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The Comedy of Errors - Act 1, scene 2
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The Comedy of Errors - Act 1, scene 2Act 1, scene 2
⌜Scene 2⌝
Synopsis:
Antipholus of Syracuse lands in Ephesus with his servant, Dromio. He sends Dromio to an inn with their luggage and money. Antipholus, warned that Syracusans are not allowed in Ephesus, speaks of his search for his mother and his brother. He meets Dromio of Ephesus, who denies having been entrusted with any money and who scolds him for being late coming home to his wife to dinner. Antipholus beats him and sets out for the inn to find his money.
Enter Antipholus ⌜of Syracuse, First⌝ Merchant, andDromio ⌜of Syracuse.⌝
⌜FIRST⌝ MERCHANT
0159 Therefore give out you are of Epidamium,
0160 Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate.
0161 This very day a Syracusian merchant
0162 Is apprehended for arrival here
0163 5 And, not being able to buy out his life,
0164 According to the statute of the town
0165 Dies ere the weary sun set in the west.
0166 There is your money that I had to keep.
⌜He gives money.⌝
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE, handing money to Dromio⌝
0167 Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host,
0168 10 And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee.
0169 Within this hour it will be dinnertime.
0170 Till that, I’ll view the manners of the town,
0171 Peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings,
0172 And then return and sleep within mine inn,
0173 15 For with long travel I am stiff and weary.
0174 Get thee away.
DROMIO ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0175 Many a man would take you at your word
0176 And go indeed, having so good a mean.
Dromio ⌜of Syracuse⌝ exits.
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19
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝ 0177 A trusty villain, sir, that very oft,
0178 20 When I am dull with care and melancholy,
0179 Lightens my humor with his merry jests.
0180 What, will you walk with me about the town
0181 And then go to my inn and dine with me?
⌜FIRST⌝ MERCHANT
0182 I am invited, sir, to certain merchants,
0183 25 Of whom I hope to make much benefit.
0184 I crave your pardon. Soon at five o’clock,
0185 Please you, I’ll meet with you upon the mart
0186 And afterward consort you till bedtime.
0187 My present business calls me from you now.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0188 30 Farewell till then. I will go lose myself
0189 And wander up and down to view the city.
⌜FIRST⌝ MERCHANT
0190 Sir, I commend you to your own content.⌜He exits.⌝
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0191 He that commends me to mine own content
0192 Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
0193 35 I to the world am like a drop of water
0194 That in the ocean seeks another drop,
0195 Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
0196 Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself.
0197 So I, to find a mother and a brother,
0198 40 In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself.
Enter Dromio of Ephesus.
0199 Here comes the almanac of my true date.—
0200 What now? How chance thou art returned so soon?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0201 Returned so soon? Rather approached too late!
0202 The capon burns; the pig falls from the spit;
0203 45 The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell;
0204 My mistress made it one upon my cheek.
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21
0205
She is so hot because the meat is cold;0206 The meat is cold because you come not home;
0207 You come not home because you have no stomach;
0208 50 You have no stomach, having broke your fast.
0209 But we that know what ’tis to fast and pray
0210 Are penitent for your default today.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0211 Stop in your wind, sir. Tell me this, I pray:
0212 Where have you left the money that I gave you?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0213 55 O, sixpence that I had o’ Wednesday last
0214 To pay the saddler for my mistress’ crupper?
0215 The saddler had it, sir; I kept it not.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0216 I am not in a sportive humor now.
0217 Tell me, and dally not: where is the money?
0218 60 We being strangers here, how dar’st thou trust
0219 So great a charge from thine own custody?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0220 I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner.
0221 I from my mistress come to you in post;
0222 If I return, I shall be post indeed,
0223 65 For she will scour your fault upon my pate.
0224 Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your
0225 ⌜clock,⌝
0226 And strike you home without a messenger.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0227 Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season.
0228 70 Reserve them till a merrier hour than this.
0229 Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0230 To me, sir? Why, you gave no gold to me!
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0231 Come on, sir knave, have done your foolishness,
0232 And tell me how thou hast disposed thy charge.
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DROMIO OF EPHESUS 0233 75 My charge was but to fetch you from the mart
0234 Home to your house, the Phoenix, sir, to dinner.
0235 My mistress and her sister stays for you.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0236 Now, as I am a Christian, answer me
0237 In what safe place you have bestowed my money,
0238 80 Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours
0239 That stands on tricks when I am undisposed.
0240 Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0241 I have some marks of yours upon my pate,
0242 Some of my mistress’ marks upon my shoulders,
0243 85 But not a thousand marks between you both.
0244 If I should pay your Worship those again,
0245 Perchance you will not bear them patiently.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0246 Thy mistress’ marks? What mistress, slave, hast
0247 thou?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0248 90 Your Worship’s wife, my mistress at the Phoenix,
0249 She that doth fast till you come home to dinner
0250 And prays that you will hie you home to dinner.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE, beating Dromio⌝
0251 What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face,
0252 Being forbid? There, take you that, sir knave.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
0253 95 What mean you, sir? For God’s sake, hold your
0254 hands.
0255 Nay, an you will not, sir, I’ll take my heels.
Dromio ⌜of⌝ Ephesus exits.
ANTIPHOLUS ⌜OF SYRACUSE⌝
0256 Upon my life, by some device or other
0257 The villain is ⌜o’erraught⌝ of all my money.
0258 100 They say this town is full of cozenage,
0259 As nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
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25
0260
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind,0261 Soul-killing witches that deform the body,
0262 Disguisèd cheaters, prating mountebanks,
0263 105 And many suchlike liberties of sin.
0264 If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner.
0265 I’ll to the Centaur to go seek this slave.
0266 I greatly fear my money is not safe.
He exits.