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 with me. [Exeunt PINCH and Assistants, with ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus and DROMIO of Ephesus. Say now, whose suit is he arrested at? Offi. One Angelo, a goldsmith: do you know him? Adr. I know the man. What is the sum he owes? Offi. Two hundred ducats. Adr. Say, how grows it due? Offi. Due for a chain your husband had of hini. 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, gaoler, 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. Away; they'll kill us! [Exeunt Officer, ADRIANA, and LUCIANA. Ant. S. 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 raad 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. [Exeunt. SCENE I.-A public Place. Enter Merchant and ANGELO. Ang. I am sorry, sir, that I have hindered you; But I protest he had the chain of me, Though most dishonestly he doth deny it. Mer. How is the man esteemed here in the city? That you would put me to this shame and trouble; Ant. S. I think I had: I never did deny it. 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, Courtesan, and others. Adr. Hold, hurt him not, for God's sake; he is mad:: Some get within him, take his sword away : This is some priory: in, or we are spoiled. Abb. Be quiet, people: wherefore throng you hither? Adr. To fetch my poor distracted husband hence: Let us come in, that we may bind him fast, Ang. I knew he was not in his perfect wits. Adr. This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad, And much, much different from the man he was; But, till this afternoon, his passion Ne'er brake into extremity of rage. Abb. Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck at sea? Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye A sin prevailing much in youthful men, Adr. To none of these, except it be the last; Namely, some love that drew him oft from home. Abb. You should for that have reprehended him. Adr. Why, so I did. In company, I often glancéd 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 hindered by thy railing: And therefore comes it that his head is light. Thou say'st his meat was sauced with thy upbraidings: Unquiet meals make ill digestions, Thereof the raging fire of fever bred; And what's a fever but a fit of madness? Thou say'st his sports were hindered by thy brawls: Sweet recreation barred, what doth ensue Why bear you these rebukes, and answer not? 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 sanctuary, 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 used 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 [Exit Abbess. him. Luc. Complain unto the Duke of this indignity. 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 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 and all I had, your important letters,-this ill day A most outrageous fit of madness took him; That desperately he hurried through the street (With him his bondman all as mad as he), Doing displeasure to the citizens, By rushing in their houses, bearing thence my wars; And I to thee engaged a prince's word, Enter a Servant. 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: Adr. Peace, fool, thymaster 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 breathed 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, hark, I hear him, mistress; fly, begone! Duke. Come, stand by me; fear nothing.— Guard with halberds. Adr. Ah me, it is my husband! Witness you That he is borne about invisible: Even now we housed him in the abbey here; And now he's there, past thought of human reason. Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Ephesus. Ant. E. Justice, most gracious Duke! Oh, grant me justice, Even for the service that long since I did thee, I see my son Antipholus and Dromio. Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that woman there : Ang. O perjured woman! they are both for sworn. In this the madman justly chargeth them. say, Ant. E. My liege, I am adviséd what I To go in person with me to my house. My wife, her sister, and a rabble more A mere anatomy, a mountebank, A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller ; him, That he dined not at home, but was locked 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. Heard And then you fled into this abbey here, Duke. Why, what an intricate impeach is this! I think you all have drank of Circe's cup. If here Cour. He did, and from my finger snatched that ring. Ant. E. 'Tis true, my liege; this ring I had of her. Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here? Cour. As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace. Duke. Why, this is strange.-Go call the Abbess hither: I think you are all mated or stark mad [Exit an Attendant. Ege. Most mighty Duke, vouchsafe me speak a word: Haply I see a friend will save my life, pay the sum that may deliver me. Dro. E.Within this hour I was his bondman, sir; But he, I thank him, gnawed in two my cords: Now am I Dromio, and his man, unbound. Ege. I am sure you both of you remember me. Dro. E. 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? Ege. Why look you strange on me? You know me well. Ant. E. I never saw you in my life till now. Ege. Oh! grief hath changed me since you saw me last; And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand, voice? Dro. E. Ay, sir? but I am sure I do not, and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him. Ege. Not know my voice! O time's extremity! Hast thou so cracked 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 grainéd face of mine be hid Ant. E. I never saw 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, Can witness with me that it is not so: Duke. I tell thee, Syracusan, twenty years Abb. Most mighty Duke, behold a man much wronged. [All gather to see him. Adr. I see two husbands, or mine eyes de ceive me. Duke. One of these men is genius to the other; Dro. S. I, sir, am Dromio; command him away. Abb. Whoever bound him, I will loose his And gain a husband by his liberty. Æge. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia: Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he and I, Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right. |