Текст книги "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition"

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4.2 Enter ⌈from the Phoenix⌉ Adriana and Luciana

ADRIANA

Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?

Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye

That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?

Looked he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?

What observation mad’st thou in this case

Of his heart’s meteors tilting in his face?

LUCIANA

First he denied you had in him no right.

ADRIANA

He meant he did me none, the more my spite.

LUCIANA

Then swore he that he was a stranger here.

ADRIANA

And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.

LUCIANA

Then pleaded I for you.

ADRIANA

And what said he?

LUCIANA

That love I begged for you, he begged of me.

ADRIANA

With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?

LUCIANA

With words that in an honest suit might move.

First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.

ADRIANA

Didst speak him fair?

LUCIANA Have patience, I beseech.

ADRIANA

I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still.

My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.

He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere,

Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless everywhere,

Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,

Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.

LUCIANA

Who would be jealous, then, of such a one?

No evil lost is wailed when it is gone.

ADRIANA

Ah, but I think him better than I say,

And yet would herein others’ eyes were worse.

Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.

My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

Enter Dromio of Syracuse running

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

Here, go—the desk, the purse! Sweet now, make haste!

LUCIANA

How? Hast thou lost thy breath?

DROMIO or SYRACUSE By running fast.

ADRIANA

Where is thy master, Dromio? Is he well?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

No, he’s in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.

A devil in an everlasting garment hath him,

One whose hard heart is buttoned up with steel;

A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough;

A wolf, nay worse, a fellow all in buff;

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands

The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow launds;

A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dryfoot well;

One that before the Judgement carries poor souls to hell.

ADRIANA Why, man, what is the matter?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

I do not know the matter, he is ’rested on the case.

ADRIANA

What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

I know not at whose suit he is arrested well,

But is in a suit of buff which ’rested him, that can I tell.

Will you send him, mistress, redemption—the money in his desk?

ADRIANA

Go fetch it, sister.

Exit Luciana ⌈into the Phoenix⌉

This I wonder at,

That he unknown to me should be in debt.

Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

Not on a bond but on a stronger thing:

A chain, a chain—do you not hear it ring?

ADRIANA

What, the chain?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

No, no, the bell. ‘Tis time that I were gone:

It was two ere I left him, and now the clock strikes one.

ADRIANA

The hours come back! That did I never hear.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

O yes, if any hour meet a sergeant, a turns back for very fear.

ADRIANA

As if time were in debt. How fondly dost thou reason!

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more than he’s worth to season.

Nay, he’s a thief too. Have you not heard men say

That time comes stealing on by night and day?

If a be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,

Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?

Enter Luciana ⌈from the Phoenix⌉ with the money

ADRIANA

Go, Dromio, there’s the money. Bear it straight,

And bring thy master home immediately.

⌈Exit Dromiol⌉

Come, sister, I am pressed down with conceit:

Conceit, my comfort and my injury.

Exeunt ⌈into the Phoenix⌉

4.3 Enter Antipholus of Syracuse, wearing the chain

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me

As if I were their well-acquainted friend,

And everyone doth call me by my name.

Some tender money to me, some invite me,

Some other give me thanks for kindnesses.

Some offer me commodities to buy.

Even now a tailor called me in his shop,

And showed me silks that he had bought for me,

And therewithal took measure of my body.

Sure, these are but imaginary wiles,

And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here.

Enter Dromio of Syracuse with the money

DROMIO or SYRACUSE Master, here’s the gold you sent me for. What, have you got redemption from the picture of old Adam new apparelled?

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

What gold is this? What Adam dost thou mean?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Not that Adam that kept the Paradise, but that Adam that keeps the prison—he that goes in the calf’s skin, that was killed for the Prodigal; he that came behind you, sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forsake your liberty.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE I understand thee not.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE No? Why, ‘tis a plain case: he that went like a bass viol in a case of leather; the man, sir, that when gentlemen are tired gives them a sob and ’rests them; he, sir, that takes pity on decayed men and gives them suits of durance; he that sets up his rest to do more exploits with his mace than a Moorish pike.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE What, thou mean’st an officer?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Ay, sir, the sergeant of the band: he that brings any man to answer it that breaks his bond; one that thinks a man always going to bed, and says ‘God give you good rest.’

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE Well, sir, there rest in your foolery. Is there any ships puts forth tonight? May we be gone?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Why, sir, I brought you word an hour since that the barque Expedition put forth tonight, and then were you hindered by the sergeant to tarry for the hoy Delay. Here are the angels that you sent for to deliver you. 41

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

The fellow is distraught, and so am I,

And here we wander in illusions.

Some blessed power deliver us from hence.

Enter a Courtesan ⌈from the Porcupine⌉

COURTESAN

Well met, well met, Master Antipholus.

I see, sir, you have found the goldsmith now.

Is that the chain you promised me today?

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

Satan, avoid! I charge thee, tempt me not!

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Master, is this Mistress Satan? ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE It is the devil.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Nay, she is worse, she is the devil’s dam; and here she comes in the habit of a light wench. And thereof comes that the wenches say ‘God damn me’—that’s as much to say, ‘God make me a light wench.’ It is written they appear to men like angels of light. Light is an effect of fire, and fire will burn. Ergo, light wenches will burn. Come not near her.

COURTESAN

Your man and you are marvellous merry, sir.

Will you go with me? We’ll mend our dinner here.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat, and bespeak a long spoon.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE Why, Dromio?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE (to Courtesan)

Avoid, thou fiend! What tell’st thou me of supping?

Thou art, as you are all, a sorceress.

I conjure thee to leave me and be gone.

COURTESAN

Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner,

Or for my diamond the chain you promised,

And I’ll be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

Some devils ask but the parings of one’s nail,

A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin,

A nut, a cherry-stone;

But she, more covetous, would have a chain.

Master, be wise; an if you give it her,

The devil will shake her chain, and fright us with it.

COURTESAN (to Antipholus)

I pray you, sir, my ring, or else the chain.

I hope you do not mean to cheat me so?

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

Avaunt, thou witch !—Come, Dromio, let us go.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

‘Fly pride’ says the peacock. Mistress, that you know.

Exeunt Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse

COURTESAN

Now, out of doubt, Antipholus is mad;

Else would he never so demean himself.

A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,

And for the same he promised me a chain.

Both one and other he denies me now.

The reason that I gather he is mad,

Besides this present instance of his rage,

Is a mad tale he told today at dinner

Of his own doors being shut against his entrance.

Belike his wife, acquainted with his fits,

On purpose shut the doors against his way.

My way is now to hie home to his house,

And tell his wife that, being lunatic,

He rushed into my house, and took perforce

My ring away. This course I fittest choose,

For forty ducats is too much to lose. Exit

4.4 Enter Antipholus of Ephesus with the Officer

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Fear me not, man, I will not break away.

I’ll give thee ere I leave thee so much money

To warrant thee as I am ‘rested for.

My wife is in a wayward mood today,

And will not lightly trust the messenger

That I should be attached in Ephesus.

I tell you ’twill sound harshly in her ears.

Enter Dromio of Ephesus with a rope’s end

Here comes my man. I think he brings the money.—

How now, sir? Have you that I sent you for?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Here’s that, I warrant you, will pay them all.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS But where’s the money?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

I’ll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

To what end did I bid thee hie thee home?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS To a rope’s end, sir, and to that end

am I returned.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

And to that end, sir, I will welcome you.

He beats Dromio

OFFICER Good sir, be patient.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS Nay, ’tis for me to be patient: I am in adversity. 21

OFFICER Good now, hold thy tongue.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS Thou whoreson, senseless villain!

DROMIO OF EPHESUS I would I were senseless, sir, that I might not feel your blows.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, and so is an ass.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS I am an ass indeed. You may prove it by my long ears.—I have served him from the hour of my 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, he 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, Courtesan, and a schoolmaster called Pinch

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Come, go along: my wife is coming yonder.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS (to Adriana) Mistress, respice finem respect your end—or rather, to prophesy like the parrot, ‘Beware the rope’s end’.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS Wilt thou still talk?

He beats Dromio

COURTESAN (to Adriana)

How say you now ? Is not your husband mad?

ADRIANA

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.

LUCIANA

Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks!

COURTESAN

Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy.

PINCH (to Antipholus)

Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

There is my hand, and let it feel your ear.

He strikes Pinch

PINCH

I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man,

To yield possession to my holy prayers,

And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight:

I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Peace, doting wizard, peace! I am not mad.

ADRIANA

O that thou wert not, poor distressed soul.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

You minion, you, are these your customers?

Did this companion with the saffron face

Revel and feast it at my house today,

Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut,

And I denied to enter in my house?

ADRIANA

O husband, God doth know you dined at home,

Where would you had remained until this time,

Free from these slanders and this open shame.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Dined at home?

(To Dromio) Thou villain, what sayst thou?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Were not my doors locked up, and I shut out?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Pardie, your doors were locked, and you shut out.

ANTIPHOLIIS OF EPHESUS

And did not she herself revile me there?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Sans fable, she herself reviled you there.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn me?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Certes she did. The kitchen vestal scorned you.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

And did not I in rage depart from thence?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

In verity you did. My bones bears witness,

That since have felt the vigour of his rage.

ADRIANA (aside to Pinch)

Is’t good to soothe him in these contraries?

PINCH (aside to Adriana)

It is no shame. The fellow finds his vein,

And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS (to Adriana)

Thou hast suborned the goldsmith to arrest me.

ADRIANA

Alas, I sent you money to redeem you,

By Dromio here, who came in haste for it.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Money by me ? Heart and good will you might,

But surely, master, not a rag of money.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Went’st not thou to her for a purse of ducats?

ADRIANA

He came to me, and I delivered it.

LUCIANA

And I am witness with her that she did.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

God and the ropemaker bear me witness

That I was sent for nothing but a rope.

PINCH (aside to Adriana)

Mistress, both man and master is possessed.

I know it by their pale and deadly looks.

They must be bound and laid in some dark room.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS (to Adriana)

Say wherefore didst thou lock me forth today,

(To Dromio) And why dost thou deny the bag of gold?

ADRIANA

I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

And, gentle master, I received no gold.

But I confess, sir, that we were locked out.

ADRIANA

Dissembling villain, thou speak’st false in both.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

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 those false eyes,

That would behold in me this shameful sport.

⌈He reaches for Adriana ; she shrieks.⌉ Enter three or four, and offer to bind him. He strives

ADRIANA

O, bind him, bind him. Let him not come near me.

PINCH

More company! The fiend is strong within him.

LUCIANA

Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

What, will you murder me?—Thou, jailer, thou,

I am thy prisoner. Wilt thou suffer them

To make a rescue?

OFFICER

Masters, let him go.

He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.

PINCH

Go, bind his man, for he is frantic too.

They bind Dromio

ADRIANA

What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer?

Hast thou delight to see a wretched man

Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

OFFICER

He is my prisoner. If I let him go,

The debt he owes will be required of me.

ADRIANA

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 conveyed

Home to my house. O most unhappy day!

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS O most unhappy strumpet!

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Master, I am here entered in bond for you.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Out on thee, villain! Wherefore dost thou mad me?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS

Will you be bound for nothing? Be mad, good master—

Cry, ‘The devil!’

LUCIANA

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

ADRIANA

Go bear him hence. Sister, go you with me.

Exeunt ⌈into the Phoenix⌉, Pinch and others carrying off Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio of Ephesus. The Officer, Adriana, Luciana, and the Courtesan remain

(To the Officer) Say now, whose suit is he arrested at?

OFFICER

One Angelo, a goldsmith. Do you know him?

ADRIANA

I know the man. What is the sum he owes?

OFFICER

Two hundred ducats.

ADRIANA

Say, how grows it due?

OFFICER

Due for a chain your husband had of him.

ADRIANA

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

COURTESAN

Whenas your husband all in rage today

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.

ADRIANA

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 (wearing the chain) and Dromio of Syracuse with their rapiers drawn

LUCIANA

God, for thy mercy, they are loose again!

ADRIANA

And come with naked swords. Let’s call more help

To have them bound again.

OFFICER

Away, they’ll kill us!

All but Antipholus and Dromio run out, as fast as may be, frighted

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

I see these witches are afraid of swords.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

She that would be your wife now ran from you.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

Come to the Centaur. Fetch our stuff from thence.

I long that we were safe and sound aboard.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE 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.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

I will not stay tonight for all the town.

Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard.

Exeunt

5.1 Enter Second Merchant and Angelo the goldsmith

ANGELO

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.

SECOND MERCHANT

How is the man esteemed here in the city?

ANGELO

Of very reverend reputation, sir,

Of credit infinite, highly beloved,

Second to none that lives here in the city.

His word might bear my wealth at any time.

SECOND MERCHANT

Speak softly. Yonder, as I think, he walks.

Enter Antipholus of Syracuse, wearing the chain, and Dromio of Syracuse again

ANGELO

‘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.—

Signor 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.

Beside the charge, the shame, imprisonment,

You have done wrong to this my honest friend,

Who, but for staying on our controversy,

Had hoisted sail and put to sea today.

This chain you had of me. Can you deny it?

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

I think I had. I never did deny it.

SECOND MERCHANT

Yes, that you did, sir, and forswore it too.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

Who heard me to deny it or forswear it?

SECOND MERCHANT

These ears of mine, thou know‘st, did hear thee.

Fie on thee, wretch! ’Tis pity that thou liv’st

To walk where any honest men resort.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE

Thou art a villain to impeach me thus.

I’ll prove mine honour and mine honesty

Against thee presently, if thou dar’st stand.

SECOND MERCHANT

I dare, and do defy thee for a villain.

They draw. Enter Adriana, Luciana, Courtesan, and others ⌈from the Phoenix⌉

ADRIANA

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.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE

Run, master, run! For God’s sake take a house.

This is some priory—in, or we are spoiled.

Exeunt Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse to the priory

Enter ⌈from the priory⌉ the Lady Abbess

ABBESS

Be quiet, people. Wherefore throng you hither?

ADRIANA

To fetch my poor distracted husband hence.

Let us come in, that we may bind him fast,

And bear him home for his recovery.

ANGELO

I knew he was not in his perfect wits.

SECOND MERCHANT

I am sorry now that I did draw on him.

ABBESS

How long hath this possession held the man?

ADRIANA

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.

ABBESS

Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck at sea?

Buried some dear friend?Hath not else his eye

Strayed his affection in unlawful love—

A sin prevailing much in youthful men,

Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing?

Which of these sorrows is he subject to?

ADRIANA

To none of these, except it be the last,

Namely some love that drew him oft from home.

ABBESS

You should for that have reprehended him.

ADRIANA

Why, so I did.

ABBESS Ay, but not rough enough.

ADRIANA

As roughly as my modesty would let me.

ABBESS Haply in private.

ADRIANA And in assemblies too.

ABBESS Ay, but not enough.

ADRIANA

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 glancèd it.

Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.

ABBESS

And thereof came it that the man was mad.

The venom clamours of a jealous woman

Poisons more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth.

It seems his sleeps were hindered by thy railing,

And thereof comes it that his head is light.

Thou sayst his meat was sauced with thy upbraidings.

Unquiet meals make ill digestions.

Thereof the raging fire offever bred,

And what’s a fever but a fit of madness?

Thou sayst his sports were hindered by thy brawls.

Sweet recreation barred, 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 disturbed would mad or man or beast.

The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits

Hath scared thy husband from the use of wits.

LUCIANA

She never reprehended him but mildly

When he demeaned himself rough, rude, and wildly.

(To Adriana) Why bear you these rebukes, and answer

not?

ADRIANA

She did betray me to my own reproof.—

Good people, enter, and lay hold on him.

ABBESS

No, not a creature enters in my house.

ADRIANA

Then let your servants bring my husband forth.

ABBESS

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 essaying it.

ADRIANA

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.

ABBESS

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.

ADRIANA

I will not hence, and leave my husband here;

And ill it doth beseem your holiness

To separate the husband and the wife.

ABBESS

Be quiet and depart. Thou shalt not have him.

⌈Exit into the priory⌉

LUCIANA (to Adriana)

Complain unto the Duke of this indignity.

ADRIANA

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.

SECOND MERCHANT

By this, I think, the dial point’s at five.

Anon, I’m 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.

ANGELO Upon what cause?

SECOND MERCHANT

To see a reverend Syracusian merchant,

Who put unluckily into this bay

Against the laws and statutes of this town,

Beheaded publicly for his offence.

ANGELO

See where they come. We will behold his death.

LUCIANA

Kneel to the Duke before he pass the abbey.

Enter Solinus Duke of Ephesus, and Egeon the merchant of Syracuse, bareheaded, 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.

ADRIANA (kneeling)

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.

ADRIANA

May it please your grace, Antipholus my husband,

Who I made lord of me and all I had

At your important letters—this ill day

A most outrageous fit of madness took him,

That desp’rately 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

Rings, jewels, anything 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,

Chased 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 him hence.

Therefore, most gracious Duke, with thy command

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

DUKE ⌈raising Adriana⌉

Long since, thy husband served me in my wars,

And I to thee engaged a prince’s word,

When thou didst make him master of thy bed,

To do him all the grace and good I could.—

Go, some of you, knock at the abbey gate,

And bid the Lady Abbess come to me.

I will determine this before I stir.

Enter a Messenger ⌈from the Phoenix⌉

MESSENGER (to Adriana)

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 him, and the while

His man with scissors nicks him like a fool;

And sure—unless you send some present help-

Between them they will kill the conjurer.

ADRIANA

Peace, fool. Thy master and his man are here,

And that is false thou dost report to us.

MESSENGER

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, be gone!

DUKE (to Adriana)

Come stand by me. Fear nothing. Guard with halberds!

Enter Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio of Ephesus ⌈from the Phoenix⌉

ADRIANA

Ay 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.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Justice, most gracious Duke, O grant me justice,

Even for the service that long since I did thee,

When I bestrid thee in the wars, and took

Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood

That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice!

EGEON (aside)

Unless the fear of death doth make me dote,

I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

Justice, sweet prince, against that woman there,

She whom thou gav’st to me to be my wife,

That hath abused and dishonoured 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.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

This day, great Duke, she shut the doors upon me

While she with harlots feasted in my house.

DUKE

A grievous fautt!—Say, woman, didst thou so?

ADRIANA

No, my good lord. Myself, he, and my sister

Today did dine together. So befall my soul

As this is false he burdens me withal.

LUCIANA

Ne’er may I look on day nor sleep on night

But she tells to your highness simple truth.

ANGELO (aside)

O perjured woman! They are both forsworn.

In this the madman justly chargeth them.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

My liege, I am advised what I say,

Neither disturbed with the effect of wine,

Nor heady-rash provoked with raging ire,

Albeit my wrongs might make one wiser mad.

This woman locked me out this day from dinner.

That goldsmith there, were he not packed with her,

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 Balthasar and I did dine together.

Our dinner done, and he not coming thither,

I went to seek him. In the street I met him,

And in his company that gentleman.

He points to the Second Merchant

There did this perjured goldsmith swear me down

That I this day of him received the chain,

Which, God he knows, I saw not. For the which

He did arrest me with an officer.

I did obey, and sent my peasant home

For certain ducats. He with none returned.

Then fairly I bespoke the officer

To go in person with me to my house.

By th’ way, we met my wife, her sister, and a rabble

more

Of vile confederates. Along with them

They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-faced villain,

A mere anatomy, a mountebank,

A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller,

A needy, hollow-eyed, 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 me,

Cries out I was possessed. Then all together

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 together,

Till, gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,

I gained my freedom, and immediately

Ran hither to your grace, whom I beseech

To give me ample satisfaction

For these deep shames and great indignities.

ANGELO

My lord, in truth, thus far I witness with him:

That he dined not at home, but was locked out.

DUKE

But had he such a chain of thee, or no?

ANGELO

He had, my lord, and when he ran in here

These people saw the chain about his neck.

SECOND MERCHANT (to Antipholus)

Besides, I will be sworn these ears of mine

Heard you confess you had the chain of him,

After you first forswore it on the mart,

And thereupon I drew my sword on you;

And then you fled into this abbey here,

From whence I think you are come by miracle.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS

I never came within these abbey walls,

Nor ever didst 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 drunk of Circe’s cup.

If here you housed him, here he would have been.

If he were mad, he would not plead so coldly.

(To Adriana) You say he dined at home, the goldsmith here

Denies that saying. (To Dromio) Sirrah, what say you?

DROMIO OF EPHESUS (pointing out the Courtesan)