Syracuse.
Ang.
'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.
Signior Antipholis, I wonder much
That you would put me to this Shame and Trouble,
And not without some Scandal to your self,
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 Controversie,
Had hoisted Sail, and put to Sea to Day:
This Chain you had of me, can you deny it?
S. Ant.
I think I had, I never did deny it.
Mer.
Yes, that you did, Sir, and forswore it too.
S. Ant.
Who heard me to deny it, or forswear it?
Mer.
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.
S. Ant.
Thou art a Villain to impeach me thus,
I'll prove mine Honour and my Honesty
Against thee presently, if thou dar'st stand.
Mer.
I dare, and do defie thee for a Villain.
[They draw.
Enter Adriana, Luciana, Courtezan and others.
Adr.
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.
S. Dro.
Run Master, run, for God's sake take a House;
This is some Priory, in, or we are spoil'd.
[Exeunt to the Priory.
Enter Lady Abbess.
Abb.
Be quiet People, wherefore throng you hither?
Adr.
To fetch my poor distracted Husband hence;
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast,
And bear him home for his Recovery.
Ang.
I knew he was not in his perfect Wits.
Mer.
I am sorry now that I did draw on him.
Abb.
How long hath this Possession held the Man?
Adr.
This Week he hath been heavy, sour, sad,
And much, much different from the Man he was:
-- 310 --
But 'till this Afternoon his Passion
Ne'er brake into extremity of Rage.
Abb.
Hath he not lost much Wealth by wrack at Sea,
Bury'd some dear Friend, hath not else his Eye
Stray'd 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?
Adr.
To none of these, except it be the last,
Namely, some Love that drew him oft from home.
Abb.
You should for that have reprehended him.
Adr.
Why so I did.
Abb.
Ay, but not rough enough.
Adr.
As roughly as my Modesty would let me.
Abb.
Haply in private.
Adr.
And in Assemblies too.
Abb.
Ay, but not enough.
Adr.
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 Theam;
In Company I often glanced it;
Still did I tell him, it was vile and bad.
Abb.
And thereof came it that the Man was mad.
The venomous Clamours of a jealous Woman,
Poisons more deadly than a mad Dog's Tooth.
It seems his Sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing,
And thereof comes it that his Head is light.
Thou say'st his Meat was sauc'd with thy Upbraidings,
Unquiet Meals make ill Digestions,
Thereof the raging Fire of Fever bred,
And what's a Fever but a Fit of Madness?
Thou say'st his Sports were hindred by thy Brawls.
Sweet Recreation barr'd what doth ensue,
But muddy 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 disturb'd, would mad or Man or Beast:
The Consequence is then, thy jealous Fits
-- 311 --
Have scar'd thy Husband from the use of Wits.
Luc.
She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himself rough, rude and wildly.
Why hear you those Rebukes, and answer not?
Adr.
She did betray me to my own Reproof.
Good People enter and lay hold on him.
Abb.
No, not a Creature enters in my House.
Adr.
Then let your Servants bring my Husband forth.
Abb.
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 assaying it.
Adr.
I will attend my Husband, be his Nurse,
Diet his Sickness, for it is my Office,
And will have no Attorney but my self,
And therefore let me have him home with me.
Abb.
Be patient, for I will not let him stir,
'Till I have us'd the approved Means I have,
With wholsome 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.
Adr.
I will not hence, and leave my Husband here;
And ill it doth beseem your Holiness
To separate the Husband and the Wife.
Abb.
Be quiet and depart, thou shalt not have him.
Luc.
Complain unto the Duke of this Indignity.
Adr.
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.
[Exeunt.
Enter Merchant and Angelo.
Mer.
By this I think the Dial points at Five:
Anon I am 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.
Ang.
Upon what Cause?
Mer.
To see a reverend Syracusian Merchant,
Who put unluckily into this Bay
-- 312 --
Against the Laws and Statutes of this Town,
Beheaded publickly for his Offence.
Ang.
See where they come, we will behold his Death.
Enter Adriana and Luciana.
Luc.
Kneel to the Duke before he pass the Abbey.
Enter the Duke, and Ægeon bare-headed, with the Headsman, and other Officers.
Duke.
Yet once again proclaim it publickly,
If any Friend will pay the Sum for him,
He shall not die, so much we tender him.
Adr.
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.
Adr.
May it please your Grace, Antipholis my Husband,
Whom I made Lord of me, and all I had,
At your all-potent Letter, this ill Day
A most outragious Fit of Madness took him,
That desp'rately he hurry'd 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, any thing 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,
Chac'd us away; 'till raising of more Aid,
We came again to bind them; then they fled
Into this Abbey, whither we pursu'd 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 thence.
Therefore, most gracious Duke, with thy Command,
Let him be brought forth, and born hence for help.
Duke.
Long since thy Husband serv'd me in my Wars,
And I to thee ingag'd a Prince's Word,
-- 313 --
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.
Mess.
O Mistress, Mistress, shift and save your self;
My Master and his Man are both broke lose,
Beaten the Maids a row, and bound the Doctor,
Whose Beard they have sing'd off with Brands of fire,
And ever as it blaz'd, 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 Cissars nicks him like a Fool:
And sure, unless you send some other present help,
Between them they will kill the Conjurer.
Adr.
Peace Fool, thy Master and his Man are here,
And that is false thou dost report to us.
Mess.
Mistress, upon my Life I tell you true,
I have not breath'd 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.
Come, stand by me, fear nothing: Guard with
Halberds.
Adr.
Ay me, it is my Husband; witness you,
That he is born about invisible,
Even now we hous'd him in the Abbey here.
And now he's there, past thought of human Reason.
Enter Antipholis and Dromio of Ephesus.
E. Ant.
Justice, most gracious Duke, oh 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.
Ægeon.
Unless the fear of Death doth make me dote, I
see my Son Antipholis, and Dromio.
E. Ant.
Justice, sweet Prince, against that Woman there;
She whom thou gav'st to me to be my Wife;
That hath abused and dishonour'd me,
Even in the strength and height of Injury:
-- 314 --
Beyond Imagination is the Wrong
That she this Day hath shameless thrown on me.
Duke.
Discover how, and thou shalt find me just.
E. Ant.
This Day, great Duke, she shut the Doors upon me;
Whilst she with Harlots feasted in my House.
Duke.
A grievous Fault; say Woman, didst thou so?
Adr.
No, my good Lord: My self, he, and my Sister,
To Day did dine together: so befal my Soul,
As this is false he burthens me withal.
Luc.
Ne'er may I look on Day, nor sleep on Night,
But she tells to your Highness simple Truth.
Ang.
O perjur'd Woman! they are both forsworn,
In this the Mad-man justly chargeth them.
E. Ant.
My Liege, I am advised what I say,
Neither disturb'd with the Effect of Wine,
Nor heady-rash provok'd with raging Ire,
Albeit my Wrongs might make one wiser mad.
This Woman lock'd me out this Day from Dinner;
That Goldsmith there, were he not pack'd 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 Balthazar 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.
There did this perjur'd Goldsmith swear me down,
That I this Day from him receiv'd 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 Pesant home
For certain Duckets; he with none return'd.
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 vil'd Confederates; along with them
They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd Villain,
A meer Anatomy, a Mountebank,
A thread-bare Juggler, and a Fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-ey'd, sharp-looking Wretch,
A living dead Man. This pernicious Slave
-- 315 --
Forsooth took on him as a Conjurer;
And gazing in my Eyes, feeling my Pulse,
And with no-face, as 'twere, out-facing me,
Cries out, I was possest. Then all together
They fell upon me, bound me, and 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 asunder,
I gain'd my Freedom, and immediately
Ran hither to your Grace, whom I beseech
To give me ample Satisfaction
For these deep Shames, and great Indignities.
Ang.
My Lord, in truth, thus far I witness with him;
That he din'd not at Home, but was lock'd out.
Duke.
But had he such a Chain of thee, or no?
Ang.
He had my Lord, and when he ran in here,
These People saw the Chain about his Neck.
Mer.
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.
E. Ant.
I never came within these Abbey Walls,
Nor ever didst thou draw thy Sword on me;
I never saw the Chain, so help me Heav'n;
And this is false you burthen me withal.
Duke.
Why what an intricate Impeach is this?
I think you all have drunk of Circes Cup:
If here you hous'd him, here he would have been.
If he were mad, he would not plead so coldly:
You say he din'd at home, the Goldsmith here
Denies that Saying. Sirrah, what say you?
E. Dro.
Sir, he din'd with her there, at the Porcupine.
Cour.
He did, and from my Finger snatch'd that Ring.
E. Ant.
'Tis true, my Leige, this Ring I had of her.
Duke.
Saw'st thou him enter at the Abbey here?
Cour.
As sure, my Liege, as I do see your Grace.
Duke.
Why this is strange; go call the Abbess hither;
I think you are all mated, or stark mad.
[Exit one to the Abbess.
-- 316 --
Ægeon.
Most mighty Duke, vouchsafe me speak a Word:
Haply I see a Friend will save my Life,
And pay the Sum that may deliver me.
Duke.
Speak freely, Syracusian, what thou wilt.
Ægeon.
Is not your Name, Sir, called Antipholis?
And is not that your Bond-man Dromio?
E. Dro.
Within this Hour I was his Bond-man, Sir,
But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my Cords,
Now am I Dromio, and his Man unbound.
Ægeon.
I am sure both of you remember me.
E. Dro.
Our selves we do remember, Sir, by you;
For lately we were bound as you are now.
You are not Pinch's Patient, are you, Sir?
Ægeon.
Why look you strange on me? you know me
well.
E. Ant.
I never saw you in my Life 'till now.
Ægeon.
Oh! Grief hath chang'd me since you saw me last,
And careful Hours, with Time's deformed Hand,
Have written strange Defeatures in my Face:
But tell me yet, dost thou not know my Voice?
E. Ant.
Neither.
Ægeon.
Dromio, nor thou.
E. Dro.
No, trust me, nor I.
Ægeon.
I am sure thou dost.
E. Dro.
I, Sir, but I am sure I do not, and whatsoever
a Man denies, you are now bound to believe him.
Ægeon.
Not know my Voice! oh Time's Extremity,
Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor Tongue
In seven short Years, that here my only Son
Knows not my feeble Key of untun'd Cares?
Tho' now this grained Face of mine be hid
In sap-consuming Winter's drizled Snow,
And all the Conduits of my Blood froze up;
Yet hath my Night of Life some Memory,
My wasting Lamp some fading Glimmer left;
My dull deaf Ears a little use to hear:
And all these old Witnesses, I cannot err,
Tell me, thou art my Son Antipholis.
E. Ant.
I never saw my Father in my Life.
-- 317 --
Ægeon.
But seven Years since, in Syracusa Bay,
Thou know'st we parted; but perhaps, my Son,
Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in Misery.
E. Ant.
The Duke, and all that know me in the City,
Can witness with me that it is not so:
I ne'er saw Syracusa in my Life.
Duke.
I tell thee, Syracusian, twenty Years
Have I been Patron to Antipholis,
During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa:
I see thy Age, and Dangers make thee dote.
Enter the Abbess, with Antipholis Siracusian and Dromio Siracusian.
Abb.
Most mighty Duke, behold a Man much wrong'd.
[All gather to see them.
Adr.
I see two Husbands, or mine Eyes deceive me.
Duke.
One of these Men is Genius to the other;
And so of these which is the natural Man,
And which the Spirit? who Deciphers them?
S. Dro.
I, Sir, am Dromio, command him away.
E. Dro.
I, Sir, am Dromio, pray let me stay.
S. Ant.
Ægeon, art thou not? or else his Ghost?
S. Dro.
Oh, my old Master! who hath bound him here?
Abb.
Whoever bound him, I will loose his Bonds,
And gain a Husband by his Liberty.
Speak, old Ægeon, if thou be'st the Man
That hadst a Wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a Burthen two fair Sons?
Oh if thou be'st the same Ægeon, speak;
And speak unto the same Æmilia.
Duke.
Why here begins this Morning Story right:
These two Antipholis's, these two so like,
And those two Dromio's, one in semblance;
Besides her urging of her wrack at Sea,
These are the Parents to these Children,
Which accidentally are met together.
Ægeon.
If I dream not, thou art Æmilia;
If thou art she, tell me where is that Son
That floated with thee on the fatal Raft.
Abb.
By Men of Epidamnium, he and I,
And the twin Dromio, all were taken up;
-- 318 --
But by and by, rude Fishermen of Corinth
By force took Dromio and my Son from them,
And me they left with those of Epidamnium.
What then became of them I cannot tell;
I, to this Fortune that you see me in.
Duke.
Antipholis, thou cam'st from Corinth first.
S. Ant.
No, Sir, not I, I came from Syracuse.
Duke.
Stay, stand apart, I know not which is which.
E. Ant.
I came from Corinth, my most gracious Lord.
E. Dro.
And I with him.
E. Ant.
Brought to this Town by that most famous Warrior,
Duke Menaphon, your most renowned Uncle.
Adr.
Which of you two did dine with me to Day?
S. Ant.
I, gentle Mistress.
Adr.
And are not you my Husband?
E. Ant.
No, I say nay to that.
S. Ant.
And so do I, yet did she call me so:
And this fair Gentlewoman here
Did call me Brother. What I told you then,
I hope I shall have leisure to make good,
If this be not a Dream I see and hear.
Ang.
That is the Chain, Sir, which you had of me.
S. Ant.
I think it be, Sir, I deny it not.
E. Ant.
And you, Sir, for this Chain arrested me.
Ang.
I think I did, Sir, I deny it not.
Adr.
I sent you Mony, Sir, to be your Bail
By Dromio, but I think he brought it not.
E. Dro.
No, none by me.
S. Ant.
This Purse of Duckets I receiv'd from you,
And Dromio, my Man, did bring them me:
I see we still did meet each others Man,
And I was tane for him, and he for me,
And thereupon these Errors all arose.
E. Ant.
These Duckets pawn I for my Father here.
Duke.
It shall not need, thy Father hath his Life.
Cour.
Sir, I must have that Diamond from you.
E. Ant.
There take it, and much thanks for my good Cheer.
Abb.
Renowned Duke, vouchsafe to take the Pains
To go with us into the Abbey here,
-- 319 --
And hear at large discoursed all our Fortunes;
And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this sympathized one Day's Error
Have suffered Wrong, go keep us Company,
And we shall make full Satisfaction.
Thirty three Years have I been gone in Travel
Of you my Sons, and 'till this present Hour
My heavy Burthens are delivered:
The Duke, my Husband, and my Children both,
And you the Kalenders of their Nativity,
Go to a Gossip's Feast, and go with me,
After so long Grief of such Nativity.
Duke.
With all my Heart I'll gossip at this Feast.
[Exeunt omnes. Manet, the two Antiph. and two Dromio's.
S. Dro.
Master, shall I fetch your Stuff from Shipboard?
E. Ant.
Dromio, what Stuff of mine hast thou imbark'd?
S. Dro.
Your Goods that lay at host, Sir, in the Centaur.
S. Ant.
He speaks to me; I am your Master, Dromio.
Come go with us, we'll look to that anon;
Embrace thy Brother there, rejoice with him.
[Exit.
S. Dro.
There is a fat Friend at your Master's House,
That kitchen'd me for you to Day at Dinner:
She now shall be my Sister, not my Wife.
E. Dro.
Methinks you are my Glass, and not my Brother:
I see by you, I am a sweet fac'd Youth,
Will you walk in to see their Gossiping?
S. Dro.
Not I, Sir, you are my Elder.
E. Dro.
That's a Question, how shall I try it.
S. Dro.
We'll draw Cuts for the Seniority; 'till then, lead
thou first.
E. Dro.
Nay, then thus—
[Embracing.
We came into the World like Brother and Brother:
And now lets go Hand in Hand, not one before another.
[Exeunt.
