SCENE II. Florence. The Widow's house. All's Well That Ends Well  Shakespeare homepage  |  All's Well That Ends Well  | Act 4, Scene 2 

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 Enter BERTRAM and DIANA  BERTRAM  They told me that your name was Fontibell. 

 DIANA  No, my good lord, Diana. 

 BERTRAM  Titled goddess; 

 And worth it, with addition! But, fair soul, 

 In your fine frame hath love no quality? 

 If quick fire of youth light not your mind, 

 You are no maiden, but a monument: 

 When you are dead, you should be such a one 

 As you are now, for you are cold and stem; 

 And now you should be as your mother was 

 When your sweet self was got. 

 DIANA  She then was honest. 

 BERTRAM  So should you be. 

 DIANA  No: 

 My mother did but duty; such, my lord, 

 As you owe to your wife. 

 BERTRAM  No more o' that; 

 I prithee, do not strive against my vows: 

 I was compell'd to her; but I love thee 

 By love's own sweet constraint, and will for ever 

 Do thee all rights of service. 

 DIANA  Ay, so you serve us 

 Till we serve you; but when you have our roses, 

 You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves 

 And mock us with our bareness. 

 BERTRAM  How have I sworn! 

 DIANA  'Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth, 

 But the plain single vow that is vow'd true. 

 What is not holy, that we swear not by, 

 But take the High'st to witness: then, pray you, tell me, 

 If I should swear by God's great attributes, 

 I loved you dearly, would you believe my oaths, 

 When I did love you ill? This has no holding, 

 To swear by him whom I protest to love, 

 That I will work against him: therefore your oaths 

 Are words and poor conditions, but unseal'd, 

 At least in my opinion. 

 BERTRAM  Change it, change it; 

 Be not so holy-cruel: love is holy; 

 And my integrity ne'er knew the crafts 

 That you do charge men with. Stand no more off, 

 But give thyself unto my sick desires, 

 Who then recover: say thou art mine, and ever 

 My love as it begins shall so persever. 

 DIANA  I see that men make ropes in such a scarre 

 That we'll forsake ourselves. Give me that ring. 

 BERTRAM  I'll lend it thee, my dear; but have no power 

 To give it from me. 

 DIANA  Will you not, my lord? 

 BERTRAM  It is an honour 'longing to our house, 

 Bequeathed down from many ancestors; 

 Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world 

 In me to lose. 

 DIANA  Mine honour's such a ring: 

 My chastity's the jewel of our house, 

 Bequeathed down from many ancestors; 

 Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world 

 In me to lose: thus your own proper wisdom 

 Brings in the champion Honour on my part, 

 Against your vain assault. 

 BERTRAM  Here, take my ring: 

 My house, mine honour, yea, my life, be thine, 

 And I'll be bid by thee. 

 DIANA  When midnight comes, knock at my chamber-window: 

 I'll order take my mother shall not hear. 

 Now will I charge you in the band of truth, 

 When you have conquer'd my yet maiden bed, 

 Remain there but an hour, nor speak to me: 

 My reasons are most strong; and you shall know them 

 When back again this ring shall be deliver'd: 

 And on your finger in the night I'll put 

 Another ring, that what in time proceeds 

 May token to the future our past deeds. 

 Adieu, till then; then, fail not. You have won 

 A wife of me, though there my hope be done. 

 BERTRAM  A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee. 



 Exit  DIANA  For which live long to thank both heaven and me! 

 You may so in the end. 

 My mother told me just how he would woo, 

 As if she sat in 's heart; she says all men 

 Have the like oaths: he had sworn to marry me 

 When his wife's dead; therefore I'll lie with him 

 When I am buried. Since Frenchmen are so braid, 

 Marry that will, I live and die a maid: 

 Only in this disguise I think't no sin 

 To cozen him that would unjustly win. 



 Exit  Shakespeare homepage  |  All's Well That Ends Well  | Act 4, Scene 2 

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