Chapter: ACT II. Scene I.
A lane by the wall of Capulet's orchard.

Enter Romeo alone.


  Rom. Can I go forward when my heart is here?
    Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.
                     [Climbs the wall and leaps down within it.]

                   Enter Benvolio with Mercutio.


  Ben. Romeo! my cousin Romeo! Romeo!

  Mer. He is wise,
    And, on my life, hath stol'n him home to bed.

  Ben. He ran this way, and leapt this orchard wall.
    Call, good Mercutio.

  Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too.
    Romeo! humours! madman! passion! lover!
    Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh;
    Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied!
    Cry but 'Ay me!' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove';
    Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
    One nickname for her purblind son and heir,
    Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim
    When King Cophetua lov'd the beggar maid!
    He heareth not, he stirreth not, be moveth not;
    The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.
    I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes.
    By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
    By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
    And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
    That in thy likeness thou appear to us!

  Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.

  Mer. This cannot anger him. 'Twould anger him
    To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle
    Of some strange nature, letting it there stand
    Till she had laid it and conjur'd it down.
    That were some spite; my invocation
    Is fair and honest: in his mistress' name,
    I conjure only but to raise up him.

  Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among these trees
    To be consorted with the humorous night.
    Blind is his love and best befits the dark.

  Mer. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
    Now will he sit under a medlar tree
    And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit
    As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.
    O, Romeo, that she were, O that she were
    An open et cetera, thou a pop'rin pear!
    Romeo, good night. I'll to my truckle-bed;
    This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep.
    Come, shall we go?

  Ben. Go then, for 'tis in vain
    'To seek him here that means not to be found.
                                                         Exeunt.

 Romeo doesn't want to leave the Capulet's property, so he ditches his friends and hides out in the orchard behind the Capulet house. Benvolio and Mercutio try to find him. Unaware that Romeo now has the hots for Juliet, they shout lots of filthy things about Rosaline hoping that Romeo will come out to defend Rosaline's honor. No such luck. Eventually they give up and head home. We interrupt this program for a helpful reading tip: Worried that your copy of the play divides scenes differently than we do here? Don't trip. The division of acts and scenes varies depending on which edition of the play you're reading. Some editions of the play cut off Act 2, Scene 1 at the end of Benvolio's line and give the famous balcony scene its own section . Some other editions include Romeo and Juliet's famous balcony scene in Act 2, Scene 1. Now back to our program.

