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hate which was the primal cause of all the tragic consequences.

This is no less distinctly expressed in the last speeches of the play. After hearing the Friar's story, the Prince says:—

"Where be these enemies?—Capulet!—Montague!
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen; all are punish'd.
Capulet. O brother Montague, give me thy hand;
This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
Can I demand.
Montague. But I can give thee more;
For I will raise her statue in pure gold,
That while Verona by that name is known
There shall no figure at such rate be set
As that of true and faithful Juliet.
Capulet. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie;
Poor sacrifices of our enmity!"

It is the parents who are punished. The scourge is laid upon their hate, and it was the love of their children by which Heaven found the means to wield that scourge. The Prince himself has a share in the penalty for tolerating the discords of the families. "We all," he says, "all are punished." But the good Friar's hope, expressed when he consented to perform the marriage,—

"For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households' rancour to pure love,"—

is now fulfilled. Both Capulet and Montague, as they join hands in amity over the dead bodies of their children, acknowledge the debt they owe to the "star-cross'd" love of those "poor sacrifices of their enmity." They vie with each other in doing honour to the guiltless victims of their "pernicious rage." Montague will raise the golden statue to Juliet, and Capulet promises as rich a monument to Romeo.

Da Porto and Paynter and Brooke, in like manner, refer to the reconciliation of the rival families as the fortunate result of the tragic history. Da Porto says: "Their fathers, weeping over the bodies of their children and overcome by mutual pity, embraced each other; so that the long enmity between them and their houses, which neither the prayers of their friends, nor the menaces of the Prince, nor even time itself had been able to extinguish, was ended by the piteous death of the two lovers." As Paynter puts it, "The Montesches and Capellets poured forth such abundance of tears, as with the same they did evacuate their ancient grudge and choler, whereby they were then reconciled: and they which could not be brought to atonement[3] by any wisdom or human counsel were in the end vanquished and made friends by pity." So Brooke, in his lumbering verse:—

"The straungenes of the chaunce, when tryed was the truth,
The Montagewes and Capelets hath moved so to ruth,
That with their emptyed teares, theyr choler and theyr rage
Was emptied quite; and they whose wrath no wisdom could asswage,
Nor threatning of the prince, ne mynd of murthers donne
At length (so mighty Jove it would) by pitye they are wonne."

And then the poem, like the play, ends with a reference to the monumental honour done to the lovers:

"And lest that length of time might from our myndes remove
The memory of so perfect, sound, and so approved love,
The bodies dead, removed from vaulte where they did dye,
In stately tombe, on pillers great of marble, rayse they hye.
On every syde above were set, and eke beneath,
Great store of cunning Epitaphes, in honor of theyr death.
And even at this day the tombe is to be seene;
So that among the monumentes that in Verona been,
There is no monument more worthy of the sight,
Then is the tombe of Juliet and Romeus her knight."

ROMEO AND JULIET

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Escalus, prince of Verona.
Paris, a young nobleman, kinsman to the prince.
Montague, }
Capulet,     } heads of two houses at variance with each other.
An old man of the Capulet family.
Romeo, son to Montague.
Mercutio, kinsman to the prince, and friend to Romeo.
Benvolio, nephew to Montague, and friend to Romeo.
Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet.
Friar Laurence, }
Friar John,          } Franciscans.
Balthasar, servant to Romeo.
Sampson, }
Gregory, } servants to Capulet.
Peter, servant to Juliet's nurse.
Abram, servant to Montague.
An Apothecary.
Three Musicians.
Page to Paris; another Page; an Officer.

Lady Montague, wife to Montague.
Lady Capulet, wife to Capulet.
Juliet, daughter to Capulet.
Nurse to Juliet.

Citizens of Verona; Kinsfolk of both houses; Maskers, Guards, Watchmen, and Attendants.

Chorus.

Scene: Verona; Mantua.

The "Measure"

PROLOGUE
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life,
Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage,
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. ACT I Scene I.

Verona. A Public Place.

Enter Sampson and Gregory, of the house of Capulet,
with swords and bucklers

Sampson. Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals.

Gregory. No, for then we should be colliers.

Sampson. I mean, an we be in choler we'll draw.

Gregory. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out
o' the collar.

Sampson. I strike quickly, being moved.

Gregory. But thou art not quickly moved to strike.

Sampson. A dog of the house of Montague moves
me. 10

Gregory. To move is to stir, and to be valiant is
to stand; therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st
away.

Sampson. A dog of that house shall move me to
stand; I will take the wall of any man or maid of
Montague's.

Gregory. That shows thee a weak slave; for the
weakest goes to the wall.

Sampson. True; and therefore women, being the
weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore 20
I will push Montague's men from the wall, and
thrust his maids to the wall.

Gregory. The quarrel is between our masters and
us their men.

Sampson. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant;
when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel
with the maids and cut off their heads.

Gregory. Draw thy tool; here comes two of the
house of the Montagues.

Sampson. My naked weapon is out; quarrel, I 30
will back thee.

Gregory. How? turn thy back and run?

Sampson. Fear me not.

Gregory. No, marry; I fear thee!

Sampson. Let us take the law of our sides; let
them begin.

Gregory. I will frown as I pass by, and let them
take it as they list.

Sampson. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb
at them, which is a disgrace to them if they bear it. 40

Enter Abram and Balthasar

Abram. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Sampson. I do bite my thumb, sir.

Abram. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Sampson. [Aside to Gregory] Is the law of our
side, if I say ay?

Gregory. No.

Sampson. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you,
sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

Gregory. Do you quarrel, sir?

Abram. Quarrel, sir! no, sir. 50

Sampson. If you do, sir, I am for you; I serve as
good a man as you.

Abram. No better.

Sampson. Well, sir.

Gregory. [Aside to Sampson] Say 'better'; here
comes one of my master's kinsmen.

Sampson. Yes, better, sir.

Abram. You lie.

Sampson. Draw, if you be men.—Gregory, remember
thy swashing blow. [They fight. 60

Enter Benvolio
Benvolio. Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do. [Beats down their swords.
Enter Tybalt
Tybalt. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
Benvolio. I do but keep the peace; put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.
Tybalt. What, drawn and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee;
Have at thee, coward! [They fight.
Enter several of both houses who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with clubs
70
First Citizen. Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues!
Enter Capulet in his gown, and Lady Capulet
Capulet. What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
Lady Capulet. A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?
Capulet. My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me.
Enter Montague and Lady Montague
Montague. Thou villain Capulet!—Hold me not, let me go.
Lady Montague. Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe.
Enter Prince, with his train
Prince. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,— 80
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.—
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens 90
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate.
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.—
For this time, all the rest depart away.—
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;—
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Freetown, our common judgment-place.— 100
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
[Exeunt all but Montague, Lady Montague, and Benvolio.
Montague. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
Benvolio. Here were the servants of your adversary
And yours close fighting ere I did approach.
I drew to part them; in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt with his sword prepar'd,
Which, as he breath'd defiance
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