ページの画像
PDF
ePub

Done to me, undeserving as I am,

My duty pricks me on to utter that

Which else no wordly good should draw from me.
Know, worthy prince, Sir Valentine, my friend,
This night intends to steal away your daughter:
Myself am one made privy to the plot.

I know, you have determin'd to bestow her
On Thurio, whom your gentle daughter hates;
And should she thus be stol'n away from you,
It would be much vexation to your age.
Thus, for my duty's sake, I rather chose
To cross my friend in his intended drift,
Than, by concealing it, heap on your head

A pack of sorrows, which would press you down,
Being unprevented, 1 to your timeless grave.

Duke. Proteus, I thank thee for thine honest care,
Which to requite, command me while I live.
This love of theirs myself have often seen,
Haply, when they have judg'd me fast asleep;
And oftentimes have purpos'd to forbid
Sir Valentine her company, and my court;
But, fearing lest my jealous aim 2 might err,

And so unworthily disgrace the man,

(A rashness that I ever yet have shunn'd)

[blocks in formation]

3

And, that thou may'st perceive my fear of this,
Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested,
I nightly lodge her in an upper tower,

The key whereof myself have ever kept;
And thence she cannot be convey'd away.

Pro. Know, noble lord, they have devis'd a mean
How he her chamber-window will ascend,

And with a corded ladder fetch her down;

For which the youthful lover now is gone,

And this way comes he with it presently,

Where, if it please you, you may intercept him.
But, good my lord, do it so cunningly,

That my discovery be not aimed at;

1) being unprevented bezieht sich auf a pack of sorrows = wenn man ihnen nicht zu

vorkäme.

2) my jealous aim = meine argwöhnische Vermuthung, die Richtung meines Argwohns.

--

Ebenso bald nachher to aim at Etwas vermuthen, errathen.

3) to suggest

=

verlocken, verführen. Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 6, Anm. 1.

*) d. h. in dem obern Theil oder Stockwerk eines Thurmes.

5

For love of you, not hate unto my friend,
Hath made me publisher of this pretence.
Duke. Upon mine honour, he shall never know
That I had any light from thee of this.

Pro. Adieu, my lord: Sir Valentine is coming.
Enter VALENTINE.

Duke. Sir Valentine, whither away so fast?

Val. Please it your grace, there is a messenger

That stays to bear my letters to my friends, 6
And I am going to deliver them.

Duke. Be they of much import?

Val. The tenor of them doth but signify

My health, and happy being at your court.

Duke. Nay, then no matter: stay with me awhile.

I am to break with thee 7 of some affairs,
That touch me near, wherein thou must be secret.
"T is not unknown to thee, that I have sought
To match my friend, Sir Thurio, to my daughter.
Val. I know it well, my lord; and, sure, the match
Were rich and honourable: besides, the gentleman
Is full of virtue, bounty, worth, and qualities
Beseeming such a wife as your fair daughter.
Cannot your grace win her to fancy him?

Duke. No, trust me: she is peevish, sullen, froward,
Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty;

Neither regarding that she is my child,

Nor fearing me as if I were her father: 8
And, may I say to thee, this pride of hers,
Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her;
And, where 10 I thought the remnant of mine age
Should have been cherish'd by her child-like duty,
I now am full resolv'd to take a wife,

And turn her out to who will take her in:

Then, let her beauty be her wedding-dower; 11

For me and my possessions she esteems not.

Val. What would your grace have me to do in this?

5) pretence Anschlag.

6) my friends sind Valentine's Verwandte in Verona. Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 3, Anm. 15. 7) Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 3, Anm. 10.

8) sie hat nicht die kindliche Ehrfurcht vor mir, die mir als Vater gebührt.

9) nachdem ich mir die Sache überlegt habe.

10) where für whereas ist Sh.'sch.

11) So in K. Lear (A. 1, Sc. 1) thy truth be then thy dower.

[Exit.

13

Duke. There is a lady, Sir, in Milan here, 12
Whom I affect; but she is nice, and coy,
And nought esteems my aged eloquence:
Now, therefore, would I have thee to my tutor,
(For long agone I have forgot to court;
Besides, the fashion of the time 14 is chang'd)
How, and which way, I may bestow myself,

To be regarded in her sun-bright eye.

Val. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words.

Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind,

More than quick words do move a woman's mind.

Duke. But she did scorn a present that I sent her.

Val. A woman sometime scorns what best contents her. 15

Send her another; never give her o'er,

For scorn at first makes after-love 16 the more.

If she do frown, 't is not in hate of you,
But rather to beget more love in you:

If she do chide, 't is not to have you gone,
For why 17 the fools are mad, if left alone.
Take no repulse, whatever she doth say;
For, get you gone" she doth not mean, „away."
Flatter, and praise, commend, extol their graces;
Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces.
That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.

Duke. But she I mean is promis'd by her friends

Unto a youthful gentleman of worth,

And kept severely from resort of men,

That no man hath access by day to her.

Val. Why, then I would resort to her by night.

12) So emendirte Pope den Vers der Fol. There is a lady in Verona here, wie Sh. selbst wahrscheinlich schrieb mit einer Ortsverwechslung, die ihm auch vorher und nachher in diesem Stücke widerfuhr. Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 5, Anm. 1. Pope's Emendation ist weniger gesucht, als Halliwell's a lady of Verona, da die Herkunft der Dame nichts zur Sache thut, oder Dyce's a lady in Milano, da Sh. sonst nirgendwo diese seinem Publikum unbekannte italienische Bezeichnung für das englische Milan anwendet. 13) sie ist eigensinnig und spröde, und verachtet mein Reden, weil ich alt bin. 1) the fashion of the time bezieht sich auf to court: die Art und Weise, wie man früher und wie man jetzt einer Dame den Hof macht. 15) Um den Reim sent her

--

und willkührlich sent, sir.
in andern vor. Vgl. A. 2,
spätere Liebe.

16) after-love

spätere Zusammenkunft.

contents her zu verbessern, änderte Steevens überflüssig Ungenaue Reime kommen bei Sh. in diesem Drama wie Sc. 1, Anm. 25.

[blocks in formation]

17) for why because. Manche Hgg, setzen mit Unrecht ein Komma hinter for why.

Duke. Ay, but the doors be lock'd, and keys kept safe,
That no man hath recourse to her by night.

Val. What lets, 18 but one may enter at her window?
Duke. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground,
And built so shelving, that one cannot climb it.
Without apparent hazard of his life.

Val. Why then, a ladder quaintly made of cords,
To cast up, with a pair of anchoring hooks,
Would serve to scale another Hero's tower,

So bold Leander would adventure it. 19

Duke. Now, as thou art a gentleman of blood,
Advise me where I may have such a ladder.

Val. When would you use it? pray, Sir, tell me that.
Duke. This very night; for love is like a child,
That longs for every thing that he can come by.

Val. By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder.
Duke. But hark thee; I will go to her alone.
How shall I best convey the ladder thither?

Val. It will be light, my lord, that you may bear it
Under a cloak that is of any length.

Duke. A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn?
Val. Ay, my good lord.

Duke.

Then, let me see thy cloak: I'll get me one of such another length.

--

Val. Why, any cloak will serve the turn, my lord.
Duke. How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak?
I pray thee, let me feel thy cloak upon me.
What letter is this same? What 's here?
And here an engine fit for my proceeding! 20
I'll be so bold to break the seal for once.

[ocr errors]

To Silvia?"

"My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly; And slaves they are to me, that send them flying: O! could their master come and go as lightly,

Himself would lodge, where senseless they are lying. My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; 21 While I, their king, that thither them importune,

[blocks in formation]

[Reads.

19) Auch hier haben die Hgg. eine Anspielung auf Marlowe's Gedicht Hero and Leander finden wollen. Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 1, Anm. 7.

20) Er findet in Valentin's Mantel ausser dem Briefe noch solch eine Strickleiter, wie Valentin sie ihm eben empfohlen hatte.

21) Valentin's schriftlich ausgedrückte Gedanken, die er wie Herolde an Silvia sendet, ruhen aus an ihrer reinen Brust, indem sie den Brief in ihrem Busen verbirgt. demselben Sinne ist auch my thoughts do harbour etc. zu fassen.

In

Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless'd them,
Because myself do want my servants' fortune,

I curse myself, for 22 they are sent by me,

That they should harbour where their lord should be.“

What 's here?

[ocr errors]

Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee:"

"T is so; and here's the ladder for the purpose.
Why, Phaeton, (for thou art Merops' son) 23
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car,
And with thy daring folly burn the world?

Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee? 24
Go, base intruder! over-weening slave!

Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates,

And think my patience, more than thy desert,
Is privilege for thy departure hence.

Thank me for this, more than for all the favours,
Which, all too much, I have bestow'd on thee:
But if thou linger in my territories,

Longer than swiftest expedition

Will give thee time to leave our royal court,

25

By heaven, my wrath shall far exceed the love

I ever bore my daughter, or thyself.

Be gone: I will not hear thy vain excuse;

But, as thou lov'st thy life, make speed from hence.

Val. And why not death, rather than living torment? 26

To die is to be banish'd from myself.
And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her,
Is self from self; 27 a deadly banishment.
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
Unless it be, to think that she is by,
And feed upon the shadow of perfection.

22) for = deswegen, weil.

[Exit DUKE.

23) Diese Parenthese erklärt Johnson: Thou art Phaëton in thy rashness, but without his pretensions; thou art not the son of a divinity, but a terrae filius; Merops is thy true father with whom Phaëton was falsely reproached. Vielleicht wollte Sh. aber mit den eingeklammerten Worten nur sagen: denn Du bist wirklich Phaeton.

24) So in Greene's Novelle Pandosto and Fawnia: Stars are to be looked at with the eye, not reached at with the hand.

25) royal steht hier in demselben weiteren Sinne bei court, wie vorher. Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 3,

Anm. 7.

26) living torment eine Marter, bei der man am Leben bleibt.

27) seil. is self banished from self

der man stirbt.

=

eine gewaltsame Zerreissung des eigenen Selbst, von

« 前へ次へ »