SCENE IV. Another part of the forest.

      Enter VALENTINE

VALENTINE
      How use doth breed a habit in a man!
      This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
      I better brook than flourishing peopled towns:
      Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
      And to the nightingale's complaining notes
      Tune my distresses and record my woes.
      O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
      Leave not the mansion so long tenantless,
      Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall
      And leave no memory of what it was!
      Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
      Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!
      What halloing and what stir is this to-day?
      These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
      Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
      They love me well; yet I have much to do
      To keep them from uncivil outrages.
      Withdraw thee, Valentine: who's this comes here?

      Enter PROTEUS, SILVIA, and JULIA

PROTEUS
      Madam, this service I have done for you,
      Though you respect not aught your servant doth,
      To hazard life and rescue you from him
      That would have forced your honour and your love;
      Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look;
      A smaller boon than this I cannot beg
      And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give.

VALENTINE
      [Aside] How like a dream is this I see and hear!
      Love, lend me patience to forbear awhile.

SILVIA
      O miserable, unhappy that I am!

PROTEUS
      Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came;
      But by my coming I have made you happy.

SILVIA
      By thy approach thou makest me most unhappy.

JULIA
      [Aside] And me, when he approacheth to your presence.

SILVIA
      Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
      I would have been a breakfast to the beast,
      Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
      O, Heaven be judge how I love Valentine,
      Whose life's as tender to me as my soul!
      And full as much, for more there cannot be,
      I do detest false perjured Proteus.
      Therefore be gone; solicit me no more.

PROTEUS
      What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
      Would I not undergo for one calm look!
      O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approved,
      When women cannot love where they're beloved!

SILVIA
      When Proteus cannot love where he's beloved.
      Read over Julia's heart, thy first best love,
      For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith
      Into a thousand oaths; and all those oaths
      Descended into perjury, to love me.
      Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou'dst two;
      And that's far worse than none; better have none
      Than plural faith which is too much by one:
      Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!

PROTEUS
      In love
      Who respects friend?

SILVIA
      All men but Proteus.

PROTEUS
      Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words
      Can no way change you to a milder form,
      I'll woo you like a soldier, at arms' end,
      And love you 'gainst the nature of love,--force ye.

SILVIA
      O heaven!

PROTEUS
      I'll force thee yield to my desire.

VALENTINE
      Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch,
      Thou friend of an ill fashion!

PROTEUS
      Valentine!

VALENTINE
      Thou common friend, that's without faith or love,
      For such is a friend now; treacherous man!
      Thou hast beguiled my hopes; nought but mine eye
      Could have persuaded me: now I dare not say
      I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me.
      Who should be trusted, when one's own right hand
      Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus,
      I am sorry I must never trust thee more,
      But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
      The private wound is deepest: O time most accurst,
      'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!

PROTEUS
      My shame and guilt confounds me.
      Forgive me, Valentine: if hearty sorrow
      Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
      I tender 't here; I do as truly suffer
      As e'er I did commit.

VALENTINE
      Then I am paid;
      And once again I do receive thee honest.
      Who by repentance is not satisfied
      Is nor of heaven nor earth, for these are pleased.
      By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeased:
      And, that my love may appear plain and free,
      All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.

JULIA
      O me unhappy!

      Swoons

PROTEUS
      Look to the boy.

VALENTINE
      Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what's the matter?
      Look up; speak.

JULIA
      O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring
      to Madam Silvia, which, out of my neglect, was never done.

PROTEUS
      Where is that ring, boy?

JULIA
      Here 'tis; this is it.

PROTEUS
      How! let me see:
      Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.

JULIA
      O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook:
      This is the ring you sent to Silvia.

PROTEUS
      But how camest thou by this ring? At my depart
      I gave this unto Julia.

JULIA
      And Julia herself did give it me;
      And Julia herself hath brought it hither.

PROTEUS
      How! Julia!

JULIA
      Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths,
      And entertain'd 'em deeply in her heart.
      How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root!
      O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush!
      Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me
      Such an immodest raiment, if shame live
      In a disguise of love:
      It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,
      Women to change their shapes than men their minds.

PROTEUS
      Than men their minds! 'tis true.
      O heaven! were man
      But constant, he were perfect. That one error
      Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins:
      Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.
      What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
      More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye?

VALENTINE
      Come, come, a hand from either:
      Let me be blest to make this happy close;
      'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.

PROTEUS
      Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.

JULIA
      And I mine.

      Enter Outlaws, with DUKE and THURIO

Outlaws
      A prize, a prize, a prize!

VALENTINE
      Forbear, forbear, I say! it is my lord the duke.
      Your grace is welcome to a man disgraced,
      Banished Valentine.

DUKE
      Sir Valentine!

THURIO
      Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia's mine.

VALENTINE
      Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;
      Come not within the measure of my wrath;
      Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,
      Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands;
      Take but possession of her with a touch:
      I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.

THURIO
      Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I;
      I hold him but a fool that will endanger
      His body for a girl that loves him not:
      I claim her not, and therefore she is thine.

DUKE
      The more degenerate and base art thou,
      To make such means for her as thou hast done
      And leave her on such slight conditions.
      Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
      I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
      And think thee worthy of an empress' love:
      Know then, I here forget all former griefs,
      Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
      Plead a new state in thy unrivall'd merit,
      To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
      Thou art a gentleman and well derived;
      Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.

VALENTINE
      I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy.
      I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake,
      To grant one boom that I shall ask of you.

DUKE
      I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be.

VALENTINE
      These banish'd men that I have kept withal
      Are men endued with worthy qualities:
      Forgive them what they have committed here
      And let them be recall'd from their exile:
      They are reformed, civil, full of good
      And fit for great employment, worthy lord.

DUKE
      Thou hast prevail'd; I pardon them and thee:
      Dispose of them as thou know'st their deserts.
      Come, let us go: we will include all jars
      With triumphs, mirth and rare solemnity.

VALENTINE
      And, as we walk along, I dare be bold
      With our discourse to make your grace to smile.
      What think you of this page, my lord?

DUKE
      I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes.

VALENTINE
      I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.

DUKE
      What mean you by that saying?

VALENTINE
      Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along,
      That you will wonder what hath fortuned.
      Come, Proteus; 'tis your penance but to hear
      The story of your loves discovered:
      That done, our day of marriage shall be yours;
      One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

      Exeunt