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Home > Comedy of Errors > ACT IV - SCENE II. The house of ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus.

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ACT IV - SCENE II. The house of ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus.
Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA

ADRIANA
1    Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
2    Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye
3    That he did plead in earnest? yea or no?
4    Look'd he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?
5    What observation madest thou in this case
6    Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?
LUCIANA
7    First he denied you had in him no right.
ADRIANA
8    He meant he did me none; the more my spite.
LUCIANA
9    Then swore he that he was a stranger here.
ADRIANA
10   And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.
LUCIANA
11   Then pleaded I for you.
ADRIANA
12   And what said he?
LUCIANA
13   That love I begg'd for you he begg'd of me.
ADRIANA
14   With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?
LUCIANA
15   With words that in an honest suit might move.
16   First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.
ADRIANA
17   Didst speak him fair?
LUCIANA
18   Have patience, I beseech.
ADRIANA
19   I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still;
20   My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.
21   He is deformed, crooked, old and sere,
22   Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;
23   Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind;
24   Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
LUCIANA
25   Who would be jealous then of such a one?
26   No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone.
ADRIANA
27   Ah, but I think him better than I say,
28   And yet would herein others' eyes were worse.
29   Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:
30   My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.
Enter DROMIO of Syracuse

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
31   Here! go; the desk, the purse! sweet, now, make haste.
LUCIANA
32   How hast thou lost thy breath?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
33   By running fast.
ADRIANA
34   Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
35   No, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.
36   A devil in an everlasting garment hath him;
37   One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel;
38   A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;
39   A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;
40   A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that
41   countermands
42   The passages of alleys, creeks and narrow lands;
43   A hound that runs counter and yet draws dryfoot well;
44   One that before the judgement carries poor souls to hell.
ADRIANA
45   Why, man, what is the matter?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
46   I do not know the matter: he is 'rested on the case.
ADRIANA
47   What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
48   I know not at whose suit he is arrested well;
49   But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can I tell.
50   Will you send him, mistress, redemption, the money in his desk?
ADRIANA
51   Go fetch it, sister.
Exit Luciana
52   This I wonder at,
53   That he, unknown to me, should be in debt.
54   Tell me, was he arrested on a band?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
55   Not on a band, but on a stronger thing;
56   A chain, a chain! Do you not hear it ring?
ADRIANA
57   What, the chain?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
58   No, no, the bell: 'tis time that I were gone:
59   It was two ere I left him, and now the clock
60   strikes one.
ADRIANA
61   The hours come back! that did I never hear.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
62   O, yes; if any hour meet a sergeant, a' turns back for
63   very fear.
ADRIANA
64   As if Time were in debt! how fondly dost thou reason!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
65   Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more than he's
66   worth, to season.
67   Nay, he's a thief too: have you not heard men say
68   That Time comes stealing on by night and day?
69   If Time be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,
70   Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?
Re-enter LUCIANA with a purse

ADRIANA
71   Go, Dromio; there's the money, bear it straight;
72   And bring thy master home immediately.
73   Come, sister: I am press'd down with conceit--
74   Conceit, my comfort and my injury.
Exeunt

< (Previous) ACT IV, SCENE IACT IV, III (Next) >
Scene Index
ACT I
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT II
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT III
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT IV
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II
  • SCENE III
  • SCENE IV


  • ACT V
  • SCENE I

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