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The Mart. | |
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Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, DROMIO of Syracuse, and a Merchant. | |
| Mer. Therefore, give out you are of Epidamnum, | |
| Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate. | |
| This very day, a Syracusian merchant | 5 |
| Is apprehended for arrival here; | |
| And, not being able to buy out his life, | |
| According to the statute of the town | |
| Dies ere the weary sun set in the west. | |
| There is your money that I had to keep. | 10 |
| Ant. S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host, | |
| 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, | |
| Peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings, | 15 |
| And then return and sleep within mine inn, | |
| For with long travel I am stiff and weary. | |
| Get thee away. | |
| Dro. S. Many a man would take you at your word, | |
| And go indeed, having so good a mean. [Exit. | 20 |
| Ant. S. A trusty villain, sir, that very oft, | |
| When I am dull with care and melancholy, | |
| Lightens my humour with his merry jests. | |
| What, will you walk with me about the town, | |
| And then go to my inn and dine with me? | 25 |
| Mer. I am invited, sir, to certain merchants, | |
| Of whom I hope to make much benefit; | |
| I crave your pardon. Soon at five o’clock, | |
| Please you, I’ll meet with you upon the mart, | |
| And afterward consort you till bed-time: | 30 |
| My present business calls me from you now. | |
| Ant. S. Farewell till then: I will go lose myself, | |
| And wander up and down to view the city. | |
| Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit. | |
| Ant. S. He that commends me to mine own content, | 35 |
| Commends me to the thing I cannot get. | |
| I to the world am like a drop of water | |
| That in the ocean seeks another drop; | |
| Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, | |
| Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself: | 40 |
| So I, to find a mother and a brother, | |
| In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself. | |
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Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. | |
| Here comes the almanack of my true date. | |
| What now? How chance thou art return’d so soon? | 45 |
| Dro. E. Return’d so soon! rather approach’d too late: | |
| The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit, | |
| The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell; | |
| My mistress made it one upon my cheek: | |
| She is so hot because the meat is cold; | 50 |
| The meat is cold because you come not home; | |
| You come not home because you have no stomach; | |
| You have no stomach, having broke your fast; | |
| But we, that know what ’tis to fast and pray, | |
| Are penitent for your default to-day. | 55 |
| Ant. S. Stop in your wind, sir: tell me this, I pray: | |
| Where have you left the money that I gave you? | |
| Dro. E. O!—sixpence, that I had o’ Wednesday last | |
| To pay the saddler for my mistress’ crupper; | |
| The saddler had it, sir; I kept it not. | 60 |
| Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humour now. | |
| Tell me, and dally not, where is the money? | |
| We being strangers here, how dar’st thou trust | |
| So great a charge from thine own custody? | |
| Dro. E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner. | 65 |
| I from my mistress come to you in post; | |
| If I return, I shall be post indeed, | |
| For she will score your fault upon my pate. | |
| Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your clock | |
| And strike you home without a messenger. | 70 |
| Ant. S. Come, Dromio, come; these jests are out of season; | |
| Reserve them till a merrier hour than this. | |
| Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee? | |
| Dro. E. To me, sir? why, you gave no gold to me. | |
| Ant. S. Come on, sir knave, have done your foolishness, | 75 |
| And tell me how thou hast dispos’d thy charge. | |
| Dro. E. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart | |
| Home to your house, the Phœnix, sir, to dinner: | |
| My mistress and her sister stays for you. | |
| Ant. S. Now, as I am a Christian, answer me, | 80 |
| In what safe place you have bestow’d my money; | |
| Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours | |
| That stands on tricks when I am undispos’d. | |
| Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me? | |
| Dro. E. I have some marks of yours upon my pate, | 85 |
| Some of my mistress’ marks upon my shoulders, | |
| But not a thousand marks between you both. | |
| If I should pay your worship those again, | |
| Perchance you will not bear them patiently. | |
| Ant. S. Thy mistress’ marks! what mistress, slave, hast thou? | 90 |
| Dro. E. Your worship’s wife, my mistress at the Phœnix; | |
| She that doth fast till you come home to dinner, | |
| And prays that you will hie you home to dinner. | |
| Ant. S. What! wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, | |
| Being forbid? There, take you that, sir knave. [Strikes him. | 95 |
| Dro. E. What mean you, sir? for God’s sake, hold your hands! | |
| Nay, an you will not, sir, I’ll take my heels. [Exit. | |
| Ant. S. Upon my life, by some device or other | |
| The villain is o’er-raught of all my money. | |
| They say this town is full of cozenage; | 100 |
| As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye, | |
| Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind, | |
| Soul-killing witches that deform the body, | |
| Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, | |
| And many such-like liberties of sin: | 105 |
| If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner. | |
| I’ll to the Centaur, to go seek this slave: | |
| I greatly fear my money is not safe. [Exit. | |
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