THE

COMEDY

O F

ERROR S

Dramatis Perfonæ.

SALINUS, Duke of Ephefus.
Ægeon, a Merchant of Syracufe.
Antipholis of Ephefus,
Antipholis of Syracufe,

Twin-Brothers, and Sons to

Egeon and Æmilia, but

unknown to each other.

Dromio of Ephefus, Twin-Brothers and Slaves to the
Dromio of Syracufe, J two Antipholis's.
Balthazar, a Merchant.

Angelo, a Goldsmith.

A Merchant, a Friend to Antipholis of Syracuse.
Dr. Pinch, a School-mafter, and a Conjurer.

Emilia, Wife to Ægeon, an Abbess at Ephesus.
Adriana, Wife to Antipholis of Ephesus.
Luciana, Sifter to Adriana.

Luce, Servant to Adriana.

Failor, Officers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, Ephefus.

This Play is taken from the Menachmi of Plautus.

THE

THE

COMEDY of ERRORS.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

The Duke's Palace.

Enter the Duke of Ephefus, geon, Jailor, and other Attendants.

P

ÆGEON.

ROCEED, Salinus, to procure my fall,
And by the doom of death end woes and all.
Duke. Merchant of Syracufa, plead no more;
I am not partial to infringe our laws:

The enmity, and difcord, which of late
Sprung from the ranc'rous outrage of your Duke,
To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen,
(Who, wanting gilders to redeem their lives,
Have feal'd his rigorous ftatutes with their bloods)
Excludes all pity from our threatning looks.
For, fince the mortal and intestine jars
'Twixt thy feditious contrymen and us,
It hath in folemn fynods been decreed,
Both by the Syracufans and ourselves.

H 4

T'admit

T'admit no traffick to our adverse towns.
Nay, more; if any born at Ephefus
Be feen at Syracufan marts and fairs,
Again, if any Syracufan born

Come to the bay of Ephefus, he dies:
His goods confifcate to the Duke's difpofe,
Unless a thousand marks be levied
To quit the penalty, and ransom him.
Thy fubftance, valu'd at the highest rate,
Cannot amount unto a hundred marks;
Therefore, by law thou art condemn'd to die.
Egeon. Yet this my comfort, when your words are
done,

My woes end likewife with the evening fun.

Duke. Well, Syracufan, fay, in brief, the cause, Why thou departedft from thy native home; And for what caufe thou cam'ft to Ephefus.

Egeon. A heavier task could not have been impos'd, Than I to speak my grief unfpeakable :

1

Yet that the world may witnefs, that my end
Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence,
I'll utter what my forrow gives me leave.
In Syracufa was I born, and wed

Unto a woman, happy, but for me;

And by me too, had not our hap been bad:
With her I liv'd in joy; our wealth increas'd,
By profperous voyages I often made

Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence,] All his hearers understood that the punifhment he was about to undergo was in confequence of no private crime, but of the public enmity between two ftates, to one of which he belonged: But it was a general fuperftition amongst the ancients, that every great and fudden misfortune was the vengeance of heaven purfuing men for their fecret of

fences. Hence the fentiment
here put into the mouth of the
fpeaker was proper. By my
påft life (fays he) which I am
going to relate, the world may
understand that my prefent death
is according to the ordinary
courfe of providence, [wrought:
by nature] and not the effects of
divine vengeance overtaking me
for my crimes [not by vile of
fence.]

WARBURTON.

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