And therefore homeward did they bend their course.- Duke. And, for the fakes of them thou forrow'ft for, Do me the favour to dilate at full What hath befall'n of them, and thee, 'till now. After his brother; and importun'd me, Duke. Haplefs Egeon, whom the fates have markt To bear th' extremity of dire mifhap; Now, trust me, were it not against our laws, the fum, And And live; if not, then thou art doom'd to die: Fail. I will, my Lord. [Exeunt Duke, and Train. Egeon. Hopeless and helpless doth Ægeon wend, But to procraftinate his liveless end. [Exeunt Ægeon, and Jailor. SCENE II. Changes to the Street. Enter Antipholis of Syracufe, a Merchant, and Dromio. Mer. Trefetha & your goods too foon be confifcate. Τ Herefore give out, you are of Epidamnum, This very day, a Syracufan merchant Is apprehended for arrival here; And, not being able to buy out his life, Ant. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we hoft, Dro. Many a man would take you at your word, And go indeed, having fo good a means. [Exit Dromio. Ant. A trufty villain, Sir, that very oft, When I am dull with care and melancholy, Lightens my humour with his merry jefts. What, will you walk with me about the town, And And then go to the inn and dine with me? Ant. Farewel 'till then; I will go lofe myself, And wander up and down to view the city. Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit Merchant. Ant. He that commends me to my own content, Commends me to the thing I cannot get. I to the world am like a drop of water, That in the ocean feeks another drop, Who falling there to find his fellow forth, Unfeen, inquifitive, confounds himself: So I, to find a mother and a brother, In queft of them, unhappy, lofe myself. Enter Dromio of Ephefus. Here comes the almanack of my true date. late: The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit." Ant. 1 Ant. Stop in your wind, Sir; tell me this, I pray, Ant. I am not in a fportive humour now; E. Dro. I pray you, jest, Sir, as you fit at dinner : For fhe will score your fault upon my pate: Ant. Corne, Dromio, come, these jests are out of Referve them 'till a merrier hour than this: E. Dro. To me, Sir? why, you gave no gold to me. And tell me, how thou haft difpos'd thy charge? mart Home to your house, the Phanix, Sir, to dinner; Ant. Now, as I am a chriftian, answer me, Ant. Ant. Thy mistress' marks? what mistress, flave, haft thou? E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the She, that doth faft, 'till you come home to dinner; E. Dro. What mean you, Sir? for God's fake, hold * Nay, an you will not, Sir, I'll take my heels. 2 * That is, over-reached. They fay, this town is full of couzenage;] This was the character the ancients give of it. Hence Epica äripapaxa was proverbial amongst them. Thus Menander ufes it, & 'Epa papuara, in the fame fenfe. WARBURTON. 3 As, nimble Jugglers, that deceive the Eye; Dark-working Sorcerers, that change the Mind: Soul-killing Witches, that deform the Body;] Thofe, who attentively confider thefe three Lines, must confefs, that the Poet intended, the Epithet given to each of these Mifcreants, fhould declare the Power by which they perform their Feats, and which would therefore be a juft Characteristick of each of them. 2 Disguised Thus, by nimble Jugglers, we are taught that they perform their Tricks by Slight of Hand: and by Soul-killing Witches, we are informed, the Mifchief they do is by the Affiftance of the Devil, to whom they have given their Souls: But then, by dark working Sorcerers, we are not inftructed in the Means by which they perform their Ends. Befides, this Epithet agrees as well to Witches, as to them; and therefore, certainly, our Author could not defign This in their Characterick. We should read; Drug-working Sorcerers, that change the Mind; And we know by the Hiftory of ancient and modern Superftition, that thefe kind of Jugglers always pretended to work 4 |