Complete Plays, The (434 page)
Read Complete Plays, The Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Valentine
Thou common friend, that’s without faith or love,
For such is a friend now; treacherous man!
Thou hast beguiled my hopes; nought but mine eye
Could have persuaded me: now I dare not say
I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me.
Who should be trusted, when one’s own right hand
Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus,
I am sorry I must never trust thee more,
But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
The private wound is deepest: O time most accurst,
’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!
Proteus
My shame and guilt confounds me.
Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty sorrow
Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
I tender ’t here; I do as truly suffer
As e’er I did commit.
Valentine
Then I am paid;
And once again I do receive thee honest.
Who by repentance is not satisfied
Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these are pleased.
By penitence the Eternal’s wrath’s appeased:
And, that my love may appear plain and free,
All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.
Julia
O me unhappy!
Swoons
Proteus
Look to the boy.
Valentine
Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what’s the matter?
Look up; speak.
Julia
O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never done.
Proteus
Where is that ring, boy?
Julia
Here ’tis; this is it.
Proteus
How! let me see:
Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.
Julia
O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook:
This is the ring you sent to Silvia.
Proteus
But how camest thou by this ring? At my depart
I gave this unto Julia.
Julia
And Julia herself did give it me;
And Julia herself hath brought it hither.
Proteus
How! Julia!
Julia
Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,
And entertain’d ’em deeply in her heart.
How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root!
O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!
Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me
Such an immodest raiment, if shame live
In a disguise of love:
It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,
Women to change their shapes than men their minds.
Proteus
Than men their minds! ’tis true.
O heaven! were man
But constant, he were perfect. That one error
Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins:
Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.
What is in Silvia’s face, but I may spy
More fresh in Julia’s with a constant eye?
Valentine
Come, come, a hand from either:
Let me be blest to make this happy close;
’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.
Proteus
Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.
Julia
And I mine.
Enter Outlaws, with Duke and Thurio
Outlaws
A prize, a prize, a prize!
Valentine
Forbear, forbear, I say! it is my lord the duke.
Your grace is welcome to a man disgraced,
Banished Valentine.
Duke
Sir Valentine!
Thurio
Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia’s mine.
Valentine
Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;
Come not within the measure of my wrath;
Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,
Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands;
Take but possession of her with a touch:
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.
Thurio
Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I;
I hold him but a fool that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not:
I claim her not, and therefore she is thine.
Duke
The more degenerate and base art thou,
To make such means for her as thou hast done
And leave her on such slight conditions.
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
And think thee worthy of an empress’ love:
Know then, I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new state in thy unrivall’d merit,
To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman and well derived;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.
Valentine
I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy.
I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake,
To grant one boom that I shall ask of you.
Duke
I grant it, for thine own, whate’er it be.
Valentine
These banish’d men that I have kept withal
Are men endued with worthy qualities:
Forgive them what they have committed here
And let them be recall’d from their exile:
They are reformed, civil, full of good
And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
Duke
Thou hast prevail’d; I pardon them and thee:
Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts.
Come, let us go: we will include all jars
With triumphs, mirth and rare solemnity.
Valentine
And, as we walk along, I dare be bold
With our discourse to make your grace to smile.
What think you of this page, my lord?
Duke
I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes.
Valentine
I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.
Duke
What mean you by that saying?
Valentine
Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along,
That you will wonder what hath fortuned.
Come, Proteus; ’tis your penance but to hear
The story of your loves discovered:
That done, our day of marriage shall be yours;
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.
Exeunt
The Complete Romances
By
William Shakespeare
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
T
ABLE
OF
C
ONTENTS
S
CENE
I. A
NTIOCH
. A
ROOM
IN
THE
PALACE
.
S
CENE
II. T
YRE
. A
ROOM
IN
THE
PALACE
.
S
CENE
III. T
YRE
. A
N
ANTE
-
CHAMBER
IN
THE
PALACE
.
S
CENE
IV. T
ARSUS
. A
ROOM
IN
THE
G
OVERNOR
’
S
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
I. P
ENTAPOLIS
. A
N
OPEN
PLACE
BY
THE
SEA
-
SIDE
.
S
CENE
II. T
HE
SAME
. A
PUBLIC
WAY
OR
PLATFORM
LEADING
TO
THE
S
CENE
III. T
HE
SAME
. A
HALL
OF
STATE
:
A
BANQUET
PREPARED
.
S
CENE
IV. T
YRE
. A
ROOM
IN
THE
G
OVERNOR
’
S
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
V. P
ENTAPOLIS
. A
ROOM
IN
THE
PALACE
.
S
CENE
II. E
PHESUS
. A
ROOM
IN
C
ERIMON
’
S
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
III. T
ARSUS
. A
ROOM
IN
C
LEON
’
S
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
IV. E
PHESUS
. A
ROOM
IN
C
ERIMON
’
S
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
I. T
ARSUS
. A
N
OPEN
PLACE
NEAR
THE
SEA
-
SHORE
.
S
CENE
II. M
YTILENE
. A
ROOM
IN
A
BROTHEL
.
S
CENE
III. T
ARSUS
. A
ROOM
IN
C
LEON
’
S
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
V. M
YTILENE
. A
STREET
BEFORE
THE
BROTHEL
.
S
CENE
VI. T
HE
SAME
. A
ROOM
IN
THE
BROTHEL
.
S
CENE
I. O
N
BOARD
P
ERICLES
’
SHIP
,
OFF
M
YTILENE
. A
CLOSE
S
CENE
III. T
HE
TEMPLE
OF
D
IANA
AT
E
PHESUS
; T
HAISA
STANDING
C
HARACTERS
OF
THE
P
LAY
Gower
, as Chorus
Antiochus
, King of Antioch
Pericles
, Prince of Tyre
Escanes
and
Helicanus
, two lords of Tyre
Simonides
, King of Pentapolis
Cleon
, Governor of Tharsus
Lysimachus
, Governor of Mytilene
Cerimon
, a lord of Ephesus
Thaliard
, a lord of Antioch
Philemon
, servant to Cerimon
Leonine
, servant to Dionyza
Marshal
A
PandarBoult
, his servant
The
Daughter
of Antiochus
Dionyza
, wife to Cleon
Thaisa
, daughter to Simonides
Marina
, daughter to Pericles and Thaisa
Lychorida
, nurse to Marina A
Bawd
