|
Enter Palamon and Arcite, above. |
| Palamon |
How do you, noble cousin? |
| Arcite |
How do you, sir? |
| Palamon |
Why, strong enough to laugh at misery,
And bear the chance of war yet. We are prisoners
I fear for ever, cousin.
|
| Arcite |
I believe it;
And to that destiny have patiently
Laid up my hour to come.
|
| Palamon |
O, cousin Arcite,
Where is Thebes now? where is our noble country?
Where are our friends and kindreds? Never more
Must we behold those comforts; never see
The hardy youths strive for the games of honour,
Hung with the painted favours of their ladies,
Like tall ships under sail; then start amongst ’em,
And, as an east wind, leave ’em all behind us
Like lazy clouds, whilst Palamon and Arcite,
Even in the wagging of a wanton leg,
Outstripp’d the people’s praises, won the garlands,
Ere they have time to wish ’em ours. O, never
Shall we two exercise, like twins of honour,
Our arms again, and feel our fiery horses
Like proud seas under us! Our good swords now—
Better the red-ey’d god of war ne’er wore—
Ravish’d our sides, like age, must run to rust,
And deck the temples of those gods that hate us;
These hands shall never draw ’em out like lightning,
To blast whole armies, more!
|
| Arcite |
No, Palamon,
Those hopes are prisoners with us: here we are,
And here the graces of our youths must wither,
Like a too-timely spring; here age must find us,
And, which is heaviest, Palamon, unmarried;
The sweet embraces of a loving wife,
Loaden with kisses, arm’d with thousand Cupids,
Shall never clasp our necks; no issue know us,
No figures of ourselves shall we e’er see,
To glad our age, and like young eagles teach ’em
Boldly to gaze against bright arms, and say
“Remember what your fathers were, and conquer!”
The fair-ey’d maids shall weep our banishments,
And in their songs curse ever-blinded Fortune,
Till she for shame see what a wrong she has done
To youth and nature: this is all our world;
We shall know nothing here but one another;
Hear nothing but the clock that tells our woes;
The vine shall grow, but we shall never see it;
Summer shall come, and with her all delights,
But dead-cold winter must inhabit here still.
|
| Palamon |
’Tis too true, Arcite. To our Theban hounds,
That shook the aged forest with their echoes,
No more now must we holla; no more shake
Our pointed javelins, whilst the angry swine
Flies like a Parthian quiver from our rages,
Struck with our well-steel’d darts: all valiant uses—
The food and nourishment of noble minds—
In us two here shall perish; we shall die—
Which is the curse of honour—lastly,
Children of grief and ignorance.
|
| Arcite |
Yet, cousin,
Even from the bottom of these miseries,
From all that fortune can inflict upon us,
I see two comforts rising, two mere blessings,
If the gods please, to hold here a brave patience,
And the enjoying of our griefs together.
Whilst Palamon is with me, let me perish
If I think this our prison!
|
| Palamon |
Certainly
’Tis a main goodness, cousin, that our fortunes
Were twinn’d together: ’tis most true, two souls
Put in two noble bodies, let ’em suffer
The gall of hazard, so they grow together,
Will never sink; they must not, say they could:
A willing man dies sleeping, and all’s done.
|
| Arcite |
Shall we make worthy uses of this place,
That all men hate so much?
|
| Palamon |
How, gentle cousin? |
| Arcite |
Let’s think this prison holy sanctuary,
To keep us from corruption of worse men:
We’re young, and yet desire the ways of honour;
That, liberty and common conversation,
The poison of pure spirits, might, like women,
Woo us to wander from. What worthy blessing
Can be, but our imaginations
May make it ours? and here being thus together,
We are an endless mine to one another;
We’re one another’s wife, ever begetting
New births of love; we’re father, friends, acquaintance;
We are, in one another, families;
I am your heir, and you are mine; this place
Is our inheritance; no hard oppressor
Dare take this from us: here, with a little patience,
We shall live long, and loving; no surfeits seek us;
The hand of war hurts none here, nor the seas
Swallow their youth. Were we at liberty,
A wife might part us lawfully, or business;
Quarrels consume us; envy of ill men
Crave our acquaintance; I might sicken, cousin,
Where you should never know it, and so perish
Without your noble hand to close mine eyes,
Or prayers to the gods: a thousand chaunces,
Were we from hence, would sever us.
|
| Palamon |
You’ve made me—
I thank you, cousin Arcite—almost wanton
With my captivity: what a misery
It is to live abroad, and everywhere!
’Tis like a beast, methinks: I find the court here,
I’m sure, a more content; and all those pleasures
That woo the wills of men to vanity
I see through now; and am sufficient
To tell the world ’tis but a gaudy shadow,
That old Time, as he passes by, takes with him.
What had we been, old in the court of Creon,
Where sin is justice, lust and ignorance
The virtues of the great ones? Cousin Arcite,
Had not the loving gods found this place for us,
We had died as they do, ill old men, unwept,
And had their epitaphs, the people’s curses.
Shall I say more?
|
| Arcite |
I’d hear you still. |
| Palamon |
Ye shall.
Is there record of any two that lov’d
Better than we do, Arcite?
|
| Arcite |
Sure, there cannot. |
| Palamon |
I do not think it possible our friendship
Should ever leave us.
|
| Arcite |
Till our deaths
|
