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The Two Noble Kinsmen - Act 1, scene 3
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The Two Noble Kinsmen - Act 1, scene 3Act 1, scene 3
Scene 3
Synopsis:
Pirithous leaves Athens to join Theseus in Thebes. Hippolyta and Emilia praise the strength of the bond between the two men, comparing it with other close bonds, especially that of Emilia as a girl with her friend Flavina.
Enter Pirithous, Hippolyta, Emilia.PIRITHOUS
0444 No further.
HIPPOLYTA 0445 Sir, farewell. Repeat my wishes
0446 To our great lord, of whose success I dare not
0447 Make any timorous question; yet I wish him
0448 5 Excess and overflow of power, an ’t might be,
0449 To dure ill-dealing fortune. Speed to him.
0450 Store never hurts good governors.
PIRITHOUS 0451 Though I know
0452 His ocean needs not my poor drops, yet they
0453 10 Must yield their tribute there.—My precious maid,
0454 Those best affections that the heavens infuse
0455 In their best-tempered pieces keep enthroned
0456 In your dear heart!
EMILIA 0457 Thanks, sir. Remember me
0458 15 To our all-royal brother, for whose speed
0459 The great Bellona I’ll solicit; and
0460 Since in our terrene state petitions are not
0461 Without gifts understood, I’ll offer to her
0462 What I shall be advised she likes. Our hearts
0463 20 Are in his army, in his tent.
HIPPOLYTA 0464 In ’s bosom.
0465 We have been soldiers, and we cannot weep
0466 When our friends don their helms or put to sea,
0467 Or tell of babes broached on the lance, or women
0468 25 That have sod their infants in—and after ate them—
0469 The brine they wept at killing ’em. Then if
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39
0470
You stay to see of us such spinsters, we0471 Should hold you here forever.
PIRITHOUS 0472 Peace be to you
0473 30 As I pursue this war, which shall be then
0474 Beyond further requiring.Pirithous exits.
EMILIA 0475 How his longing
0476 Follows his friend! Since his depart, his sports,
0477 Though craving seriousness and skill, passed slightly
0478 35 His careless execution, where nor gain
0479 Made him regard, or loss consider, but
0480 Playing ⌜one⌝ business in his hand, another
0481 Directing in his head, his mind nurse equal
0482 To these so diff’ring twins. Have you observed him
0483 40 Since our great lord departed?
HIPPOLYTA 0484 With much labor,
0485 And I did love him for ’t. They two have cabined
0486 In many as dangerous as poor a corner,
0487 Peril and want contending; they have skiffed
0488 45 Torrents whose roaring tyranny and power
0489 I’ th’ least of these was dreadful, and they have
0490 Fought out together where Death’s self was lodged.
0491 Yet fate hath brought them off. Their knot of love,
0492 Tied, weaved, entangled, with so true, so long,
0493 50 And with a finger of so deep a cunning,
0494 May be outworn, never undone. I think
0495 Theseus cannot be umpire to himself,
0496 Cleaving his conscience into twain and doing
0497 Each side like justice, which he loves best.
EMILIA 0498 55 Doubtless
0499 There is a best, and reason has no manners
0500 To say it is not you. I was acquainted
0501 Once with a time when I enjoyed a playfellow;
0502 You were at wars when she the grave enriched,
0503 60 Who made too proud the bed; took leave o’ th’ moon,
0504 Which then looked pale at parting, when our count
0505 Was each eleven.
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HIPPOLYTA
0506
’Twas ⌜Flavina.⌝EMILIA 0507 Yes.
0508 65 You talk of Pirithous’ and Theseus’ love.
0509 Theirs has more ground, is more maturely seasoned,
0510 More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs
0511 The one of th’ other may be said to water
0512 Their intertangled roots of love. But I,
0513 70 And she I sigh and spoke of, were things innocent,
0514 Loved for we did, and like the elements
0515 That know not what nor why, yet do effect
0516 Rare issues by their operance, our souls
0517 Did so to one another. What she liked
0518 75 Was then of me approved, what not, condemned,
0519 No more arraignment. The flower that I would pluck
0520 And put between my breasts—O, then but beginning
0521 To swell about the blossom—she would long
0522 Till she had such another, and commit it
0523 80 To the like innocent cradle, where, Phoenix-like,
0524 They died in perfume. On my head no toy
0525 But was her pattern; her affections—pretty,
0526 Though haply ⌜hers⌝ careless were—I followed
0527 For my most serious decking. Had mine ear
0528 85 Stol’n some new air, or at adventure hummed one
0529 From musical coinage, why, it was a note
0530 Whereon her spirits would sojourn—rather, dwell
0531 on—
0532 And sing it in her slumbers. This rehearsal—
0533 90 Which fury-innocent wots well comes in
0534 Like old importment’s bastard—has this end,
0535 That the true love ’tween maid and maid may be
0536 More than in sex individual.
HIPPOLYTA 0537 You’re out of breath,
0538 95 And this high-speeded pace is but to say
0539 That you shall never—like the maid Flavina—
0540 Love any that’s called man.
EMILIA 0541 I am sure I shall not.
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HIPPOLYTA
0542
Now, alack, weak sister,0543 100 I must no more believe thee in this point—
0544 Though in ’t I know thou dost believe thyself—
0545 Than I will trust a sickly appetite,
0546 That loathes even as it longs. But sure, my sister,
0547 If I were ripe for your persuasion, you
0548 105 Have said enough to shake me from the arm
0549 Of the all-noble Theseus, for whose fortunes
0550 I will now in and kneel, with great assurance
0551 That we, more than his Pirithous, possess
0552 The high throne in his heart.
EMILIA 0553 110 I am not
0554 Against your faith, yet I continue mine.
They exit.