Chapter: ACT IV. SCENE I.

_The frontiers of Mantua. A forest._

  _Enter certain _Outlaws_._

_First Out._ Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger.

_Sec. Out._ If there be ten, shrink not, but down with 'em.

  _Enter VALENTINE and SPEED._

_Third Out._ Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye:
If not, we'll make you sit, and rifle you.

_Speed._ Sir, we are undone; these are the villains                  5
That all the travellers do fear so much.

_Val._ My friends,--

_First Out._ That's not so, sir: we are your enemies.

_Sec. Out._ Peace! we'll hear him.

_Third Out._ Ay, by my beard, will we, for he's a proper man.       10

_Val._ Then know that I have little wealth to lose:
A man I am cross'd with adversity;
My riches are these poor habiliments,
Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
You take the sum and substance that I have.                         15

_Sec. Out._ Whither travel you?

_Val._ To Verona.

_First Out._ Whence came you?

_Val._ From Milan.

_Third Out._ Have you long sojourned there?                         20

_Val._ Some sixteen months, and longer might have stay'd,
If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.

_First Out._ What, were you banish'd thence?

_Val._ I was.

_Sec. Out._ For what offence?                                       25

_Val._ For that which now torments me to rehearse:
I kill'd a man, whose death I much repent;
But yet I slew him manfully in fight,
Without false vantage or base treachery.

_First Out._ Why, ne'er repent it, if it were done so.              30
But were you banish'd for so small a fault?

_Val._ I was, and held me glad of such a doom.

_Sec. Out._ Have you the tongues?

_Val._ My youthful travel therein made me happy,
Or else I often had been miserable.                                 35

_Third Out._ By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,
This fellow were a king for our wild faction!

_First Out._ We'll have him. Sirs, a word.

_Speed._ Master, be one of them; it's an honourable kind
of thievery.                                                        40

_Val._ Peace, villain!

_Sec. Out._ Tell us this: have you any thing to take to?

_Val._ Nothing but my fortune.

_Third Out._ Know, then, that some of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth                                45
Thrust from the company of awful men:
Myself was from Verona banished
For practising to steal away a lady,
An heir, and near allied unto the duke.

_Sec. Out._ And I from Mantua, for a gentleman,                     50
Who, in my mood, I stabb'd unto the heart.

_First Out._ And I for such like petty crimes as these.
But to the purpose,--for we cite our faults,
That they may hold excused our lawless lives;
And partly, seeing you are beautified                               55
With goodly shape, and by your own report
A linguist, and a man of such perfection
As we do in our quality much want,--

_Sec. Out._ Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,
Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you:                        60
Are you content to be our general?
To make a virtue of necessity,
And live, as we do, in this wilderness?

_Third Out._ What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our consort?
Say ay, and be the captain of us all:                               65
We'll do thee homage and be ruled by thee,
Love thee as our commander and our king.

_First Out._ But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest.

_Sec. Out._ Thou shalt not live to brag what we have offer'd.

_Val._ I take your offer, and will live with you,                   70
Provided that you do no outrages
On silly women or poor passengers.

_Third Out._ No, we detest such vile base practices.
Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews,
And show thee all the treasure we have got;                         75
Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose.    [_Exeunt._



  Notes: IV, 1.

  SCENE I. The frontiers ... forest.] Capell. A forest. Rowe.
    A forest leading towards Mantua. Warburton.
  2: _shrink_] _shrinkd_ F2.
  4: _sit_] F1 F2. _sir_ F3 F4.
  5: _Sir_] _O sir_ Capell.
  6: _do_] om. Pope, who prints lines 5 and 6 as prose.
  9: _Peace!_] _Peace, peace!_ Capell.
  11: _little wealth_] F1. _little_ F2 F3 F4. _little left_ Hanmer.
  18: _Whence_] _And whence_ Capell, who reads 16-20 as two lines
    ending _came you? ... there?_
  35: _ I often had been_] F2. _I often had been often_ F1. _often had
    been_ (om. _I_) F3 F4. _I had been often_ Collier.
  39, 40: _it's ... thievery_] Printed as a verse in Ff. _It is a kind
    of honourable thievery_ Steevens.
  42: _thing_] F1. _things_ F2 F3 F4.
  46: _awful_] _lawful_ Heath conj.
  49: _An heir, and near allied_] Theobald. _And heire and Neece,
    allide_ F1 F2. _An heir, and Neice allide_ F3. _An Heir, and
    Neece alli'd_ F4.
  51: _Who_] _Whom_ Pope.
  60: _Therefore_] F1 F2. _There_ F3 F4.
  63: _this_] F1. _the_ F2 F3 F4.
  74: _crews_] F4. _crewes_ F1 F2 F3. _cave_ Collier MS. _caves_
    Singer. _crew_ Delius conj. _cruives_ Bullock conj.
  76: _all_] _shall_ Pope.


SCENE II.

_Milan. Outside the DUKE'S palace, under SILVIA'S chamber._

  _Enter PROTEUS._

_Pro._ Already have I been false to Valentine,
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,                          5
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                          10
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.                        15
But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window,
And give some evening music to her ear.

  _Enter THURIO and _Musicians_._

_Thu._ How now, Sir Proteus, are you crept before us?

_Pro._ Ay, gentle Thurio; for you know that love
Will creep in service where it cannot go.                           20

_Tim._ Ay, but I hope, sir, that you love not here.

_Pro._ Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence.

_Thu._ Who? Silvia?

_Pro._            Ay, Silvia; for your sake.

_Thu._ I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen,
Let's tune, and to it lustily awhile.                               25

_Enter, at a distance, HOST, and JULIA in boy's clothes._

_Host._ Now, my young guest, methinks you're allycholly:
I pray you, why is it?

_Jul._ Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry.

_Host._ Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you
where you shall hear music, and see the gentleman that              30
you asked for.

_Jul._ But shall I hear him speak?

_Host._ Ay, that you shall.

_Jul._ That will be music.    [_Music plays._

_Host._ Hark, hark!                                                 35

_Jul._ Is he among these?

_Host._ Ay: but, peace! let's hear 'em.

SONG.

  Who is Silvia? what is she,
    That all our swains commend her?
  Holy, fair, and wise is she;                                      40
    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,                                     45
    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                                      50
    Upon the dull earth dwelling:
  To her let us garlands bring.

_Host._ How now! are you sadder than you were before?
How do you, man? the music likes you not.

_Jul._ You mistake; the musician likes me not.                      55

_Host._ Why, my pretty youth?

_Jul._ He plays false, father.

_Host._ How? out of tune on the strings?

_Jul._ Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my very
heart-strings.                                                      60

_Host._ You have a quick ear.

_Jul._ Ay, I would I were deaf; it makes me have a slow
heart.

_Host._ I perceive you delight not in music.

_Jul._ Not a whit, when it jars so.                                 65

_Host._ Hark, what fine change is in the music!

_Jul._ Ay, that change is the spite.

_Host._ You would have them always play but one thing?

_Jul._ I would always have one play but one thing.
But, host, doth this Sir Proteus that we talk on                    70
Often resort unto this gentlewoman?

_Host._ I tell you what Launce, his man, told me,--he
loved her out of all nick.

_Jul._ Where is Launce?

_Host._ Gone to seek his dog; which to-morrow, by his               75
master's command, he must carry for a present to his lady.

_Jul._ Peace! stand aside: the company parts.

_Pro._ Sir Thurio, fear not you: I will so plead,
That you shall say my cunning drift excels.

_Thu._ Where meet we?

_Pro._              At Saint Gregory's well.

_Thu._                                     Farewell.                80

    [_Exeunt Thu. and Musicians._

  _Enter SILVIA above._

_Pro._ Madam, good even to your ladyship.

_Sil._ I thank you for your music, gentlemen.
Who is that that spake?

_Pro._ One, lady, if you knew his pure heart's truth,
You would quickly learn to know him by his voice.                   85

_Sil._ Sir Proteus, as I take it.

_Pro._ Sir Proteus, gentle lady, and your servant.

_Sil._ What's your will?

_Pro._                 That I may compass yours.

_Sil._ You have your wish; my will is even this:
That presently you hie you home to bed.                             90
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.                           95
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.                     100

_Pro._ I grant, sweet love, that I did love a lady;
But she is dead.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] 'Twere false, if I should speak it;
For I am sure she is not buried.

_Sil._ Say that she be; yet Valentine thy friend
Survives; to whom, thyself art witness,                            105
I am betroth'd: and art thou not ashamed
To wrong him with thy importunacy?

_Pro._ I likewise hear that Valentine is dead.

_Sil._ And so suppose am I; for in his grave
Assure thyself my love is buried.                                  110

_Pro._ Sweet lady, let me rake it from the earth.

_Sil._ Go to thy lady's grave, and call hers thence;
Or, at the least, in hers sepulchre thine.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] He heard not that.

_Pro._ Madam, if your heart be so obdurate,                        115
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;                                120
And to your shadow will I make true love.

_Jul._ [_Aside_] If 'twere a substance, you would,
    sure, deceive it,
And make it but a shadow, as I am.

_Sil._ I am very loath to be your idol, sir;
But since your falsehood shall become you well                     125
To worship shadows and adore false shapes,
Send to me in the morning, and I'll send it:
And so, good rest.

_Pro._           As wretches have o'ernight
That wait for execution in the morn.
    [_Exeunt Pro. and Sil. severally._

_Jul._ Host, will you go?                                          130

_Host._ By my halidom, I was fast asleep.

_Jul._ Pray you, where lies Sir Proteus?

_Host._ Marry, at my house. Trust me, I think 'tis
almost day.

_Jul._ Not so; but it hath been the longest night                  135
That e'er I watch'd, and the most heaviest.    [_Exeunt._



  Notes: IV, 2.

  SCENE II. Outside ... palace ...] An open place, ... Warburton.
    Court of the palace. Capell.
  1: _have I_] _I've_ Pope.
  15: _and_] om. F3 F4.
  18: Musicians.] Rowe. Musitian. Ff. at the beginning of the scene.
  23: _Who_] F1. Whom F2 F3 F4.
  25: _tune_] F1. _turne_ F2. _turn_ F3 F4.
  26: at a distance] Capell.
  _allycholly_] _melancholy_ Pope.
  27: _I pray you, why is it_] F1. _I pray you what is it_ F2 F3.
    _I pray what is it?_ F4.
  34: [Music plays] Capell.
  40: _is she_] _as free_ Collier MS.
  50: _excels_] _exceeds_ S. Walker conj.
  53: SCENE III. Pope.
  53, 54: _are you ... before?_] _you are ... before_ Heath conj.
  68: _You would_] _you would, then,_ Malone. _you would not_
    Collier MS.
  70, 71: Printed as prose by Capell.
  72-74: Printed as verse in Ff. _I tell ... He lov'd ..._
  78: _fear not you_] F1. _fear not_ F2 F3 F4.
  80: [Exeunt Thu. and Musicians.] Rowe.
  81: SCENE IV. Pope.
  Enter SILVIA above] Rowe. om. Ff.
  85: _You would_] Ff. _You'd_ Pope.
  88: _What's_] _What is_ Pope.
  89: _even_] F1. _ever_ F2 F3 F4.
  102: [Aside] Pope.
  105: _thyself_] _even thyself_ Hanmer.
  109: _his_] F2 F3 F4. _her_ F1.
  112: _hers_] F1 F2. _her_ F3 F4.
  114: [Aside] Pope.
  115: _if_] _if that_ Warburton.
  115, 116: _obdurate, Vouchsafe_] _Obdurate, O, vouchsafe_ Hanmer.
  116: _for my love_] om. Hanmer.
  122: [Aside] Pope.
  125: _since your falsehood shall_] _since you're false, it shall_
    Johnson conj.
  129: [Exeunt ... severally] om. F1. [Exeunt. F2.
  136: _heaviest_] _heavy one_ Pope.

 Valentine and Speed are accosted by an honorable band of thieves who are so impressed by the travelers' noble demeanor that they not only spare their lives, but offer Valentine the generalship of their gang. By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction! The same outlaw who utters these words explains that his own crime amounted to no more than "practicing to steal away a lady." They claim to be gentlemen, and they urge Valentine to "make virtue of necessity"; otherwise, they'll kill him. He accepts. In Milan, Proteus and Sir Thurio approach Silvia's dwelling at night. Proteus uses the excuse of giving aid to Thurio as a means to approach Silvia, who consistently spurns him: Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love, The more it grows, and fawneth on her still. Disguised as a boy and fresh from Verona, Julia comes upon the scene of Proteus singing a love song outside of Silvia's window. Thurio departs after the song, and Julia watches as her lover declares his feelings for another woman. He even goes so far as to say that she, Julia, is dead.

