Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Scene 1, 1-69
Arden 3 | William Carroll | London: Bloomsbury, 2004 | 137-142
“Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus…”
Scene
Arden 3
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu.
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel.
Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine.
VALENTINE
And on a love-book pray for my success?
PROTEUS
Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love –
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
VALENTINE
’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots.
VALENTINE
No, I will not, for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
———————————What?
VALENTINE
To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights.
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 35
PROTEUS
So, by your circumstance, you call me fool.
VALENTINE
So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove.
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love.
VALENTINE
Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.
VALENTINE
And writers say, as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire?
Once more, adieu. My father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped.
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, no. Now let us take our leave.
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan.
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, and so farewell.
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, I after love:
He leaves his friends to dignify them more;
I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 65
Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me:
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.
[Enter Speed.]
Words and Pronunciation +
Arden 3
Words
persuade: one of several apostrophes to the Deity by Juliet. (Weis)
home-keeping: that keeps or stays at home (Carroll)
ever: always (Carroll)
homely: dull (Carroll)
affection: passion, desire [stronger than modern usage] (Carroll)
chains: …………..
tender: young (Carroll)
lines 5-8: Valentine’s speech reflects a common theme for young men in the early modern period: to form themselves by encountering the world of action, rather than becoming shapeless through idleness (which was particularly to be avoided). Petruchio tells Hortensio that he has come to Padua for similar reasons: ‘Such wind as scatters young men through the world / To seek their fortunes farther than at home, / Where small experience grows’ ( TS 1.2.49-51). Cf. Dent, N274. Similar themes are present in two of Shakespeare’s sources for TGV, Diana and Romeus. Contrast also the opening scene of LLL, where the men seek to retreat from the world into their ‘little academe’ (1.1.13). (Carroll)
abroad: away from home (Carroll)
sluggardized: made idle or lazy (Carroll)
still: constantly (Carroll)
thrive: succeed (Carroll)
therein: ……
adieu: good-bye [to God] (Leung)
haply: by chance, as you may (Carroll)
rare: ……
object: sight (Carroll)
partaker: ………..( )
hap: fortune (Carroll)
danger: ……..
environ: ‘surround with hostile intention … beset’ (OED v. 2b) (Carroll)
commend: entrust (Carroll)
grievance: distress, suffering (Carroll)
beadsman: one hired to say prayers for another, by telling the beads on a rosary; Proteus remains behind because of his love for Julia, but here wittily pretends he will lead a solitary religious life praying for Valentine’s safety. Valentine’s reference to a love-book in 19 shows his amused scepticism about Proteus’s claim to piety.(Carroll)
love-book: book dealing with matters of love, courtship manual (SW)
success: ……..
some shallow story of deep love: The deep love of Hero and Leander was one of the staples of romantic mythology, most notably treated by Marlowe in his poem Hero and Leander. Probably written in the 1580s while Marlowe was at Cambridge, the poem circulated in manuscript; it was entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1593, but not published until 1598. Leander’s attempt to swim the Hellespont to reach his beloved Hero, confined to a tower, ends tragically in his drowning. Shakespeare invokes the story in part for its melodramatic excess; see Rosalind’s mockery in AYL 4.1.95-100. Proteus and Valentine trade jokes on how deep Leander was, in love and in the Hellespont. When Valentine alludes to the legend again at 3.1.119-20, it is without condescension, as he finds himself there in bold Leander’s position, ready to ‘scale another Hero’s tower’ himself. Valentine’s reversal of position, which parallels Proteus’s changes, is one of many in the play.(Carroll)
Leander: …..
Hellespont: A.K.A the Strait of Gallipoli or the Dardanelles, between the north coast of Turkey and the peninsula of Gallipoli
over-shoes: ‘so deep as to cover the shoes – shoe-deep … e.g. in water’ (OED over-shoes phr.) (Carroll)
over-boots: completes the proverb ‘over shoes over boots’ (Dent, S379). Valentine implies that Proteus is in love even more deeply than Leander was. (Carroll)
give me not the boots: an idiomatic expression for ‘don’t mock me’ (cf. Dent, B537). The ‘boots’ was also an instrument of torture (OED sb.3 3), which crushed the bones of the foot and leg.(Carroll)
boots: profits (Carroll)
coy: not responding readily to familiar advances (Carroll)
heart-sore: paining and wasting the heart (Schmidt)
watchful: sleepless (Carroll)
haply…hapless: by chance … unfortunate (Carroll)
grievous: …..
labour: …..
however: in either case (Carroll)
but: only (Carroll)
folly: ….)
wit: intellect (Carroll)
wit: one who possesses intellect (Carroll)
circumstance: deduction, argument; the language of logic continues in Valentine’s prove in the next line. Cf. 82n. (Carroll)
circumstance: state of affairs (Carroll)
prove: turn out to be (Leung); demonstrate, establish, show to be true (Carroll)
lines 38-39: In trying to avoid ridicule, Proteus personifies Love. In characterizing Love as Proteus’s master, however, Valentine maintains the upper hand throughout in this battle of wits. Cf. 2.6.6-8n. (Carroll)
lines 40-41: Ruled by love’s folly, Proteus becomes foolish himself; there is proleptic irony in Valentine’s sceptical position. (Carroll)
yoked: yokèd; placed in a yoke or harness, like cattle or oxen (Carroll)
methinks: it seems to me (Carroll)
chronicled for: recorded as (as in a chronicle history)
lines 42-44:a literary commonplace (see Dent, C56). Cf. Son 35.4: ‘And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud’, and Son 70.7: ‘For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love.’ (Carroll)
bud
canker: canker-worm, destructive caterpillar; ‘an eating, spreading sore or ulcer; a gangrene’ (OED sb. 1); and, figuratively, ‘Anything that frets, corrodes, corrupts, or consumes slowly and secretly’ (OED sb. 6) (Carroll)
doting…all: Cf. Dent, W576: ‘The finest wits are soonest subject to love.’ (Carroll)
most forward: Cf. Dent, W576: ‘The finest wits are soonest subject to love.’ (Carroll)
canker: canker-worm, destructive caterpillar; ‘an eating, spreading sore or ulcer; a gangrene’ (OED sb. 1); and, figuratively, ‘Anything that frets, corrodes, corrupts, or consumes slowly and secretly’ (OED sb. 6) (Carroll)
ere: before (Carroll)
blow: blossom (Carroll)
blasting: withered; an unusual grammatical effect, a present participle used in the passive sense (Abbott, 372) (Carroll)
verdure: greenness (i.e. youth) (Carroll)
prime: springtime of life (OED sb. 1 8) (Carroll)
effects: fulfillment, manifestation (Carroll)
counsel: advise; for other references to counsel in the play, see 68, 1.2.2, 1.3.34, 2.4.183, 2.6.35 and 2.7.1 (Carroll)
votary: one who has sworn a (religious) oath. Valentine plays off Proteus’s beadsman (18) one last time. Cf. 3.2.58 and the frequent use in LLL: ‘Who are the votaries … ?’ (2.1.37); ‘this Berowne is one of the votaries’ (4.2.135); ‘I am a votary’ (5.2.870-1). (Carroll)
fond: foolish (Carroll)
road: roadstead, where ships ride at anchor (OED sb.1 3a); cf. 2.4.185n. (Carroll)
expects my coming: is waiting for me (Carroll)
shipped: Valentine is travelling from Verona to Milan by ship, as Proteus will in 2.2; Verona and Milan are both, however, inland. Shakespearean geography is often inaccurate. Prospero tells Miranda of their departure from Milan, ‘they hurried us aboard a bark, / Bore us some leagues to sea’ (Tem 1.2.144-5). Whether it was possible to travel from Verona to Milan by water (other than by sea) is another question. An extensive system of waterways between the cities did exist from Roman times, but the play’s references are inconsistent (cf. tide, 2.2.14, and river, 2.3.49). See pp. 76-7, and Gurr, ‘Localities’. (Carroll)
thither: ……
bring: accompany, conduct, escort (SW)
to Milan:‘write to me in Milan’ (Carroll)
success: fortune, whether good or bad (Carroll)
betideth: happens (Carroll)
mine: i.e. the news in my letters (Carroll)
bechance to: befall (Carroll)
honour…love: Cf. LLL 1.1.1-11, where Navarre assumes a similar opposition between honour and love. Navarre and his friends, like Valentine, will find love while in pursuit of honour, but, like Proteus, they will violate codes of honour (breaking their oaths) in pursuit of love. (Carroll)
friends: This term could also include relatives. (Carroll)
dignify them more: bring increased honour to them (Carroll)
friends: This term could also include relatives. (Carroll)
metamorphosed: changed, transformed (Leung)
lines 67-69: The effects of falling in love that Proteus enumerates were highly conventional. (Carroll)
lose: waste (Carroll)
good counsel: may have the force of a personification, as in moral interludes (RP); see Carroll, ‘Romeo’, 61-4, on a similar use of ‘good counsel’ in RJ. For other occurrences of counsel, see 51n. (Carroll)
world: as opposed to the flesh (Carroll)
set…naught: neglect my business (Carroll)
naught: nothing (Leung)
musing: meditating, pondering (Carroll)
Pronunciation +
sluggardized: (line 7) slugg-er-dized
environ: (line 16) en-virr-un or en-vie-run?
Leander: (line 22) lee-ann-der
Hellespont: (line 22) hell-iss-pont or hell-uh-spont
line 30: alexandrine starting with two stressed syllables. Ard1 (xiii, n. 2) lists all such extrametrical lines. Cf. 2.1.99, 2.4.60, 3.1.204 and 5.4.120. (Carroll)
vanquished: (line 35) vanquishèd (Carroll)
you: (line 36) Proteus shifts from thee to the more formal you as the argument becomes slightly more serious in tone. See 51n. on thee and Abbott, 231. (Carroll)
yoked: (line 40) yokèd (Carroll)
Milan: (lines 57, 62) Mill-en
you: See 51n. on thee. (Carroll)
Translation
No Fear Shakespeare
VALENTINE and PROTEUS enter.
VALENTINE
Stop trying to persuade me, Proteus. Young homebodies have dull minds. If you weren’t so tied to the girl you love, I’d ask you to come with me to see the distant wonders of the world rather than waste your youth living aimlessly as a sluggard at home. But, since you’re in love, love constantly and thrive in your love. I would do the same were I in love.
PROTEUS
Are you going now? Goodbye, Valentine, my dear friend! Think of me when you happen to see some rare and noteworthy object in your travels. Wish me happiness, too, when you have good fortune. And if you’re ever in danger, trust that my prayers will protect you, for I will pray for you, Valentine.
VALENTINE
And you’ll be praying for me on a book about love , I suspect?
PROTEUS
I’ll pray for you on a book I love.
VALENTINE
No doubt on some shallow story of “true” love, like the one about young Leander crossing the Hellespont .
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love—the love was so deep it covered his shoes.
VALENTINE
It’s true. And your love is so deep it covers your boots, and yet you never swam across the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
Covers my boots? Don’t make fun of me.
VALENTINE
No, I won’t, for it doesn’t profit you any.
PROTEUS
What?
VALENTINE
When you’re in love, your love-sick groans only earn her scorn, your brokenhearted sighs just get you flirtatious glances, and twenty tedious, sleepless nights spent pining for your sweetheart only yield you a brief moment of happiness. If by chance you succeed, it may turn out to be an unlucky win. And if you don’t, then you’ve only managed to waste your time. Either way, you win foolishness by being clever, or your cleverness is killed by foolishness.
Assonance
Arden 3
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu.
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel.
Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine.
VALENTINE
And on a love-book pray for my success?
PROTEUS
Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love –
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
VALENTINE
’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots.
VALENTINE
No, I will not, for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
———————————What?
VALENTINE
To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights.
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 35
PROTEUS
So, by your circumstance, you call me fool.
VALENTINE
So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove.
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love.
VALENTINE
Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.
VALENTINE
And writers say, as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire?
Once more, adieu. My father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped.
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, no. Now let us take our leave.
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan.
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, and so farewell.
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, I after love:
He leaves his friends to dignify them more;
I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 65
Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me:
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.
[Enter Speed.]
Alliteration
Arden 3
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu.
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel.
Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine.
VALENTINE
And on a love-book pray for my success?
PROTEUS
Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love –
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
VALENTINE
’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots.
VALENTINE
No, I will not, for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
———————————What?
VALENTINE
To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights.
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 35
PROTEUS
So, by your circumstance, you call me fool.
VALENTINE
So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove.
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love.
VALENTINE
Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.
VALENTINE
And writers say, as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire?
Once more, adieu. My father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped.
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, no. Now let us take our leave.
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan.
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, and so farewell.
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, I after love:
He leaves his friends to dignify them more;
I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 65
Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me:
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.
[Enter Speed.]
Consonance
Arden 3
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu.
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel.
Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine.
VALENTINE
And on a love-book pray for my success?
PROTEUS
Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love –
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
VALENTINE
’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots.
VALENTINE
No, I will not, for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
———————————What?
VALENTINE
To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights.
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 35
PROTEUS
So, by your circumstance, you call me fool.
VALENTINE
So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove.
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love.
VALENTINE
Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.
VALENTINE
And writers say, as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire?
Once more, adieu. My father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped.
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, no. Now let us take our leave.
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan.
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, and so farewell.
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, I after love:
He leaves his friends to dignify them more;
I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 65
Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me:
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.
[Enter Speed.]
Thoughts
Arden 3
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
1. Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus;
b. Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
2. Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
3. But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10
PROTEUS
1. Wilt thou be gone? 2. Sweet Valentine, adieu.
3. Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel.
4. Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; b. and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine.
VALENTINE
1. And on a love-book pray for my success?
PROTEUS
1. Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 20
VALENTINE
1. That’s on some shallow story of deep love –
b. How young Leander crossed the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
1. That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
VALENTINE
1. ’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
1. Over the boots? 2. Nay, give me not the boots.
VALENTINE
1. No, I will not, for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
——————————— 1. What?
VALENTINE
1. To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights.
2. If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
b. If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
c. However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 35
PROTEUS
1. So, by your circumstance, you call me fool.
VALENTINE
1. So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove.
PROTEUS
1. ’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love.
VALENTINE
1. Love is your master, for he masters you;
b. And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.
PROTEUS
1. Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.
VALENTINE
1. And writers say, as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 50
2. But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire?
3. Once more, adieu. 4. My father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped.
PROTEUS
1. And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 55
VALENTINE
1. Sweet Proteus, no. 2. Now let us take our leave.
3. To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
b. And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 60
PROTEUS
1. All happiness bechance to thee in Milan.
VALENTINE
1. As much to you at home, and so farewell.
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
1. He after honour hunts, I after love:
b. He leaves his friends to dignify them more;
c. I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 65
2. Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me:
b. Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
c. Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.
[Enter Speed.]
VALENTINE
Long: 2
Medium: 9
Short: 8
Complex: 5 | 2, 2, 2, 2, 3
End stopped: 16
Midline: 3
Period: 17
Exclamation: 0
Question: 2
Dash: 0 (or 1, depending)
Total: 19
PROTEUS
Long: 1
Medium: 5
Short: 10
Complex: 3 | 2, 3, 3
End stopped: 14
Midline: 2
Period: 13
Exclamation: 0
Question: 3
Dash: 0
Total: 16
Rhythm
Arden 3
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus; 10
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits. 10
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days 10R
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love, 10
I rather would entreat thy company 10R 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad 10R
Than, living dully sluggardized at home, 10R
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness. 10R
But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein, 10R
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10R | 11ec 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu. 10|10R
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest 10
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel. 11W
Wish me partaker in thy happiness 10|10R
When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger 11W 15
If ever danger do environ thee, 10R
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers, 10R|11W
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine. 10R
VALENTINE
And on a love-book pray for my success? 10R
PROTEUS
Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 10R 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love – 10
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont. 10R
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love, 10
For he was more than over-shoes in love. 10R
VALENTINE
’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 10R 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont. 10R
PROTEUS
Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots. 10
VALENTINE
No, I will not, for it boots thee not. 9
PROTEUS
———————————What? 1R
VALENTINE
To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans, 10R
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 12 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights. 10R|11
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain; 10R
If lost, why then a grievous labour won; 10R
However, but a folly bought with wit, 10R
Or else a wit by folly vanquishèd. 10R 35
PROTEUS
So, by your circumstance, you call me fool. 10|10R
VALENTINE
So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove. 10|10R
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love. 10|10R
VALENTINE
Love is your master, for he masters you; 10
And he that is so yokèd by a fool 10R 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise. 10R
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud 10R
The eating canker dwells, so doting love 10R
Inhabits in the finest wits of all. 10R
VALENTINE
And writers say, as the most forward bud 10|10R 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, 10R
Even so by love the young and tender wit 10R|11
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud, 10R
Losing his verdure, even in the prime, 10R
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 10R 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee 10R
That art a votary to fond desire? 10R
Once more, adieu. My father at the road 10R
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped. 10R
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 10R 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, no. Now let us take our leave. 10
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters 11W
Of thy success in love, and what news else 10R
Betideth here in absence of thy friend; 10R
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 10R 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan. 11W
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, and so farewell. 10R
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, I after love: 10|10R
He leaves his friends to dignify them more; 10R
I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 10|10R 65
Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me: 10|10R
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time, 10|10R
War with good counsel, set the world at naught; 10
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought. 10R
[Enter Speed.]
Pacing
Arden 3 | 2012
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, <c> my loving Proteus; pause?
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits. PAUSE?
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, <c> living dully <c> sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth <c> with shapeless idleness. PAUSE?
But since thou lov’st, <c> love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would <Ec> when I to love begin. PAUSE? 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? <c> Sweet Valentine, adieu. PAUSE?
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare <c> noteworthy object in thy travel. PAUSE?
Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; <c> and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman, <c> Valentine. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
And on a love-book <c> pray for my success? PAUSE?
PROTEUS
Upon <c> some book I love I’ll pray for thee. PAUSE? 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love – pause?
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont. PAUSE?
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
’Tis true; <c> for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont. PAUSE?
PROTEUS
Over the boots? <c> Nay, give me not the boots. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
No, <c> I will not, <c> for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
———————————What? PAUSE?
VALENTINE
To be in love, <c> where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, <c> one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, <c> weary, <c> tedious nights. PAUSE?
If haply won, <c> perhaps a hapless gain; pause?
If lost, <c> why then a grievous labour won; pause?
However, <c> but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. PAUSE? 35
PROTEUS
So, <c> by your circumstance, <c> you call me fool. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
So, <c> by your circumstance, <c> I fear you’ll prove. PAUSE?
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. <c> I am not Love. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
Love is your master, <c> for he masters you; pause?
And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise. PAUSE?
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, <c> as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
And writers say, <c> as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, <c> blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, <c> even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. PAUSE? 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire? PAUSE?
Once more, <c> adieu. <c> My father at the road
Expects my coming, <c> there to see me shipped. PAUSE?
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, <c> Valentine. PAUSE? 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, <c> no. <c> Now let us take our leave. PAUSE?
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, <c> and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend; pause?
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. PAUSE? 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan. PAUSE?
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, <c> and so farewell. PAUSE?
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, <c> I after love: pause?
He leaves his friends to dignify them more; pause?
I leave myself, <c> my friends and all, <c> for love. PAUSE? 65
Thou, <c> Julia, <c> thou hast metamorphosed me: pause?
Made me neglect my studies, <c> lose my time,
War with good counsel, <c> set the world at naught; pause?
Made wit with musing weak, <c> heart sick with thought. PAUSE?
[Enter Speed.]
Beats
Arden 3 | 2012
[Enter] Valentine [and] Proteus.
VALENTINE
Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honoured love,
I rather would entreat thy company 5
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
But since thou lov’st, love still, and thrive therein,
Even as I would when I to love begin. 10
PROTEUS
Wilt thou be gone? Sweet Valentine, adieu.
Think on thy Proteus when thou haply seest
Some rare noteworthy object in thy travel.
Wish me partaker in thy happiness
When thou dost meet good hap; and in thy danger 15
If ever danger do environ thee,
Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers,
For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine.
VALENTINE
And on a love-book pray for my success?
PROTEUS
Upon some book I love I’ll pray for thee. 20
VALENTINE
That’s on some shallow story of deep love –
How young Leander crossed the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
That’s a deep story of a deeper love,
For he was more than over-shoes in love.
VALENTINE
’Tis true; for you are over-boots in love 25
And yet you never swam the Hellespont.
PROTEUS
Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots.
VALENTINE
No, I will not, for it boots thee not.
PROTEUS
———————————What?
VALENTINE
To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans,
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment’s mirth 30
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights.
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished. 35
PROTEUS
So, by your circumstance, you call me fool.
VALENTINE
So, by your circumstance, I fear you’ll prove.
PROTEUS
’Tis Love you cavil at. I am not Love.
VALENTINE
Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool 40
Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.
PROTEUS
Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud
The eating canker dwells, so doting love
Inhabits in the finest wits of all.
VALENTINE
And writers say, as the most forward bud 45
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow,
Even so by love the young and tender wit
Is turned to folly, blasting in the bud,
Losing his verdure, even in the prime,
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 50
But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee
That art a votary to fond desire?
Once more, adieu. My father at the road
Expects my coming, there to see me shipped.
PROTEUS
And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. 55
VALENTINE
Sweet Proteus, no. Now let us take our leave.
To Milan let me hear from thee by letters
Of thy success in love, and what news else
Betideth here in absence of thy friend;
And I likewise will visit thee with mine. 60
PROTEUS
All happiness bechance to thee in Milan.
VALENTINE
As much to you at home, and so farewell.
(Exit.)
PROTEUS
He after honour hunts, I after love:
He leaves his friends to dignify them more;
I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. 65
Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me:
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with thought.
[Enter Speed.]
Pronunciation +
shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)
Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo
you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)
marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)
trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)
hie: (line 68) hah-ee
wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in