So I, to find a mother, and a brother, In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself. Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. Here comes the almanack of my true date. ? Dro. E. Return'd so soon! rather approach'd too late : The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit; The meat is cold, because you come not home; Ant. S. Stop in your wind, sir: tell me this, I pray; Dro. E. O, six-pence, that I had o'Wednesday last, Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humour now: Dro. E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner : 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, you Ant. S. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season; 6 I shall be post indeed; For she will score your fault upon my pate.] Perhaps, before writing was a general accomplishment, a kind of rough reckoning, concerning wares issued out of a shop, was kept by chalk or notches on a post, till it could be entered on the books of a trader. Reserve them till a merrier hour than this; Dro. E. To me, sir? why you gave no gold to me. Ant. S. Come on, sir knave; have done your foolish ness, 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 Phoenix, sir, to dinner; Ant. S. Now, as I am a christian, answer me, Ant. S. Thy mistress' marks! what mistress, slave, hast thou? Dro. E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the She that doth fast, till you come home to dinner, 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 DRO. E. Ant. S. Upon my life, by some device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my money. 8 ↑ bestow'd] i. e. stowed or lodged it. 7 8 that merry sconce of yours,] Sconce is head. They say, this town is full of cozenage ;9 [Exit. Adr. Neither my husband, nor the slave return'd, That in such haste I sent to seek his master! Sure Luciana, it is two o'clock. Luc. Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner. Good sister, let us dine, and never fret: A man is master of his liberty: Time is their master; and, when they see time, Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more? 9 They say, this town is full of cozenage ;] This was the character the ancients give of it. Hence Ἐφεσια ἄ λεξιφάρμακα was proverbial amongst them. Thus Menander uses it, and 'Epeσra ypaμμara, in the same sense. WARBURTON. 1 liberties of sin:] By liberties of sin, Shakspeare perhaps means licensed offenders, such as mountebanks, fortune-tellers, &c. who cheat with impunity; or it may mean sinful liberties. Adr. There's none, but asses, will be bridled so. Adr. This servitude makes you to keep unwed. Luc. Ere I learn love, I'll practise to obey. Adr. How if your husband start some other where?3 Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear. Adr. Patience, unmov'd, no marvel though she pause; They can be meek, that have no other cause. A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity, We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry; 5 But were we burden'd with like weight of pain, 2 Adr. There's none, but asses, will be bridled so. Luc. Why headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe.] Should it not rather be leash'd, i. e. coupled like a headstrong hound? Or perhaps the meaning of this passage may be, that those who refuse the bridle must bear the lash, and that woe is the punishment of headstrong liberty. Mr. M. Mason inclines to leashed. +"subject" - Mr. Malone reads subjects. 3 ·start some other where?] Probably where has here the power of a noun. The sense is, How if your husband fly off in pursuit of some other woman? 4 though she pause ;] To pause is to rest, to be in quiet. 5 They can be meek, that have no other cause.] That is, who have no cause to be otherwise. So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, This fool-begg'd' patience in thee will be left. your Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. Adr. Say, is your tardy master now at hand? Dro. E. Nay, he is at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness. Adr. Say, didst thou speak with him? know'st thou his mind? Dro. E. Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear; Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it. Luc. Spake he so doubtfully, thou could'st not feel his meaning? Dro. E. Nay, he struck so plainly, I could too well feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully, that I could scarce understand them. 8 Adr. But say, I pr'ythee, is he coming home? It seems, he hath great care to please his wife. Dro. E. Why, mistress, sure my master is horn-mad. Adr. Horn-mad, thou villain? Dro. E. I mean not cuckold-mad; but, sure, he's stark mad: When I desir'd him to come home to dinner, He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold: 6 With urging helpless patience —] By exhorting me to patience which affords no help. 7 fool-begg'd—] She seems to mean, by fool begg'd patience, that patience which is so near to idiotical simplicity, that your next relation would take advantage from it to represent you as a fool, and beg the guardianship of your fortune. 8 that I could scarce understand them.] i.e. that I could scarce stand under them. This quibble, poor as it is, seems to have been a favourite with Shakspeare. |