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SCENE
I. Padua. A public
place.
Enter LUCENTIO and his
man TRANIO
LUCENTIO
Tranio, since for the great
desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;
And by my father's love and leave am arm'd
With his good will and thy good company,
My trusty servant, well approved in all,
Here let us breathe and haply institute
A course of learning and ingenious studies.
Pisa renown'd for grave citizens
Gave me my being and my father first,
A merchant of great traffic through the world,
Vincetino come of Bentivolii.
Vincetino's son brought up in Florence
It shall become to serve all hopes conceived,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,
Virtue and that part of philosophy
Will I apply that treats of happiness
By virtue specially to be achieved.
Tell me thy mind; for I have Pisa left
And am to Padua come, as he that leaves
A shallow plash to plunge him in the deep
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.
TRANIO
Mi perdonato, gentle master
mine,
I am in all affected as yourself;
Glad that you thus continue your resolve
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's cheques
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured:
Balk logic with acquaintance that you have
And practise rhetoric in your common talk;
Music and poesy use to quicken you;
The mathematics and the metaphysics,
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you;
No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en:
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.
LUCENTIO
Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise.
If Biondello now were come ashore,
We could at once put us in readiness,
And take a lodging fit to entertain
Such friends as time in Padua shall beget. |
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SCENE
II. Padua. Before HORTENSIO'S house.
Enter PETRUCHIO and his
man GRUMIO
PETRUCHIO
Verona, for a while I take
my leave,
To see my friends in Padua, but of all
My best beloved and approved friend,
Hortensio; and I trow this is his house.
Here, sirrah Grumio; knock, I say.
GRUMIO
Knock, sir! whom should I knock? is there man has
rebused your worship?
PETRUCHIO
Villain, I say,
knock me here soundly.
GRUMIO
Knock you here, sir! why, sir, what am I, sir,
that
I should knock you here, sir?
PETRUCHIO
Villain, I say,
knock me at this gate
And rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate.
GRUMIO
My master is
grown quarrelsome. I should knock
you first,
And then I know after who comes by the worst.
PETRUCHIO
Will it not be?
Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I'll ring it;
I'll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it.
He wrings him by the ears
GRUMIO
Help, masters,
help! my master is mad.
PETRUCHIO
Now, knock when
I bid you, sirrah villain!
Enter HORTENSIO
HORTENSIO
How now! what's
the matter? My old friend Grumio!
and my good friend Petruchio! How do you all at Verona?
PETRUCHIO
Signior
Hortensio, come you to part the fray?
'Con tutto il cuore, bentrovato,' may I say.
HORTENSIO
'Alla nostra
casa benvenuto,
molto honorato signor
mio Petruchio.'
Rise, Grumio, rise: we will
compound this quarrel.
GRUMIO
Nay, 'tis no matter, sir, what he 'leges in
Latin.
if this be not a lawful case for me to leave his
service, look you, sir, he bid me knock him and rap
him soundly, sir: well, was it fit for a servant to
use his master so, being perhaps, for aught I see,
two and thirty, a pip out? Whom would to God I had
well knock'd at first, Then had not Grumio come by the worst.
PETRUCHIO
A senseless
villain! Good Hortensio,
I bade the rascal knock upon your gate
And could not get him for my heart to do it.
GRUMIO
Knock at the gate! O heavens! Spake you not these
words plain, 'Sirrah, knock me here, rap me here,
knock me well, and knock me soundly'? And come you
now with, 'knocking at the gate'?
PETRUCHIO
Sirrah, be
gone, or talk not, I advise you.
HORTENSIO
Petruchio,
patience; I am Grumio's pledge:
Why, this's a heavy chance 'twixt him and you,
Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant Grumio.
And tell me now, sweet friend, what happy gale
Blows you to Padua here from old Verona?
PETRUCHIO
Such wind as
scatters young men through the world,
To seek their fortunes farther than at home
Where small experience grows. But in a few,
Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me:
Antonio, my father, is deceased;
And I have thrust myself into this maze,
Haply to wive and thrive as best I may:
Crowns in my purse I have and goods at home,
And so am come abroad to see the world. |