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 unurg'd would'st vow That never touch well-welcome to thy hand, Am better than thy dear self's better part. As take from me thyself, and not me too. I know thou canst; and therefore, see, thou do it. I am possess'd with an adulterate blot; I do digest the poison of thy flesh, Being strumpeted by thy contagion. Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed; I live dis-stain'd, thou undishonoured. Ant. S. Plead you to me, fair dame? I know you not: In Ephesus I am but two hours old, Luc. Fye, brother! how the world is chang'd with you: When were you wont to use my sister thus ? Ant. S. By Dromio? Dro. S. By me? Adr. By thee: and this thou didst return from him, That he did buffet thee, and, in his blows Ant. S. Did you converse, sir, with this gentle woman? What 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 words Didst thou deliver to me on the mart. 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 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. This is the fairy land;-0, spite of spites!We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprites; If we obey them not, this will ensue, They'll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue. Luc. Why prat'st thou to thyself, and answer'st not? Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot! 3 Unfertile. L2 Dro. S. I am transformed, master, am not I? Ant. S. I think, thou art, in mind, and so am I. Dro. S. Nay, master, both in mind, and in m shape. Ant. S. Thou hast thine own form. Dro. S. No, I am an ape. Luc. If thou art chang'd to aught, 'tis to an ass. Dro. S. 'Tis true; she rides me, and I long for grass. 'Tis so, I am an ass; else it could never be, Adr. Come, come, no longer will I be a fool, Ant. S. Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Dro. S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate? pate. Luc. Come, come, Antipholus, we dine too late. [Exeunt. + Absolve. ACT III. SCENE I. The same. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus, DROMIO of Ephesus, ANGELO, and BALTHAZAR, Ant. E. Good signior Angelo, you must excuse us all; My wife is shrewish, when I keep not hours: 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. Dro. E. Marry, so it doth appear By the wrongs I suffer, and the blows I bear. 5 A necklace strung with pearls. |