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| Two Gentlemen of Verona |
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| Two Gentlemen of Verona
| Act 4, Scene 2
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Enter PROTEUSPROTEUS
Already have I been false to ValentineTHURIO
And now I must be as unjust to Thurio.
Under the colour of commending him,
I have access my own love to prefer:
But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy,
To be corrupted with my worthless gifts.
When I protest true loyalty to her,
She twits me with my falsehood to my friend;
When to her beauty I commend my vows,
She bids me think how I have been forsworn
In breaking faith with Julia whom I loved:
And notwithstanding all her sudden quips,
The least whereof would quell a lover's hope,
Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window,
And give some evening music to her ear.
Enter THURIO and Musicians
How now, Sir Proteus, are you crept before us?PROTEUS
Ay, gentle Thurio: for you know that loveTHURIO
Will creep in service where it cannot go.
Ay, but I hope, sir, that you love not here.PROTEUS
Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence.THURIO
Who? Silvia?PROTEUS
Ay, Silvia; for your sake.THURIO
I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen,Host
Let's tune, and to it lustily awhile.
Enter, at a distance, Host, and JULIA in boy's clothes
Now, my young guest, methinks you're allycholly: IJULIA
pray you, why is it?
Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry.Host
Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you whereJULIA
you shall hear music and see the gentleman that you asked for.
But shall I hear him speak?Host
Ay, that you shall.JULIA
That will be music.Host
Music plays
Hark, hark!JULIA
Is he among these?Host
Ay: but, peace! let's hear 'em.Host
SONG.
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness,
And, being help'd, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.
How now! are you sadder than you were before? HowJULIA
do you, man? the music likes you not.
You mistake; the musician likes me not.Host
Why, my pretty youth?JULIA
He plays false, father.Host
How? out of tune on the strings?JULIA
Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my veryHost
heart-strings.
You have a quick ear.JULIA
Ay, I would I were deaf; it makes me have a slow heart.Host
I perceive you delight not in music.JULIA
Not a whit, when it jars so.Host
Hark, what fine change is in the music!JULIA
Ay, that change is the spite.Host
You would have them always play but one thing?JULIA
I would always have one play but one thing.Host
But, host, doth this Sir Proteus that we talk on
Often resort unto this gentlewoman?
I tell you what Launce, his man, told me: he lovedJULIA
her out of all nick.
Where is Launce?Host
Gone to seek his dog; which tomorrow, by hisJULIA
master's command, he must carry for a present to his lady.
Peace! stand aside: the company parts.PROTEUS
Sir Thurio, fear not you: I will so pleadTHURIO
That you shall say my cunning drift excels.
Where meet we?PROTEUS
At Saint Gregory's well.THURIO
Farewell.PROTEUS
Exeunt THURIO and Musicians
Enter SILVIA above
Madam, good even to your ladyship.SILVIA
I thank you for your music, gentlemen.PROTEUS
Who is that that spake?
One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth,SILVIA
You would quickly learn to know him by his voice.
Sir Proteus, as I take it.PROTEUS
Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.SILVIA
What's your will?PROTEUS
That I may compass yours.SILVIA
You have your wish; my will is even this:PROTEUS
That presently you hie you home to bed.
Thou subtle, perjured, false, disloyal man!
Think'st thou I am so shallow, so conceitless,
To be seduced by thy flattery,
That hast deceived so many with thy vows?
Return, return, and make thy love amends.
For me, by this pale queen of night I swear,
I am so far from granting thy request
That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit,
And by and by intend to chide myself
Even for this time I spend in talking to thee.
I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady;JULIA
But she is dead.
[Aside] 'Twere false, if I should speak it;SILVIA
For I am sure she is not buried.
Say that she be; yet Valentine thy friendPROTEUS
Survives; to whom, thyself art witness,
I am betroth'd: and art thou not ashamed
To wrong him with thy importunacy?
I likewise hear that Valentine is dead.SILVIA
And so suppose am I; for in his gravePROTEUS
Assure thyself my love is buried.
Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth.SILVIA
Go to thy lady's grave and call hers thence,JULIA
Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine.
[Aside] He heard not that.PROTEUS
Madam, if your heart be so obdurate,JULIA
Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,
The picture that is hanging in your chamber;
To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep:
For since the substance of your perfect self
Is else devoted, I am but a shadow;
And to your shadow will I make true love.
[Aside] If 'twere a substance, you would, sure,SILVIA
deceive it,
And make it but a shadow, as I am.
I am very loath to be your idol, sir;PROTEUS
But since your falsehood shall become you well
To worship shadows and adore false shapes,
Send to me in the morning and I'll send it:
And so, good rest.
As wretches have o'ernightJULIA
That wait for execution in the morn.
Exeunt PROTEUS and SILVIA severally
Host, will you go?Host
By my halidom, I was fast asleep.JULIA
Pray you, where lies Sir Proteus?Host
Marry, at my house. Trust me, I think 'tis almostJULIA
day.
Not so; but it hath been the longest night
That e'er I watch'd and the most heaviest.
Exeunt
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| Two Gentlemen of Verona
| Act 4, Scene 2
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