Page:Romeo and Juliet (1917) Yale.djvu/22

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Rom. Bid a sick man in sadness make his will;

Ah! word ill urg'd to one that is so ill.

In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.

Ben. I aim'd so near when I suppos'd you lov'd.

Rom. A right good mark-man! And she's fair I love.

Ben. A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.

Rom. Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit

With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit;

And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd,

From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd.

She will not stay the siege of loving terms,

Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,

Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:

O! she is rich in beauty; only poor

That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.

Ben. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?

Rom. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste;

For beauty, starv'd with her severity,

Cuts beauty off from all posterity.

She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,

To merit bliss by making me despair:

She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow

Do I live dead that live to tell it now.

Ben. Be rul'd by me; forget to think of her.

Rom. O! teach me how I should forget to think.

Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes:

Examine other beauties.

 215 Dian's wit: the turn of mind of the chaste goddess Diana

216 proof: impenetrable armor

218 stay: remain to resist

222 store: riches; cf. n.

224 sparing: refraining from use

225 starv'd: allowed to die out 