Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 4
Another part of the forest.
Valentine : How use doth breed a habit in a man!
[p]This shadowy desert,
unfrequented woods,
[p]I better brook than flourishing peopled
towns:
[p]Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
[p]And to the
nightingale's complaining notes
[p]Tune my distresses and record my
woes.
[p]O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
[p]Leave not the
mansion so long tenantless,
[p]Lest, growing ruinous, the building
fall
[p]And leave no memory of what it was!
[p]Repair me with thy
presence, Silvia;
[p]Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn
swain!
[p]What halloing and what stir is this to-day?
[p]These are my
mates, that make their wills their law,
[p]Have some unhappy passenger
in chase.
[p]They love me well; yet I have much to do
[p]To keep them
from uncivil outrages.
[p]Withdraw thee, Valentine: who's this comes
here?
Proteus : Madam, this service I have done for you,
[p]Though you respect not
aught your servant doth,
[p]To hazard life and rescue you from
him
[p]That would have forced your honour and your love;
[p]Vouchsafe
me, for my meed, but one fair look;
[p]A smaller boon than this I
cannot beg
[p]And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give.
Valentine : [Aside] How like a dream is this I see and hear!
[p]Love, lend me
patience to forbear awhile.
Silvia : O miserable, unhappy that I am!
Proteus : Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came;
[p]But by my coming I have made
you happy.
Silvia : By thy approach thou makest me most unhappy.
Julia : [Aside] And me, when he approacheth to your presence.
Silvia : Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
[p]I would have been a breakfast
to the beast,
[p]Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
[p]O,
Heaven be judge how I love Valentine,
[p]Whose life's as tender to me
as my soul!
[p]And full as much, for more there cannot be,
[p]I do
detest false perjured Proteus.
[p]Therefore be gone; solicit me no
more.
Proteus : What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
[p]Would I not undergo
for one calm look!
[p]O, 'tis the curse in love, and still
approved,
[p]When women cannot love where they're beloved!
Silvia : When Proteus cannot love where he's beloved.
[p]Read over Julia's
heart, thy first best love,
[p]For whose dear sake thou didst then
rend thy faith
[p]Into a thousand oaths; and all those
oaths
[p]Descended into perjury, to love me.
[p]Thou hast no faith
left now, unless thou'dst two;
[p]And that's far worse than none;
better have none
[p]Than plural faith which is too much by
one:
[p]Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!
Proteus : In love
[p]Who respects friend?
Silvia : All men but Proteus.
Proteus : Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words
[p]Can no way change you to
a milder form,
[p]I'll woo you like a soldier, at arms' end,
[p]And
love you 'gainst the nature of love,--force ye.
Silvia : O heaven!
Proteus : I'll force thee yield to my desire.
Valentine : Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch,
[p]Thou friend of an ill
fashion!
Proteus : Valentine!
Valentine : Thou common friend, that's without faith or love,
[p]For such is a
friend now; treacherous man!
[p]Thou hast beguiled my hopes; nought
but mine eye
[p]Could have persuaded me: now I dare not say
[p]I have
one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me.
[p]Who should be trusted,
when one's own right hand
[p]Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus,
[p]I
am sorry I must never trust thee more,
[p]But count the world a
stranger for thy sake.
[p]The private wound is deepest: O time most
accurst,
[p]'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!
Proteus : My shame and guilt confounds me.
[p]Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty
sorrow
[p]Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
[p]I tender 't here; I
do as truly suffer
[p]As e'er I did commit.
Valentine : Then I am paid;
[p]And once again I do receive thee honest.
[p]Who by
repentance is not satisfied
[p]Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these
are pleased.
[p]By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeased:
[p]And,
that my love may appear plain and free,
[p]All that was mine in Silvia
I give thee.
Julia : O me unhappy!
Proteus : Look to the boy.
Valentine : Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what's the matter?
[p]Look up; speak.
Julia : O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring
[p]to Madam Silvia,
which, out of my neglect, was never done.
Proteus : Where is that ring, boy?
Julia : Here 'tis; this is it.
Proteus : How! let me see:
[p]Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.
Julia : O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook:
[p]This is the ring you sent to
Silvia.
Proteus : But how camest thou by this ring? At my depart
[p]I gave this unto
Julia.
Julia : And Julia herself did give it me;
[p]And Julia herself hath brought it
hither.
Proteus : How! Julia!
Julia : Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,
[p]And entertain'd 'em
deeply in her heart.
[p]How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the
root!
[p]O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!
[p]Be thou ashamed
that I have took upon me
[p]Such an immodest raiment, if shame
live
[p]In a disguise of love:
[p]It is the lesser blot, modesty
finds,
[p]Women to change their shapes than men their minds.
Proteus : Than men their minds! 'tis true.
[p]O heaven! were man
[p]But
constant, he were perfect. That one error
[p]Fills him with faults;
makes him run through all the sins:
[p]Inconstancy falls off ere it
begins.
[p]What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
[p]More fresh in
Julia's with a constant eye?
Valentine : Come, come, a hand from either:
[p]Let me be blest to make this happy
close;
[p]'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.
Proteus : Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.
Julia : And I mine.
Outlaws : A prize, a prize, a prize!
Valentine : Forbear, forbear, I say! it is my lord the duke.
[p]Your grace is
welcome to a man disgraced,
[p]Banished Valentine.
Duke of Milan : Sir Valentine!
Thurio : Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia's mine.
Valentine : Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;
[p]Come not within the
measure of my wrath;
[p]Do not name Silvia thine; if once
again,
[p]Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands;
[p]Take but
possession of her with a touch:
[p]I dare thee but to breathe upon my
love.
Thurio : Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I;
[p]I hold him but a fool that
will endanger
[p]His body for a girl that loves him not:
[p]I claim
her not, and therefore she is thine.
Duke of Milan : The more degenerate and base art thou,
[p]To make such means for her
as thou hast done
[p]And leave her on such slight conditions.
[p]Now,
by the honour of my ancestry,
[p]I do applaud thy spirit,
Valentine,
[p]And think thee worthy of an empress' love:
[p]Know then,
I here forget all former griefs,
[p]Cancel all grudge, repeal thee
home again,
[p]Plead a new state in thy unrivall'd merit,
[p]To which
I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
[p]Thou art a gentleman and well
derived;
[p]Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.
Valentine : I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy.
[p]I now beseech you,
for your daughter's sake,
[p]To grant one boom that I shall ask of
you.
Duke of Milan : I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be.
Valentine : These banish'd men that I have kept withal
[p]Are men endued with
worthy qualities:
[p]Forgive them what they have committed here
[p]And
let them be recall'd from their exile:
[p]They are reformed, civil,
full of good
[p]And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
Duke of Milan : Thou hast prevail'd; I pardon them and thee:
[p]Dispose of them as
thou know'st their deserts.
[p]Come, let us go: we will include all
jars
[p]With triumphs, mirth and rare solemnity.
Valentine : And, as we walk along, I dare be bold
[p]With our discourse to make
your grace to smile.
[p]What think you of this page, my lord?
Duke of Milan : I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes.
Valentine : I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.
Duke of Milan : What mean you by that saying?
Valentine : Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along,
[p]That you will wonder
what hath fortuned.
[p]Come, Proteus; 'tis your penance but to
hear
[p]The story of your loves discovered:
[p]That done, our day of
marriage shall be yours;
[p]One feast, one house, one mutual
happiness.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 4
