William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors
W. G. Clark, W. Aldis Wright, Ed.

ACT IV

SCENE I

Sec. Mer.
You know since Pentecost the sum is due,

And since I have not much importuned you;

Nor now I had not, but that I am bound

To Persia, and want guilders for my voyage:

Therefore make present satisfaction,

Or I'll attach you by this officer.

Ang.
Even just the sum that I do owe to you

Is growing to me by Antipholus,

And in the instant that I met with you (10)

He had of me a chain: at five o'clock

I shall receive the money for the same.

Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house,

I will discharge my bond and thank you too. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus and DROMIO of Ephesus from the courtezan's.

Off.
That labor may you save; see where he comes.

Ant. E.
While I go to the goldsmith's house, go thou

And buy a rope's end: that will I bestow

Among my wife and her confederates,

For locking me out of my doors by day.

But, soft! I see the goldsmith. Get thee gone; (20)

Buy thou a rope and bring it home to me.

Dro. E.
I buy a thousand pound a year: I buy a rope. [Exit.

Ant. E.
A man is well holp up that trusts to you:

I promised your presence and the chain;

But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me.

Belike you thought our love would last too long,

If it were chain'd together, and therefore came not.

Ang.
Saving your merry humor, here's the note

How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat,

The fineness of the gold and chargeful fashion,

Which doth amount to three odd ducats more (31)

Than I stand debted to this gentleman:

I pray you, see him presently discharged,

For he is bound to sea and stays but for it.

Ant. E.
I am not furnish'd with the present money;

Besides, I have some business in the town.

Good signior, take the stranger to my house

And with you take the chain and bid my wife

Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof:

Perchance I will be there as soon as you. (40)

Ang.
Then you will bring the chain to her yourself ?

Ant. E.
No; bear it with you, lest I come not time enough.

Ang.
Well, sir, I will. Have you the chain about you?

Ant. E.
An if I have not, sir, I hope you have;

Or else you may return without your money.

Ang.
Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the chain:

Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,

And I, to blame, have held him here too long.

Ant. E.
Good Lord! you use this dalliance to excuse

Your breach of promise to the Porpentine. (50)

I should have chid you for not bringing it,

But, like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.

Sec. Mer.
The hour steals on; I pray you, sir, dispatch.

Ang.
You hear how he importunes me;--the chain!

Ant. E.
Why, give it to my wife and fetch your money.

Ang.
Come, come, you know I gave it you even now.

Either send the chain or send me by some token.

Ant. E.
Fie, now you run this humor out of breath,

Come, where's the chain? I pray you, let me see it.

Sec. Mer.
My business cannot brook this dalliance. (60)

Good sir, say whether you'll answer me or no:

If not, I'll leave him to the officer.

Ant. E.
I answer you! what should I answer you?

Ang.
The money that you owe me for the chain.

Ant. E.
I owe you none till I receive the chain.

Ang.
You know I gave it you half an hour since.

Ant. E.
You gave me none: you wrong me much to say so.

Ang.
You wrong me more, sir, in denying it;

Consider how it stands upon my credit.

Sec. Mer.
Well, officer, arrest him at my suit. (70)

Off.
I do; and charge you in the duke's name to obey me.

Ang.
This touches me in reputation.

Either consent to pay this sum for me

Or I attach you by this officer.

Ant. E.
Consent to pay thee that I never had!

Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou darest.

Ang.
Here is thy fee; arrest him, officer,

I would not spare my brother in this case,

If he should scorn me so apparently.

Off.
I do arrest you, sir: you hear the suit.

Ant. E.
I do obey thee till I give thee bail. (81)

But, sirrah, you shall buy this sport as dear

As all the metal in your shop will answer.

Ang.
Sir, sir, I shall have law in Ephesus,

To your notorious shame; I doubt it not. Enter DROMIO of Syracuse, from the bay.

Dro. S.
Master, there is a bark of Epidamnum

That stays but till her owner comes aboard,

And then, sir, she bears away. Our fraughtage, sir,

I have convey'd aboard; and I have bought

The oil, the balsamum and aqua-vitæ. (90)

The ship is in her trim: the merry wind

Blows fair from land: they stay for nought at all

But for their owner, master, and yourself.

Ant. E.
How now! a madman! Why, thou peevish sheep,

What ship of Epidamnum stays for me?

Dro. S.
A ship you sent me to, to hire waftage.

Ant. E.
Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a rope;

And told thee to what purpose and what end.

Dro. S.
You sent me for a rope's end as soon:

You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark. (100)

Ant. E.
I will debate this matter at more leisure

And teach your ears to list me with more heed.

To Adriana, villain, hie thee straight:

Give her this key, and tell her, in the desk

That's cover'd o'er with Turkish tapestry,

There is a purse of ducats; let her send it:

Tell her I am arrested in the street

And that shall bail me; hie thee, slave, be gone!

On, officer, to prison till it come. [Exeunt Sec. Merchant, Angelo,Officer, and Ant. E.

Dro. S.
To Adriana! that is where we dined,

Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband: (111)

She is too big, I hope, for me to compass.

Thither I must, although against my will,

For servants must their masters' minds fulfil. [Exit.

SCENE II

Adr.
Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?

Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye

That he did plead in earnest? yea or no?

Look'd he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?

What observation madest thou in this case

Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?

Luc.
First he denied you had in him no right.

Adr.
He meant he did me none; the more my spite.

Luc.
Then swore he that he was a stranger here. (10)

Adr.
And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.

Luc.
Then pleaded I for you.

Adr.
And what said he?

Luc.
That love I begg'd for you he begg'd of me.

Adr.
With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?

Luc.
With words that in an honest suit might move.

First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.

Adr.
Didst speak him fair?

Luc.
Have patience, I beseech.

Adr.
I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still;

My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.

He is deformed, crooked, old and sere,

Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;

Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,

Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.

Luc.
Who would be jealous then of such a one?

No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone.

Adr.
Ah, but I think him better than I say,

And yet would herein others' eyes were worse.

Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:

My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse. Enter DROMIO of Syracuse.

Dro. S.
Here! go; the desk, the purse! sweet, now, make haste.

Luc.
How hast thou lost thy breath?

Dro. S.
30By running fast.

Adr.
Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well?

Dro. S.
No, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.

A devil in an everlasting garment hath him:

One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel;

A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;

A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands

The passages of alleys, creeks and narrow lands;

A hound that runs counter and yet draws dryfoot well; (40)

One that before the judgement carries poor souls to hell.

Adr.
Why, man, what is the matter?

Dro. S.
I do not know the matter: he is 'rested on the case.

Adr.
What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.

Dro. S.
I know not at whose suit he is arrested well;

But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can I tell.

Will you send him, mistress, redemption, the money in his desk?

Adr.
Go fetch it, sister. Exit Luciana.


This I wonder at,

That he, unknown to me, should be in debt,

Tell me, was he arrested on a band? (50)

Dro. S.
Not on a band, but on a stronger thing; v
A chain, a chain! Do you not hear it ring?

Adr.
What, the chain?

Dro. S.
No, no, the bell: 'tis time that I were gone:

It was two ere I left him, and now the clock strikes one,

Adr.
The hours come back! that did I never hear.

Dro. S.
O, yes; if any hour meet a sergeant, a' turns back for very fear.

Adr.
As if Time were in debt! how fondly dost thou reason!

Dro. S.
Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more than he's worth, to season.

Nay, he's a thief too: have you not heard men say,

That Time comes stealing on by night and day? (61)

If Time be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,

Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day? Re-enter LUCIANA with a purse.

Adr.
Go, Dromio; there's the money, bear it straight,

And bring thy master home immediately.

Come, sister: I am press'd down with conceit--

Conceit, my comfort and my injury. [Exeunt.

SCENE III

Ant. S.
There's not a man I meet but doth salute me

As if I were their well-acquainted friend;

And every one doth call me by my name.

Some tender money to me; some invite me;

Some other give me thanks for kindnesses;

Some offer me commodities to buy:

Even now a tailor call'd me in his shop

And show'd me silks that he had bought for me

And therewithal took measure of my body. (10)

Sure, these are but imaginary wiles

And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here. Enter DROMIO of Syracuse.

Dro. S.
Master, here's the gold you sent
me for. What, have you got the picture of old
Adam new-apparelled?

Ant. S.
What gold is this? what Adam dost thou mean?

Dro. S.
Not that Adam that kept the Paradise,
but that Adam that keeps the prison: he
that goes in the calf's skin that was killed for
the Prodigal; he that came behind you, sir,
like an evil angel, and bid you forsake your (20)
liberty.

Ant. S.
I understand thee not.

Dro. S.
No? why, 'tis a plain case: he
that went, like a bass-viol, in a case of leather;
the man, sir, that, when gentlemen are tired,
gives them a sob and 'rests them: he, sir, that
takes pity on decayed men and gives them suits
of durance; he that sets up his rest to do more
exploits with his mace than a morris-pike.

Ant. S.
What, thou meanest an officer?

Dro. S.
Ay, sir, the sergeant of the band;
he that brings any man to answer it that
breaks his band; one that thinks a man always
going to bed, and says, 'God give you good
rest!'

Ant. S.
Well, sir, there rest in your foolery.
Is there any ship puts forth to-night? may we
be gone?

Dro. S.
Why, sir, I brought you word an
hour since that the bark Expedition put forth
to-night; and then were you hindered by the
sergeant, to tarry for the hoy Delay. Here are
the angels that you sent for to deliver you.

Ant. S.
The fellow is distract, and so am I;

And here we wander in illusions:

Some blessed power deliver us from hence! Enter a Courtezan.

Cour.
Well met, well met, Master Antipholus.

I see, sir, you have found the goldsmith now:

Is that the chain you promised me to-day?

Ant. S.
Satan, avoid! I charge thee, tempt me not.

Dro. S.
Master, is this Mistress Satan? (50)

Ant. S.
It is the devil.

Dro. S.
Nay, she is worse, she is the devil's
dam; and here she comes in the habit of a
light wench: and thereof comes that the
wenches say 'God damn me;' that's as much
to say 'God make me a light wench.' It is
written, they appear to men like angels of
light: light is an effect of fire, and fire will
burn; ergo, light wenches will burn. Come not
near her.

Cour.
Your man and you are marvellous merry, sir. (60)

Will you go with me? We'll mend our dinner here ?

Dro. S.
Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat;
or bespeak a long spoon.

Ant. S.
Why, Dromio?

Dro. S.
Marry, he must have a long spoon
that must eat with the devil.

Ant. S.
Avoid then, fiend! what tell'st thou me of supping?

Thou art, as you are all, a sorceress:

I conjure thee to leave me and be gone.

Cour.
Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner,

Or, for my diamond, the chain you promised, (71)

And I'll be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

Dro. S.
Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail,

A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin,

A nut, a cherry-stone;

But she, more covetous, would have a chain.

Master, be wise: an if you give it her,

The devil will shake her chain and fright us with it.

Cour.
I pray you, sir, my ring, or else the chain:

I hope you do not mean to cheat me so. (80)

Ant. S.
Avaunt, thou witch! Come, Dromio, let us go.

Dro. S.
'Fly pride,' says the peacock: mistress, that you know. [Exeunt Ant. S. and Dro. S.

Cour.
Now, out of doubt Antipholus is mad,

Else would he never so demean himself.

A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,

And for the same he promised me a chain:

Both one and other he denies me now.

The reason that I gather he is mad,

Besides this present instance of his rage,

Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner, (90)

Of his own doors being shut against his entrance.

Belike his wife, acquainted with his fits,

On purpose shut the doors against his way.

My way is now to hie home to his house,

And tell his wife that, being lunatic,

He rush'd into my house and took perforce

My ring away. This course I fittest choose;

For forty ducats is too much to lose. [Exit.

SCENE IV

Ant. E.
Fear me not, man; I will not break away:

I'll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money,

To warrant thee, as I am 'rested for.

My wife is in a wayward mood to-day,

And will not lightly trust the messenger.

That I should be attach'd in Ephesus,

I tell you, 'twill sound harshly in her ears. Enter DROMIO of Ephesus with a rope's-end.


Here comes my man; I think he brings the money.

How now, sir! have you that I sent you for? (10)

Dro. E.
Here's that, I warrant you, will pay them all.

Ant. E.
But where's the money?

Dro. E.
Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope.

Ant. E.
Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope?

Dro. E.
I'll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate.

Ant. E.
To what end did I bid thee hie thee home ?

Dro. E.
To a rope's-end, sir; and to that
end am I returned.

Ant. E.
And to that end, sir, I will welcome you. [Beating him. (20)

Off.
Good sir, be patient.

Dro. E.
Nay, 'tis for me to be patient; I
am in adversity.

Off.
Good now, hold thy tongue.

Dro. E.
Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands.

Ant. E.
Thou whoreson, senseless villain!

Dro. E.
I would I were senseless, sir, that
I might not feel your blows.

Ant. E.
Thou art sensible in nothing but
blows, and so is an ass.

Dro. E.
I am an ass, indeed; you may
prove it by my long ears. I have served him
from the hour of my nativity to this instant,
and have nothing at his hands for my service
but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with
beating; when I am warm, he cools me with
beating: I am waked with it when I sleep;
raised with it when I sit; driven out of doors
with it when I go from home; welcomed
home with it when I return: nay, I bear it on
my shoulders, as a beggar wont her brat; and,
I think, when he hath lamed me, I shall beg
with it from door to door.

Ant. E.
Come, go along; my wife is coming yonder. Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, the Courtezan, and PINCH.

Dro. E.
Mistress, 'respice finem,' respect
your end; or rather, the prophecy like the
parrot, 'beware the rope's-end.'

Ant. E.
Wilt thou still talk? [Beating him.

Cour.
How say you now? is not your husband mad?

Adr.
His incivility confirms no less. (50)

Good Doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;

Establish him in his true sense again,

And I will please you what you will demand.

Luc.
Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks!

Cour.
Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy!

Pinch.
Give me your hand and let me feel your pulse.

Ant. E.
There is my hand, and let it feel your ear.[Striking him.

Pinch.
I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man,

To yield possession to my holy prayers

And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight: (60)

I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven!

Ant. E.
Peace, doting wizard, peace! I am not mad.

Adr.
O, that thou wert not, poor distressed soul!

Ant. E.
You minion, you, are these your customers?

Did this companion with the saffron face

Revel and feast it at my house to-day,

Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut

And I denied to enter in my house?

Adr.
O husband, God doth know you dined at home;

Where would you had remain'd until this time,

Free from these slanders and this open shame! (71)

Ant. E.
Dined at home! Thou villain, what sayest thou?

Dro. E.
Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home.

Ant. E.
Were not my doors lock'd up and I shut out?

Dro. E.
Perdie, your doors were lock'd and you shut out.

Ant. E.
And did not she herself revile me there ?

Dro. E.
Sans fable, she herself reviled you there.

Ant. E.
Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn me?

Dro. E.
Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal scorn'd you.

Ant. E.
And did not I in rage depart from thence ? (80)

Dro. E.
In verity you did; my bones bear witness,

That since have felt the vigor of his rage.

Adr.
Is't good to soothe him in these contraries ?

Pinch.
It is no shame: the fellow finds his vein,

And yielding to him humors well his frenzy.

Ant. E.
Thou hast suborn'd the goldsmith to arrest me.

Adr.
Alas, I sent you money to redeem you,

By Dromio here, who came in haste for it.

Dro. E.
Money by me! heart and goodwill you might;

But surely, master, not a rag of money. (90)

Ant. E.
Went'st not thou to her for a purse of ducats?

Adr.
He came to me and I deliver'd it.

Luc.
And I am witness with her that she did.

Dro. E.
God and the rope-maker bear me witness

That I was sent for nothing but a rope!

Pinch.
Mistress, both man and master is possess'd;

I know it by their pale and deadly looks:

They must be bound and laid in some dark room.

Ant. E.
Say, wherefore didst thou lock me forth to-day?

And why dost thou deny the bag of gold? (100)

Adr.
I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth.

Dro. E.
And, gentle master, I received no gold;

But I confess, sir, that we were lock'd out.

Adr.
Dissembling villain, thou speak'st false in both.

Ant. E.
Dissembling harlot, thou art false in all;

And art confederate with a damned pack

To make a loathsome abject scorn of me:

But with these nails I'll pluck out these false eyes

That would behold in me this shameful sport. Enter three or four, and offer to bind him. He strives.

Adr.
O, bind him, bind him! let him not come near me. (110)

Pinch.
More company! The fiend is strong within him.

Luc.
Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks!

Ant. E.
What, will you murder me? Thou gaoler, thou,

I am thy prisoner: wilt thou suffer them
To make a rescue?

Off.
Masters, let him go:

He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.

Pinch.
Go bind this man, for he is frantic too. [They offer to bind Dro. E.

Adr.
What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer ?

Hast thou delight to see a wretched man (119)

Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

Off.
He is my prisoner: if I let him go,

The debt he owes will be required of me.

Adr.
I will discharge thee ere I go from thee:

Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,

And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it.

Good master doctor, see him safe convey'd

Home to my house. O most unhappy day!

Ant. E.
O most unhappy strumpet!

Dro. E.
Master, I am here enter'd in bond for you. (130)

Ant. E.
Out on thee, villain! wherefore dost thou mad me?

Dro. E.
Will you be bound for nothing?
be mad, good master: cry 'The devil!'

Luc.
God help, poor souls, how idly do they talk!

Adr.
Go bear him hence. Sister, go you with me. [Exeunt all but Adriana, Luciana, Officer and Courtezan.


Say now, whose suit is he arrested at?

Off.
One Angelo, a goldsmith: do you know him?

Adr.
I know the man. What is the sum he owes?

Off.
Two hundred ducats.

Adr.
Say, how grows it due?

Off.
Due for a chain your husband had of him.

Adr.
He did bespeak a chain for me, but had it not. (140)

Cour.
When as your husband all in rage to-day

Came to my house and took away my ring--

The ring I saw upon his finger now--

Straight after did I meet him with a chain.

Adr.
It may be so, but I did never see it.

Come, gaoler, bring me where the goldsmith is:

I long to know the truth hereof at large. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse with his rapier drawn, and DROMIO of Syracuse.

Luc.
God, for thy mercy! they are loose again.

Adr.
And come with naked swords.

Let's call more help to have them bound again. (150)

Off.
Away! they'll kill us. [Exeunt all but Ant. S. and Dro. S.

Ant. S.
I see these witches are afraid of swords.

Dro. S.
She that would be your wife now ran from you.

Ant. S.
Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from thence:

I long that we were safe and sound aboard.

Dro. S.
Faith, stay here this night; they
will surely do us no harm: you saw they
speak us fair, give us gold: methinks they are
such a gentle nation that, but for the mountain
of mad flesh that claims marriage of me, I
could find in my heart to stay here still and
n=160turn witch.

Ant. S.
I will not stay to-night for all the town;

Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard. [Exeunt.