PERITHOUS.
Vrge it home, brave Lady.
EMILIA.
That you would nev’r deny me any thing
Fit for my modest suit, and your free granting:
I tye you to your word now; if ye fall in’t,
Thinke how you maime your honour,
(For now I am set a begging, Sir, I am deafe
To all but your compassion.) How, their lives
Might breed the ruine of my name, Opinion!
Shall any thing that loves me perish for me?
That were a cruell wisedome; doe men proyne
The straight yong Bowes that blush with thousand Blossoms,
Because they may be rotten? O Duke Theseus,
The goodly Mothers that have groand for these,
And all the longing Maides that ever lov’d,
If your vow stand, shall curse me and my Beauty,
And in their funerall songs for these two Cosens
Despise my crueltie, and cry woe worth me,
Till I am nothing but the scorne of women;
For heavens sake save their lives, and banish ‘em.
THESEUS.
On what conditions?
EMILIA.
Sweare’em never more
To make me their Contention, or to know me,
To tread upon thy Dukedome; and to be,
Where ever they shall travel, ever strangers
To one another.
PALAMON.
Ile be cut a peeces
Before I take this oth: forget I love her?
O all ye gods dispise me, then! Thy Banishment
I not mislike, so we may fairely carry
Our Swords and cause along: else, never trifle,
But take our lives, Duke: I must love and will,
And for that love must and dare kill this Cosen
On any peece the earth has.
THESEUS.
Will you, Arcite,
Take these conditions?
PALAMON.
He’s a villaine, then.
PERITHOUS.
These are men.
ARCITE.
No, never, Duke: Tis worse to me than begging
To take my life so basely; though I thinke
I never shall enjoy her, yet ile preserve
The honour of affection, and dye for her,
Make death a Devill.
THESEUS.
What may be done? for now I feele compassion.
PERITHOUS.
Let it not fall agen, Sir.
THESEUS.
Say, Emilia,
If one of them were dead, as one must, are you
Content to take th’other to your husband?
They cannot both enjoy you; They are Princes
As goodly as your owne eyes, and as noble
As ever fame yet spoke of; looke upon ‘em,
And if you can love, end this difference.
I give consent; are you content too, Princes?
BOTH.
With all our soules.
THESEUS.
He that she refuses
Must dye, then.
BOTH.
Any death thou canst invent, Duke.
PALAMON.
If I fall from that mouth, I fall with favour,
And Lovers yet unborne shall blesse my ashes.
ARCITE.
If she refuse me, yet my grave will wed me,
And Souldiers sing my Epitaph.
THESEUS.
Make choice, then.
EMILIA.
I cannot, Sir, they are both too excellent:
For me, a hayre shall never fall of these men.
HIPPOLITA.
What will become of ‘em?
THESEUS.
Thus I ordaine it;
And by mine honor, once againe, it stands,
Or both shall dye:—You shall both to your Countrey,
And each within this moneth, accompanied
With three faire Knights, appeare againe in this place,
In which Ile plant a Pyramid; and whether,
Before us that are here, can force his Cosen
By fayre and knightly strength to touch the Pillar,
He shall enjoy her: the other loose his head,
And all his friends; Nor shall he grudge to fall,
Nor thinke he dies with interest in this Lady:
Will this content yee?
PALAMON.
Yes: here, Cosen Arcite,
