That by misfortunes was my life prolong'd, Do me the favor to dilate at full What hath befall'n of them and thee till now. Ege. My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care, 131 At eighteen years became inquisitive To bear the extremity of dire mishap! Gaol. I will, my lord. 150 Eye. Hopeless and helpless doth Egeon wend, But to procrastinate his lifeless end. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Mart. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, DROMIO of Syracuse, and First Merchant. First Mer. Therefore give out you are of Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate. Ant. S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host, And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee. 10 nesday last To pay the saddler for my mistress' crupper? The saddler had it, sir; I kept it not. Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humor now: Tell me, and dally not, where is the money? We being strangers here, how darest thou trust So great a charge from thine own custody? 61 Dro. E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner: I from my mistress come to you in post; clock, And strike you home without a messenger There's nothing situate under heaven's eye Adr. This servitude makes you to keep unwed. Luc. Not this, but troubles of the marriagebed. 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 ? 30 Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear. Adr. Patience unmoved! no marvel though 40 But, if thon live to see like right bereft, Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. Adr. Say, is your tardy master now at hand? Dro. E. Nay, he's 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 If I last in this service, you must case me in leather. [Exit. Luc. Fie, how impatience loureth in your face! Adr. His company must do his minions grace, Whilst at home starve for a merry look. A sunny look of his would soon repair: Adr. Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense. I know his eye doth homage otherwhere; Will lose his beauty; yet the gold bides still, SCENE II. A public place. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse. Ant. S. The gold I gave to Dromio is laid up Safe at the Centaur; and the heedful slave Is wander'd forth, in care to seek me out By computation and mine host's report. I could not speak with Dromio since at first I sent him from the mart. See, here he comes. Enter DROMIO of Syracuse, How now, sir! is your merry humor alter'd? As you love strokes, so jest with me again. You know no Centaur ? you received no gold ? Your mistress sent to have me home to dinner? My house was at the Phoenix? Wast thou mad, 11 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, [Beating him. and that. Dro, S. Hold, sir, for God's sake! now your jest is earnest : Upon what bargain do you give it me? Ant. S. Because that I familiarly sometimes Do use you for my fool and chat with you, Your sauciness will jest upon my love And make a common of my serious hours. When the sun shines let foolish gnats make sport, 30 But creep in crannies when he hides his beams. 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. Bat, I pray, sir, why am I beaten ? Ant. S. Dost thou not know? Dr. S. 40 Nothing, sir, but that I am beaten. Ant. S. Shall I tell you why? Dro. S. Ay, sir, and wherefore; for they ay every why hath a wherefore. Ant. S. Why, first,-for flouting me; and then, wherefore, For urging it the second time to me. Dr. S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season, When in the why and the wherefore is neither rhyme nor reason? Well, sir, I thank you. Aut. S. Thank me, sir, for what? 50 covery? Dr. 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 one, to save the money that he spends in trimming; 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, no time to recover hair lost by nature. 101 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 'twould be a bald conclusion : 110 But, soft! who wafts us yonder? Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA. Adr. Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange and frown: Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects; I am not Adriana nor thy wife. The time was once when thou unurged wouldst VOW That never words were music to thine ear, 120 How comes it now, my husband, O, how comes it, That thou art thus estranged from thyself? 130 Am better than thy dear self's better part. I am possess'd with an adulterate blot; I do digest the poison of thy flesh, 180 Makes me with thy strength to communicate: Ant. S. To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme: What, was I married to her in my dream? Luc. Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner. Dro. S. O, for my beads! I cross me for a sinner. 190 This is the fairy land: O spite of spites! Luc. Why pratest thou to thyself and answer'st not? Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot! Come, sir, to dinner. Dromio, keep the gate. Sleeping or waking? mad or well-advised? Dro. S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate? Adr. Ay: and let none enter lest I break your pate. 220 Luc. Come, come, Antipholus, we dine tos late. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Before the house of ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus, DROMIO of My wife is shrewish when I keep not hours: And that to-morrow you will bring it home. And that I did deny my wife and house. Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by this? 10 Dro. E. Say what you will sir, but I know what I know; That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show; If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink, Your own handwriting would tell you what I think. Ant. E. I think thou art an ass. |