Came to my house and took away my ring–
The ring I saw upon his finger now–
Straight after did I meet him with a chain.
ADRIANA It may be so, but I did never see it.
Come, gaoler, bring me where the goldsmith is:
I long to know the truth hereof at large.
Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse with his rapier drawn, and DROMIO of Syracuse
LUCIANA God, for thy mercy! they are loose again.
ADRIANA And come with naked swords.
Let’s call more help to have them bound again.
Officer Away! they’ll kill us.
Exeunt all but Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse
OF SYRACUSE I see these witches are afraid of swords.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE She that would be your wife now ran from you.
OF SYRACUSE Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from thence:
I long that we were safe and sound aboard.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Faith, stay here this night; they will surely do us
no harm: you saw they speak us fair, give us gold:
methinks they are such a gentle nation that, but for
the mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of
me, I could find in my heart to stay here still and
turn witch.
OF SYRACUSE I will not stay to-night for all the town;
Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard.
Exeunt
Act 5
Scene 1
A street before a Priory.
Enter Second Merchant and ANGELO
ANGELO I am sorry, sir, that I have hinder’d you;
But, I protest, he had the chain of me,
Though most dishonestly he doth deny it.
Second Merchant How is the man esteemed here in the city?
ANGELO Of very reverend reputation, sir,
Of credit infinite, highly beloved,
Second to none that lives here in the city:
His word might bear my wealth at any time.
Second Merchant Speak softly; yonder, as I think, he walks.
Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse and DROMIO of Syracuse
ANGELO ‘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 Antipholus, I wonder much
That you would put me to this shame and trouble;
And, not without some scandal to yourself,
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 controversy,
Had hoisted sail and put to sea to-day:
This chain you had of me; can you deny it?
OF SYRACUSE I think I had; I never did deny it.
Second Merchant Yes, that you did, sir, and forswore it too.
OF SYRACUSE Who heard me to deny it or forswear it?
Second Merchant These ears of mine, thou know’st did hear thee.
Fie on thee, wretch! ’tis pity that thou livest
To walk where any honest man resort.
OF SYRACUSE Thou art a villain to impeach me thus:
I’ll prove mine honour and mine honesty
Against thee presently, if thou darest stand.
Second Merchant I dare, and do defy thee for a villain.
They draw
Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, the Courtezan, and others
ADRIANA 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.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE Run, master, run; for God’s sake, take a house!
This is some priory. In, or we are spoil’d!
Exeunt Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse to the Priory
Enter the Lady Abbess, AEMILIA
AEMELIA Be quiet, people. Wherefore throng you hither?
ADRIANA To fetch my poor distracted husband hence.
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast
And bear him home for his recovery.
ANGELO I knew he was not in his perfect wits.
Second Merchant I am sorry now that I did draw on him.
AEMELIA How long hath this possession held the man?
ADRIANA This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad,
And much different from the man he was;
But till this afternoon his passion
Ne’er brake into extremity of rage.
AEMELIA Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck of sea?
Buried 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?
ADRIANA To none of these, except it be the last;
Namely, some love that drew him oft from home.
AEMELIA You should for that have reprehended him.
ADRIANA Why, so I did.
AEMELIA Ay, but not rough enough.
ADRIANA As roughly as my modesty would let me.
AEMELIA Haply, in private.
ADRIANA And in assemblies too.
AEMELIA Ay, but not enough.
ADRIANA 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 theme;
In company I often glanced it;
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.
AEMELIA And thereof came it that the man was mad.
The venom 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 therefore comes it that his head is light.
Thou say’st his meat was sauced 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 hinderd by thy brawls:
Sweet recreation barr’d, what doth ensue
But moody 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
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.
LUCIANA She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean’d himself rough, rude and wildly.
Why bear you these rebukes and answer not?
ADRIANA She did betray me to my own reproof.
Good people enter and lay hold on him.
AEMELIA No, not a creature enters in my house.
ADRIANA Then let your servants bring my husband forth.
AEMELIA 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.
ADRIANA I will attend my husband, be his nurse,
Diet his sickness, for it is my office,
And will have no attorney but myself;
And therefore let me have him home with me.
AEMELIA Be patient; for I will not let him stir
Till I have used the approved means I have,
With wholesome 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.
ADRIANA I will not hence and leave my husband here:
And ill it doth beseem your holiness
To separate the husband and the wife.
AEMELIA Be quiet and depart: thou shalt not have him.
Exit
LUCIANA Complain unto the duke of this indignity.
ADRIANA 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.
Second Merchant By this, I think, the dial points at five:
Anon, I’m 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.
ANGELO Upon what cause?
Second Merchant To see a reverend Syracusian merchant,
Who put unluckily into this bay
Against the laws and statutes of this town,
Beheaded publicly for his offence.
ANGELO See where they come: we will behold his death.
LUCIANA Kneel to the duke before he pass the abbey.
Enter DUKE SOLINUS, attended; AEGEON bareheaded; with the Headsman and other Officers
DUKE SOLINUS Yet once again proclaim it publicly,
If any friend will pay the sum for him,
He shall not die; so much we tender him.
ADRIANA Justice, most sacred duke, against the abbess!
DUKE SOLINUS She is a virtuous and a reverend lady:
It cannot be that she hath done thee wrong.
ADRIANA May it please your grace, Antipholus, my husband,
Whom I made lord of me and all I had,
At your important letters,–this ill day
A most outrageous fit of madness took him;
That desperately he hurried 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.