unurg'd would'st vow As take from me thyself, and not me too. I know thou canst; and therefore see thou do it. 115 Dro. S. By me? Adr. By thee; and this thou didst return from That he did buffet thee, and, in his blows [him,— Denied my house for his, me for his wife. [woman? Ant. S. Did you converse, sir, with this gentleWhat is the course and drift of your compact? Dro. S. I, sir? I never saw her till this time. Ant. S. Villain, thou liest; for even her very Didst thou deliver to me on the mart. [words Dro. S. I never spake with her in all my life. Ant. S. How can she thus then call us by our Unless it be by inspiration? [names, Adr. How ill agrees it with your gravity, To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave, Abetting him to thwart me in my mood! Be it my wrong, you are from me exempt, But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt. Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine : Thou art an elm, my husband, I, a vine ; Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state, Makes me with thy strength to communicate : If aught possess thee from me, it is dross, Usurping ivy, briar, or idle moss; Who, all for want of pruning, with intrusion Infect thy sap, and live on thy confusion. Ant. S. To me she speaks; she moves me for her What, was I married to her in my dream? [theme: H 2 |