ROSALIND
I thought thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a lion. ORLANDO
Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady.
ROSALIND
Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to swoon when he showed me your
handkerchief?
ORLANDO
Ay, and greater wonders than that.
ROSALIND
O, I know where you are: nay, 'tis true: there was never any thing so sudden but the fight
of two rams and Caesar's thrasonical brag of 'I came, saw, and overcame:' for your brother
and my sister no sooner met but they looked, no sooner looked but they loved, no sooner
loved but they sighed, no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason, no sooner
knew the reason but they sought the remedy; and in these degrees have they made a pair of
stairs to marriage which they will climb incontinent, or else be incontinent before
marriage: they are in the very wrath of love and they will together; clubs cannot part
them.
ORLANDO
They shall be married to-morrow, and I will bid the duke to the nuptial. But, O, how
bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes! By so much the
more shall I to-morrow be at the height of heart-heaviness, by how much I shall think my
brother happy in having what he wishes for.
ROSALIND
Why then, to-morrow I cannot serve your turn for Rosalind?
ORLANDO
I can live no longer by thinking.
ROSALIND
I will weary you then no longer with idle talking. Know of me then, for now I speak to
some purpose, that I know you are a gentleman of good conceit: I speak not this that you
should bear a good opinion of my knowledge, insomuch I say I know you are; neither do I
labour for a greater esteem than may in some little measure draw a belief from you, to do
yourself good and not to grace me. Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange
things: I have, since I was three year old, conversed with a magician, most profound in
his art and yet not damnable. If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture
cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena, shall you marry her: I know into what
straits of fortune she is driven; and it is not impossible to me, if it appear not
inconvenient to you, to set her before your eyes tomorrow human as she is and without any
danger.
ORLANDO
Speakest thou in sober meanings?
ROSALIND
By my life, I do; which I tender dearly, though I say I am a magician. Therefore, put you
in your best array: bid your friends; for if you will be married to-morrow, you shall, and
to Rosalind, if you will.
Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE
Look, here comes a lover of mine and a lover of hers.
PHEBE
Youth, you have done me much ungentleness,
To show the letter that I writ to you.
ROSALIND
I care not if I have: it is my study
To seem despiteful and ungentle to you:
You are there followed by a faithful shepherd;
Look upon him, love him; he worships you.
PHEBE
Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love.
SILVIUS
It is to be all made of sighs and tears;
And so am I for Phebe.
PHEBE
And I for Ganymede.
ORLANDO
And I for Rosalind.
ROSALIND
And I for no woman.
SILVIUS
It is to be all made of faith and service;
And so am I for Phebe.
PHEBE
And I for Ganymede.
ORLANDO
And I for Rosalind.
ROSALIND
And I for no woman.
SILVIUS
It is to be all made of fantasy,
All made of passion and all made of wishes,
All adoration, duty, and observance,
All humbleness, all patience and impatience,
All purity, all trial, all observance;
And so am I for Phebe.
PHEBE
And so am I for Ganymede.
ORLANDO
And so am I for Rosalind.
ROSALIND
And so am I for no woman.
PHEBE
If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
SILVIUS
If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
ORLANDO
If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
ROSALIND
Who do you speak to, 'Why blame you me to love you?'
ORLANDO
To her that is not here, nor doth not hear.
ROSALIND
Pray you, no more of this; 'tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon. [To
SILVIUS] I will help you, if I can: [To PHEBE ] I would love you, if I could.
To-morrow meet me all together. [To PHEBE ] I will marry you, if ever I
marry woman, and I'll be married to-morrow: [To ORLANDO ] I will satisfy you, if
ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married to-morrow: [To SILVIUS ] I will
content you, if what pleases you contents you, and you shall be married to-morrow. [To
ORLANDO ] As you love Rosalind, meet: [To SILVIUS ] as you love Phebe, meet:
and as I love no woman, I'll meet. So fare you well: I have left you commands.
SILVIUS
I'll not fail, if I live.
PHEBE
Nor I.
ORLANDO
Nor I.
Exeunt
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