Is this the Prince, Is this the Prince's brother?

Is this face Hero's? Are our eyes our own?
Leon. All this is so; but what of this, my lord?

Claud. Let me but move one question to your daughter,
And by that fatherly and kindly power

That you have in her, bid her answer truly.
Leon. I charge thee do so, as thou art my child.

Hero. O, God defend me! How am I beset!
What kind of catechising call you this?

Claud. To make you answer truly to your name.
Hero. Is it not Hero? Who can blot that name

With any just reproach?
Claud. Marry, that can Hero!

Hero itself can blot out Hero's virtue.
What man was he talk'd with you yesternight,

Out at your window betwixt twelve and one?
Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.

Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord.
Pedro. Why, then are you no maiden. Leonato,

I am sorry you must hear. Upon my honour,
Myself, my brother, and this grieved Count

Did see her, hear her, at that hour last night
Talk with a ruffian at her chamber window,

Who hath indeed, most like a liberal villain,
Confess'd the vile encounters they have had

A thousand times in secret.
John. Fie, fie! they are not to be nam'd, my lord--

Not to be spoke of;
There is not chastity, enough in language

Without offence to utter them. Thus, pretty lady,
I am sorry for thy much misgovernment.

Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadst thou been
If half thy outward graces had been plac'd

About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart!
But fare thee well, most foul, most fair! Farewell,

Thou pure impiety and impious purity!
For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love,

And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang,
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm,

And never shall it more be gracious.
Leon. Hath no man's dagger here a point for me?

[Hero swoons.]
Beat. Why, how now, cousin? Wherefore sink you down?

John. Come let us go. These things, come thus to light,
Smother her spirits up.

[Exeunt Don Pedro, Don Juan, and Claudio.]
Bene. How doth the lady?

Beat. Dead, I think. Help, uncle!
Hero! why, Hero! Uncle! Signior Benedick! Friar!

Leon. O Fate, take not away thy heavy hand!
Death is the fairest cover for her shame

That may be wish'd for.
Beat. How now, cousin Hero?

Friar. Have comfort, lady.
Leon. Dost thou look up?

Friar. Yea, wherefore should she not?
Leon. Wherefore? Why, doth not every earthly thing

Cry shame upon her? Could she here deny
The story that is printed in her blood?

Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes;
For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die,

Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames,
Myself would on the rearward of reproaches

Strike at thy life. Griev'd I, I had but one?
Child I for that at frugal nature's frame?

O, one too much by thee! Why had I one?
Why ever wast thou lovely in my eyes?

Why had I not with charitable hand
Took up a beggar's issue at my gates,

Who smirched thus and mir'd with infamy,
I might have said, 'No part of it is mine;

This shame derives itself from unknown loins'?
But mine, and mine I lov'd, and mine I prais'd,

And mine that I was proud on--mine so much
That I myself was to myself not mine,

Valuing of her--why, she, O, she is fall'n
Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea

Hath drops too few to wash her clean again,
And salt too little which may season give

To her foul tainted flesh!
Bene. Sir, sir, be patient.

For my part, I am so attir'd in wonder,
I know not what to say.

Beat. O, on my soul, my cousin is belied!
Bene. Lady, were you her bedfellow last night?

Beat. No, truly, not; although, until last night,
I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow

Leon. Confirm'd, confirm'd! O, that is stronger made
Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron!

Would the two princes lie? and Claudio lie,
Who lov'd her so that, speaking of her foulness,

Wash'd it with tears? Hence from her! let her die.
Friar. Hear me a little;

For I have only been silent so long,
And given way unto this course of fortune,

By noting of the lady. I have mark'd
A thousand blushing apparitions

To start into her face, a thousand innocent shames
In angel whiteness beat away those blushes,

And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire
To burn the errors that these princes hold

Against her maiden truth. Call me a fool;
Trust not my reading nor my observation,

Which with experimental seal doth warrant
The tenure of my book; trust not my age,

My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here

Under some biting error.
Leon. Friar, it cannot be.

Thou seest that all the grace that she hath left
Is that she will not add to her damnation

A sin of perjury: she not denies it.
Why seek'st thou then to cover with excuse

That which appears in proper nakedness?
Friar. Lady, what man is he you are accus'd of?

Hero. They know that do accuse me; I know none.
If I know more of any man alive

Than that which maidenmodesty doth warrant,
Let all my sins lack mercy! O my father,

Prove you that any man with me convers'd
At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight

Maintain'd the change of words with any creature,
Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death!

Friar. There is some strange misprision in the princes.
Bene. Two of them have the very bent of honour;

And if their wisdoms be misled in this,
The practice of it lives in John the bastard,

Whose spirits toil in frame of villanies.
Leon. I know not. If they speak but truth of her,

These hands shall tear her. If they wrong her honour,
The proudest of them shall well hear of it.

Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine,
Nor age so eat up my invention,

Nor fortune made such havoc of my means,
Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends,

But they shall find awak'd in such a kind
Both strength of limb and policy of mind,

Ability in means, and choice of friends,
To quit me of them throughly.

Friar. Pause awhile
And let my counsel sway you in this case.

Your daughter here the princes left for dead,
Let her awhile be secretly kept in,

And publish it that she is dead indeed;
Maintain a mourning ostentation,

And on your family's old monument
Hang mournful epitaphs, and do all rites

That appertain unto a burial.
Leon. What shall become of this? What will this do?

Friar. Marry, this well carried shall on her behalf
Change slander to remorse. That is some good.

But not for that dream I on this strange course,
But on this travail look for greater birth.

She dying, as it must be so maintain'd,
Upon the instant that she was accus'd,

Shall be lamented, pitied, and excus'd
Of every hearer; for it so falls out

That what we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost,

Why, then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us

Whiles it was ours. So will it fare with Claudio.
When he shall hear she died upon his words,

Th' idea of her life shall sweetly creep
Into his study of imagination,

And every lovely organ of her life
Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit,

More moving, delicate, and full of life,
Into the eye and prospect of his soul

Than when she liv'd indeed. Then shall he mourn
(If ever love had interest in his liver)

And wish he had not so accused her--
No, though be thought his accusation true.

Let this be so, and doubt not but success
Will fashion the event in better shape

Than I can lay it down in likelihood.
But if all aim but this be levell'd false,

The supposition of the lady's death
Will quench the wonder of her infamy.

And if it sort not well, you may conceal her,
As best befits her wounded reputation,

In some reclusive and religious life,
Out of all eyes, tongues, minds, and injuries.

Bene. Signior Leonato, let the friar advise you;
And though you know my inwardness and love

Is very much unto the Prince and Claudio,
Yet, by mine honour, I will deal in this

As secretly and justly as your soul
Should with your body.

Leon. Being that I flow in grief,
The smallest twine may lead me.

Friar. 'Tis well consented. Presently away;
For to strange sores strangely they strain the cure.

Come, lady, die to live. This wedding day
Perhaps is but prolong'd. Have patience and endure.

Exeunt [all but Benedick and Beatrice].
Bene. Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while?

Beat. Yea, and I will weep a while longer.
Bene. I will not desire that.

Beat. You have no reason. I do it freely.
Bene. Surely I do believe your fair cousin is wronged.

• prince [´prins] n.王子；亲王；君主 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
• liberal [´libərəl] a.大方的 n.开明的人 (初中英语单词)
• innocent [´inəsənt] a.无罪的；单纯的 (初中英语单词)
• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
• accuse [ə´kju:z] vt.谴责；控告，告发 (初中英语单词)
• torture [´tɔ:tʃə] n.&vt.折磨；痛苦；拷问 (初中英语单词)
• counsel [´kaunsəl] n.商议；劝告；律师 (初中英语单词)
• awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
• mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
• instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
• virtue [´və:tʃu:] n.美德；贞操；长处 (初中英语单词)
• delicate [´delikət] a.精美的；微妙的 (初中英语单词)
• prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] n.景色；境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
• conceal [kən´si:l] vt.藏；隐瞒 (初中英语单词)
• advise [əd´vaiz] vt.忠告；建议；通知 (初中英语单词)
• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• strangely [´streindʒli] ad.奇怪地；陌生地 (初中英语单词)
• wedding [´wediŋ] n.婚礼，结婚 (初中英语单词)
• patience [´peiʃəns] n.忍耐(力)；耐心；坚韧 (初中英语单词)
• chamber [´tʃeimbə] n.房间；议院；会议室 (高中英语单词)
• outward [´autwəd] a.外面的 ad.向外 (高中英语单词)
• earthly [´ə:θli] a.地球的；世俗的 (高中英语单词)
• reverence [´revərəns] n.尊敬；敬畏；尊严 (高中英语单词)
• secretly [´si:kritli] ad.秘密地；隐蔽地 (高中英语单词)
• sweetly [´swi:tli] ad.甜蜜地；美妙地 (高中英语单词)
• quench [kwentʃ] v.熄灭；平息；压制 (高中英语单词)
• strain [strein] vt.拉紧 vi.拖 n.张力 (高中英语单词)
• conjecture [kən´dʒektʃə] n.&v.猜测(想)；设想 (英语四级单词)
• dagger [´dægə] n.短剑，匕首 (英语四级单词)
• wherefore [´weəfɔ:] ad.为什么；因此 (英语四级单词)
• charitable [´tʃæritəbəl] a.仁爱的；慈善的 (英语四级单词)
• experimental [ik,speri´mentl] a.实验的 (英语四级单词)
• modesty [´mɔdisti] n.谨慎；端庄；羞怯 (英语四级单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• mournful [´mɔ:nful] a.令人沮丧的 (英语四级单词)
• slander [´slɑ:ndə] vt.&n.诽谤(罪) (英语四级单词)
• remorse [ri´mɔ:s] n.懊悔；自责；同情 (英语四级单词)
• accusation [ækju:´zeiʃən] n.谴责；告发 (英语四级单词)
• justly [´dʒʌstli] ad.公正地，正当地 (英语四级单词)
• ruffian [´rʌfiən] n.流氓 a.残暴的 (英语六级单词)
• impious [´impiəs] a.不敬的；不孝的 (英语六级单词)
• frugal [´fru:gəl] a.节俭的，俭朴的 (英语六级单词)
• speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
• guiltless [´giltlis] a.无罪的；不熟悉...的 (英语六级单词)
• biting [´baitiŋ] a.刺痛的；尖利的 (英语六级单词)
• hearer [´hiərə] n.听者 (英语六级单词)