The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (phonics reader .TXT) π
And this it was,--for other means was none.--
The sailors sought for safety by our boat,
And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us;:
My wife, more careful for the latter-born,
Had fast'ned him unto a small spare mast,
Such as sea-faring men provide for storms:
To him one of the other twins was bound,
Whilst I had been like heedful of the other.
The children thus dispos'd, my wife and I,
Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd,
Fast'ned ourselves at either end the mast,
And, floating straight, obedient to the stream,
Were carried towards Corinth, as we thought.
At length the sun, gazing upon the earth,
Dispers'd those vapours that offended us;
And, by the benefit of his wish'd light,
The seas wax'd calm, and we discover'd
Two ships from far making amain to us,--
Of Corinth that, of Epidaurus this:
But ere they came--O, let me say no more!--
Gather the sequel by that went before.
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By ruffian lust should be contaminate!
Wouldst thou not spit at me and spurn at me,
And hurl the name of husband in my face,
And tear the stain'd skin off my harlot brow,
And from my false hand cut the wedding-ring,
And break it with a deep-divorcing vow?
I know thou canst; and, therefore, see thou do it.
I am possess'd with an adulterate blot;
My blood is mingled with the crime of lust:
For if we two be one, and thou play false,
I do digest the poison of thy flesh,
Being strumpeted by thy contagion.
Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed;
I live dis-stain'd, thou undishonoured.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Plead you to me, fair dame? I know you not:
In Ephesus I am but two hours old,
As strange unto your town as to your talk;
Who, every word by all my wit being scann'd,
Want wit in all one word to understand.
LUCIANA.
Fie, brother! how the world is chang'd with you:
When were you wont to use my sister thus?
She sent for you by Dromio home to dinner.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
By Dromio?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
By me?
ADRIANA.
By thee; and this thou didst return from him,β
That he did buffet thee, and in his blows
Denied my house for his, me for his wife.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Did you converse, sir, with this gentlewoman?
What is the course and drift of your compact?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
I, sir? I never saw her till this time.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Villain, thou liest; for even her very words
Didst thou deliver to me on the mart.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
I never spake with her in all my life.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
How can she thus, then, call us by our names,
Unless it be by inspiration?
ADRIANA.
How ill agrees it with your gravity
To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave,
Abetting him to thwart me in my mood!
Be it my wrong, you are from me exempt,
But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt.
Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine:
Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine,
Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state,
Makes me with thy strength to communicate:
If aught possess thee from me, it is dross,
Usurping ivy, brier, or idle moss;
Who all, for want of pruning, with intrusion
Infect thy sap, and live on thy confusion.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme:
What, was I married to her in my dream?
Or sleep I now, and think I hear all this?
What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?
Until I know this sure uncertainty
I'll entertain the offer'd fallacy.
LUCIANA.
Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
O, for my beads! I cross me for a sinner.
This is the fairy land;βO spite of spites!
We talk with goblins, owls, and sprites;
If we obey them not, this will ensue,
They'll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.
LUCIANA.
Why prat'st thou to thyself, and answer'st not?
Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
I am transformed, master, am not I?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
I think thou art in mind, and so am I.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Nay, master, both in mind and in my shape.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Thou hast thine own form.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
No, I am an ape.
LUCIANA.
If thou art chang'd to aught, 'tis to an ass.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
'Tis true; she rides me, and I long for grass.
'Tis so, I am an ass; else it could never be
But I should know her as well as she knows me.
ADRIANA.
Come, come, no longer will I be a fool,
To put the finger in the eye and weep,
Whilst man and master laughs my woes to scorn.β
Come, sir, to dinner;βDromio, keep the gate:β
Husband, I'll dine above with you to-day,
And shrive you of a thousand idle pranks:β
Sirrah, if any ask you for your master,
Say he dines forth, and let no creature enter.β
Come, sister:βDromio, play the porter well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?
Sleeping or waking, mad, or well-advis'd?
Known unto these, and to myself disguis'd!
I'll say as they say, and persever so,
And in this mist at all adventures go.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Master, shall I be porter at the gate?
ADRIANA.
Ay; and let none enter, lest I break your pate.
LUCIANA.
Come, come, Antipholus, we dine too late.
[Exeunt.]
ACT III. SCENE 1. The same.[Enter ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS, DROMIO OF EPHESUS, ANGELO, and
BALTHAZAR.]
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Good Signior Angelo, you must excuse us all.
My wife is shrewish when I keep not hours:
Say that I linger'd with you at your shop
To see the making of her carcanet,
And that to-morrow you will bring it home.
But here's a villain that would face me down.
He met me on the mart; and that I beat him,
And charg'd him with a thousand marks in gold;
And that I did deny my wife and house:β
Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by this?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
Say what you will, sir, but I know what I know:
That you beat me at the mart I have your hand to show;
If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink,
Your own handwriting would tell you what I think.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
I think thou art an ass.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
Marry, so it doth appear
By the wrongs I suffer and the blows I bear.
I should kick, being kick'd; and being at that pass,
You would keep from my heels, and beware of an ass.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
You are sad, Signior Balthazar; pray God our cheer
May answer my good will and your good welcome here.
BALTHAZAR.
I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
O, Signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish,
A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish.
BALTHAZAR.
Good meat, sir, is common; that every churl affords.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
And welcome more common; for that's nothing but words.
BALTHAZAR
Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Ay, to a niggardly host and more sparing guest.
But though my cates be mean, take them in good part;
Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart.
But, soft; my door is lock'd: go bid them let us in.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, Jen!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
[Within] Mome, malt-horse, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch!
Either get thee from the door, or sit down at the hatch:
Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'st for such store,
When one is one too many? Go, get thee from the door.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
What patch is made our porter? My master stays in the street.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Let him walk from whence he came, lest he catch cold on's feet.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Who talks within there? Ho, open the door!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Right, sir; I'll tell you when an you'll tell me wherefore.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Wherefore! For my dinner: I have not dined to-day.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Nor to-day here you must not; come again when you may.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
What art thou that keep'st me out from the house I owe?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
The porter for this time, sir, and my name is Dromio.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
O villain, thou hast stolen both mine office and my name;
The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
If thou hadst been Dromio to-day in my place,
Thou wouldst have chang'd thy face for a name, or thy name for an
ass.
LUCE. [Within.] What a coil is there! Dromio, who are those at the gate?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
Let my master in, Luce.
LUCE.
Faith, no, he comes too late;
And so tell your master.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
O Lord, I must laugh;β
Have at you with a proverb:βShall I set in my staff?
LUCE.
Have at you with another: that'sβWhen? can you tell?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
If thy name be called Luce,βLuce, thou hast answer'd him well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Do you hear, you minion? you'll let us in, I hope?
LUCE.
I thought to have ask'd you.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
And you said no.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
So, Come, help: well struck; there was blow for blow.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Thou baggage, let me in.
LUCE.
Can you tell for whose sake?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
Master, knock the door hard.
LUCE.
Let him knock till it ache.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the door down.
LUCE.
What needs all that, and a pair of stocks in the town?
ADRIANA.
[Within.] Who is that at the door, that keeps all this noise?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
By my troth, your town is troubled with unruly boys.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Are you there, wife? you might have come before.
ADRIANA.
Your wife, sir knave! go, get you from the door.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
If you went in pain, master, this knave would go sore.
ANGELO. Here is neither cheer, sir, nor welcome: we would fain have either.
BALTHAZAR.
In debating which was best, we shall part with neither.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
They stand at the door, master; bid them welcome hither.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
There is something in the wind, that we cannot get in.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.
Your cake here is warm within; you stand here in the cold:
It would make a man mad as a buck, to be so bought and sold.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Go, fetch me something, I'll break ope the gate.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Break any breaking here, and I'll break your knave's pate.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
A man may break a word with you, sir; and words are but wind;
Ay, and break it in your face, so he break it not behind.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
It seems thou want'st breaking; out upon thee, hind!
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
Here's too much out upon thee: I pray thee, let me in.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Ay, when fowls have no feathers and fish have no fin.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Well, I'll break in; go borrow me a crow.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
A crow without feather; master, mean you so?
For a fish without a fin, there's a fowl without a feather:
If a crow help us in, sirrah, we'll pluck a crow together.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Go, get thee gone; fetch me an iron crow.
BALTHAZAR.
Have patience, sir: O, let it not be so:
Herein you war against your reputation,
And draw within the compass of suspect
The unviolated honour of your wife.
Once this,βyour long experience of her wisdom,
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty,
Plead on her part some cause to you unknown;
And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse
Why at this time the doors are made against you.
Be rul'd by me; depart in patience,
And let us to the Tiger all to dinner:
And, about evening, come yourself alone,
To know the reason of this strange restraint.
If by strong hand you offer to break in,
Now in the stirring passage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it;
And that supposed by the common rout
Against your yet ungalled estimation
That may with foul intrusion enter in,
And dwell upon your grave when you are dead:
For slander lives upon succession,
For ever hous'd where it gets possession.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
You have prevail'd. I will depart in quiet,
And, in despite of mirth, mean to be merry.
I know a wench of excellent discourse,β
Pretty and witty; wild, and yet, too, gentle;β
There will we dine: this woman that I mean,
My wife,βbut, I protest, without desert,β
Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal;
To her will we to dinner.βGet you home
And fetch the chain: by this I know 'tis made:
Bring it, I pray you, to the Porcupine;
For there's the house; that chain will I bestow,β
Be it for nothing but to spite my wife,β-
Upon mine hostess there: good sir, make haste:
Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me,
I'll knock elsewhere, to see if they'll disdain me.
ANGELO.
I'll meet you at that place some hour hence.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.
Do so; this jest shall cost me some expense.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 2. The same.[Enter LUCIANA with ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.]
LUCIANA.
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband's office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinate?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth's sake use her with more kindness;
Or, if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth;
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness;
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator;
Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger;
Bear a fair presence
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