The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 1 of 9]

Rom. Father, what news? what is the prince's doom?[906]
What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand,[907] 5
That I yet know not?

Fri. L. Too familiar
Is my dear son with such sour company:[908]
I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom.

Rom. What less than dooms-day is the prince's doom?[909]

Fri. L. A gentler judgement vanish'd from his lips,[910] 10
Not body's death, but body's banishment.

Rom. Ha, banishment! be merciful, say 'death;'
For exile hath more terror in his look,
Much more than death: do not say 'banishment.'[911]

Fri. L. Here from Verona art thou banished:[912] 15
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.

Rom. There is no world without Verona walls,[913]
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.[914]
Hence banished is banish'd from the world,[915]
And world's exile is death: then 'banished'[916][917][918] 20
Is death mis-term'd: calling death 'banished,'[917][919]
Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe
And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.[920]

Fri. L. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!
Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince, 25
Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,[921]
And turn'd that black word death to banishment:
This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.[922]

Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here,
Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog 30
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven and may look on her,[923]
But Romeo may not: more validity,
More honourable state, more courtship lives
In carrion-flies than Romeo: they may seize 35
On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand,
And steal immortal blessing from her lips;[924]
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,[925][926]
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin;[926][927]
But Romeo may not; he is banished:[926][928] 40
This may flies do, but I from this must fly:[926][928]
They are free men, but I am banished:[926][928]
And say'st thou yet, that exile is not death?[926][928]
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,[926][929]
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,[926] 45
But 'banished' to kill me?—'Banished'?[926]
O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
Howling attends it: how hast thou the heart,[930]
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,
A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,[931] 50
To mangle me with that word 'banished'?[932]

Fri. L. Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word.[933]

Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment.

Fri. L. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word;[934]
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy, 55
To comfort thee, though thou art banished.

Rom. Yet 'banished'? Hang up philosophy!
Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,
Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom,
It helps not, it prevails not: talk no more.[935] 60

Fr. L. O, then I see that madmen have no ears.[936]

Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?[937]

Fr. L. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.[938]

Rom. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel:[939]
Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,[940] 65
An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,[941]
Doting like me, and like me banished,
Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair,[942]
And fall upon the ground, as I do now,
Taking the measure of an unmade grave.[943] [Knocking within.70

Fri. L. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyself.[944]

Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heart-sick groans [945][946]
Mist-like infold me from the search of eyes.[945][947] [Knocking.

Fri. L. Hark, how they knock! Who's there? Romeo, arise;[945][948]
Thou wilt be taken.—Stay awhile!—Stand up;[949] [Knocking.75
Run to my study.—By and by! God's will,
What simpleness is this!—I come, I come![950] [Knocking.
Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will?[951]

Nurse. [Within] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand;[952]
I come from Lady Juliet.

Fri. L. Welcome, then.[953] 80

Nurse. O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar,
Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo?[954]

Fri. L. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.[955]

Nurse. O, he is even in my mistress' case,[956]
Just in her case!

Fr. L. O woeful sympathy![957] 85
Piteous predicament![957]

Nurse. Even so lies she,[958]
Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.
Stand up, stand up; stand, an you be a man:[959][960]
For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand;[959]
Why should you fall into so deep an O?[961] 90

Rom. Nurse![961]

Nurse. Ah sir! ah sir! Well, death's the end of all.[962]

Rom. Spakest thou of Juliet? how is it with her?[963]
Doth she not think me an old murderer,[964]
Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy [965] 95
With blood removed but little from her own?
Where is she? and how doth she? and what says [966]
My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love?[967]

Nurse. O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;
And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, 100
And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries,[968]
And then down falls again.

Rom. As if that name,[969]
Shot from the deadly level of a gun,[969][970]
Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand
Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me,[971] 105
In what vile part of this anatomy [972]
Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack
The hateful mansion.[973] [Drawing his sword.

Fri. L. Hold thy desperate hand:
Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote [974] 110
The unreasonable fury of a beast:
Unseemly woman in a seeming man![975]
Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both![975][976]
Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order,
I thought thy disposition better temper'd. 115
Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
And slay thy lady that in thy life lives,[977]
By doing damned hate upon thyself?[978]
Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven and earth?[978][979]
Since birth and heaven and earth, all three do meet[978][980] 120
In thee at once, which thou at once wouldst lose.[978][120][981]
Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit;[978]
Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all,[978][982]
And usest none in that true use indeed[978]
Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit:[978] 125
Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,[978]
Digressing from the valour of a man;[978][983]
Thy dear love sworn, but hollow perjury,[978]
Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish;[978]
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,[978] 130
Mis-shapen in the conduct of them both,[978]
Like powder in a skilless soldier's flask,[978][984]
Is set a-fire by thine own ignorance,[978][985]
And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.[978]
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive, 135
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there art thou happy too:[986]
The law, that threaten'd death, becomes thy friend,[987]
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:[988] 140
A pack of blessings lights upon thy back;[989]
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,[990]
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:[991]
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable. 145
Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her:
But look thou stay not till the watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
Where thou shalt live till we can find a time 150
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Beg pardon of the prince and call thee back [992]
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.
Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady, 155
And bid her hasten all the house to bed,
Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:
Romeo is coming.

Nurse. O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night [993]
To hear good counsel: O, what learning is![994] 160
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.

Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir:[995]
Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.[996] [Exit.

Rom. How well my comfort is revived by this! 165

Fri. Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state:[997][998]
Either be gone before the watch be set,[997]
Or by the break of day disguised from hence:[997][999]
Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man,
And he shall signify from time to time 170
Every good hap to you that chances here:
Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night.

Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me,
It were a grief, so brief to part with thee:
Farewell.[1000] [Exeunt. 175

Scene IV. A room in Capulet's house.[1001]

Cap. Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily
That we have had no time to move our daughter.[1003]
Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly,
And so did I. Well, we were born to die.
'Tis very late; she'll not come down to-night: 5
I promise you, but for your company,[1004]
I would have been a-bed an hour ago.[1004][1005]

Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo.[1006]
Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.

La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;[1007] 10
To-night she's mew'd up to her heaviness.[1007][1008]

Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender [1009]
Of my child's love: I think she will be ruled [1010]
In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not.[1011]
Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed; 15
Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love;[1012]
And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next—[1013][1014]
But, soft! what day is this?

Par. Monday, my lord.

Cap. Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon;[1014]
O' Thursday let it be: o' Thursday, tell her,[1015][1016] 20
She shall be married to this noble earl.[1015]
Will you be ready? do you like this haste?[1015]
We'll keep no great ado; a friend or two;[1017]
For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,
It may be thought we held him carelessly, 25
Being our kinsman, if we revel much:
Therefore we'll have some half-a-dozen friends,
And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?[1018]

Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow.[1019]

Cap. Well, get you gone: o' Thursday be it then.[1020] 30
Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed,[1021]
Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.
Farewell, my lord. Light to my chamber, ho!
Afore me, it is so very very late,[1022]
That we may call it early by and by:[1022][1023] 35
Good night.[1024] [Exeunt.

Scene V. Capulet's orchard.[1025]

Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:[1027]
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate-tree:[1028]
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. 5

Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,[1029]
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day [1030]
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops:[1031] 10
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Jul. Yond light is not day-light, I know it, I:[1032]
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,[1033]
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua: 15
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.[1034]

Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;[1035]
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.[1035]
I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,[1035][1036]
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;[1035][1037] 20
Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat[1035][1038]
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:[1035][1039]
I have more care to stay than will to go:[1035][1040]
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.
How is't, my soul? let's talk: it is not day.[1041] 25

Jul. It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division;
This doth not so, for she divideth us: 30
Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes;[1042]
O, now I would they had changed voices too![1043]
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,[1044]
Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day.[1044][1045]
O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.[1046] 35

Rom. More light and light: more dark and dark our woes![1047]

Scene IV. A room in Capulet's house.[1001]

Scene V. Capulet's orchard.[1025]