The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare

Dro. E. I would I were senseless, Sir, that I might not feel your blows.

Ant. E. Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, and so is an ass.

Dro. E. I am an ass, indeed; you may prove it by my long ears. 1 have serv'd him from the hour of nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service, but blows: when I am cold, he heats me with beating: when I am warm, be cools me with beating: I am waked with it, when I sleep; raised with it, when I sit; driven out of doors with it, when I go from home; welcomed home with it, when I return: nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lamed me, I shall beg with it from door to door.

Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, and the COURTEZAN, with PINCH, and others.

Ant. E. Come, go along; my wife is coming

yonder,

Dro. E. Mistress, respice finem, respect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.

Ant. E. Wilt thou still talk? [Beats him. Cour. How say you now? is not your husband mad?

Adr. His incivility confirms no less.Good doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer; Establish him in his true sense again, And I will please you what you will demand. Luc. Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks! Cour. Mark, how he trembles in his extacy! Pinch. Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.

Ant. E. There is my hand, and let it feel your

Pinch. It is no shame; the fellow finds his
vein,

And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy.
Ant. E. Thou hast suborn'd the goldsmith to

arrest me.

Adr. Alas! I sent you money to redeem you. By Dromio here, who came in haste for it. Dro. E. Money by me? heart and good-win you might,

But surely, master, not a rag of money. Ant. E. Went'st not thou to her for a purse of ducats ?

Adr. He came to me, and I deliver'd it. Luc. And I am witness with her, that she did.

Dro. E. God and the rope-maker, bear me witness,

That I was sent fer nothing but a rope!

Pinch. Mistress, both man and master is possess'd:

know it by their pale and deadly looks: They must be bound, and laid in some dark

room.

Ant. E. Say, wherefore didst thou lock me forth to-day,

And why dost thou deny the bag of gold? Adr. I did not, gentle husbaud, lock thee forth.

Dro. E. And, gentle master, I receiv'd no gold; But I confess, Sir, that we were lock'd out. Adr. Dissembling villain, thou speak'st false in both.

Ant. E. Dissembling harlot, thou art false in all:

And art confederate with a damned pack,
To make a loathsome abject scorn of me.
But with these nails I'll pluck out these false

eyes,

That would behold in me this shameful sport.

[PINCH and his assistants bind ANT. and DROMIO.

Adr. O bind him, bind him, let him not

officer ?

Hast thou delight to see a wretched man
Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

Offi. He is my prisoner; if I let him go,
The debt he owes, will be requir'd of me.

Adr. I will discharge thee, ere I go from thee:

Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,
And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it.
Good master doctor, see him safe convey'd
Home to my house.-O most unhappy day!
Ant. E. O most unhappy + strumpet !
Dro. E. Master, I am here enter'd in bond

for you.

Ant. E. Out on thee, villain! wherefore dos! thou mad me?

Dro. E. Will you be bound for nothing? be mad,

Good master; cry, the devil.

Luc. God help, poor souls, how idly do they talk!

Adr. Go bear him hence.--Sister, go you

Offi. One Angelo, a goldsmith; Do you know | Had hoisted sail, and put to sea to-day :
This chain you had of me, can you deny it?
him?
Ant. S. I think, I bad; I never did deny it
Mcr. Yes, that you did, Sir; and forswore it

Adr. I know the man: What is the sum ne owes ?

Ofi. Two hundred ducats.

Adr. Say, how grows it due ?

Offi. Due for a chain your husband had of him.

Adr. He did bespeak a chain for me, but had it not.

Cour. When, as your husband, all in rage, to-day

Came to my house, and took away my ring, (The ring I saw upon his finger now,) Straight after, did I meet him with a chain.

Adr. It may be so, but I did never see it :Come, jailer, bring me where the goldsmith is, I long to know the truth hereof at large.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, with his rapier drawn, and DROMIO of Syracuse. Luc. God, for thy mercy! they are loose again.

Adr. And come with naked swords; let's call more help,

To have them bound again.
Offi. Away, they'll kill us.

[Exeunt OFFICER. ADR. and Luc. Ant. E. I see these witches are afraid of swords.

Dro. S. She, that would be your wife, now
ran from you.

Ant. S. Come to the Centaur ; fetch our stuff
;
from thence:

I long that we were safe and sound aboard.

Dro. S. Faith, stay here this night, they will surely do us no harm; you saw, they speak us fair, give us gold methinks they are such a gentle nation, that but for the mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of me, I could find in my heart to stay here still, and turn witch. Ant. S. I will not stay to-night for all the town;

Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard.

ACT V.

SCENE 1.-The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter MERCHANT and ANGELO. Ang. I am sorry, Sir, that I have hinder'd

you;

But I protest, he had the chain of me,
Though most dishonestly he doth deny it.

Mer. How is the man esteem'd here in the
city ?

Ang. Of very reverend reputation, Sir,
Of credit infinite, highly belov'd,
Second to none that lives here in the city;
His word might bear my wealth at any time.
Mer. Speak softly: yonder, as I think, he
walks.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROM10 of Syracuse.
Ang. 'Tis so; and that self chain about his
neck,

Which he forswore, most monstrously to have.
Good Sir, draw near to me, I'll speak to him.
Signior Antipholus, I wonder much

That you would put me to this shame and

trouble;

And not without some scandal to yourself,
With circumstance, and oaths, so to deny
This chain, which now you wear so openly:
Besides the charge, the shame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honest friend;
ho, but for staying on our controversy,

• Baggage.

too.

Ant. S. Who heard me to deny it, or forswear it?

Mer. These ears of mine, thou knowest, did hear thee:

Fie on thee, wretch ! 'tis pity that thou liv'st
To walk where any honest men resort.
Ant. S. Thou art a villain, to impeach me
thus:

I'll prove mine honour, and mine honesty
Against thee presently, if thou dar'st stand.
Mer. I dare, and do defy thee for a villain.
[They draw.
Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, COURTEZAN, and
others.

Adr. Hold, hurt him not, for God's sake; he is mad :Some get within him, take his sword away : Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my house. Dro. S. Run, master, run; for God's sake, take a house. +

This is some priory ;-In, or we are spoil'd. [Exeunt ANTIPH. and DROMIO to the Priory.

Aar. Why, so I did.

Abb. Ay, but not rough enough.

Adr. As roughly, as my modesty would let me.
Abb. Haply, in private.

Adr. And in assemblies too.
Abb. Ay, but not enough.

Adr. It was the copy of our conference :
In bed, he slept not for my urging it;
At board, he fed not for my urging it;
Alone, it was the subject of my theme;
In company, I often glanced it;
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.

Abb. And thereof came it, that the man was mad:

The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.
It seems his sleeps were binder'd by thy rail
ing:

And thereof comes it that is head is light.
Thou say'st his meat was sauc'd with thy up
braidings:

A most outrageous fit of madness took him; That desperately he hurried through the street (With him his bondman, all as mad as he,)

Unquiet meals make ill digestions, Thereof the raging fire of fever bred; And what's fever but a fit of madness?

Thou say'st, his sports were hinder'd by thy Doing displeasure to the citizens

brawls:

Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
"Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair ;)
And, at her heels, a huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast;
The consequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.
Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himself rough, rude, and
wildly,-

Why bear you these rebukes, and answer not?
Adr. She did betray me to my own reproof.-
Good people, enter, and lay hold on him.

Abb. No, not a creature enters in my house. Adr. Then, let your servants bring my husband forth.

Abb. Neither; he took this place for sauctuary,

And it shall privilege him from your hands,
Till I have brought him to his wits again,
Or lose my labour in assaying it.

Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse,
Diet his sickness, for it is my office,
And will have no attorney but myself;
And therefore let me have him home with me.
Abb. Be patient; for I will not let him stir,
Till I have us'd the approved means I have,
With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy

prayers,

To make of him a formal man again :
It is a branch and parcel of mine oath,
A charitable duty of my order:

Therefore depart, and leave him here with me. Adr. I will not hence, and leave my husband here;

And ill it doth beseem your holiness, To separate the husband and the wife. Abb. Be quiet, and depart, thou shalt not have him. [Exit ABBESS. Luc. Complain unco the duke of this indig. nity.

Adr. Come, go; I will fall prostrate at his feet,

And never rise until my tears and prayers
Have won his grace to come in person hither,
And take perforce my husband from the Ab-

bess.

Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I am sure the duke himself in person Comes this way to the melancholy vale; The place of death and sorry execution, Behind the ditches of the abbey here. Ang. Upon what cause?

Mer. To see a reverend Syracusan merchaut, Who put unluckily into this bay

Against the laws and statutes of this town,
Beheaded publicly for his offence.

Ang. See, where they come; we will behold his death.

Luc. Kneel to the duke, before he pass the abbey.

Enter DUKE attended; ÆGEON bare-headed;
with the Headsman and other Officers.
Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly,
If any friend will pay the sum for him,
He shall not die, so much we tender him.
Adr. Justice, most sacred duke, against the
Abbess !

Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend lady; It cannot be, that she hath done thee wrong. Adr. May it please your grace, Antipholus, my husband,

Whom I made lord of me aud all I bad,
At your important § letters,-this ill day

By rushing in their houses, bearing thence
Rings, jewels, any things his rage did like.
Once did I get him bound, and sent him home
Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went,
That here and there his fury had committed.
Anon, I wot+ not by what strong escape,
He broke from those that had the guard of
him;

And, with his mad attendant and himself,
Each one with ireful passion, with drawn
swords,

Met us again, and, madly bent on us,
Chas'd us away; till raising of more aid,
We came again to bind them: then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we pursued them;
And here the abbess shuts the gates on us,
And will not suffer us to fetch him out,
Nor send him forth, that we may bear bim
hence.

Therefore, most gracious duke, with thy command,

Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for help.

Duke. Long since, thy husband serv'd me in

Serv. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself!

My master and his man are both broke loose, Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor,

Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire;

And ever as it blazed they threw on him
Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair :
My master preaches patience to bim, while
His man with scissars nicks him like a fool:
And, sure, unless you send some present help,
Between them they will kill the conjurer.

Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here;

And that is false thou dost report to us.

Serv. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true; I have not breath'd almost, since I did see it. He cries for you, and vows if he can take you, To scorch your face, and to disfigure you:

[Cry within. Hark, bark, I hear him, mistress; fly, be gone. Duke. Come, stand by me, fear nothing:

Guard with halberts.

• ... To make measures.

+ know.

1. e. Successively, one after another. I. e. Cuts his hair close.

748

COMEDY OF ERRORS.

That bath abused and dishonour'd me,
Even in the strength and height of injury !
Beyond imagination is the wrong,

That she this day hath shameless thrown on me.
Duke. Discover how, and thou shalt find me
just.

Ant. E. This day, great duke, she shut the doors upon me, While she with harlots feasted in my house. Duke. A grievous fault: Say, woman, didst thou so?

Adr. No, my good lord ;-myself, he, and my
sister,

To-day did dine together: So befal my soul,
As this is false, he burdens me witbal!

Luc. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on
night,

But she tells to your highness simple truth!
Ang. O perjur'd woman! They are both for-

sworn.

In this the madman justly chargeth them.

Ant. E. My liege, I am advised what I say;
Neither disturb'd with the effect of wine,
Nor heady-rash, provok'd with raging ire,
Albeit, my wrongs might make me wiser mad.
This woman lock'd me out this day from dinner:
That goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with
here.

Could witness it, for he was with me then;
Who parted with me to go fetch a chain,
Promising to bring it to the Porcupine,
Where Balthazar and I did dine together.
Our dinner done, and he not coming thither,
I wem to seek him in the street I met him;
And in his company, that gentleman,

There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me

down,

That I this day of him receiv'd the chain.

Act V. Ant. E. I never came within these abbey

Nor eve walls; thou draw thy sword on me.

I never saw the chain, so help me heaven !
And this is false, you burden me withal.
Duke. Why, what an intricate impeach is
this!

I think you all have drank of Circe's cup.
If here you hous'd him, here he would have
[ly:-
been ;
If he were mad, he would not plead so cold-
You say, he dined at home: the goldsmith here
Denies that saying :-Sirrah, what say you?
Dro. E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the
Porcupine.

Cour. He did; and from my finger snatch'd
that ring.

Ant. E. 'Tis true, my leige, this ring I had of her.

Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey

here ?

Cour. As sure, my leige, as I do see your

grace.
Duke. Why, this is
Abbess bither;

strange :-Go call the

I think you are all måted, or stark mad.

[Exit an Attendant. Ege. 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. Speak freely, Syracusan, what thou
wilt.

Ege. Is not your name, Sir, call'd Autipho-
lus ?

And is not that your bondman Dromio?
Dro. E. Within this hour I was his bondman,

Sir,

Which, God he knows, I saw not: for the But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords:

which,

He did arrest me with an officer.

I did obey; and sent my peasant home

For certain ducats: he with none return'd.
Then fairly I bespoke the officer,

To go in person with me to my house.

By the way we met,

My wife, her sister, and a rabble more

of vile confederates; along with them
They brought one Pinch; a hungry lean-fac'd
villain,

A mere anatomy, a mountebank,

A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller;
A needy, hollow-ey'd, sharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man: this pernicious slave,
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer;
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face, as 'twere, outfacing we,
Cries out, I was possess'd; then altogether
They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence;
And in a dark and dankish vault at home
There left me and my man, both bound to-

gether;

Till gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,
I gain'd my freedom, and immediately
Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech
To give me ample satisfaction

For these deep shames and great indignities.
Ang. My lord, in truth, thus far I witness with

him;
That he dined not at home, but was lock'd out.
Duke. But had he such a chain of thee, or

no?

Ang. He had, my lord: and when he ran in
here,

These people saw the chain about his neck.
Mer. Besides, I will be sworn, these ears of

mine

Heard you confess you had the chain of him,
After you first foreswore it on the mart,
And, thereupon, I drew my sword ou you;
And then you fled into this abbey here,
From whence, I think you are come by miracle.

Harlot was a term of reproach applied to cheats
among men as well as to wantons among women.

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?
Ant. E. Neither.

Ege. Dromio, nor thou?

Dro. E. No, trust me, Sir, not I.
Ege. I am sure, thou dost.

Dro. E. Ay, Sir; but I am sure, I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him.

Age. 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 untun'd cares?
Though now this grained face of mine be hid
In sap consuming winter's drizzled snow,
Aud all the conduits of my blood froze up;
Yet hath my night of life some memory,
My wasting lamp some fading glimmer left,
My dull deaf ears a little use to hear:
All these old witnesses (I cannot err,)
Tell me, art thou my son Antipholus.

Ant. E. I never say my father in my life.
Ege. But seven years since, in Syracusa,
boy,

Thou know'st, we parted: but perhaps, my son,
Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in misery.
Ant. E. The duke, and all that know me in
the city,
Confounded.

+ Alteration of features t Furrowed, hned.

Can witness with me that it is not so; 1 ne'er saw Syracusa in my life.

Duke. I tell thee, Syracusan, 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. Enter the ABBESS, with ANTIPHOLUS Syracusan, and DROMIO Syracusan.

Abb. Most mighty duke, behold a man mnch wrong'd. [All gather to see him. Adr. I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me.

Duke. 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?
Dro. S. I, Sir, am Dromio; command him
away.

Dro. E. 1, Sir, am Dromio; pray let me stay. Ant. S. Egeon, art thou not? or else his ghost?

Dro. S. O my old master! who hath bound

him here?

Abb. Whoever bound him, I will loose bis bonds,

And gain a husband by his liberty :-
Speak, old Ægeon, if thou be'st the man
That had'st a wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons:
Oh! if thou be'st the same Ægeon, speak,
And speak unto the same Æmilia!

ge. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia; If thou art she, tell me, where is that son That floated with thee on the fatal raft ?

Abb. 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. 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 cam'st from Corinth first.
Ant. S. No, Sir, not I; I came from Syracuse.
Duke. Stay, stand apart; I know not which
is which.

Ant. E. I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord.

Dro. E. And I with him.

Ant. E. Brought to this town with that most famous warrior

Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day?

Ant. S. I, gentle mistress.

Adr. And are you not my husband?
Ant. E. No, I say nay to that.

Ant. S. And so do I, yet did she call me so ;
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here,
Did call me brother :-What I told you then,
I hope I shall have leisure to make good;
If this be not a dream I see and hear.

Ang. That is the chain, Sir, which you had of me.

Ant. S. I think it be, Sir, I deny it not. Ant. E. And you, Sir, for this chain arrested me.

Ang. I think I did, Sir; I deny it not. By Dromio; but I think he brought it not. Adr. I sent you money, Sir, to be your bail, Dro. E. No, none by me.

Ant. S. This purse of ducats I receiv'd 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.
Ant. S. These ducats pawn I for my father
here.

Duke. It shall not need, thy father hath his life.

Cour. Sir, I must have that diamond from you. Ant. E. There, take it; and much thanks for

my good cheer,

Abb. 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.-
Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; nor, till this present bour
My heavy burdens are delivered :-

The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me:
After so long grief, such nativity!

Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this

Dro. E. Nay, then thus: We came into the world, like brother and bro

The morning story is what geon tells the Duke in And now let's go hand in hand, not one be. the first scene of this play.

fore another.

[Excunt,

« Forrige Fortsett »

Bøker

The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare, Volum 9