William Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors

ACT V. SCENE 1. The same. (continued)

DUKE.
I tell thee, Syracusan, twenty years
Have I been patron to Antipholus,
During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa:
I see thy age and dangers make thee dote.

[Enter the ABBESS, with ANTIPHOLUS SYRACUSAN and DROMIO
SYRACUSAN.]

ABBESS.
Most mighty duke, behold a man much wrong'd.

[All gather to see them.]

ADRIANA.
I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me.

DUKE.
One of these men is genius to the other;
And so of these. Which is the natural man,
And which the spirit? Who deciphers them?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
I, sir, am Dromio; command him away.

DROMIO OF EPHESUS.
I, sir, am Dromio; pray let me stay.

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Aegeon, art thou not? or else his ghost?

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
O, my old master! who hath bound him here?

ABBESS.
Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds,
And gain a husband by his liberty.--
Speak, old Aegeon, if thou be'st the man
That hadst a wife once called Aemilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons:
O, if thou be'st the same Aegeon, speak,
And speak unto the same Aemilia!

AEGEON.
If I dream not, thou art Aemilia:
If thou art she, tell me where is that son
That floated with thee on the fatal raft?

ABBESS.
By men of Epidamnum, he and I,
And the twin Dromio, all were taken up:
But, by and by, rude fishermen of Corinth
By force took Dromio and my son from them,
And me they left with those of Epidamnum:
What then became of them I cannot tell;
I to this fortune that you see me in.

DUKE.
Why, here begins his morning story right:
These two Antipholus', these two so like,
And these two Dromios, one in semblance,--
Besides her urging of her wreck at sea,--
These are the parents to these children,
Which accidentally are met together.
Antipholus, thou cam'st from Corinth first?