Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,
You may behold ’em.
[The Third Queen rises]
Lady, lady, alack —
He that will all the treasure know o’th’ earth
Must know the centre too; he that will fish 115
For my least minnow, let him lead his line
To catch one at my heart. O, pardon me:
Extremity, that sharpens sundry wits,
Makes me a fool.
Emi. Pray you, say nothing, pray you.
Who cannot feel nor see the rain, being in’t, 120
Knows neither wet nor dry. If that you were
The ground-piece of some painter, I would buy you
T’instruct me ‘gainst a capital grief, indeed
Such heart-pierced demonstration; but, alas,
Being a natural sister of our sex, 125
Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me
That it shall make a counter-reflect’ gainst
My brother’s heart, and warm it to some pity,
Though it were made of stone. Pray have good comfort.
The. Forward to th’ temple. Leave not out a jot 130
O’th’ sacred ceremony.
Fir. Que.. O, this celebration
Will longer last and be more costly than
Your suppliants’ war. Remember that your fame
Knolls in the ear o’th’ world: what you do quickly
Is not done rashly; your first thought is more 135
Than others’ laboured meditance; your premeditating
More than their actions. But, O Jove, your actions,
Soon as they move, as ospreys do the fish,
Subdue before they touch. Think, dear Duke, think
What beds our slain kings have.
Sec. Que.. What griefs our beds,
That our dear lords have none.
Thi. Que.. None fit for th’ dead.
Those that with cords, knives, drams, precipitance,
Weary of this world’s light, have to themselves
Been death’s most horrid agents, human grace
Affords them dust and shadow.
Fir. Que.. But our lords 145
Lie blist’ring fore the visitating sun,
And were good kings, when living.
The. It is true,
And I will give you comfort to give your dead lords graves,
The which to do must make some work with Creon.
Fir. Que..
And that work presents itself to th’ doing. 150
Now ‘twill take form, the heats are gone tomorrow.
Then, bootless toil must recompense itself
With its own sweat; now he’s secure,
Not dreams we stand before your puissance
Rinsing our holy begging in our eyes 155
To make petition clear.
Sec. Que.. Now you may take him,
Drunk with his victory.
Thi. Que.. And his army full
Of bread and sloth.
The. Artesius, that best knowest
How to draw out, fit to this enterprise
The prim’st for this proceeding and the number 160
To carry such a business: forth and levy
Our worthiest instruments, whilst we dispatch
This grand act of our life, this daring deed
Of fate in wedlock.
Fir. Que.. (to the other two Queens)
Dowagers, take hands;
Let us be widows to our woes; delay 165
Commends us to a famishing hope.
All Three Queens Farewell.
Sec. Que.. We come unseasonably, but when could grief
Cull forth, as unpanged judgement can, fitt’st time
For best solicitation?
The. Why, good ladies,
This is a service whereto I am going 170
Greater than any war — it more imports me
Than all the actions that I have foregone,
Or futurely can cope.
Fir. Que.. The more proclaiming
Our suit shall be neglected when her arms,
Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall 175
By warranting moonlight corslet thee! O when
Her twinning cherries shall their sweetness fall
Upon thy tasteful lips, what wilt thou think
Of rotten kings or blubbered queens? What care
For what thou feel’st not, what thou feel’st being able
To make Mars spurn his drum? O, if thou couch 181
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.
Hipp. (to Theseus) Though much unlike 185
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 medicine, I should pluck 190
All ladies’ scandal on me. FKneelsl Therefore, sir,
As I shall here make trial of my prayers,
Either presuming them to have some force,
Or sentencing for aye their vigour dumb,
Prorogue this business we are going about, and hang
Your shield afore your heart — about that neck 196
Which is my fee, and which I freely lend
To do these poor queens service.
All Three Queens (to Emilia) O, help now,
Our cause cries for your knee.
Emi. (kneels to Theseus) If you grant not
My sister her petition in that force 200
With that celerity and nature which
She makes it in, from henceforth I’ll not dare
To ask you anything, nor be so hardy
Ever to take a husband.
The. Pray stand up.
[They rise]
I am entreating of myself to do 205
That which you kneel to have me. — Pirithous,
Lead on the bride: get you and pray the gods
For success and return; omit not anything
In the pretended celebration. — Queens,
Follow your soldier. (To Artesius) As before, hence you,
And at the banks of Aulis meet us with 211
The forces you can raise, where we shall find
The moiety of a number for a business
More bigger looked. Exit Artesius
(To Hippolyta) Since that our theme is haste,
I stamp this kiss upon thy current lip — 215
Sweet, keep it as my token. (To the wedding party) Set you forward,
For I will see you gone.
(To Emilia) Farewell, my beauteous sister. — Pirithous,
Keep the feast full: bate not an hour on’t.
Pir. Sir,
I’ll follow you at heels. The feast’s solemnity 220
Shall want till your return.
The. Cousin, I charge you
Budge 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.
Exeunt Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithous, and train towards the temple
Fir. Que..Thus dost thou still make good the tongue o’th’ world.
Sec. Que..And earn’st a deity equal with Mars — 226
Thi. Que.. If not above him, for
Thou being but mortal mak’st affections bend
To godlike honours; they themselves, some say,
Groan under such a mast’ry.
The. As we are men, 230
Thus should we do; being sensually subdued
We lose our human title. Good cheer, ladies.
Now turn we towards your comforts. [Flourish.] Exeunt
Act I. Scene II.
ENTER PALAMON AND Arcite
Arc. Dear
Palamon, dearer in love than blood,
And our prime cousin, yet unhardened in
The crimes of nature, let us leave the city,
Thebes, and the temptings in’t, before we further
Sully our gloss of youth. 5
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 10
Where we should turn or drown; if labour through,
Our gain but life and weakness.
Pal. 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 15
The gain o’th’ martialist who did propound
To his bold ends honour and golden ingots,
Which though he won, he had not; and now flirted
By peace for whom he fought. Who then shall offer
To Mars’s so-scorned altar? I do bleed 20
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 25
Than strife or war could be.
Arc. 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 30
But th’unconsidered soldier?
Pal. Yes, I pity
Decays where’er I find them, but such most
That, sweating in an honourable toil,
Are paid with ice to cool ’em.
Arc. ‘ Tis not this
I did begin to speak of. This is virtue, 35
Of no respect in Thebes. I spake of Thebes,
How dangerous, if we will keep our honours,
It is for our residing where every evil
Hath a good colour, where every seeming good’s
A certain evil, where not to be ev’n jump 40
As they are here were to be strangers, and
Such things to be, mere monsters.
Pal. ’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 45
Where there is faith? Or to be fond upon
Another’s way of speech, when by mine own
I may be reasonably conceived — saved, too —
Speaking it truly? Why am I bound
By any generous bond to follow him 50
Follows his tailor, haply so long until
The followed make pursuit? Or let me know
Why mine own barber is unblest — with him
My poor chin, too — for ’tis not scissored just
To such a favourite’s glass? What canon is there 55
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 fore-horse in the team or I am none
That draw i’th’ sequent trace. These poor slight sores 60
Need not a plantain. That which rips my bosom
Almost to th’ heart’s —
Arc. Our uncle Creon.
Pal. He,
A most unbounded tyrant, whose successes
Makes heaven unfeared and villainy assured
Beyond its power there’s nothing; almost puts 65
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’s service,
And what they win in’t, boot and glory; one 70
That fears not to do harm, good dares not. Let
The blood of mine that’s sib to him be sucked
From me with leeches. Let them break and fall
Off me with that corruption.
Arc. Clear-spirited cousin,
Let’s leave his court that we may nothing share 75
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.
Pal. Nothing truer.
I think the echoes of his shames have deafed 80
The ears of heav’nly justice. Widows’ cries
Descend again into their throats and have not
Enter Valerius
Due audience of the gods — Valerius.
Val. The King calls for you; yet be leaden-footed
Till his great rage be off him. Phoebus, when 85
He broke his whipstock and exclaimed against
The horses of the sun, but whispered to
The loudness of his fury.
Pal. Small winds shake him.
But what’s the matter?
Val. Theseus, who where he threats, appals, hath sent 90
Deadly defiance to him and pronounces
Ruin to Thebes, who is at hand to seal
The promise of his wrath.
Arc. Let him approach.
But that we fear the gods in him, he brings not
A jot of terror to us. Yet what man 95
Thirds his own worth — the case is each of ours —
When that his action’s dregged with mind assured
’Tis bad he goes about.
Pal. Leave that unreasoned.
Our services stand now for Thebes, not Creon,
Yet to be neutral to him were dishonour, 100
Rebellious to oppose. Therefore we must
With him stand to the mercy of our fate,
Who hath bounded our last minute.
Arc. So we must.
Is’t said this war’s afoot? Or it shall be
On fail of some condition?
Val. ’Tis in motion, 105
The intelligence of state came in the instant
With the defier.
Pal. Let’s to the King, who, were he
A quarter carrier of that honour which
His enemy come in, the blood we venture
Should be as for our health, which were not spent,
Rather laid out for purchase. But, alas, 110
Our hands advanced before our hearts, what will
The fall o’th’ stroke do damage?
Arc. Let th’event —
That never-erring arbitrator — tell us
When we know all ourselves, and let us follow 115
The becking of our chance. Exeunt
Act I. Scene III.
ENTER PIRITHOUS, HIPPOLYTA, and Emilia
Pir. No further.
Hipp. Sir, farewell. Repeat my wishes
To our great lord, of whose success I dare not
Make any timorous question; yet I wish him
Excess and overflow of power, an’t might be,
To dure ill-dealing fortune. Speed to him; 5
Store never hurts good governors.
Pir. Though I know
His ocean needs not my poor drops, yet they
Must yield their tribute there. (To Emilia) My precious maid,
Those best affections that the heavens infuse
In their best-tempered pieces keep enthroned 10
In your dear heart.
Emi. Thanks, sir. Remember me
To our all-royal brother, for whose speed
The great Bellona I’ll solicit; and
Since in our terrene state petitions are not
Without gifts understood, I’ll offer to her 15
What I shall be advised she likes. Our hearts
Are
in his army, in his tent.
Hipp. In’s bosom.
We have been soldiers, and we cannot weep
When our friends don their helms, or put to sea,
Or tell of babes broached on the lance, or women 20
That have sod their infants in — and after eat them —
The brine they wept at killing ’em: then if
You stay to see of us such spinsters, we
Should hold you here forever.
Pir. Peace be to you
As I pursue this war, which shall be then 25
Beyond further requiring. Exit Pirithous
Emi. How his longing
Follows his friend! Since his depart, his sports,
Hipp. NOW alack, weak sister,
Though craving seriousness and skill, passed slightly
His careless execution, where nor gain
Made him regard or loss consider, but
Playing one business in his hand, another
Directing in his head, his mind nurse equal
To these so diff’ring twins. Have you observed him
Since our great lord departed?
Hipp. With much labour;
And I did love him for’t. They two have cabined 35
In many as dangerous as poor a corner,
Peril and want contending; they have skiffed
Torrents whose roaring tyranny and power
I’th’ least of these was dreadful, and they have
Fought out together where death’s self was lodged; 40
Yet fate hath brought them off. Their knot of love,
Tied, weaved, entangled with so true, so long,
And with a finger of so deep a cunning,
May be outworn, never undone. I think
Theseus cannot be umpire to himself, 45
Cleaving his conscience into twain and doing
Each side like justice, which he loves best.
Emi. Doubtless
There is a best, and reason has no manners
To say it is not you. I was acquainted
Once with a time when I enjoyed a playfellow; 50
You were at wars when she the grave enriched,
Who made too proud the bed; took leave o’th’ moon —
Which then looked pale at parting — when our count
Was each eleven.
Hipp. ’Twas Flavina.
Emi. Yes.
You talk of Pirithous’ and Theseus’ love: 55
Theirs has more ground, is more maturely seasoned,
More buckled with strong judgement, and their needs
The one of th’other may be said to water
Their intertangled roots of love; but I
And she I sigh and spoke of were things innocent, 60
Loved for we did, and like the elements,
That know not what, nor why, yet do effect
Rare issues by their operance, our souls
Did so to one another. What she liked
Collected Works of Giovanni Boccaccio Page 393
