Ros. Duke F. Me, uncle? You, cousin; Within these ten days if that thou be'st found Ros. I do beseech your grace, Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me. Or have acquaintance with mine own desires; (As I do trust I am not,) then, dear uncle, Duke F. Thus do all traitors; If their purgation did consist in words, Ros. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor: Tell me whereon the likelihood depends. Duke F. Thou art thy father's daughter; there's enough. Ros. So was I when your highness took his duke dom; So was I when your highness banished him. Or, if we did derive it from our friends, Cel. Dear sovereign, hear me speak. Duke F. Ay, Celia; we stayed her for your sake, Else had she with her father ranged along. Cel. I did not then entreat to have her stay; 1 i. e. compassion. And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, Duke F. She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness, Her very silence, and her patience, Speak to the people, and they pity her. Thou art a fool: she robs thee of thy name; And thou wilt show more bright, and seem more virtuous, When she is gone. Then open not thy lips; Which I have passed upon her; she is banished. Cel. Pronounce that sentence then on me, my liege. I cannot live out of her company. If Duke. F. You are a fool.-You, niece, provide yourself; you outstay the time, upon mine honor, And in the greatness of my word, you die. [Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK and Lords. Cel. O my poor Rosalind! whither wilt thou go? Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine. I charge thee, be not thou more grieved than I am. Ros. I have more cause. Cel. Thou hast not, cousin; Pr'ythee be cheerful. Know'st thou not, the duke Hath banished me, his daughter? Ros. That he hath not. Cel. No? Hath not? Rosalind lacks then the love Which teacheth me that thou and I are one. Shall we be sundered? Shall we part, sweet girl? Therefore devise with me how we may fly, 1 The second folio reads charge. Malone explains it "to take your change or reverse of fortune upon yourself, without any aid or participation." Ros. Why, whither shall we go? Cel. To seek my uncle in the forest of Arden. Cel. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire, Ros. Were it not better, Because that I am more than common tall, That do outface it with their semblances. Cel. What shall I call thee, when thou art a man? Ros. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page, And therefore, look you, call me Ganymede. But what will you be called? Cel. Something that hath a reference to my state; No longer Celia, but Aliena. Ros. But, cousin, what if we assayed to steal The clownish fool out of your father's court? Would he not be a comfort to our travel? Cel. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me; Leave me alone to woo him. Let's away, And get our jewels and our wealth together; Devise the fittest time, and safest way To hide us from pursuit that will be made After my flight. Now go we, in content, To liberty, and not to banishment. [Exeunt. 1 "A kind of umber," a dusky yellow-colored earth, brought from Umbria in Italy, well known to artists. 2 This was one of the old words for a cutlass, or short, crooked sword; coutelas (French). It was variously spelled, courtlas, courtlax, curtlax. 3 i. e. as we now say, dashing. ACT II. SCENE I. The Forest of Arden. Enter Duke senior, AMIENS, and other Lords, in the dress of Foresters. Duke S. Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exíle, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Ami. I would not change it. Happy is your grace, That can translate the stubbornness of fortune Into so quiet and so sweet a style. Duke S. Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools,— Being native burghers of this desert city,Should, in their own confines, with forked heads Have their round haunches gored. 1 Lord. Indeed, my lord, The melancholy Jaques grieves at that; 1 The old copy reads thus. Theobald proposed to read but, and has been followed by subsequent editors. 2 It was currently believed, in the time of Shakspeare, that the toad had a stone contained in its head, which was endued with singular virtues. This was called the toad-stone. And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp Duke S. But what said Jaques? Did he not moralize this spectacle? 1 Lord. O yes, into a thousand similes. First, for his weeping in the needless stream; To that which had too much. Then, being alone, 'Tis right, quoth he; this misery doth part The flux of company. Anon, a careless herd, Full of the pasture, jumps along by him, 'Tis just the fashion. Wherefore do Yea, and of this our life; swearing that we Duke S. And did you leave him in this contemplation? |