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Act 5, Scene 1

Mantua. A Street.

  1. [Enter Romeo.]
  2. Romeo
  3. 2621 If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep,
  4. 2622 My dreams presage some joyful news at hand;
  5. 2623 My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;
  6. 2624 And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit
  7. 2625 Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
  8. 2626 I dreamt my lady came and found me dead,—
  9. 2627 Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think!—
  10. 2628 And breath'd such life with kisses in my lips,
  11. 2629 That I reviv'd, and was an emperor.
  12. 2630 Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd,
  13. 2631 When but love's shadows are so rich in joy!
  14. [Enter Balthasar.]
  15. Romeo
  16. 2632 News from Verona!—How now, Balthasar?
  17. 2633 Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?
  18. 2634 How doth my lady? Is my father well?
  19. 2635 How fares my Juliet? that I ask again;
  20. 2636 For nothing can be ill if she be well.
  21. Balthasar
  22. 2637 Then she is well, and nothing can be ill:
  23. 2638 Her body sleeps in Capel's monument,
  24. 2639 And her immortal part with angels lives.
  25. 2640 I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault,
  26. 2641 And presently took post to tell it you:
  27. 2642 O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
  28. 2643 Since you did leave it for my office, sir.
  29. Romeo
  30. 2644 Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!—
  31. 2645 Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and paper,
  32. 2646 And hire post-horses. I will hence to-night.
  33. Balthasar
  34. 2647 I do beseech you, sir, have patience:
  35. 2648 Your looks are pale and wild, and do import
  36. 2649 Some misadventure.
  37. Romeo
  38. 2650 Tush, thou art deceiv'd:
  39. 2651 Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do.
  40. 2652 Hast thou no letters to me from the friar?
  41. Balthasar
  42. 2653 No, my good lord.
  43. Romeo
  44. 2654 No matter: get thee gone,
  45. 2655 And hire those horses; I'll be with thee straight.
  46. [Exit Balthasar.]
  47. Romeo
  48. 2656 Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.
  49. 2657 Let's see for means;—O mischief, thou art swift
  50. 2658 To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!
  51. 2659 I do remember an apothecary,—
  52. 2660 And hereabouts he dwells,—which late I noted
  53. 2661 In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
  54. 2662 Culling of simples; meagre were his looks,
  55. 2663 Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
  56. 2664 And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
  57. 2665 An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
  58. 2666 Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
  59. 2667 A beggarly account of empty boxes,
  60. 2668 Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
  61. 2669 Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses,
  62. 2670 Were thinly scatter'd, to make up a show.
  63. 2671 Noting this penury, to myself I said,
  64. 2672 An if a man did need a poison now,
  65. 2673 Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
  66. 2674 Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.
  67. 2675 O, this same thought did but forerun my need;
  68. 2676 And this same needy man must sell it me.
  69. 2677 As I remember, this should be the house:
  70. 2678 Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut.—
  71. 2679 What, ho! apothecary!
  72. [Enter Apothecary.]
  73. Apothecary
  74. 2680 Who calls so loud?
  75. Romeo
  76. 2681 Come hither, man.—I see that thou art poor;
  77. 2682 Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have
  78. 2683 A dram of poison; such soon-speeding gear
  79. 2684 As will disperse itself through all the veins
  80. 2685 That the life-weary taker mall fall dead;
  81. 2686 And that the trunk may be discharg'd of breath
  82. 2687 As violently as hasty powder fir'd
  83. 2688 Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.
  84. Apothecary
  85. 2689 Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
  86. 2690 Is death to any he that utters them.
  87. Romeo
  88. 2691 Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness
  89. 2692 And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks,
  90. 2693 Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
  91. 2694 Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back,
  92. 2695 The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law:
  93. 2696 The world affords no law to make thee rich;
  94. 2697 Then be not poor, but break it and take this.
  95. Apothecary
  96. 2698 My poverty, but not my will consents.
  97. Romeo
  98. 2699 I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
  99. Apothecary
  100. 2700 Put this in any liquid thing you will,
  101. 2701 And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
  102. 2702 Of twenty men, it would despatch you straight.
  103. Romeo
  104. 2703 There is thy gold; worse poison to men's souls,
  105. 2704 Doing more murders in this loathsome world
  106. 2705 Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell:
  107. 2706 I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.
  108. 2707 Farewell: buy food and get thyself in flesh.—
  109. 2708 Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
  110. 2709 To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee.
  111. [Exeunt.]