Page:Romeo and Juliet (1917) Yale.djvu/17

Romeo and Juliet, I. i  Citizens. Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!

Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues!

Cap. What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!

Lady Cap. A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?

Cap. My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,

And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Mon. Thou villain Capulet! Hold me not; let me go.

Lady Mon. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,

Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,—

Will they not hear? What ho! you men, you beasts,

That quench the fire of your pernicious rage

With purple fountains issuing from your veins,

On pain of torture, from those bloody hands

Throw your mis-temper'd weapons to the ground,

And hear the sentence of your moved prince.

Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,

By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,

Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,

And made Verona's ancient citizens

Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,

To wield old partisans, in hands as old,

 79 Clubs, bills, and partisans; cf. n.

84 spite: contemptuous defiance

93 mis-temper'd: tempered for an evil purpose 