Chapter: SCENE IV.


                  _A Room in_ DUKE ORSINO'S _Palace_.

         _Enter_ VALENTINE, _and_ VIOLA _in Man's Attire_.

    _Val._ If the duke continue these favors towards you, Cesario, you
are like to be much advanced.

    _Vio._ You either fear his humour, or my negligence, that you call
in question the continuance of his love: Is he inconstant, sir, in his
favours?

    _Val._ No, believe me.

    _Vio._ I thank you.--Here comes the duke.

                 _Enter_ DUKE, CURIO, _and Gentlemen_.

    _Duke._ Who saw Cesario, ho?

    _Vio._ On your attendance, my lord; here.

    _Duke._ Stand you awhile aloof.--Cesario,
  Thou know'st no less but all; I have unclasp'd
  To thee the book even of my secret soul:
  Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her;
  Be not denied access, stand at her doors,
  And tell them, there thy fixed foot shall grow,
  Till thou have audience.

    _Vio._ Sure, my noble lord,
  If she be so abandon'd to her sorrow
  As it is spoke, she never will admit me.

    _Duke._ Be clamorous, and leap all civil bounds,
  Rather than make unprofited return.

    _Vio._ Say, I do speak with her, my lord. What then?

    _Duke._ O, then unfold the passion of my love.
  Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith:
  It shall become thee well to act my woes;
  She will attend it better in thy youth,
  Than in a nuncio of more grave aspect.

    _Vio._ I think not so, my lord.

    _Duke._ Dear lad, believe it;
  For they shall yet belie thy happy years,
  That say, thou art a man: Diana's lip
  Is not more smooth and rubious; thy small pipe
  Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound:
  I know, thy constellation is right apt
  For this affair:--Go:--prosper well in this,
  And thou shalt live as freely as thy lord,
  To call his fortunes thine.

                      [_Exeunt_ DUKE, CURIO, VALENTINE, _and Gentlemen_.

    _Vio._ I'll do my best,
  To woo his lady: yet,--a barful strife!--
  Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife.
                                                               [_Exit._

 Meanwhile, at the house of Duke Orsino, Viola has adopted a new name--Cesario--to go with her new persona as a teenage boy. After only three days in Orsino's service, Cesario has already become a favorite of Orsino. Indeed, so much does Orsino favor his new servant that he insists on picking Cesario to go on his most important errand: to carry his messages of love to Olivia. Cesario protests that Olivia, who has ignored Orsino for a long time, is not likely to start listening to his love messages now. But Orsino points out that Cesario is extremely young and handsome--so beautiful, in his lips and features, that he resembles a woman--and that Olivia is sure to be impressed by his attractiveness. Orsino tells Cesario to "act my woes" when he goes to see Olivia--to behave as if he shares Orsino's adoration for the noblewoman. After some discussion, Cesario reluctantly agrees to carry the message--reluctantly because, as she tells the audience in a quick aside, Viola herself has fallen in love with Orsino and wishes that she could be his wife

