Hopeless to find, yet loath to leave unsought, Duke. Hapless Egeon, whom the fates have mark'd To bear the extremity of dire mishap! Now, trust me, were it not against our laws, And live; if not †, then thou art doom'd to die:- Gaol. I will, my lord. Ege. Hopeless, and helpless, doth Ægeon wend*, But to procrastinate his lifeless end. SCENE II. A publick Place. [Exeunt. Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Syracuse, and a Mer. Therefore, give out, you are of Epidamnum, Is apprehended for arrival here; + "if no,"-MALONE. wend,] i. e. go. An obsolete word. And, not being able to buy out his life, Ant. S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host, Till that, I'll view the manners of the town, Dro. S. Many a man would take you at your word, Mer. I am invited, sir, to certain merchants, Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit Merchant. Ant. S. He that commends me to mine own content, Commends me to the thing I cannot get. I to the world am like a drop of water, So I, to find a mother, and a brother, In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself. Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. Here comes the almanack of my true date.- The meat is cold, because you come not home; Ant. S. Stop in your wind, sir; tell me this, I pray ; Dro. E. 0,-six-pence, that I had o'Wednesday last, Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humour now: Dro. E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner: I from my mistress come to you in post; If I return, I shall be post indeed; For she will score your fault upon my pate. Methinks, your maw, like mine, should be your clock, 6 Ant. S. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season; I shall be post indeed; For she will score your fault upon my pate.] Perhaps, before writing was a general accomplishment, a kind of rough reckoning, concerning wares issued out of a shop, was kept by chalk or notches on a post, till it could be entered on the books of a trader. Reserve them till a merrier hour than this: Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee? Dro. E. To me, sir? why you gave no gold to me. Ant. S. Come on, sir knave; have done your foolish ness, And tell me, how thou hast dispos'd thy charge. Dro. E. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart Home to your house, the Phoenix, sir, to dinner; Ant. S. Now, as I am a christian, answer me, Perchance, you will not bear them patiently. Ant. S. Thy mistress' marks! what mistress, slave, hast thou? Dro. E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the She that doth fast, till you come home to dinner, Ant. S. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? There, take you that, sir knave. Dro. E. What mean you, sir? for God's sake, hold your hands; Nay, an you will not, sir, I'll take my heels. [Exit DRO. E. Ant. S. Upon my life, by some device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my money. + 7 8 8 bestow'd] i. e. stowed or lodged it. that merry sconce of yours,] Sconce is head. They say, this town is full of cozenage'; [Exit. ACT II. SCENE I.-A publick Place. Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA. Adr. Neither my husband, nor the slave return'd, That in such haste I sent to seek his master! Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock. Luc. Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner. Good sister, let us dine, and never fret: A man is master of his liberty: Time is their master; and, when they see time, Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more? 9 They say, this town is full of cozenage;] This was the character the ancients give of it. Hence Epɛoia aλežipapμara was proverbial amongst them. Thus Menander uses it, and Epɛoia ypaμpara, in the same sense. WARBURTON. 1 liberties of sin:] By liberties of sin, Shakspeare perhaps means licensed offenders, such as mountebanks, fortune-tellers, &c. who cheat with impunity; or it may mean sinful liberties. |