SCENE V. The Forest. As You Like It  Shakespeare homepage  |  As You Like It  | Act 2, Scene 5 

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 Enter AMIENS, JAQUES, and others  SONG. 

 AMIENS  Under the greenwood tree 

 Who loves to lie with me, 

 And turn his merry note 

 Unto the sweet bird's throat, 

 Come hither, come hither, come hither: 

 Here shall he see No enemy 

 But winter and rough weather. 

 JAQUES  More, more, I prithee, more. 

 AMIENS  It will make you melancholy, Monsieur Jaques. 

 JAQUES  I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can suck 

 melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs. 

 More, I prithee, more. 

 AMIENS  My voice is ragged: I know I cannot please you. 

 JAQUES  I do not desire you to please me; I do desire you to 

 sing. Come, more; another stanzo: call you 'em stanzos? 

 AMIENS  What you will, Monsieur Jaques. 

 JAQUES  Nay, I care not for their names; they owe me 

 nothing. Will you sing? 

 AMIENS  More at your request than to please myself. 

 JAQUES  Well then, if ever I thank any man, I'll thank you; 

 but that they call compliment is like the encounter 

 of two dog-apes, and when a man thanks me heartily, 

 methinks I have given him a penny and he renders me 

 the beggarly thanks. Come, sing; and you that will 

 not, hold your tongues. 

 AMIENS  Well, I'll end the song. Sirs, cover the while; the 

 duke will drink under this tree. He hath been all 

 this day to look you. 

 JAQUES  And I have been all this day to avoid him. He is 

 too disputable for my company: I think of as many 

 matters as he, but I give heaven thanks and make no 

 boast of them. Come, warble, come. 

 SONG. 

 Who doth ambition shun 



 All together here  And loves to live i' the sun, 

 Seeking the food he eats 

 And pleased with what he gets, 

 Come hither, come hither, come hither: 

 Here shall he see No enemy 

 But winter and rough weather. 

 JAQUES  I'll give you a verse to this note that I made 

 yesterday in despite of my invention. 

 AMIENS  And I'll sing it. 

 JAQUES  Thus it goes:-- 

 If it do come to pass 

 That any man turn ass, 

 Leaving his wealth and ease, 

 A stubborn will to please, 

 Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame: 

 Here shall he see 

 Gross fools as he, 

 An if he will come to me. 

 AMIENS  What's that 'ducdame'? 

 JAQUES  'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a 

 circle. I'll go sleep, if I can; if I cannot, I'll 

 rail against all the first-born of Egypt. 

 AMIENS  And I'll go seek the duke: his banquet is prepared. 



 Exeunt severally  Shakespeare homepage  |  As You Like It  | Act 2, Scene 5 

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