The Two Gentlemen Of Verona

1 Enter Valentine.
2 VALENTINE.
3 How use doth breed a habit in a man!
4 This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
5 I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
6 Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
7 And to the nightingale’s complaining notes
8 Tune my distresses and record my woes.
9 O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
10 Leave not the mansion so long tenantless,
11 Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall
12 And leave no memory of what it was.
13 Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
14 Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain.
15 [_Shouts within._]
16 What hallowing and what stir is this today?
17 These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
18 Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
19 They love me well; yet I have much to do
20 To keep them from uncivil outrages.
21 Withdraw thee, Valentine. Who’s this comes here?
22 [_Steps aside._]
23 Enter Proteus, Silvia and Julia as Sebastian.
24 PROTEUS.
25 Madam, this service I have done for you—
26 Though you respect not aught your servant doth—
27 To hazard life, and rescue you from him
28 That would have forced your honour and your love.
29 Vouchsafe me for my meed but one fair look;
30 A smaller boon than this I cannot beg,
31 And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give.
32 VALENTINE.
33 [_Aside_.] How like a dream is this I see and hear!
34 Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.
35 SILVIA.
36 O miserable, unhappy that I am!
37 PROTEUS.
38 Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came;
39 But by my coming I have made you happy.
40 SILVIA.
41 By thy approach thou mak’st me most unhappy.
42 JULIA.
43 [_Aside_.] And me, when he approacheth to your presence.
44 SILVIA.
45 Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
46 I would have been a breakfast to the beast
47 Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
48 O heaven, be judge how I love Valentine,
49 Whose life’s as tender to me as my soul!
50 And full as much, for more there cannot be,
51 I do detest false perjured Proteus.
52 Therefore be gone, solicit me no more.
53 PROTEUS.
54 What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
55 Would I not undergo for one calm look!
56 O, ’tis the curse in love, and still approved,
57 When women cannot love where they’re beloved.
58 SILVIA.
59 When Proteus cannot love where he’s beloved.
60 Read over Julia’s heart, thy first best love,
61 For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith
62 Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths
63 Descended into perjury to love me.
64 Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou’dst two,
65 And that’s far worse than none; better have none
66 Than plural faith, which is too much by one.
67 Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!
68 PROTEUS.
69 In love
70 Who respects friend?
71 SILVIA.
72 All men but Proteus.
73 PROTEUS.
74 Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words
75 Can no way change you to a milder form,
76 I’ll woo you like a soldier, at arms’ end,
77 And love you ’gainst the nature of love—force ye.
78 [_He seizes her._]
79 SILVIA.
80 O heaven!
81 PROTEUS.
82 I’ll force thee yield to my desire.
83 VALENTINE.
84 [_Comes forward_.] Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch,
85 Thou friend of an ill fashion!
86 PROTEUS.
87 Valentine!
88 VALENTINE.
89 Thou common friend, that’s without faith or love,
90 For such is a friend now. Treacherous man,
91 Thou hast beguiled my hopes; nought but mine eye
92 Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say
93 I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me.
94 Who should be trusted, when one’s right hand
95 Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus,
96 I am sorry I must never trust thee more,
97 But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
98 The private wound is deepest. O time most accurst,
99 ’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!
100 PROTEUS.
101 My shame and guilt confounds me.
102 Forgive me, Valentine; if hearty sorrow
103 Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
104 I tender ’t here. I do as truly suffer
105 As e’er I did commit.
106 VALENTINE.
107 Then I am paid,
108 And once again I do receive thee honest.
109 Who by repentance is not satisfied
110 Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these are pleased;
111 By penitence th’ Eternal’s wrath’s appeased.
112 And that my love may appear plain and free,
113 All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.
114 JULIA.
115 O me unhappy!
116 [_Swoons._]
117 PROTEUS.
118 Look to the boy.
119 VALENTINE.
120 Why, boy!
121 Why, wag! How now? What’s the matter? Look up; speak.
122 JULIA.
123 O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia,
124 which out of my neglect was never done.
125 PROTEUS.
126 Where is that ring, boy?
127 JULIA.
128 Here ’tis; this is it.
129 [_Gives him a ring._]
130 PROTEUS.
131 How, let me see.
132 Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.
133 JULIA.
134 O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook.
135 This is the ring you sent to Silvia.
136 [_Shows another ring._]
137 PROTEUS.
138 But how cam’st thou by this ring? At my depart
139 I gave this unto Julia.
140 JULIA.
141 And Julia herself did give it me,
142 And Julia herself have brought it hither.
143 [_She reveals herself._]
144 PROTEUS.
145 How? Julia?
146 JULIA.
147 Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths
148 And entertained ’em deeply in her heart.
149 How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root!
150 O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush.
151 Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me
152 Such an immodest raiment, if shame live
153 In a disguise of love.
154 It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,
155 Women to change their shapes than men their minds.
156 PROTEUS.
157 Than men their minds! ’Tis true. O heaven, were man
158 But constant, he were perfect. That one error
159 Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th’ sins;
160 Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.
161 What is in Silvia’s face but I may spy
162 More fresh in Julia’s with a constant eye?
163 VALENTINE.
164 Come, come, a hand from either.
165 Let me be blest to make this happy close.
166 ’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.
167 PROTEUS.
168 Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever.
169 JULIA.
170 And I mine.
171 Enter Outlaws with Duke and Thurio.
172 OUTLAWS.
173 A prize, a prize, a prize!
174 VALENTINE.
175 Forbear, forbear, I say! It is my lord the Duke.
176 Your Grace is welcome to a man disgraced,
177 Banished Valentine.
178 DUKE.
179 Sir Valentine!
180 THURIO.
181 Yonder is Silvia, and Silvia’s mine.
182 VALENTINE.
183 Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;
184 Come not within the measure of my wrath.
185 Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,
186 Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands;
187 Take but possession of her with a touch—
188 I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.
189 THURIO.
190 Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I.
191 I hold him but a fool that will endanger
192 His body for a girl that loves him not.
193 I claim her not, and therefore she is thine.
194 DUKE.
195 The more degenerate and base art thou
196 To make such means for her as thou hast done,
197 And leave her on such slight conditions.—
198 Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
199 I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
200 And think thee worthy of an empress’ love.
201 Know then, I here forget all former griefs,
202 Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
203 Plead a new state in thy unrivalled merit,
204 To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
205 Thou art a gentleman, and well derived;
206 Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.
207 VALENTINE.
208 I thank your Grace; the gift hath made me happy.
209 I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake,
210 To grant one boon that I shall ask of you.
211 DUKE.
212 I grant it for thine own, whate’er it be.
213 VALENTINE.
214 These banished men, that I have kept withal,
215 Are men endued with worthy qualities.
216 Forgive them what they have committed here,
217 And let them be recalled from their exile.
218 They are reformed, civil, full of good,
219 And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
220 DUKE.
221 Thou hast prevailed; I pardon them and thee.
222 Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts.
223 Come, let us go; we will include all jars
224 With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.
225 VALENTINE.
226 And as we walk along, I dare be bold
227 With our discourse to make your Grace to smile.
228 What think you of this page, my lord?
229 DUKE.
230 I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes.
231 VALENTINE.
232 I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.
233 DUKE.
234 What mean you by that saying?
235 VALENTINE.
236 Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along,
237 That you will wonder what hath fortuned.
238 Come, Proteus, ’tis your penance but to hear
239 The story of your loves discovered.
240 That done, our day of marriage shall be yours,
241 One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.
242 [_Exeunt._]