The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
NOTES: IV, 3.
SCENE III.] SCENE V. Pope. 13: _What, have_] Pope. _What have_ Ff. _got_] _got rid of_ Theobald. _not_ Anon. conj. 16: _calf’s skin_] _calves-skin_ Ff. 22: _sob_] _fob_ Rowe. _bob_ Hanmer. _sop_ Dyce conj. _stop_ Grant White. _’rests_] Warburton. _rests_ Ff. 25: _morris_] _Moris_ Ff. _Maurice_ Hanmer (Warburton). 28: _band_] _bond_ Rowe. 29: _says_] Capell. _saies_ F1. _saieth_ F2. _saith_ F3 F4. 32: _ship_] F2 F3 F4. _ships_ F1. 34: _put_] _puts_ Pope. 40: SCENE VI. Pope. 44-62: Put in the margin as spurious by Pope. 47-49: _and ... wench.’_] Marked as spurious by Capell, MS. 48, 49: _as much_] _as much as_ Pope. 54: _me? ... here?_] _me, ... here?_ Ff. _me? ... here._ Steevens. 55: _if you do, expect_] F2 F3 F4. _if do expect_ F1. _or_] om. Rowe. _so_ Capell. _either stay away, or_ Malone conj. _and_ Ritson conj. _Oh!_ Anon. conj. 60: _then_] F1 F2 F3. _thou_ F4. _thee_ Dyce. 61: _are all_] _all are_ Boswell. 66-71: Printed as prose by Ff, as verse by Capell, ending the third line at _covetous_. 75: Put in the margin as spurious by Pope. 76: SCENE VII. Pope. 84: _doors_] _door_ Johnson. _SCENE IV. A street._ _Enter _ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus_ and the _Officer_._ _Ant. E._ Fear me not, man; I will not break away: I’ll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money, To warrant thee, as I am ’rested for. My wife is in a wayward mood to-day, And will not lightly trust the messenger. 5 That I should be attach’d in Ephesus, I tell you, ’twill sound harshly in her ears.
_Enter _DROMIO of Ephesus_ with a ropes-end._ Here comes my man; I think he brings the money. How now, sir! have you that I sent you for? _Dro. E._ Here’s that, I warrant you, will pay them all. 10 _Ant. E._ But where’s the money? _Dro. E._ Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope. _Ant. E._ Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope? _Dro. E._ I’ll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate. _Ant. E._ To what end did I bid thee hie thee home? 15 _Dro. E._ To a rope’s-end, sir; and to that end am I returned. _Ant. E._ And to that end, sir, I will welcome you. [_Beating him._ _Off._ Good sir, be patient. _Dro. E._ Nay, ’tis for me to be patient; I am in adversity. 20 _Off._ Good, now, hold thy tongue. _Dro. E._ Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands. _Ant. E._ Thou whoreson, senseless villain! _Dro. E._ I would I were senseless, sir, that I might not feel your blows. 25 _Ant. E._ Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, and so is an ass. _Dro. E._ I am an ass, indeed; you may prove it by my long ears. I have served him from the hour of my nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service 30 but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beating; when I am warm, he cools me with beating: I am waked with it when I sleep; raised with it when I sit; driven out of doors with it when I go from home; welcomed home with it when I return: nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as 35 a beggar wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lamed me, I shall beg with it from door to door.
_Ant. E._ Come, go along; my wife is coming yonder. _Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, the _Courtezan_, and PINCH._ _Dro. E._ Mistress, ‘respice finem,’ respect your end; or rather, the prophecy like the parrot, ‘beware the rope’s-end.’ 40 _Ant. E._ Wilt thou still talk? [_Beating him._ _Cour._ How say you now? is not your husband mad? _Adr._ His incivility confirms no less. Good Doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer; Establish him in his true sense again, 45 And I will please you what you will demand. _Luc._ Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks! _Cour._ Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy! _Pinch._ Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse. _Ant. E._ There is my hand, and let it feel your ear. 50 [_Striking him._ _Pinch._ I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man, To yield possession to my holy prayers, And to thy state of darkness his thee straight: I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven! _Ant. E._ Peace, doting wizard, peace! I am not mad. 55 _Adr._ O, that thou wert not, poor distressed soul! _Ant. E._ You minion, you, are these your customers? Did this companion with the saffron face Revel and feast it at my house to-day, Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut, 60 And I denied to enter in my house?
_Adr._ O husband, God doth know you dined at home; Where would you had remain’d until this time, Free from these slanders and this open shame! _Ant. E._ Dined at home!--Thou villain, what sayest thou? 65 _Dro. E._ Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home. _Ant. E._ Were not my doors lock’d up, and I shut out? _Dro. E._ Perdie, your doors were lock’d, and you shut out. _Ant. E._ And did not she herself revile me there? _Dro. E._ Sans fable, she herself reviled you there. 70 _Ant. E._ Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn me? _Dro. E._ Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal scorn’d you. _Ant. E._ And did not I in rage depart from thence? _Dro. E._ In verity you did; my bones bear witness, That since have felt the vigour of his rage. 75 _Adr._ Is’t good to soothe him in these contraries? _Pinch._ It is no shame: the fellow finds his vein, And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy. _Ant. E._ Thou hast suborn’d the goldsmith to arrest me. _Adr._ Alas, I sent you money to redeem you, 80 By Dromio here, who came in haste for it. _Dro. E._ Money by me! heart and good-will you might; But surely, master, not a rag of money. _Ant. E._ Went’st not thou to her for a purse of ducats?
_Adr._ He came to me, and I deliver’d it. 85 _Luc._ And I am witness with her that she did. _Dro. E._ God and the rope-maker bear me witness That I was sent for nothing but a rope! _Pinch._ Mistress, both man and master is possess’d; I know it by their pale and deadly looks: 90 They must be bound, and laid in some dark room. _Ant. E._ Say, wherefore didst them lock me forth to-day? And why dost thou deny the bag of gold? _Adr._ I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth. _Dro. E._ And, gentle master, I received no gold; 95 But I confess, sir, that we were lock’d out. _Adr._ Dissembling villain, them speak’st false in both. _Ant. E._ Dissembling harlot, them art false in all, And art confederate with a damned pack To make a loathsome abject scorn of me: 100 But with these nails I’ll pluck out these false eyes, That would behold in me this shameful sport. _Enter three or four, and offer to bind him. He strives._ _Adr._ O, bind him, bind him! let him not come near me. _Pinch._ More company! The fiend is strong within him. _Luc._ Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks! 105 _Ant. E._ What, will you murder me? Thou gaoler, thou, I am thy prisoner: wilt thou suffer them To make a rescue?
_Off._ Masters, let him go: He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him. _Pinch._ Go bind this man, for he is frantic too. 110 [_They offer to bind Dro. E._ _Adr._ What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer? Hast thou delight to see a wretched man Do outrage and displeasure to himself? _Off._ He is my prisoner: if I let him go, The debt he owes will be required of me. 115 _Adr._ I will discharge thee ere I go from thee: Bear me forthwith unto his creditor, And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it. Good master doctor, see him safe convey’d Home to my house. O most unhappy day! 120 _Ant. E._ O most unhappy strumpet! _Dro. E._ Master, I am here entered in bond for you. _Ant. E._ Out on thee, villain! wherefore dost thou mad me? _Dro. E._ Will you be bound for nothing? be mad, good master: cry, The devil! 125 _Luc._ God help, poor souls, how idly do they talk! _Adr._ Go bear him hence. Sister, go you with me. [_Exeunt all but Adriana, Luciana, Officer and Courtezan._] Say now; whose suit is he arrested at? _Off._ One Angelo, a goldsmith: do you know him? _Adr._ I know the man. What is the sum he owes? 130 _Off._ Two hundred ducats.
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