directory
home contact

The Comedy of Errors

ACT IV SCENE II The house of ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus. 
[Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA]
ADRIANAAh, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest? yea or no?
Look'd he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?
What observation madest thou in this case5
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?
LUCIANAFirst he denied you had in him no right.
ADRIANAHe meant he did me none; the more my spite.
LUCIANAThen swore he that he was a stranger here.
ADRIANAAnd true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.10
LUCIANAThen pleaded I for you.
ADRIANAAnd what said he?
LUCIANAThat love I begg'd for you he begg'd of me.
ADRIANAWith what persuasion did he tempt thy love?
LUCIANAWith words that in an honest suit might move.15
First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.
ADRIANADidst speak him fair?
LUCIANAHave patience, I beseech.
ADRIANAI cannot, nor I will not, hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.20
He is deformed, crooked, old and sere,
Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind;
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
LUCIANAWho would be jealous then of such a one?25
No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone.
ADRIANAAh, but I think him better than I say,
And yet would herein others' eyes were worse.
Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:
My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.30
[Enter DROMIO of Syracuse]
DROMIO OF SYRACUSEHere! go; the desk, the purse! sweet, now, make haste.
LUCIANAHow hast thou lost thy breath?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSEBy running fast.
ADRIANAWhere is thy master, Dromio? is he well?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSENo, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.35
A devil in an everlasting garment hath him;
One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel;
A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;
A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that40
countermands
The passages of alleys, creeks and narrow lands;
A hound that runs counter and yet draws dryfoot well;
One that before the judgement carries poor souls to hell.
ADRIANAWhy, man, what is the matter?45
DROMIO OF SYRACUSEI do not know the matter: he is 'rested on the case.
ADRIANAWhat, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSEI know not at whose suit he is arrested well;
But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can I tell.
Will you send him, mistress, redemption, the money in his desk?50
ADRIANAGo fetch it, sister.
[Exit Luciana]
This I wonder at,
That he, unknown to me, should be in debt.
Tell me, was he arrested on a band?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSENot on a band, but on a stronger thing;55
A chain, a chain! Do you not hear it ring?
ADRIANAWhat, the chain?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSENo, no, the bell: 'tis time that I were gone:
It was two ere I left him, and now the clock
strikes one.60
ADRIANAThe hours come back! that did I never hear.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSEO, yes; if any hour meet a sergeant, a' turns back for
very fear.
ADRIANAAs if Time were in debt! how fondly dost thou reason!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSETime is a very bankrupt, and owes more than he's65
worth, to season.
Nay, he's a thief too: have you not heard men say
That Time comes stealing on by night and day?
If Time be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?70
[Re-enter LUCIANA with a purse]
ADRIANAGo, Dromio; there's the money, bear it straight;
And bring thy master home immediately.
Come, sister: I am press'd down with conceit--
Conceit, my comfort and my injury.
[Exeunt]

Next: The Comedy of Errors, Act 4, Scene 3