Might bear him company in queft of him:
Whom whilft I labour'd of a love to fee,
I hazarded the lofs of whom I lov'd.
Five summers have I spent in fartheft Greece,
Roaming clean through the bounds of Afia,
And coafting homeward, came to Ephefus:
Hopeless to find, yet loth to leave unfought
Or that, or any place that harbours men.
But here must end the ftory of my life;
And happy were I in my timely death,
Could all my travels warrant me they live.
Duke. Haplefs Egeon, whom the fates have markt
To bear th' extremity of dire mishap;
'Now truft me, were it not against our laws,
Which Princes, would they, may not difannul,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
My foul fhould fue as advocate. for thee.
But tho' thou art adjudged to the death,
And paffed fentence may not be recall'd,
But to our honour's great difparagement,
Yet will I favour thee in what I can ;
I therefore, merchant, limit thee this day
To feek thy life by beneficial help:
Try all the friends thou haft in Ephefus,
Beg thou, or borrow to make up the fum,
And live; if not, then thou art doom'd to die:
Jailor, now take him to thy cuftody.
Egeon. Hopeless and helpless doth Ægeon wend, But to procraftinate his livelefs end.
Now trust me, were it not against our laws,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
Which princes would, they may not difannul,
.. old edit. Theob, emend.
Enter Antipholis of Syracuse, a Merchant, and Dromio: Herefore give out, you are of Epidamnum, Left that your goods too foon be confifcate. This very day a Syracufan merchant
Is apprehended for arrival here;
And not being able to buy out his life,
According to the ftatute of the town,
Dies ere the weary fun fet in the weft:
There is your mony that I had to keep.
Ant. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we hoft,
And stay there, Dromio, 'till I come to thee:
Within this hour it will be dinner-time,
'Till that I'll view the manners of the town,
Perufe the traders, gaze upon the buildings,
And then return and fleep within mine inn;
For with long travel I am stiff and weary.
Get thee away.
Dro. Many a man would take you at your word,
And go indeed, having fo good a means. [Exit Dromio.
Ant. A trufty villain, Sir, that very oft,
When I am dull with care and melancholy,
Lightens my humour with his merry jefts.
What, will you walk with me about the town,
And then go to the inn and dine with me?
Mer. I am invited, Sir, to certain merchants,
Of whom I hope to make much benefit:
I crave your pardon. Soon at five a clock,
Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart,
And afterward 'confort with you' 'till bed-time:
My prefent business calls me from you now.
Ant. Farewel 'till then; I will go lose my self, And wander up and down to view the city. Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit Merchant.
SCENE III.
Ant. He that commends me to my own content,
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
I to the world am like a drop of water,
That in the ocean feeks another drop,
Who falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unfeen, inquifitive, confounds himself:
So I, to find a mother and a brother,
In queft of them, unhappy, lofe my felf.
Enter Dromio of Ephefus.
Here comes the almanack of my true date.
What now? how chance thou art return'd fo foon?
E. Dro. Return'd fo foon! rather approach'd too late:
The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit,
The clock has ftrucken twelve upon the bell;
My mistress made it one upon my cheek;
She is fo hot because the meat is cold;
The meat is cold because you come not home;
You come not home because you have no ftomach;
You have no stomach having broke your fast:
But we that know what 'tis to faft and pray,
Are penitent for your default to-day.
Ant. Stop in your wind, Sir; tell me this, I pray,
Where you have left the mony that I gave you?
E. Dro. Oh, fix pence that I had a Wednesday last,
To pay the fadler for my miftrefs' crupper?
The fadler had it, Sir; I kept it not.
Ant. I am not in a fportive humour now;
Tell me and dally not, where is the mony?
We being strangers here, how dar'ft thou truft
So great a charge from thine own cuftody?
E. Dro. I pray you, jest, Sir, as you fit at dinner :
I from my mistrefs come to you in poft,
If I return, I fhall be poft indeed;
For fhe will score your fault upon my pate:
Methinks your maw, like mine, fhould be your clock,
And strike you home without a meffenger.
Ant. Come, Dromio, come, these jefts are out of season;
Referve them 'till a merrier hour than this:
Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?
E. Dro. To me, Sir? why, you gave no gold to me. Ant. Come on, Sir knave, have done your foolishness, And tell me how thou haft difpos'd thy charge.
E. Dro. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart
Home to your houfe, the Phenix, Sir, to dinner
My mistress and her fifter ftay for you.
Ant. Now as I am a chriftian answer me,
In what fafe place you have beftow'd my mony;
Or I fhall break that merry fconce of yours,
That ftands on tricks when I am undifpos'd:
Where are the thousand marks thou hadft of me?
E. Dro. I have fome marks of yours upon my pate;
Some of my miftrefs' marks upon my fhoulders;
But not a thousand marks between you both.
If I should pay your worship thofe again,
Perchance you will not bear them patiently.
Ant. Thymiftrefs' marks? what mistress, slave, haft thou? E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the Phenix; She that doth faft 'till you come home to dinner;
prays that you will hie you home to dinner.
Ant: What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? there take you that, Sir knave.
E. Dro. What mean you, Sir? for God's fake hold your hands;
Nay, an you will not, Sir, I'll take my heels.
Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my mony. They fay, this town is full of couzenage;
As, nimble juglers, that deceive the eye;
Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind;
s/Soul-felling witches, that deform the body;
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
And many fuch like 'libertines of fin:
If it prove fo, I will be gone the fooner.
I'll to the Centaur, to go feek this flave;
I greatly fear my mony is not fafe.
: The
The House of Antipholis of Ephefus.
Enter Adriana and Luciana.
EITHER my husband, nor the flave return'd,
That in fuch hafte I sent to seek his master!
Sure, Luciana, it is two a clock.
Luc. Perhaps fome merchant hath invited him,
And from the mart he's fomewhere gone to dinner:
Good fifter, let us dine, and never fret.
A man is master of his liberty:
Time is their master, and when they see time
They'll go or come; if fo, be patient, fifter.
Adr. Why fhould their liberty than ours be more?
Luc. Because their business still lyes out a-door.
Adr. Look, when I serve him fo, he takes it ill.
Luc. Oh, know he is the bridle of your will.
Adr. There's none but affes will be bridled fo.
Luc. Why, head-ftrong liberty is lafht with wo.
There's nothing fituate under heav'n's eye,
But hath its bound in earth, in fea, and sky:
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