Act 5
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Enter lovers: LYSANDER,
DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and
HERMIA
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The lovers—LYSANDER,
DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and
HERMIA—enter.
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THESEUS Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.—
Joy, gentle friends! Joy and fresh days of love
30Accompany your hearts!
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THESEUS Here come the lovers, laughing happily.—I wish you joy,
my friends! I hope the days ahead are full of joy for you.
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LYSANDER More than to us
Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!
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LYSANDER We wish you even more joy, and hope joy comes to you in your royal
walks, at your table, and in your royal bed!
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THESEUS Come now, what masques, what dances shall we have
To wear away this long age of three hours
Between our after-supper and bedtime?
35Where is our usual manager of mirth?
What revels are in hand? Is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
Call Philostrate.
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THESEUS Now, what kind of entertainment do we have to fill up the long
three hours between dinner and bedtime? Where is our entertainment
director? What performances have been prepared? Aren’t
there any plays for us to enjoy while we wait in torture for bedtime
to come? Let me see Philostrate.
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PHILOSTRATE Here, mighty Theseus.
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PHILOSTRATE Here I am, Theseus.
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THESEUS Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?
40What masque, what music? How shall we beguile
The lazy time if not with some delight?
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THESEUS Tell us what entertainment you’ve prepared for the
evening. Which plays, what music? How will we pass the time without
some entertainment?
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PHILOSTRATE
(giving THESEUS
a document)
There is a brief, how many sports are ripe.
Make choice of which your highness will see first.
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PHILOSTRATE
(giving THESEUS
a piece of paper) Here’s a
list of all of the acts that have been prepared. Choose which one
you want to see first.
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THESEUS
45
(reads)
“The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.”
We’ll none of that. That have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
“The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.”
That is an old device, and it was played
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
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THESEUS
(reading) “The battle
between Hercules and the Centaurs, to be sung by an Athenian eunuch,
accompanied by a harp.” No, we won’t see that.
I’ve already told that story to Hippolyta, while praising
my cousin Hercules. What else? “The riot of the drunk
Bacchanals who rip the singer Orpheus to shreds.”
That’s an old show, and I saw it the last time I came
back from conquering
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