Page 1323 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

I see through now, and am sufficient
To tell the world ’tis but a gaudy shadow
That old Time as he passes by takes with him.
What had we been, old in the court of Creon,

Where sin is justice, lust and ignorance [160]
The virtues of the great ones? Cousin Arcite,
Had not the loving gods found this place for us,
We had died as they do, ill old men, unwept,

And had their epitaphs, the people’s curses.
Shall I say more?

ARCITE
I would hear you still.

PALAMON
Ye shall. [165]
Is there record of any two that loved

Better than we do, Arcite?

ARCITE
Sure there cannot.

PALAMON
I do not think it possible our friendship
Should ever leave us.

ARCITE
Till our deaths it cannot;

[Enter Emilia and her Woman below]
And after death our spirits shall be led [170]
To those that love eternally.
[Palamon sees Emilia]
Speak on, sir.

EMILIA
This garden has a world of pleasures in’t.
What flower is this?