ACT 3. SC. 2
Scene 2
Enter Orlando , with a paper .
ORLANDO
Hang there , my verse , in witness of my love .
And thou , thrice-crownèd queen of night , survey
With thy chaste eye , from thy pale sphere above ,
Thy huntress’ name that my full life doth sway .
O Rosalind , these trees shall be my books ,
And in their barks my thoughts I’ll character ,
That every eye which in this forest looks
Shall see thy virtue witnessed everywhere .
Run , run , Orlando , carve on every tree
The fair , the chaste , and unexpressive she .
He exits .
Enter Corin and Touchstone .
CORIN
And how like you this shepherd’s life , Master
Touchstone ?
TOUCHSTONE
Truly , shepherd , in respect of itself , it is a
good life ; but in respect that it is a shepherd’s life , it
is naught . In respect that it is solitary , I like it very
well ; but in respect that it is private , it is a very vile
life . Now in respect it is in the fields , it pleaseth me
well ; but in respect it is not in the court , it is
tedious . As it is a spare life , look you , it fits my
humor well ; but as there is no more plenty in it , it
goes much against my stomach . Hast any philosophy
in thee , shepherd ?
CORIN
No more but that I know the more one sickens ,
the worse at ease he is , and that he that wants
money , means , and content is without three good
friends ; that the property of rain is to wet , and fire
to burn ; that good pasture makes fat sheep ; and that
a great cause of the night is lack of the sun ; that he
that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may
[95] ACT 3. SC. 2 complain of good breeding or comes of a very dull
kindred .
TOUCHSTONE
Such a one is a natural philosopher . Wast
ever in court , shepherd ?
CORIN
No , truly .
TOUCHSTONE
Then thou art damned .
CORIN
Nay , I hope .
TOUCHSTONE
Truly , thou art damned , like an ill-roasted
egg , all on one side .
CORIN
For not being at court ? Your reason .
TOUCHSTONE
Why , if thou never wast at court , thou
never saw’st good manners ; if thou never saw’st
good manners , then thy manners must be wicked ,
and wickedness is sin , and sin is damnation . Thou
art in a parlous state , shepherd .
CORIN
Not a whit , Touchstone . Those that are good
manners at the court are as ridiculous in the
country as the behavior of the country is most
mockable at the court . You told me you salute not at
the court but you kiss your hands . That courtesy
would be uncleanly if courtiers were shepherds .
TOUCHSTONE
Instance , briefly . Come , instance .
CORIN
Why , we are still handling our ewes , and their
fells , you know , are greasy .
TOUCHSTONE
Why , do not your courtier’s hands sweat ?
And is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as
the sweat of a man ? Shallow , shallow . A better
instance , I say . Come .
CORIN
Besides , our hands are hard .
TOUCHSTONE
Your lips will feel them the sooner . Shallow
again . A more sounder instance . Come .
CORIN
And they are often tarred over with the surgery
of our sheep ; and would you have us kiss tar ? The
courtier’s hands are perfumed with civet .
TOUCHSTONE
Most shallow man . Thou worms’ meat in
respect of a good piece of flesh , indeed . Learn of the
[97] ACT 3. SC. 2 wise and perpend : civet is of a baser birth than tar ,
the very uncleanly flux of a cat . Mend the instance ,
shepherd .
CORIN
You have too courtly a wit for me . I’ll rest .
TOUCHSTONE
Wilt thou rest damned ? God help thee ,
shallow man . God make incision in thee ; thou art
raw .
CORIN
Sir , I am a true laborer . I earn that I eat , get that
I wear , owe no man hate , envy no man’s happiness ,
glad of other men’s good , content with my harm ,
and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze
and my lambs suck .
TOUCHSTONE
That is another simple sin in you , to bring
the ewes and the rams together and to offer to get
your living by the copulation of cattle ; to be bawd to
a bell-wether and to betray a she-lamb of a twelvemonth
to a crooked-pated old cuckoldly ram , out of
all reasonable match . If thou be’st not damned for
this , the devil himself will have no shepherds . I
cannot see else how thou shouldst ’scape .
Enter Rosalind , as Ganymede .
CORIN
Here comes young Master Ganymede , my new
mistress’s brother .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede , reading a paper
From the east to western Ind
No jewel is like Rosalind .
Her worth being mounted on the wind ,
Through all the world bears Rosalind .
All the pictures fairest lined
Are but black to Rosalind .
Let no face be kept in mind
But the fair of Rosalind .
TOUCHSTONE
I’ll rhyme you so eight years together ,
dinners and suppers and sleeping hours excepted .
It is the right butter-women’s rank to market .
[99]ACT 3. SC. 2
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Out , fool .
TOUCHSTONE
For a taste :
If a hart do lack a hind ,
Let him seek out Rosalind .
If the cat will after kind ,
So be sure will Rosalind .
Wintered garments must be lined ;
So must slender Rosalind .
They that reap must sheaf and bind ;
Then to cart with Rosalind .
Sweetest nut hath sourest rind ;
Such a nut is Rosalind .
He that sweetest rose will find
Must find love’s prick , and Rosalind .
This is the very false gallop of verses . Why do you
infect yourself with them ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Peace , you dull fool . I found
them on a tree .
TOUCHSTONE
Truly , the tree yields bad fruit .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
I’ll graft it with you , and
then I shall graft it with a medlar . Then it will be
the earliest fruit i’ th’ country , for you’ll be rotten
ere you be half ripe , and that’s the right virtue of
the medlar .
TOUCHSTONE
You have said , but whether wisely or no ,
let the forest judge .
Enter Celia , as Aliena , with a writing .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Peace . Here comes my sister
reading . Stand aside .
CELIA
, as Aliena , reads
Why should this a desert be ?
For it is unpeopled ? No .
Tongues I’ll hang on every tree
That shall civil sayings show .
Some how brief the life of man
Runs his erring pilgrimage ,
[101] ACT 3. SC. 2 That the stretching of a span
Buckles in his sum of age ;
Some of violated vows
’Twixt the souls of friend and friend .
But upon the fairest boughs ,
Or at every sentence’ end ,
Will I ‘Rosalinda’ write ,
Teaching all that read to know
The quintessence of every sprite
Heaven would in little show .
Therefore heaven nature charged
That one body should be filled
With all graces wide-enlarged .
Nature presently distilled
Helen’s cheek , but not her heart ,
Cleopatra’s majesty ,
Atalanta’s better part ,
Sad Lucretia’s modesty .
Thus Rosalind of many parts
By heavenly synod was devised
Of many faces , eyes , and hearts
To have the touches dearest prized .
Heaven would that she these gifts should have
And I to live and die her slave .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
O most gentle Jupiter , what
tedious homily of love have you wearied your parishioners
withal , and never cried ‘Have patience ,
good people ! ’
CELIA
, as Aliena
How now ? — Back , friends . Shepherd ,
go off a little . — Go with him , sirrah .
TOUCHSTONE
Come , shepherd , let us make an honorable
retreat , though not with bag and baggage , yet
with scrip and scrippage .
Touchstone and Corin exit .
CELIA
Didst thou hear these verses ?
ROSALIND
O yes , I heard them all , and more too , for
[103] ACT 3. SC. 2 some of them had in them more feet than the verses
would bear .
CELIA
That’s no matter . The feet might bear the verses .
ROSALIND
Ay , but the feet were lame and could not
bear themselves without the verse , and therefore
stood lamely in the verse .
CELIA
But didst thou hear without wondering how thy
name should be hanged and carved upon these
trees ?
ROSALIND
I was seven of the nine days out of the
wonder before you came , for look here what I
found on a palm tree . She shows the paper she
read . I was never so berhymed since Pythagoras’
time that I was an Irish rat , which I can hardly
remember .
CELIA
Trow you who hath done this ?
ROSALIND
Is it a man ?
CELIA
And a chain , that you once wore , about his neck .
Change you color ?
ROSALIND
I prithee , who ?
CELIA
O Lord , Lord , it is a hard matter for friends to
meet , but mountains may be removed with earthquakes
and so encounter .
ROSALIND
Nay , but who is it ?
CELIA
Is it possible ?
ROSALIND
Nay , I prithee now , with most petitionary
vehemence , tell me who it is .
CELIA
O wonderful , wonderful , and most wonderful
wonderful , and yet again wonderful , and after that
out of all whooping !
ROSALIND
Good my complexion , dost thou think
though I am caparisoned like a man , I have a
doublet and hose in my disposition ? One inch of
delay more is a South Sea of discovery . I prithee ,
tell me who is it quickly , and speak apace . I would
thou couldst stammer , that thou might’st pour this
[105] ACT 3. SC. 2 concealed man out of thy mouth as wine comes out
of a narrow-mouthed bottle — either too much at
once , or none at all . I prithee take the cork out of
thy mouth , that I may drink thy tidings .
CELIA
So you may put a man in your belly .
ROSALIND
Is he of God’s making ? What manner of
man ? Is his head worth a hat , or his chin worth a
beard ?
CELIA
Nay , he hath but a little beard .
ROSALIND
Why , God will send more , if the man will be
thankful . Let me stay the growth of his beard , if
thou delay me not the knowledge of his chin .
CELIA
It is young Orlando , that tripped up the wrestler’s
heels and your heart both in an instant .
ROSALIND
Nay , but the devil take mocking . Speak sad
brow and true maid .
CELIA
I’ faith , coz , ’tis he .
ROSALIND
Orlando ?
CELIA
Orlando .
ROSALIND
Alas the day , what shall I do with my doublet
and hose ? What did he when thou saw’st him ? What
said he ? How looked he ? Wherein went he ? What
makes he here ? Did he ask for me ? Where remains
he ? How parted he with thee ? And when shalt thou
see him again ? Answer me in one word .
CELIA
You must borrow me Gargantua’s mouth first .
’Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age’s size .
To say ay and no to these particulars is more than to
answer in a catechism .
ROSALIND
But doth he know that I am in this forest and
in man’s apparel ? Looks he as freshly as he did the
day he wrestled ?
CELIA
It is as easy to count atomies as to resolve the
propositions of a lover . But take a taste of my
finding him , and relish it with good observance . I
found him under a tree like a dropped acorn .
[107]ACT 3. SC. 2
ROSALIND
It may well be called Jove’s tree when it
drops forth such fruit .
CELIA
Give me audience , good madam .
ROSALIND
Proceed .
CELIA
There lay he , stretched along like a wounded
knight .
ROSALIND
Though it be pity to see such a sight , it well
becomes the ground .
CELIA
Cry ‘holla’ to thy tongue , I prithee . It curvets
unseasonably . He was furnished like a hunter .
ROSALIND
O , ominous ! He comes to kill my heart .
CELIA
I would sing my song without a burden . Thou
bring’st me out of tune .
ROSALIND
Do you not know I am a woman ? When I
think , I must speak . Sweet , say on .
CELIA
You bring me out .
Enter Orlando and Jaques .
Soft , comes he not here ?
ROSALIND
’Tis he . Slink by , and note him .
Rosalind and Celia step aside .
JAQUES
, to Orlando
I thank you for your company ,
but , good faith , I had as lief have been myself alone .
ORLANDO
And so had I , but yet , for fashion sake , I
thank you too for your society .
JAQUES
God be wi’ you . Let’s meet as little as we can .
ORLANDO
I do desire we may be better strangers .
JAQUES
I pray you mar no more trees with writing love
songs in their barks .
ORLANDO
I pray you mar no more of my verses with
reading them ill-favoredly .
JAQUES
Rosalind is your love’s name ?
ORLANDO
Yes , just .
JAQUES
I do not like her name .
ORLANDO
There was no thought of pleasing you when
she was christened .
[109]ACT 3. SC. 2
JAQUES
What stature is she of ?
ORLANDO
Just as high as my heart .
JAQUES
You are full of pretty answers . Have you not
been acquainted with goldsmiths’ wives and
conned them out of rings ?
ORLANDO
Not so . But I answer you right painted cloth ,
from whence you have studied your questions .
JAQUES
You have a nimble wit . I think ’twas made of
Atalanta’s heels . Will you sit down with me ? And we
two will rail against our mistress the world and all
our misery .
ORLANDO
I will chide no breather in the world but
myself , against whom I know most faults .
JAQUES
The worst fault you have is to be in love .
ORLANDO
’Tis a fault I will not change for your best
virtue . I am weary of you .
JAQUES
By my troth , I was seeking for a fool when I
found you .
ORLANDO
He is drowned in the brook . Look but in , and
you shall see him .
JAQUES
There I shall see mine own figure .
ORLANDO
Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher .
JAQUES
I’ll tarry no longer with you . Farewell , good
Signior Love .
ORLANDO
I am glad of your departure . Adieu , good
Monsieur Melancholy .
Jaques exits .
ROSALIND
, aside to Celia
I will speak to him like a
saucy lackey , and under that habit play the knave
with him .
As Ganymede .
Do you hear , forester ?
ORLANDO
Very well . What would you ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
I pray you , what is ’t
o’clock ?
ORLANDO
You should ask me what time o’ day . There’s
no clock in the forest .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Then there is no true lover
in the forest ; else sighing every minute and
[111] ACT 3. SC. 2 groaning every hour would detect the lazy foot of
time as well as a clock .
ORLANDO
And why not the swift foot of time ? Had not
that been as proper ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
By no means , sir . Time
travels in divers paces with divers persons . I’ll tell
you who time ambles withal , who time trots withal ,
who time gallops withal , and who he stands still
withal .
ORLANDO
I prithee , who doth he trot withal ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Marry , he trots hard with a
young maid between the contract of her marriage
and the day it is solemnized . If the interim be but a
se’nnight , time’s pace is so hard that it seems the
length of seven year .
ORLANDO
Who ambles time withal ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
With a priest that lacks Latin
and a rich man that hath not the gout , for the one
sleeps easily because he cannot study , and the other
lives merrily because he feels no pain — the one
lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning ,
the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious
penury . These time ambles withal .
ORLANDO
Who doth he gallop withal ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
With a thief to the gallows ,
for though he go as softly as foot can fall , he thinks
himself too soon there .
ORLANDO
Who stays it still withal ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
With lawyers in the vacation ,
for they sleep between term and term , and
then they perceive not how time moves .
ORLANDO
Where dwell you , pretty youth ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
With this shepherdess , my
sister , here in the skirts of the forest , like fringe
upon a petticoat .
ORLANDO
Are you native of this place ?
[113]ACT 3. SC. 2
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
As the cony that you see
dwell where she is kindled .
ORLANDO
Your accent is something finer than you
could purchase in so removed a dwelling .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
I have been told so of many .
But indeed an old religious uncle of mine taught
me to speak , who was in his youth an inland man ,
one that knew courtship too well , for there he fell in
love . I have heard him read many lectures against it ,
and I thank God I am not a woman , to be touched
with so many giddy offenses as he hath generally
taxed their whole sex withal .
ORLANDO
Can you remember any of the principal evils
that he laid to the charge of women ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
There were none principal .
They were all like one another as halfpence are ,
every one fault seeming monstrous till his fellow
fault came to match it .
ORLANDO
I prithee recount some of them .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
No , I will not cast away my
physic but on those that are sick . There is a man
haunts the forest that abuses our young plants with
carving ‘Rosalind’ on their barks , hangs odes upon
hawthorns and elegies on brambles , all , forsooth ,
deifying the name of Rosalind . If I could meet
that fancy-monger , I would give him some good
counsel , for he seems to have the quotidian of love
upon him .
ORLANDO
I am he that is so love-shaked . I pray you tell
me your remedy .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
There is none of my uncle’s
marks upon you . He taught me how to know a man
in love , in which cage of rushes I am sure you are
not prisoner .
ORLANDO
What were his marks ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
A lean cheek , which you
[115] ACT 3. SC. 2 have not ; a blue eye and sunken , which you have
not ; an unquestionable spirit , which you have not ; a
beard neglected , which you have not — but I pardon
you for that , for simply your having in beard is a
younger brother’s revenue . Then your hose should
be ungartered , your bonnet unbanded , your sleeve
unbuttoned , your shoe untied , and everything
about you demonstrating a careless desolation . But
you are no such man . You are rather point-device in
your accouterments , as loving yourself than seeming
the lover of any other .
ORLANDO
Fair youth , I would I could make thee believe
I love .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Me believe it ? You may as
soon make her that you love believe it , which I
warrant she is apter to do than to confess she does .
That is one of the points in the which women still
give the lie to their consciences . But , in good sooth ,
are you he that hangs the verses on the trees
wherein Rosalind is so admired ?
ORLANDO
I swear to thee , youth , by the white hand of
Rosalind , I am that he , that unfortunate he .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
But are you so much in love
as your rhymes speak ?
ORLANDO
Neither rhyme nor reason can express how
much .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Love is merely a madness ,
and , I tell you , deserves as well a dark house and a
whip as madmen do ; and the reason why they are
not so punished and cured is that the lunacy is so
ordinary that the whippers are in love too . Yet I
profess curing it by counsel .
ORLANDO
Did you ever cure any so ?
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Yes , one , and in this manner .
He was to imagine me his love , his mistress ,
and I set him every day to woo me ; at which time
[117] ACT 3. SC. 3 would I , being but a moonish youth , grieve , be
effeminate , changeable , longing and liking , proud ,
fantastical , apish , shallow , inconstant , full of tears ,
full of smiles ; for every passion something , and for
no passion truly anything , as boys and women are ,
for the most part , cattle of this color ; would now
like him , now loathe him ; then entertain him , then
forswear him ; now weep for him , then spit at him ,
that I drave my suitor from his mad humor of love
to a living humor of madness , which was to forswear
the full stream of the world and to live in a
nook merely monastic . And thus I cured him , and
this way will I take upon me to wash your liver as
clean as a sound sheep’s heart , that there shall not
be one spot of love in ’t .
ORLANDO
I would not be cured , youth .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
I would cure you if you
would but call me Rosalind and come every day to
my cote and woo me .
ORLANDO
Now , by the faith of my love , I will . Tell me
where it is .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Go with me to it , and I’ll
show it you ; and by the way you shall tell me where
in the forest you live . Will you go ?
ORLANDO
With all my heart , good youth .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
Nay , you must call me
Rosalind . — Come , sister , will you go ?
They exit .
Scene 3
Enter Touchstone and Audrey , followed by Jaques .
TOUCHSTONE
Come apace , good Audrey . I will fetch up
your goats , Audrey . And how , Audrey ? Am I the
man yet ? Doth my simple feature content you ?
[119]ACT 3. SC. 3
AUDREY
Your features , Lord warrant us ! What
features ?
TOUCHSTONE
I am here with thee and thy goats , as the
most capricious poet , honest Ovid , was among the
Goths .
JAQUES
, aside
O knowledge ill-inhabited , worse than
Jove in a thatched house .
TOUCHSTONE
When a man’s verses cannot be understood ,
nor a man’s good wit seconded with the
forward child , understanding , it strikes a man more
dead than a great reckoning in a little room . Truly , I
would the gods had made thee poetical .
AUDREY
I do not know what ‘poetical’ is . Is it honest
in deed and word ? Is it a true thing ?
TOUCHSTONE
No , truly , for the truest poetry is the most
feigning , and lovers are given to poetry , and what
they swear in poetry may be said as lovers they do
feign .
AUDREY
Do you wish , then , that the gods had made me
poetical ?
TOUCHSTONE
I do , truly , for thou swear’st to me thou
art honest . Now if thou wert a poet , I might have
some hope thou didst feign .
AUDREY
Would you not have me honest ?
TOUCHSTONE
No , truly , unless thou wert hard-favored ;
for honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a
sauce to sugar .
JAQUES
, aside
A material fool .
AUDREY
Well , I am not fair , and therefore I pray the
gods make me honest .
TOUCHSTONE
Truly , and to cast away honesty upon a
foul slut were to put good meat into an unclean
dish .
AUDREY
I am not a slut , though I thank the gods I am
foul .
TOUCHSTONE
Well , praised be the gods for thy foulness ;
[121] ACT 3. SC. 3 sluttishness may come hereafter . But be it as it may
be , I will marry thee ; and to that end I have been
with Sir Oliver Martext , the vicar of the next village ,
who hath promised to meet me in this place of the
forest and to couple us .
JAQUES
, aside
I would fain see this meeting .
AUDREY
Well , the gods give us joy .
TOUCHSTONE
Amen . A man may , if he were of a fearful
heart , stagger in this attempt , for here we have no
temple but the wood , no assembly but horn-beasts .
But what though ? Courage . As horns are odious ,
they are necessary . It is said
‘Many a man knows no
end of his goods .’ Right : many a man has good
horns and knows no end of them . Well , that is the
dowry of his wife ; ’tis none of his own getting .
Horns ? Even so . Poor men alone ? No , no . The
noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal . Is the
single man therefore blessed ? No . As a walled town
is more worthier than a village , so is the forehead of
a married man more honorable than the bare brow
of a bachelor . And by how much defense is better
than no skill , by so much is a horn more precious
than to want .
Enter Sir Oliver Martext .
Here comes Sir Oliver . — Sir Oliver Martext , you are
well met . Will you dispatch us here under this tree ,
or shall we go with you to your chapel ?
OLIVER MARTEXT
Is there none here to give the
woman ?
TOUCHSTONE
I will not take her on gift of any man .
OLIVER MARTEXT
Truly , she must be given , or the
marriage is not lawful .
JAQUES
, coming forward
Proceed , proceed . I’ll give
her .
[123]ACT 3. SC. 3
TOUCHSTONE
Good even , good Monsieur What-you-call-’t .
How do you , sir ? You are very well met . God
’ild you for your last company . I am very glad to see
you . Even a toy in hand here , sir . Nay , pray be
covered .
JAQUES
Will you be married , motley ?
TOUCHSTONE
As the ox hath his bow , sir , the horse his
curb , and the falcon her bells , so man hath his
desires ; and as pigeons bill , so wedlock would be
nibbling .
JAQUES
And will you , being a man of your breeding , be
married under a bush like a beggar ? Get you to
church , and have a good priest that can tell you
what marriage is . This fellow will but join you
together as they join wainscot . Then one of you will
prove a shrunk panel and , like green timber , warp ,
warp .
TOUCHSTONE
I am not in the mind but I were better to
be married of him than of another , for he is not like
to marry me well , and not being well married , it
will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave my
wife .
JAQUES
Go thou with me , and let me counsel thee .
TOUCHSTONE
Come , sweet Audrey . We must be married ,
or we must live in bawdry . — Farewell , good
Master Oliver , not
O sweet Oliver ,
O brave Oliver ,
Leave me not behind thee ,
But
Wind away ,
Begone , I say ,
I will not to wedding with thee .
Audrey , Touchstone , and Jaques exit .
OLIVER MARTEXT
’Tis no matter . Ne’er a fantastical
knave of them all shall flout me out of my calling .
He exits .
ACT 3. SC. 4
ACT 3. SC. 5
Scene 5
Enter Silvius and Phoebe .
SILVIUS
Sweet Phoebe , do not scorn me . Do not , Phoebe .
Say that you love me not , but say not so
In bitterness . The common executioner ,
Whose heart th’ accustomed sight of death makes
hard ,
Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck
But first begs pardon . Will you sterner be
Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops ?
Enter , unobserved , Rosalind as Ganymede , Celia as
Aliena , and Corin .
PHOEBE
I would not be thy executioner .
I fly thee , for I would not injure thee .
Thou tell’st me there is murder in mine eye .
’Tis pretty , sure , and very probable
That eyes , that are the frail’st and softest things ,
Who shut their coward gates on atomies ,
Should be called tyrants , butchers , murderers .
Now I do frown on thee with all my heart ,
And if mine eyes can wound , now let them kill thee .
Now counterfeit to swoon ; why , now fall down ;
Or if thou canst not , O , for shame , for shame ,
Lie not , to say mine eyes are murderers .
Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee .
Scratch thee but with a pin , and there remains
Some scar of it . Lean upon a rush ,
The cicatrice and capable impressure
Thy palm some moment keeps . But now mine eyes ,
Which I have darted at thee , hurt thee not ;
Nor I am sure there is no force in eyes
That can do hurt .
[131]ACT 3. SC. 5
SILVIUS
O dear Phoebe ,
If ever — as that ever may be near —
You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy ,
Then shall you know the wounds invisible
That love’s keen arrows make .
PHOEBE
But till that time
Come not thou near me . And when that time
comes ,
Afflict me with thy mocks , pity me not ,
As till that time I shall not pity thee .
ROSALIND
,
as Ganymede ,
coming forward
And why , I pray you ? Who might be your mother ,
That you insult , exult , and all at once ,
Over the wretched ? What though you have no
beauty —
As , by my faith , I see no more in you
Than without candle may go dark to bed —
Must you be therefore proud and pitiless ?
Why , what means this ? Why do you look on me ?
I see no more in you than in the ordinary
Of nature’s sale-work . — ’Od’s my little life ,
I think she means to tangle my eyes , too . —
No , faith , proud mistress , hope not after it .
’Tis not your inky brows , your black silk hair ,
Your bugle eyeballs , nor your cheek of cream
That can entame my spirits to your worship . —
You foolish shepherd , wherefore do you follow her ,
Like foggy south puffing with wind and rain ?
You are a thousand times a properer man
Than she a woman . ’Tis such fools as you
That makes the world full of ill-favored children .
’Tis not her glass but you that flatters her ,
And out of you she sees herself more proper
Than any of her lineaments can show her . —
But , mistress , know yourself . Down on your knees
And thank heaven , fasting , for a good man’s love ,
[133] ACT 3. SC. 5 For I must tell you friendly in your ear ,
Sell when you can ; you are not for all markets .
Cry the man mercy , love him , take his offer .
Foul is most foul , being foul to be a scoffer . —
So take her to thee , shepherd . Fare you well .
PHOEBE
Sweet youth , I pray you chide a year together .
I had rather hear you chide than this man woo .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
He’s fall’n in love with your
foulness .
( To Silvius . )
And she’ll fall in love with
my anger . If it be so , as fast as she answers thee with
frowning looks , I’ll sauce her with bitter words .
( To
Phoebe . ) Why look you so upon me ?
PHOEBE
For no ill will I bear you .
ROSALIND
, as Ganymede
I pray you , do not fall in love with me ,
For I am falser than vows made in wine .
Besides , I like you not . If you will know my house ,
’Tis at the tuft of olives , here hard by . —
Will you go , sister ? — Shepherd , ply her hard . —
Come , sister . — Shepherdess , look on him better ,
And be not proud . Though all the world could see ,
None could be so abused in sight as he . —
Come , to our flock .
She exits , with Celia and Corin .
PHOEBE
, aside
Dead shepherd , now I find thy saw of might :
‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight ?’
SILVIUS
Sweet Phoebe —
PHOEBE
Ha , what sayst thou , Silvius ?
SILVIUS
Sweet Phoebe , pity me .
PHOEBE
Why , I am sorry for thee , gentle Silvius .
SILVIUS
Wherever sorrow is , relief would be .
[135] ACT 3. SC. 5 If you do sorrow at my grief in love ,
By giving love your sorrow and my grief
Were both extermined .
PHOEBE
Thou hast my love . Is not that neighborly ?
SILVIUS
I would have you .
PHOEBE
Why , that were covetousness .
Silvius , the time was that I hated thee ;
And yet it is not that I bear thee love ;
But since that thou canst talk of love so well ,
Thy company , which erst was irksome to me ,
I will endure , and I’ll employ thee too .
But do not look for further recompense
Than thine own gladness that thou art employed .
SILVIUS
So holy and so perfect is my love ,
And I in such a poverty of grace ,
That I shall think it a most plenteous crop
To glean the broken ears after the man
That the main harvest reaps . Loose now and then
A scattered smile , and that I’ll live upon .
PHOEBE
Know’st thou the youth that spoke to me erewhile ?
SILVIUS
Not very well , but I have met him oft ,
And he hath bought the cottage and the bounds
That the old carlot once was master of .
PHOEBE
Think not I love him , though I ask for him .
’Tis but a peevish boy — yet he talks well —
But what care I for words ? Yet words do well
When he that speaks them pleases those that hear .
It is a pretty youth — not very pretty —
But sure he’s proud — and yet his pride becomes
him .
[137] ACT 3. SC. 5 He’ll make a proper man . The best thing in him
Is his complexion ; and faster than his tongue
Did make offense , his eye did heal it up .
He is not very tall — yet for his years he’s tall .
His leg is but so-so — and yet ’tis well .
There was a pretty redness in his lip ,
A little riper and more lusty red
Than that mixed in his cheek : ’twas just the
difference
Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask .
There be some women , Silvius , had they marked
him
In parcels as I did , would have gone near
To fall in love with him ; but for my part
I love him not nor hate him not ; and yet
I have more cause to hate him than to love him .
For what had he to do to chide at me ?
He said mine eyes were black and my hair black ,
And now I am remembered , scorned at me .
I marvel why I answered not again .
But that’s all one : omittance is no quittance .
I’ll write to him a very taunting letter ,
And thou shalt bear it . Wilt thou , Silvius ?
SILVIUS
Phoebe , with all my heart .
PHOEBE
I’ll write it straight .
The matter’s in my head and in my heart .
I will be bitter with him and passing short .
Go with me , Silvius .
They exit .