I am sorry I must never trust thee more,

But count the world a stranger for thy sake.

The private wound is deepest. O time most accursed,

’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!

PROTEUS My shame and guilt confounds me.

Forgive me, Valentine. If hearty sorrow

Be a sufficient ransom for offence,

I tender’t here. I do as truly suffer

As e’er I did commit.

VALENTINE Then I am paid,

And once again I do receive thee honest.

Who by repentance is not satisfied

Is nor of heaven nor earth. For these are pleased;

By penitence th’ Eternal’s wrath’s appeased.

And that my love may appear plain and free,

All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.

JULIA

O me unhappy!

She faints

PROTEUS

Look to the boy.

VALENTINE Why, boy!

Why wag, how now? What’s the matter? Look up. Speak.

JULIA O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which out of my neglect was never done.

PROTEUS Where is that ring, boy?

JULIA Here ’tis. This is it.

She gives Proteus the ring

PROTEUS How, let me see!

Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.

JULIA

O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook.

She offers Proteus another ring

This is the ring you sent to Silvia.

PROTEUS

But how cam’st thou by this ring? At my depart

I gave this unto Julia.

JULIA

And Julia herself did give it me,

And Julia herself hath brought it hither.

PROTEUS How? Julia?

JULIA

Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths

And entertained ’em deeply in her heart.

How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root?

O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush.

Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me

Such an immodest raiment, if shame live

In a disguise of love.

It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,

Women to change their shapes than men their minds.

PROTEUS

Than men their minds! ‘Tis true. O heaven, were man

But constant, he were perfect. That one error

Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th’

sins;

Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.

What is in Silvia’s face but I may spy

More fresh in Julia’s, with a constant eye?

VALENTINE Come, come, a hand from either.

Let me be blessed to make this happy close.

’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.

Julia and Proteus join hands

PROTEUS

Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever.

JULIA

And I mine.

Enter the Outlaws with the Duke and Thurio as captives

OUTLAWS

A prize, a prize, a prize!

VALENTINE

Forbear, forbear, I say. It is my lord the Duke.

The Outlaws release the Duke and Thurio

(To the Duke) Your grace is welcome to a man

disgraced,

Banished Valentine.

DUKE Sir Valentine!

THURIO

Yonder is Silvia, and Silvia’s mine.

VALENTINE

Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death.

Come not within the measure of my wrath.

Do not name Silvia thine. If once again,

Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands.

Take but possession of her with a touch—

I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.

THURIO

Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I.

I hold him but a fool that will endanger

His body for a girl that loves him not.

I claim her not, and therefore she is thine.

DUKE

The more degenerate and base art thou

To make such means for her as thou hast done,

And leave her on such slight conditions.

Now by the honour of my ancestry

I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,

And think thee worthy of an empress’ love.

Know then I here forget all former griefs,

Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,

Plead a new state in thy unrivalled merit,

To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,

Thou art a gentleman, and well derived.

Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.

VALENTINE

I thank your grace. The gift hath made me happy.

I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake,

To grant one boon that I shall ask of you.

DUKE

I grant it, for thine own, whate’er it be.

VALENTINE

These banished men that I have kept withal

Are men endowed with worthy qualities.

Forgive them what they have committed here,

And let them be recalled from their exile.

They are reformed, civil, full of good,

And fit for great employment, worthy lord.

DUKE

Thou hast prevailed. I pardon them and thee.

Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts.

Come, let us go. We will include all jars

With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.

VALENTINE

And as we walk along I dare be bold

With our discourse to make your grace to smile.

What think you of this page, my lord?

DUKE

I think the boy hath grace in him. He blushes.

VALENTINE

I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.

DUKE What mean you by that saying?

VALENTINE

Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along,

That you will wonder what hath fortunèd.

Come, Proteus, ’tis your penance but to hear

The story of your loves discovered.

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours,

One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

Exeunt

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW