ACT 1
Scene 1

...must needs leave.
Music. Enter Hymen with a torch burning, a Boy in a white robe before, singing and strewing flowers. After Hymen, a Nymph encompassed in her tresses, bearing a wheaten garland; then Theseus between two other Nymphs with wheaten chaplets on their heads. Then Hippolyta, the bride, led by Pirithous, and another holding a garland over her head, her tresses likewise hanging. After her, Emilia, holding up her train. Then Artesius and Attendants.

... Stand up.
to Third Queen
No knees to me.
What woman I may stead that is distressed
Does bind me to her.

...with deeper matter.
Pray stand up.
Your grief is written in your cheek.

...me a fool.
Pray you say nothing, pray you.
Who cannot feel nor see the rain, being in ’t,
Knows neither wet nor dry. If that you were
The groundpiece of some painter, I would buy you
T’ instruct me ’gainst a capital grief—indeed,
Such heart-pierced demonstration. But, alas,
Being a natural sister of our sex,
Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me
That it shall make a counter-reflect ’gainst
My brother’s heart and warm it to some pity,
Though it were made of stone. Pray have good comfort.

...for your knee.
to Theseus, kneeling
If you grant not
My sister her petition in that force,
With that celerity and nature which
She makes it in, from henceforth I’ll not dare
To ask you anything, nor be so hardy
Ever to take a husband.

...Pray stand up.
Hippolyta and Emilia rise.

...see you gone.
The wedding procession begins to exit towards the temple.

...more, farewell all.
All but Theseus and the Queens exit.

Scene 3

...of our chance.
Enter Pirithous, Hippolyta, Emilia.

...your dear heart!
Thanks, sir. Remember me
To our all-royal brother, for whose speed
The great Bellona I’ll solicit; and
Since in our terrene state petitions are not
Without gifts understood, I’ll offer to her
What I shall be advised she likes. Our hearts
Are in his army, in his tent.

...Beyond further requiring.
How his longing
Follows his friend! Since his depart, his sports,
Though craving seriousness and skill, passed slightly
His careless execution, where nor gain
Made him regard, or loss consider, but
Playing one business in his hand, another
Directing in his head, his mind nurse equal
To these so diff’ring twins. Have you observed him
Since our great lord departed?

...he loves best.
Doubtless
There is a best, and reason has no manners
To say it is not you. I was acquainted
Once with a time when I enjoyed a playfellow;
You were at wars when she the grave enriched,
Who made too proud the bed; took leave o’ th’ moon,
Which then looked pale at parting, when our count
Was each eleven.

... ’Twas Flavina.
Yes.
You talk of Pirithous’ and Theseus’ love.
Theirs has more ground, is more maturely seasoned,
More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs
The one of th’ other may be said to water
Their intertangled roots of love. But I,
And she I sigh and spoke of, were things innocent,
Loved for we did, and like the elements
That know not what nor why, yet do effect
Rare issues by their operance, our souls
Did so to one another. What she liked
Was then of me approved, what not, condemned,
No more arraignment. The flower that I would pluck
And put between my breasts—O, then but beginning
To swell about the blossom—she would long
Till she had such another, and commit it
To the like innocent cradle, where, Phoenix-like,
They died in perfume. On my head no toy
But was her pattern; her affections—pretty,
Though haply hers careless were—I followed
For my most serious decking. Had mine ear
Stol’n some new air, or at adventure hummed one
From musical coinage, why, it was a note
Whereon her spirits would sojourn—rather, dwell on—
And sing it in her slumbers. This rehearsal—
Which fury-innocent wots well comes in
Like old importment’s bastard—has this end,
That the true love ’tween maid and maid may be
More than in sex individual.

...that’s called man.
I am sure I shall not.

...in his heart.
I am not
Against your faith, yet I continue mine.
They exit.

ACT 2
Scene 2

...deaths it cannot.
Enter Emilia and her Woman, below.

...Speak on, sir.
to her Woman
This garden has a world of pleasures in ’t.
What flower is this?

...called narcissus, madam.
That was a fair boy certain, but a fool
To love himself. Were there not maids enough?

...forward. Yes.
to Woman
Or were they all hard-hearted?

...one so fair.
Thou wouldst not.

...should not, madam.
That’s a good wench.
But take heed to your kindness, though.

...Why, madam?
Men are mad things.

...forward, cousin?
to Woman
Canst not thou work such flowers in silk, wench?

... Yes.
I’ll have a gown full of ’em, and of these.
This is pretty color. Will ’t not do
Rarely upon a skirt, wench?

...a goddess, Arcite.
to Woman
Of all flowers
Methinks a rose is best.

...Why, gentle madam?
It is the very emblem of a maid.
For when the west wind courts her gently,
How modestly she blows and paints the sun
With her chaste blushes! When the north comes near her,
Rude and impatient, then, like chastity,
She locks her beauties in her bud again,
And leaves him to base briers.

...example by her.
Thou art wanton!

...the beauty extant.
to Woman
The sun grows high. Let’s walk in. Keep these flowers.
We’ll see how near art can come near their colors.
I am wondrous merry-hearted. I could laugh now.

...I am sure.
And take one with you?

...we bargain, madam.
Well, agree then.
Emilia and Woman exit.

Scene 5

...shall love me.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Pirithous, Emilia, Arcite in disguise, with a garland, Attendants, and others.

...a proper man.
He is so.

...of his sort.
Believe,
His mother was a wondrous handsome woman;
His face, methinks, goes that way.

...my vowed faith.
He kisses her hand.

...die, he shall.
That were too cruel.
If you deserve well, sir, I shall soon see ’t.
You’re mine, and somewhat better than your rank
I’ll use you.

...not go afoot.
That were a shame, sir,
While I have horses.—Take your choice, and what
You want at any time, let me but know it.
If you serve faithfully, I dare assure you
You’ll find a loving mistress.

...you are wise.
I hope too wise for that, sir.
Flourish. They all exit.

ACT 3
Scene 5

...Pallas, inspire me!
Enter Theseus, Pirithous, Hippolyta, Emilia, and train.

...We’ll stay it.
Theseus, Hippolyta, and Emilia sit.

...so pleased, sir.
’Twas an excellent dance,
And, for a preface, I never heard a better.

...eat his dowsets.
Wind horns within. Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithous, and Train exit.

Scene 6

...Arcite. Fight again.
Horns. Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithous and train.

...these lost cousins.
In my face, dear sister,
I find no anger to ’em, nor no ruin.
The misadventure of their own eyes kill ’em.
Yet that I will be woman and have pity,
My knees shall grow to th’ ground but I’ll get mercy. She kneels.
Help me, dear sister; in a deed so virtuous,
The powers of all women will be with us.

Hippolyta kneels.
Most royal brother—

...tie of marriage—
By your own spotless honor—

...you gave me—
By that you would have pity in another;
By your own virtues infinite—

...this sweet lady—
By that you would have trembled to deny
A blushing maid—

...hear my prayers—
Last let me entreat, sir—

...mercy. Mercy.
Mercy on these princes.

...you place it?
They rise from their knees.
Upon their lives, but with their banishments.

...not my honor.
O, my noble brother,
That oath was rashly made, and in your anger;
Your reason will not hold it. If such vows
Stand for express will, all the world must perish.
Besides, I have another oath ’gainst yours,
Of more authority, I am sure more love,
Not made in passion neither, but good heed.

...home, brave lady.
That you would ne’er deny me anything
Fit for my modest suit and your free granting.
I tie you to your word now; if you fail in ’t,
Think how you maim your honor—
For now I am set a-begging, sir, I am deaf
To all but your compassion—how their lives
Might breed the ruin of my name. Opinion!
Shall anything that loves me perish for me?
That were a cruel wisdom. Do men prune
The straight young boughs that blush with thousand blossoms
Because they may be rotten? O, Duke Theseus,
The goodly mothers that have groaned for these,
And all the longing maids that ever loved,
If your vow stand, shall curse me and my beauty,
And in their funeral songs for these two cousins
Despise my cruelty, and cry woe worth me,
Till I am nothing but the scorn of women.
For heaven’s sake, save their lives, and banish ’em.

...On what conditions?
Swear ’em never more
To make me their contention, or to know me,
To tread upon thy dukedom, and to be,
Wherever they shall travel, ever strangers
To one another.

...Make choice, then.
I cannot, sir; they are both too excellent.
For me, a hair shall never fall of these men.

...you content, sister?
Yes, I must, sir,
Else both miscarry.

...upon his bier.
They exit.

ACT 4
Scene 2

...borrowed light, etc.
Enter Emilia alone, with two pictures.
Yet I may bind those wounds up that must open
And bleed to death for my sake else. I’ll choose,
And end their strife. Two such young handsome men
Shall never fall for me; their weeping mothers,
Following the dead cold ashes of their sons,
Shall never curse my cruelty. Looks at one of the pictures.
Good heaven,
What a sweet face has Arcite! If wise Nature,
With all her best endowments, all those beauties
She sows into the births of noble bodies,
Were here a mortal woman, and had in her
The coy denials of young maids, yet doubtless
She would run mad for this man. What an eye,
Of what a fiery sparkle and quick sweetness,
Has this young prince! Here Love himself sits smiling;
Just such another wanton Ganymede
Set Jove afire with, and enforced the god
Snatch up the goodly boy and set him by him,
A shining constellation. What a brow,
Of what a spacious majesty, he carries,
Arched like the great-eyed Juno’s but far sweeter,
Smoother than Pelops’ shoulder! Fame and Honor,
Methinks, from hence as from a promontory
Pointed in heaven, should clap their wings and sing
To all the under world the loves and fights
Of gods and such men near ’em. Looks at the other picture.
Palamon
Is but his foil, to him a mere dull shadow;
He’s swart and meager, of an eye as heavy
As if he had lost his mother; a still temper,
No stirring in him, no alacrity;
Of all this sprightly sharpness not a smile.
Yet these that we count errors may become him;
Narcissus was a sad boy but a heavenly.
O, who can find the bent of woman’s fancy?
I am a fool; my reason is lost in me;
I have no choice, and I have lied so lewdly
That women ought to beat me. On my knees
I ask thy pardon: Palamon, thou art alone
And only beautiful, and these the eyes,
These the bright lamps of beauty, that command
And threaten love, and what young maid dare cross ’em?
What a bold gravity, and yet inviting,
Has this brown manly face! O Love, this only
From this hour is complexion. Lie there, Arcite. She puts aside his picture.
Thou art a changeling to him, a mere gypsy,
And this the noble body. I am sotted,
Utterly lost. My virgin’s faith has fled me.
For if my brother but even now had asked me
Whether I loved, I had run mad for Arcite.
Now, if my sister, more for Palamon.
Stand both together. Now, come ask me, brother.
Alas, I know not! Ask me now, sweet sister.
I may go look! What a mere child is Fancy,
That, having two fair gauds of equal sweetness,
Cannot distinguish, but must cry for both.

Enter a Gentleman.
How now, sir?

...knights are come.
To end the quarrel?

... Yes.
Would I might end first!
What sins have I committed, chaste Diana,
That my unspotted youth must now be soiled
With blood of princes, and my chastity
Be made the altar where the lives of lovers—
Two greater and two better never yet
Made mothers joy—must be the sacrifice
To my unhappy beauty?

...one of them.
I had rather both,
So neither for my sake should fall untimely.

...fit for ladies.
Must these men die too?

...want no bravery.
Poor wench, go weep, for whosoever wins
Loses a noble cousin for thy sins.
She exits.

ACT 5
Scene 1

...Time comes on.
Still music of recorders. Enter Emilia in white, her hair about her shoulders, wearing a wheaten wreath; one in white holding up her train, her hair stuck with flowers; one before her carrying a silver hind, in which is conveyed incense and sweet odors, which being set upon the altar of Diana, her maids standing aloof, she sets fire to it. Then they curtsy and kneel.
O sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant queen,
Abandoner of revels, mute contemplative,
Sweet, solitary, white as chaste, and pure
As wind-fanned snow, who to thy female knights
Allow’st no more blood than will make a blush,
Which is their order’s robe, I here, thy priest,
Am humbled ’fore thine altar. O, vouchsafe
With that thy rare green eye, which never yet
Beheld thing maculate, look on thy virgin,
And, sacred silver mistress, lend thine ear—
Which ne’er heard scurrile term, into whose port
Ne’er entered wanton sound—to my petition,
Seasoned with holy fear. This is my last
Of vestal office. I am bride-habited
But maiden-hearted. A husband I have ’pointed,
But do not know him. Out of two I should
Choose one, and pray for his success, but I
Am guiltless of election. Of mine eyes,
Were I to lose one—they are equal precious—
I could doom neither; that which perished should
Go to ’t unsentenced. Therefore, most modest queen,
He of the two pretenders that best loves me
And has the truest title in ’t, let him
Take off my wheaten garland, or else grant
The file and quality I hold I may
Continue in thy band.

Here the hind vanishes under the altar, and in the place ascends a rose tree, having one rose upon it.
See what our general of ebbs and flows
Out from the bowels of her holy altar
With sacred act advances: but one rose.
If well inspired, this battle shall confound
Both these brave knights, and I, a virgin flower,
Must grow alone unplucked.

Here is heard a sudden twang of instruments, and the rose falls from the tree.
The flower is fall’n, the tree descends. O mistress,
Thou here dischargest me. I shall be gathered;
I think so, but I know not thine own will.
Unclasp thy mystery!—I hope she’s pleased;
Her signs were gracious.
They curtsy and exit.

Scene 3

...love, I’ll cry.
Flourish. Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithous, and some Attendants.
I’ll no step further.

...lose this sight?
I had rather see a wren hawk at a fly
Than this decision; ev’ry blow that falls
Threats a brave life; each stroke laments
The place whereon it falls, and sounds more like
A bell than blade. I will stay here.
It is enough my hearing shall be punished
With what shall happen, ’gainst the which there is
No deafing but to hear; not taint mine eye
With dread sights it may shun.

...the question’s title.
Pardon me.
If I were there, I’d wink.

...star to shine.
I am extinct;
There is but envy in that light which shows
The one the other. Darkness, which ever was
The dam of horror, who does stand accursed
Of many mortal millions, may even now,
By casting her black mantle over both,
That neither could find other, get herself
Some part of a good name, and many a murder
Set off whereto she’s guilty.

...You must go.
In faith, I will not.

...the service pay.
Sir, pardon me.
The title of a kingdom may be tried
Out of itself.

...made your lot.
Emilia remains, comparing again the pictures of Arcite and Palamon.
Arcite is gently visaged, yet his eye
Is like an engine bent, or a sharp weapon
In a soft sheath; mercy and manly courage
Are bedfellows in his visage. Palamon
Has a most menacing aspect; his brow
Is graved, and seems to bury what it frowns on;
Yet sometimes ’tis not so, but alters to
The quality of his thoughts. Long time his eye
Will dwell upon his object. Melancholy
Becomes him nobly; so does Arcite’s mirth;
But Palamon’s sadness is a kind of mirth,
So mingled, as if mirth did make him sad
And sadness merry. Those darker humors that
Stick misbecomingly on others, on them
Live in fair dwelling.

Cornets. Trumpets sound as to a charge.
Hark how yon spurs to spirit do incite
The princes to their proof! Arcite may win me,
And yet may Palamon wound Arcite to
The spoiling of his figure. O, what pity
Enough for such a chance? If I were by,
I might do hurt, for they would glance their eyes
Towards my seat, and in that motion might
Omit a ward or forfeit an offense
Which craved that very time.

Cornets. A great cry and noise within crying “À Palamon!”
It is much better
I am not there. O, better never born
Than minister to such harm!

Enter Servant.
What is the chance?

...cry’s “À Palamon.”
Then he has won. ’Twas ever likely.
He looked all grace and success, and he is
Doubtless the prim’st of men. I prithee run
And tell me how it goes.

... Still “Palamon.”
Run and inquire. Addressing Arcite’s picture.
Poor servant, thou hast lost.
Upon my right side still I wore thy picture,
Palamon’s on the left—why so, I know not.
I had no end in ’t else; chance would have it so.
On the sinister side the heart lies; Palamon
Had the best-boding chance.

Another cry, and shout within, and cornets.
This burst of clamor
Is sure th’ end o’ th’ combat.

...hand at it.
Were they metamorphosed
Both into one—O, why, there were no woman
Worth so composed a man! Their single share,
Their nobleness peculiar to them, gives
The prejudice of disparity, value’s shortness,
To any lady breathing.

Cornets. Cry within, “Arcite, Arcite.”
More exulting?
“Palamon” still?

...sound is “Arcite.”
I prithee lay attention to the cry;
Set both thine ears to th’ business.

...the wind instruments.
Half-sights saw
That Arcite was no babe. God’s lid, his richness
And costliness of spirit looked through him; it could
No more be hid in him than fire in flax,
Than humble banks can go to law with waters
That drift-winds force to raging. I did think
Good Palamon would miscarry, yet I knew not
Why I did think so. Our reasons are not prophets
When oft our fancies are. They are coming off.
Alas, poor Palamon!

...it will deliver.
Is this winning?
O all you heavenly powers, where is your mercy?
But that your wills have said it must be so,
And charge me live to comfort this unfriended,
This miserable prince, that cuts away
A life more worthy from him than all women,
I should and would die too.

...So it is.
Flourish. They exit.

Scene 4

...Lo, he appears.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, and Arcite carried in a chair.

...from fair Emilia.
She kisses him.

...soul seek Elysium!
I’ll close thine eyes, prince. Blessed souls be with thee!
Thou art a right good man, and while I live,
This day I give to tears.

...like the time.
Flourish. They exit.