Act 1, Scene 3

The same. A room in ANTONIO'S house.

[Enter ANTONIO and PANTHINO.]
Antonio
293 Tell me, Panthino, what sad talk was that
294 Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister?
Panthino
295 'Twas of his nephew Proteus, your son.
Antonio
296 Why, what of him?
Panthino
297 He wonder'd that your lordship
298 Would suffer him to spend his youth at home,
299 While other men, of slender reputation,
300 Put forth their sons to seek preferment out:
301 Some to the wars, to try their fortune there;
302 Some to discover islands far away;
303 Some to the studious universities.
304 For any, or for all these exercises,
305 He said that Proteus, your son, was meet;
306 And did request me to importune you
307 To let him spend his time no more at home,
308 Which would be great impeachment to his age,
309 In having known no travel in his youth.
Antonio
310 Nor need'st thou much importune me to that
311 Whereon this month I have been hammering.
312 I have consider'd well his loss of time,
313 And how he cannot be a perfect man,
314 Not being tried and tutor'd in the world:
315 Experience is by industry achiev'd,
316 And perfected by the swift course of time.
317 Then tell me whither were I best to send him?
Panthino
318 I think your lordship is not ignorant
319 How his companion, youthful Valentine,
320 Attends the emperor in his royal court.
Antonio
321 I know it well.
Panthino
322 'Twere good, I think, your lordship sent him thither:
323 There shall he practise tilts and tournaments,
324 Hear sweet discourse, converse with noblemen,
325 And be in eye of every exercise
326 Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth.
Antonio
327 I like thy counsel; well hast thou advis'd;
328 And that thou mayst perceive how well I like it,
329 The execution of it shall make known:
330 Even with the speediest expedition
331 I will dispatch him to the emperor's court.
Panthino
332 To-morrow, may it please you, Don Alphonso
333 With other gentlemen of good esteem
334 Are journeying to salute the emperor
335 And to commend their service to his will.
Antonio
336 Good company; with them shall Proteus go.
337 And in good time:—now will we break with him.
[Enter PROTEUS.]
Proteus
338 Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life!
339 Here is her hand, the agent of her heart;
340 Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn.
341 O! that our fathers would applaud our loves,
342 To seal our happiness with their consents!
343 O heavenly Julia!
Antonio
344 How now! What letter are you reading there?
Proteus
345 May't please your lordship, 'tis a word or two
346 Of commendations sent from Valentine,
347 Deliver'd by a friend that came from him.
Antonio
348 Lend me the letter; let me see what news.
Proteus
349 There is no news, my lord; but that he writes
350 How happily he lives, how well belov'd
351 And daily graced by the emperor;
352 Wishing me with him, partner of his fortune.
Antonio
353 And how stand you affected to his wish?
Proteus
354 As one relying on your lordship's will,
355 And not depending on his friendly wish.
Antonio
356 My will is something sorted with his wish.
357 Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed;
358 For what I will, I will, and there an end.
359 I am resolv'd that thou shalt spend some time
360 With Valentinus in the Emperor's court:
361 What maintenance he from his friends receives,
362 Like exhibition thou shalt have from me.
363 To-morrow be in readiness to go:
364 Excuse it not, for I am peremptory.
Proteus
365 My lord, I cannot be so soon provided;
366 Please you, deliberate a day or two.
Antonio
367 Look, what thou want'st shall be sent after thee:
368 No more of stay; to-morrow thou must go.
369 Come on, Panthino: you shall be employ'd
370 To hasten on his expedition.
[Exeunt ANTONIO and PANTHINO.]
Proteus
371 Thus have I shunn'd the fire for fear of burning,
372 And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd.
373 I fear'd to show my father Julia's letter,
374 Lest he should take exceptions to my love;
375 And with the vantage of mine own excuse
376 Hath he excepted most against my love.
377 O! how this spring of love resembleth
378 The uncertain glory of an April day,
379 Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
380 And by an by a cloud takes all away!
[Re-enter PANTHINO.]
Panthino
381 Sir Proteus, your father calls for you;
382 He is in haste; therefore, I pray you, go.
Proteus
383 Why, this it is: my heart accords thereto,
384 And yet a thousand times it answers 'no.'
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 293archaic vocab
“what sad talk was that”
'Sad' here means serious, grave, or weighty — not sorrowful. Antonio is asking what solemn topic kept his brother and Panthino talking. The word carried this sense of 'earnest' or 'sober' throughout the early modern period and appears frequently in Shakespeare with the same meaning (e.g. 'a sad face' = a composed, serious face).
TLN 298cultural context
“suffer him to spend his youth at home”
In Shakespeare's England it was standard practice for gentlemen to send their sons away from home to gain polish and advancement — to a noble household, to court, to the Inns of Court, to a university, or to the wars. A young man who stayed home was considered stunted: he would not build the connections, skills, or reputation needed to rise in the world. Antonio's brother voices the conventional wisdom that keeping Proteus in Verona is a waste of his potential.
TLN 311archaic vocab
“this month I have been hammering”
'Hammering' here means laboring at something mentally — turning it over and over in the mind, the way a smith hammers at a piece of metal. Antonio says he has been working through the same thought about Proteus for a month. Shakespeare uses the word in this figurative sense in several plays (e.g. Hamlet: 'hammering this out').
TLN 323cultural context
“practise tilts and tournaments”
Tilts were one-on-one jousting matches in which two horsemen charged each other with lances across a dividing barrier; tournaments were the broader competitions of which tilts were a part, often including mock group combats. In Shakespeare's day these chivalric sports were still staged at the Elizabethan court as spectacular entertainments, especially on the Queen's Accession Day. Panthino recommends the emperor's court partly because its martial displays are the proper training ground for a young gentleman's body and social education.
TLN 340archaic vocab
“her oath for love, her honour's pawn”
A 'pawn' is a pledge or guarantee left with someone as security for a promise or debt — like pawning a jewel to borrow money. Proteus calls Julia's oath of love a 'pawn' of her honour: she has staked her reputation as a guarantee of her fidelity, just as one stakes a valued object to back a financial promise. The word is common in Shakespeare for a solemn pledge (see also King John 5.1: 'my honour's pawn').
TLN 356archaic vocab
“My will is something sorted with his wish”
'Sorted with' means 'agrees with' or 'falls in with' — the same root as 'consort.' Antonio says his own decision happens to coincide with what Valentine has wished for Proteus. The verb 'sort' in the sense of 'agree, accord, or suit' was common in early modern English and appears in several Shakespeare plays.
TLN 362archaic vocab
“Like exhibition thou shalt have from me”
'Exhibition' here means an allowance of money — the regular financial support a parent sends to a child living away from home. Antonio promises Proteus the same maintenance ('exhibition') from his own pocket that Valentine receives from his friends at the emperor's court. The word survives in this financial sense in 'exhibition' awards at British universities.
TLN 364archaic vocab
“I am peremptory”
'Peremptory' means absolutely resolved and admitting no argument or delay — a word drawn from legal Latin (a 'peremptory' ruling closes the case without further appeal). Antonio is telling Proteus not to bother objecting: the decision is final, as if it were a court order. The word often has an undertone of imperious authority in early modern usage.
TLN 377rhetorical device
“how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day”
Proteus closes the scene alone with one of the play's most admired lyric passages. The 'spring of love' — a pun on both the season and a spring (source) of water — is compared to an April day that shows bright sunshine and then suddenly clouds over. 'Uncertain glory' is an oxymoron: glory is normally the opposite of uncertainty, but April's brilliance is precisely its unreliability. The image is a subtle piece of dramatic irony: the audience already knows that Proteus, whose name means inconstancy, is the cloud about to blot out the sunshine.
historical Petrarch and the Petrarchan lover