The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)
Page 408
Whose precious musical skill could soften steel and stones,Make tigers tame and huge leviathans
And make tigers times and huge sea monstersForsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.
Leave the unmeasured deeps of the ocean to dance on the shore.After your dire-lamenting elegies,
After your deeply mournful love poems,Visit by night your lady's chamber-window
Visit your lady’s bedroom window at nightWith some sweet concert; to their instruments
With some sweet music; with the music instrumentsTune a deploring dump: the night's dead silence
Play a sorrowful song: the night’s dead silenceWill well become such sweet-complaining grievance.
Will be very fitting for such a sweetly sounding pain.This, or else nothing, will inherit her.
If this doesn’t win her over, nothing else will.
DUKE
This discipline shows thou hast been in love.
This instructions shows that you have been in love
THURIO
And thy advice this night I'll put in practise.
And I’ll put your advice into practice tonight.Therefore, sweet Proteus, my direction-giver,
So, sweet Proteus, my guide,Let us into the city presently
Let us go to the city right nowTo sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music.
To find some gentlemen well skilled in music.I have a sonnet that will serve the turn
I have a poem that will work for thisTo give the onset to thy good advice.
To star acting on your good advice.
DUKE
About it, gentlemen!
Get to it, gentlemen!
PROTEUS
We'll wait upon your grace till after supper,
We’ll wait with your grace until after supper,And afterward determine our proceedings.
And afterwards determine how to proceed with the plan.
DUKE
Even now about it! I will pardon you.
Get to it now! I will forgive you for not waiting with me.
Exeunt
A forest.
Enter certain Outlaws
First Outlaw
Fellows, stand fast; I see a passenger.
Men, get ready; I see a traveler.
Second Outlaw
If there be ten, shrink not, but down with 'em.
If there are ten men, don’t give in, but bring them all down.
Enter VALENTINE and SPEED
Third Outlaw
Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye:
Stop, sir, and throw us whatever you have on you:If not: we'll make you sit and rifle you.
If you don’t: we’ll put you on the ground and rob you.
SPEED
Sir, we are undone; these are the villains
Sir, we are ruined; these are the criminalsThat all the travellers do fear so much.
That all the travelers are so afraid of.
VALENTINE
My friends,--
My friends—
First Outlaw
That's not so, sir: we are your enemies.
We aren’t your friends, sir: we are your enemies.
Second Outlaw
Peace! we'll hear him.
Quiet! Let’s listen to him.
Third Outlaw
Ay, by my beard, will we, for he's a proper man.
Yeah, by my beard, we’ll listen to him, because he’s a handsome man.
VALENTINE
Then know that I have little wealth to lose:
Then be aware that I have very little money for your to take:A man I am cross'd with adversity;
I am a man plagued by misfortune;My riches are these poor habiliments,
My only riches are these poor clothes,Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
And if you should strip me of these,You take the sum and substance that I have.
You will be taking everything single thing that I have.
Second Outlaw
Whither travel you?
Where are you traveling to?
VALENTINE
To Verona.
To Verona.
First Outlaw
Whence came you?
Where did you come from?
VALENTINE
From Milan.
From Milan.
Third Outlaw
Have you long sojourned there?
How long were you staying here?
VALENTINE
Some sixteen months, and longer might have stay'd,
About sixteen months, and I might have stayed longer,If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.
If tricky chance had not stood in my way.
First Outlaw
What, were you banish'd thence?
What, were you banished from there?
VALENTINE
I was.
I was.
Second Outlaw
For what offence?
For what crime?
VALENTINE
For that which now torments me to rehearse:
For one that now pains me to repeat:I kill'd a man, whose death I much repent;
I killed a man, whose death I regret;But yet I slew him manfully in fight,
But still I killed him bravely in a fight,Without false vantage or base treachery.
Without an unfair advantage or dishonorable trickery.
First Outlaw
Why, ne'er repent it, if it were done so.
Well, don’t regret it, if that’s how it happened.But were you banish'd for so small a fault?
But you were banished for such a small crime?
VALENTINE
I was, and held me glad of such a doom.
I was, and was glad to have such a sentence.
Second Outlaw
Have you the tongues?
Do you speak foreign languages?
VALENTINE
My youthful travel therein made me happy,
My youthful travel has made me accomplished with them,Or else I often had been miserable.
Or else I would have often been unhappy.
Third Outlaw
By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,
By the bald head of Robin Hood’s fat friar,This fellow were a king for our wild faction!
This fellow could be king of our wild group!
First Outlaw
We'll have him. Sirs, a word.
We’ll have him. Men, let’s talk.
SPEED
Master, be one of them; it's an honourable kind of thievery.
Master, become on of them; it’s an honorable kind of robbery.
VALENTINE
Peace, villain!
Quiet, scoundrel!
Second Outlaw
Tell us this: have you any thing to take to?
Tell us this: do have any resources?
VALENTINE
Nothing but my fortune.
Nothing but my luck.
Third Outlaw
Know, then, that some of us are gentlemen,
Be aware, then, that some of us are gentlemen,Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
The kind that in the fury of reckless youthThrust from the company of awful men:
Were sent away from the company of respectful men:Myself was from Verona banished
I was banished from VeronaFor practising to steal away a lady,
For plotting to steal away a lady,An heir, and near allied unto the duke.
An heiress, and closely related to the duke.
Second Outlaw
And I from Mantua, for a gentleman,
And I was banished from Mantua, because of a gentlemenWho, in my mood, I stabb'd unto the heart.
Who I stabbed in the heart in anger.
First Outlaw
And I for such like petty crimes as these,
And I was too for little crimes like these,But to the purpose--for we cite our faults,
But to the point—since we mention our crimes,That they may hold ex
cus'd our lawless lives;
So that they may justify our lives outside of the law;And partly, seeing you are beautified
And in part, since we see that your are handsomeWith goodly shape and by your own report
With a good figure and by your own claimsA linguist and a man of such perfection
A man of languages and such perfectionAs we do in our quality much want—
Like we want in our companions—
Second Outlaw
Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,
Indeed, and because you have been banished,Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you:
Because of that, above all other reasons, are we negotiating with you:Are you content to be our general?
Are you willing to be our leader?To make a virtue of necessity
To turn necessity into an advantageAnd live, as we do, in this wilderness?
And live, like we do, in the wilderness?
Third Outlaw
What say'st thou? wilt thou be of our consort?
What do you say? Will you be part of our company?Say ay, and be the captain of us all:
Say yes, and you’ll be the leader of us all:We'll do thee homage and be ruled by thee,
We’ll pay our respects to you and be ruled by you,Love thee as our commander and our king.
And love you as our commander and our king.
First Outlaw
But if thou scorn our courtesy, thou diest.
But if you reject our offer, you will die.
Second Outlaw
Thou shalt not live to brag what we have offer'd.
You will not live to brag about what we have offered you.
VALENTINE
I take your offer and will live with you,
I will take your offer and live with you,Provided that you do no outrages
Provided that you don’t harmOn silly women or poor passengers.
Helpeless women or poor travelers.
Third Outlaw
No, we detest such vile base practises.
No, we hate such terrible, dishonorable practices.Come, go with us, we'll bring thee to our crews,
Come on, come with us, and we’ll bring you to our company,And show thee all the treasure we have got,
And show you all the treasure we have gotten,Which, with ourselves, all rest at thy dispose.
Which, along with ourselves, is all under your control.
Exeunt
Outside the DUKE's palace, under SILVIA's chamber.
Enter PROTEUS
PROTEUS
Already have I been false to Valentine
Already I have been disloyal to ValentineAnd now I must be as unjust to Thurio.
And now I must be unjust to Thurio.Under the colour of commending him,
While pretending to speak well of him,I have access my own love to prefer:
I have an opporunity to promote my own love instead:But Silvia is too fair, too true, too holy,
But Silvia, is too beautiful, too honest, and too virtuous,To be corrupted with my worthless gifts.
To be won over with my worthless gifts.When I protest true loyalty to her,
When I swear true loyalty to her,She twits me with my falsehood to my friend;
She criticizes me for my disloyalty to my friend;When to her beauty I commend my vows,
When I declare my promises to her beauty,She bids me think how I have been forsworn
She tells me to think of how I have broken my wordIn breaking faith with Julia whom I loved:
By being disloyal to Julia whom I loved:And notwithstanding all her sudden quips,
And in spite of all her biting insults,The least whereof would quell a lover's hope,
The smallest of which would put out a lover’s hope,Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
Still, like a puppy, the more she rejects my love,The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
The more my love grows and I continue to worship her.But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window,
But here comes Thurio: now we must go to her window,And give some evening music to her ear.
And play some evening music for her ear.
Enter THURIO and Musicians
THURIO
How now, Sir Proteus, are you crept before us?
What’s this, Sir Proteus, have you sneakily gotten here before us?
PROTEUS
Ay, gentle Thurio: for you know that love
Yes, noble Thurio: because you know that loveWill creep in service where it cannot go.
Will sneak where it cannot openly walk.
THURIO
Ay, but I hope, sir, that you love not here.
Yes, but I hope, sir, that your love isn’t here.
PROTEUS
Sir, but I do; or else I would be hence.
Sir, but it is; or else I wouldn’t be here.
THURIO
Who? Silvia?
Who? Silvia?
PROTEUS
Ay, Silvia; for your sake.
Yes, Silvia; for you sake.
THURIO
I thank you for your own. Now, gentlemen,
Thank you for clarifying. Now, gentlemen,Let's tune, and to it lustily awhile.
Let’s play, and do it energetically for a while.
Enter, at a distance, Host, and JULIA in boy's clothes
Host
Now, my young guest, methinks you're allycholly: I
Now, my young guest, I seems to me that you’re melancholy:pray you, why is it?
Please, what is it?
JULIA
Marry, mine host, because I cannot be merry.
By Mary, my host, it’s because I cannot be happy.
Host
Come, we'll have you merry: I'll bring you where
Come one, we’ll make you happy: I’ll bring you to whereyou shall hear music and see the gentleman that you asked for.
You can hear music and see the gentlemen that you asked for.
JULIA
But shall I hear him speak?
But will I hear him speak?
Host
Ay, that you shall.
Yes, you will.
JULIA
That will be music.
That will be music to my ears.
Music plays
Host
Hark, hark!
Listen, listen!
JULIA
Is he among these?
Is he with them?
Host
Ay: but, peace! let's hear 'em.
Yes: but quiet! Let’s listen to them.
SONGWho is Silvia? what is she,
Who is Silvia? What is this womanThat all our swains commend her?
Who all these lover’s praise?Holy, fair and wise is she;
She is virtuous, beautiful and wise;The heaven such grace did lend her,
The gods have her such elegance,That she might admired be.
So that she would be admired.Is she kind as she is fair?
Is she as kind as she is beautiful?For beauty lives with kindness.
Because beauty lives with kindness.Love doth to her eyes repair,
Love himself uses her eyesTo help him of his blindness,
To help him with his blindness,And, being help'd, inhabits there.
And, being helped with it, he lives in there.Then to Silvia let us sing,
So let us sing to Silvia,That Silvia is excelling;
That Silvia is the best;She excels each mortal thing
She surpasses each mortal creatureUpon the dull earth dwelling:
That lives on this dreary earth:To her let us garlands bring.
Let us bring her garlands.
Host
How now! are you sadder than you were before? How
What’s this! Are you more sad now than you were before? What’sdo you, man? the music likes you not.
Wrong, man? You don’t care for the music?
JULIA
You mistake; the musician likes me not.
You’re mistaken; I don’t care for the musician.
Host
Why, my pretty youth?
Why not, my pretty boy?
JULIA
He plays false, father.
He plays wrongly, father.
Host
How? out of tune on the strings?
How so? Are the strings out of tune?
JULIA
Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my very
No; but still it’s so wrong that he upsets my veryheart-strings.
Heart-strings.
Host
You have a quick ear.
You have a sharp ear.
JULIA
Ay, I would I were deaf; it makes me have a slow heart.
Yes, but I wish I were deaf; my hearing makes me have a heavy heart.
Host
I perceive you delight not in music.
I see that you don’t enjoy music.
JULIA
Not a whit, when it jars so.
Not at all, when it sounds so ugly.
Host
Hark, what fine change is in the music!
Listen, what nice variation there is in the music!
JULIA
Ay, that change is the spite.
Yes, that variation is what irritates me.
Host
You would have them always play but one thing?
You want them to always play the same thing?
JULIA
I would always have one play but one thing.
I want each one to play only one thing.But, host, doth this Sir Proteus that we talk on
But, host, does this Sir Proteus that we’ve talked aboutOften resort unto this gentlewoman?