But one night with her, every hour in’t will
Take hostage of thee for a hundred, and
Thou shalt remember nothing more than what
That banquet bids thee to!
This tells us
our requests will not be answered. When her arms,
which could keep Jove from a meeting, are
wrapped round you in the sweet moonlight -
oh, when her cherry red lips give their sweetness
to yours, what thought will you give
to rotting kings or weeping queens? What will you
care about things you can't feel? What you'll be
feeling would be enough to make Mars give up war.
Oh, if you sleep just one night with her, every hour
of it will make you stay for a hundred more,
and you'll be thinking of nothing but
the feast you're enjoying there!
HIPPOLYTA
Though much unlike
You should be so transported, as much sorry
I should be such a suitor; yet I think
Did I not by th’ abstaining of my joy,
Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their surfeit
That craves a present med’cine, I should pluck
All ladies’ scandal on me. Therefore, sir,
Kneels.
As I shall here make trial of my pray’rs,
Either presuming them to have some force,
Or sentencing for aye their vigor dumb,
Prorogue this business we are going about, and hang
Your shield afore your heart, about that neck
Which is my fee, and which I freely lend
To do these poor queens service.
Though it's very unlikely
that you would forget your duty like this, I would
be very sorry to be the cause of it; but I think
that if I didn't hold back from my pleasure,
which can only make desire stronger,
to cure their illness which needs medicine at once,
all women would be horrified with me. Therefore, sir,
[kneels]
I shall now test what value my pleas have,
either thinking that they have some influence,
or letting me know never to ask again,
I ask you to postpone our current business, and place
your shield in front of your heart, round the neck
which belongs to me, and which I freely lend
to help these poor queens.
ALL QUEENS
To Emilia.
O, help now!
Our cause cries for your knee.
Oh, help us now!
Our cause needs you to plead for us.
EMILIA
Kneels.
If you grant not
My sister her petition, in that force,
With that celerity and nature, which
She makes it in, from henceforth I’ll not dare
To ask you any thing, nor be so hardy
Ever to take a husband.
If you do not give
my sister what she's asking for, with the same
strength, speed and spirit with which
she's asking, from now on I won't dare
ask you for anything, or be so foolish
as to ever get married.
THESEUS
Pray stand up.
They rise.
I am entreating of myself to do
That which you kneel to have me. Pirithous,
Lead on the bride; get you and pray the gods
For success and return; omit not any thing
In the pretended celebration. Queens,
Follow your soldier.
To Artesius.
As before, hence you,
And at the banks of Aulis meet us with
The forces you can raise, where we shall find
The moi’ty of a number for a business
More bigger-look’d.
Exit Artesius.
To Hippolyta.
Since that our theme is haste,
I stamp this kiss upon thy currant lip.
Sweet, keep it as my token. Set you forward,
For I will see you gone.
Exeunt slowly towards the temple.
Farewell, my beauteous sister. Pirithous,
Keep the feast full, bate not an hour on’t.
Please stand up.
I am pleading with myself to do
the thing which you are begging me. Pirithous,
you lead the bride; go and pray to the gods
for our success and safe return; don't omit any element
of our intended celebration.
Queens, follow me.
[To Artesius]
As we've done before, you go,
and meet me at the banks of the Aulis with
what forces you can gather, while I shall gather
another group for a business
that's bigger than it looks.
[To Hippolyta]
Since we have to hurry,
I kiss your true lips.
Darling, keep this as a symbol of my love. Get going,
I want to see you go.
Farewell, my beautiful sister. Pirithous,
follow all the plans for the celebrations, don't cut it short by an hour.
PIRITHOUS
Sir,
I’ll follow you at heels; the feast’s solemnity
Shall want till your return.
Sir,
I'll follow you; the celebration of the feast
can wait until you return.
THESEUS
Cousin, I charge you
Boudge not from Athens. We shall be returning
Ere you can end this feast, of which I pray you
Make no abatement. Once more, farewell all.
Cousin, I order you
not to move from Athens. We shall be coming back
before the end of this feast, which I'm asking you
not to cut short. Once more, farewell to all.
FIRST QUEEN.
Thus dost thou still make good
The tongue o’ th’ world.
So you live up to
your reputation.
SECOND QUEEN.
And earn’st a deity
Equal with Mars.
And make yourself a god,
equal to Mars.
THIRD QUEEN.
If not above him, for
Thou being but mortal makest affections bend
To godlike honors; they themselves, some say,
Groan under such a mast’ry.
If not greater than him, for
being just a mortal that makes the mind
offer you the honours due to gods; some say the gods
could not bear such tasks as you do.
THESEUS
As we are men
Thus should we do, being sensually subdu’d
We lose our human title. Good cheer, ladies.
Now turn we towards your comforts.
Flourish. Exeunt.
This is what we should do,
being men, if we lose our sympathy
we stop being human. Be in good spirits, ladies.
We're now coming to your aid.
Thebes. The palace.
(Palamon, Arcite, Valerius)
Enter Palamon and Arcite.
ARCITE
Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood,
And our prime cousin, yet unhard’ned in
The crimes of nature—let us leave the city
Thebes, and the temptings in’t, before we further
Sully our gloss of youth:
And here to keep in abstinence we shame
As in incontinence; for not to swim
I’ th’ aid o’ th’ current were almost to sink,
At least to frustrate striving, and to follow
The common stream, ’twould bring us to an eddy
; Where we should turn or drown; if labor through,
Our gain but life and weakness.
Dear Palamon, whom I love more than kinship demands,
my first cousin, still
an innocent-let's leave the city
of Thebes, and its temptations, before we
corrupt our youthful virtues further;
to maintain our abstinence is seen, here,
as being as shameful as indulgence; to swim
against the tide would almost drown us,
or at least stop us struggling and go
with the common flow, which would bring us to a whirlpool
where we would have to change or drown; if we got through,
all we would gain would be life and illness.
PALAMON
Your advice
Is cried up with example. What strange ruins,
Since first we went to school, may we perceive
Walking in Thebes! Scars and bare weeds
The gain o’ th’ martialist, who did propound
To his bold ends honor and golden ingots,
Which though he won, he had not; and now flurted
By peace, for whom he fought, who then shall offer
To Mars’s so scorn’d altar? I do bleed
When such I meet, and wish great Juno would
Resume her ancient fit of jealousy
To get the soldier work, that peace might purge
For her repletion, and retain anew
Her charitable heart, now hard, and harsher
Than strife or war could be.
Your advice
is supported by examples. What terrible hardship
we have seen walking around Thebes, since we
first came here to school! Scars and ragged clothes
are the rewards of the soldier, who fought
boldly for honour and for gold,
which, although he won them, he didn't get to keep; and now
he is an outcast in the time of peace for which he fought,
who would bother being a soldier? It wounds me
when I meet people like that, and makes me wish great Juno
would start another war
to get the soldier work, that peace would purge herself
and regain her
charitable heart, which is now hard, and harsher
than any war or fighting could be.
ARCITE
Are you not out?
Meet you no ruin but the soldier in
The cranks and turns of Thebes? You did begin
As if you met decays of many kinds.
Perceive you none that do arouse your pity
But th’ unconsider’d soldier?
Aren't you missing something?
Do you meet no ruined people but soldiers in
the pathways and alleys of Thebes? You started
as if you met many different types of ruined people.
Do you see nobody that inspires pity in you
apart from the neglected soldier?
PALAMON
Yes, I pity
Decays where e’er I find them, but such most
That sweating in an honorable toil
Are paid with ice to cool ’em.
Yes, I pity
the downfallen wherever I find them, but particularly
those that have done honourable service
and are rejected once it's done.
ARCITE
’Tis not this
I did begin to speak of. This is virtue
Of no respect in Thebes. I spake of Thebes,
How dangerous, if we will keep our honors,
It is for our residing; where every evil
Hath a good color; where ev’ry seeming good’s
A certain evil; where not to be ev’n jump
As they are, here were to be strangers, and
Such things to be, mere monsters.
That's not what
I was going to talk about. This sort of thing
is not unique to Thebes. I was speaking of
how dangerous it will be to stay in Thebes,
if we want to keep our honour; everything evil
is well thought of; everything that seems good
is bound to be evil; and not to follow what
others do makes us foreigners, and
as such we will be despised.
PALAMON
’Tis in our power
(Unless we fear that apes can tutor’s) to
Be masters of our manners. What need I
Affect another’s gait, which is not catching
Where there is faith? Or to be fond upon
Another’s way of speech, when by mine own
I may be reasonably conceiv’d; sav’d too,
Speaking it truly? Why am I bound
By any generous bond to follow him
Follows his tailor, haply so long until
The follow’d make pursuit? Or let me know
Why mine own barber is unblest, with him
My poor chin too, for ’tis not scissor’d just
To such a favorite’s glass? What canon is there
That does command my rapier from my hip,
To dangle’t in my hand, or to go tiptoe
Before the street be foul? Either I am
The forehorse in the team, or I am none
That draw i’ th’ sequent trace. These poor slight sores
Need not a plantin; that which rips my bosom
Almost to th’ heart’s—
We are quite capable
(unless we are worried that we will stop copying apes)
of keeping control of ourselves. Why should I
copy someone else's way of walking, it won't
affect me if I have faith. Why would I copy
someone else's speech, when my own is perfectly
good for getting my meaning across; better,
because it's genuine? Why should I have to
consider myself bound to follow someone
who follows his tailor, maybe for so long that
he'll turn round and chase him off? Tell me
what's wrong with my own barber, what's wrong
with my poor chin, just because my beard isn't cut
in imitation of some favourite? What law is there
that says I should take my rapier from my hip,
carrying it in my hand, or that I should walk on tiptoes
before the street is mucky? I must either be
a leader or nothing, I will not
be a follower. These minor injuries
don't need treatment; the one which almost
tears my heart out is–
ARCITE
Our uncle Creon.
Our uncle Creon.
PALAMON
He,
A most unbounded tyrant, whose successes
Makes heaven unfear’d, and villainy assured
Beyond its power there’s nothing; almost puts
Faith in a fever, and deifies alone
Voluble chance; who only attributes
The faculties of other instruments
To his own nerves and act; commands men service,
And what they win in’t, boot and glory; one
That fears not to do harm; good, dares not. Let
The blood of mine that’s sib to him be suck’d
From me with leeches! Let them break and fall
Off me with that corruption!
Him,
the most unrestrained tyrant, his successes
have made him fearless and ensured his villainy
thinks that there is nothing beyond his power;
he almost destroys faith, and claims that he can
beat chance; something that has
been done by others he takes the credit for, insisting
it was his own nerves and actions which succeeded;
he orders men to fight and takes the rewards and the glory;
&nb
sp; he never hesitates to do harm and dares not do good.
Let that part of my blood which is related to him be sucked
out of me with leeches! Let them die and fall
off me, taking that pollution!
ARCITE
Clear-spirited cousin,
Let’s leave his court, that we may nothing share
Of his loud infamy; for our milk
Will relish of the pasture, and we must
Be vile, or disobedient—not his kinsmen
In blood unless in quality.
Pure souled cousin,
let's leave his court, so we don't become associated
with his terrible reputation; what we do will be
influenced by where we are, and we shall have to be
vile, or disobedient–we won't be seen as one of the family
unless we are the same as him.
PALAMON
Nothing truer.
I think the echoes of his shames have deaf’d
The ears of heav’nly justice. Widows’ cries
Descend again into their throats, and have not
Due audience of the gods.
Enter Valerius.
Valerius!
You're quite right.
I think the sound of his shameful deeds have deafened
the ears of the judges of heaven. The cries of widows
sink back into their throats, and are not being
properly listened to by the gods.
Valerius!
VALERIUS
The King calls for you; yet be leaden-footed
Till his great rage be off him. Phoebus, when
He broke his whipstock and exclaim’d against
The horses of the sun, but whisper’d, to
The loudness of his fury.
The King is calling for you; but go there slowly,
wait for his anger to die down. When Phoebus
broke his whip and shouted out against
the horses of the sun, he was just whispering,
compared to the loudness of the King's rage.
PALAMON
Small winds shake him.
But what’s the matter?
The smallest thing upsets him.
But what is it this time?
VALERIUS
Theseus (who where he threats appalls) hath sent
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) Page 414
