The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Уильям Шекспир

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       DIANA.

       Monsieur Parolles.

       HELENA.

       O, I believe with him,

       In argument of praise, or to the worth

       Of the great count himself, she is too mean

       To have her name repeated; all her deserving

       Is a reserved honesty, and that

       I have not heard examin’d.

       DIANA.

       Alas, poor lady!

       ‘Tis a hard bondage to become the wife

       Of a detesting lord.

       WIDOW.

       Ay, right; good creature, wheresoe’er she is

       Her heart weighs sadly: this young maid might do her

       A shrewd turn, if she pleas’d.

       HELENA.

       How do you mean?

       May be, the amorous count solicits her

       In the unlawful purpose.

       WIDOW.

       He does, indeed;

       And brokes with all that can in such a suit

       Corrupt the tender honour of a maid;

       But she is arm’d for him, and keeps her guard

       In honestest defence.

       MARIANA.

       The gods forbid else!

       WIDOW. So, now they come:— [Enter, with a drum and colours, a party of the Florentine army,

       BERTRAM, and PAROLLES.]

       That is Antonio, the Duke’s eldest son;

       That, Escalus.

       HELENA.

       Which is the Frenchman?

       DIANA.

       He;

       That with the plume: ‘tis a most gallant fellow.

       I would he lov’d his wife: if he were honester

       He were much goodlier: is’t not a handsome gentleman?

       HELENA.

       I like him well.

       DIANA.

       ‘Tis pity he is not honest? yond’s that same knave

       That leads him to these places; were I his lady

       I would poison that vile rascal.

       HELENA.

       Which is he?

       DIANA.

       That jack-an-apes with scarfs. Why is he melancholy?

       HELENA.

       Perchance he’s hurt i’ the battle.

       PAROLLES.

       Lose our drum! well.

       MARIANA.

       He’s shrewdly vex’d at something.

       Look, he has spied us.

       WIDOW.

       Marry, hang you!

       MARIANA.

       And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier!

       [Exeunt BERTRAM, PAROLLES, Officers, and Soldiers.]

       WIDOW.

       The troop is past. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you

       Where you shall host: of enjoin’d penitents

       There’s four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound,

       Already at my house.

       HELENA.

       I humbly thank you:

       Please it this matron and this gentle maid

       To eat with us tonight; the charge and thanking

       Shall be for me: and, to requite you further,

       I will bestow some precepts of this virgin,

       Worthy the note.

       BOTH.

       We’ll take your offer kindly.

       [Exeunt.]

      SCENE 6. Camp before Florence.

       [Enter BERTRAM, and the two French Lords.]

       FIRST LORD.

       Nay, good my lord, put him to’t; let him have his way.

       SECOND LORD. If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your respect.

       FIRST LORD.

       On my life, my lord, a bubble.

       BERTRAM.

       Do you think I am so far deceived in him?

       FIRST LORD. Believe it, my lord, in mine own direct knowledge, without any malice, but to speak of him as my kinsman, he’s a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one good quality worthy your lordship’s entertainment.

       SECOND LORD. It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in his virtue, which he hath not, he might at some great and trusty business, in a main danger fail you.

       BERTRAM.

       I would I knew in what particular action to try him.

       SECOND LORD. None better than to let him fetch off his drum, which you hear him so confidently undertake to do.

       FIRST LORD. I with a troop of Florentines will suddenly surprise him; such I will have whom I am sure he knows not from the enemy; we will bind and hoodwink him so that he shall suppose no other but that he is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries when we bring him to our own tents. Be but your lordship present at his examination; if he do not, for the promise of his life, and in the highest compulsion of base fear, offer to betray you, and deliver all the intelligence in his power against you, and that with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never trust my judgment in anything.

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