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Two Gentlemen of Verona (Folio 1, 1623)

Author: William Shakespeare
Not Peer Reviewed
Scena Secunda.
1445
Enter Duke, Thurio, Protheus.
Du. Sir Thurio, feare not, but that she will loue you
Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight.
Th. Since his exile she hath despis'd me most,
Forsworne my company, and rail'd at me,
1450That I am desperate of obtaining her.
Du. This weake impresse of Loue, is as a figure
Trenched in ice, which with an houres heate
Dissolues to water, and doth loose his forme.
A little time will melt her frozen thoughts,
1455And worthlesse Valentine shall be forgot.
How now sir Protheus, is your countriman
(According to our Proclamation) gon?
Pro. Gon, my good Lord.
Du. My daughter takes his going grieuously?
1460Pro. A little time (my Lord) will kill that griefe.
Du. So I beleeue: but Thurio thinkes not so:
Protheus, the good conceit I hold of thee,
(For thou hast showne some signe of good desert)
Makes me the better to confer with thee.
1465Pro. Longer then I proue loyall to your Grace,
Let me not liue, to looke vpon your Grace.
Du. Thou know'st how willingly, I would effect
The match betweene sir Thurio, and my daughter?
Pro. I doe my Lord.
1470Du. And also, I thinke, thou art not ignorant
How she opposes her against my will?
Pro. She did my Lord, when Valentine was here.
Du. I, and peruersly, she perseuers so:
What might we doe to make the girle forget
1475The loue of Valentine, and loue sir Thurio?
Pro. The best way is, to slander Valentine,
With falsehood, cowardize, and poore discent:
Three things, that women highly hold in hate.
Du. I, but she'll thinke, that it is spoke in hate.
1480Pro. I, if his enemy deliuer it.
Therefore it must with circumstance be spoken
By one, whom she esteemeth as his friend.
Du. Then you must vndertake to slander him.
Pro. And that (my Lord) I shall be loath to doe:
1485'Tis an ill office for a Gentleman,
Especially against his very friend.
Du. Where your good word cannot aduantage him,
Your slander neuer can endamage him;
Therefore the office is indifferent,
1490Being intreated to it by your friend.
Pro. You haue preuail'd (my Lord) if I can doe it
By ought that I can speake in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue loue to him:
But say this weede her loue from Valentine,
1495It followes not that she will loue sir Thurio.
Th. Therefore, as you vnwinde her loue from him;
Least it should rauell, and be good to none,
You must prouide to bottome it on me:
Which must be done, by praising me as much
1500As you, in worth dispraise, sir Valentine.
Du. And Protheus, we dare trust you in this kinde,
Because we know (on Valentines report)
You are already loues firme votary,
And cannot soone reuolt, and change your minde.
1505Vpon this warrant, shall you haue accesse,
Where you, with Siluia, may conferre at large.
For she is lumpish, heauy, mellancholly,
And (for your friends sake) will be glad of you;
Where you may temper her, by your perswasion,
1510To hate yong Valentine, and loue my friend.
Pro. As much as I can doe, I will effect:
But you sir Thurio, are not sharpe enough:
You must lay Lime, to tangle her desires
By walefull Sonnets, whose composed Rimes
1515Should be full fraught with seruiceable vowes.
Du. I, much is the force of heauen-bred Poesie.
Pro. Say that vpon the altar of her beauty
You sacrifice your teares, your sighes, your heart:
Write till your inke be dry: and with your teares
1520Moist it againe: and frame some feeling line,
That may discouer such integrity:
For Orpheus Lute, was strung with Poets sinewes,
Whose golden touch could soften steele and stones;
Make Tygers tame, and huge Leuiathans
1525Forsake vnsounded deepes, to dance on Sands.
After your dire-lamenting Elegies,
Visit by night your Ladies chamber-window
With some sweet Consort; To their Instruments
Tune a deploring dumpe: the nights dead silence
1530Will well become such sweet complaining grieuance:
This, or else nothing, will inherit her.
Du. This discipline, showes thou hast bin in loue.
Th. And thy aduice, this night, ile put in practise:
Therefore, sweet Protheus, my direction-giuer,
1535Let vs into the City presently
To sort some Gentlemen, well skil'd in Musicke.
I haue a Sonnet, that will serue the turne
To giue the on-set to thy good aduise.
Du. About it Gentlemen.
1540Pro. We'll wait vpon your Grace, till after Supper,
And afterward determine our proceedings.
Du. Euen now about it, I will pardon you.
Exeunt.