William Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors William Shakespeare

Enter DUKE, EGEON, JAILER, OFFICERS and other ATTENDANTS. EGEON. Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall, And by the doom of death end woes and all. DUKE. Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more. I am not partial to infringe our laws. The enmity and discord which of late Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your Duke To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen, Who, wanting guilders to redeem their lives, Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods, Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks. For since the mortal and intestine jars 'Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us, It hath in solemn synods been decreed, Both by the Syracusians and ourselves, To admit no traffic to our adverse towns; Nay more, if any born at Ephesus Be seen at Syracusian marts and fairs; Again, if any Syracusian born Come to the bay of Ephesus, he dies, His goods confiscate to the Duke's dispose, Unless a thousand marks be levied To quit the penalty and to ransom him. Thy substance, valued 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 likewise with the evening sun. DUKE. Well, Syracusian, say in brief the cause Why thou departedst from thy native home, And for what cause thou cam'st to Ephesus.