The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (678 page)

He won't let us cremate them,

to put their ashes in an urn, or to take the horrible sight

of rotting corpses away from the blessed sight

of the holy sun, but lets the stench of our dead husbands

reek through the air.  Pity us, Duke,

you who has cleaned the earth, draw your fearsome sword

that does good deeds for the world; get the bones

of our dead kings for us so we can have a proper funeral;

and in your infinite goodness please note

that we have no roof over our royal heads,

apart from this sky which we share with

the lion, the bear and everything!

THESEUS

Pray you kneel not;

I was transported with your speech, and suffer’d

Your knees to wrong themselves. I have heard the fortunes

Of your dead lords, which gives me such lamenting

As wakes my vengeance and revenge for ’em.

King Capaneus was your lord. The day

That he should marry you, at such a season

As now it is with me, I met your groom

By Mars’s altar. You were that time fair;

Not Juno’s mantle fairer than your tresses,

Nor in more bounty spread her. Your wheaten wreath

Was then nor thresh’d nor blasted; Fortune at you

Dimpled her cheek with smiles. Hercules our kinsman

(Then weaker than your eyes) laid by his club;

He tumbled down upon his Nemean hide,

And swore his sinews thaw’d. O grief and time,

Fearful consumers, you will all devour!

Please don't kneel;

I was absorbed in what you said, and wrongly allowed

you to stay on your knees.  I have heard about the fates

of your dead husbands, and it makes me so sad

that it inspires me to take revenge for them.

Your husband was King Capaneus.  On your

wedding day, on the same occasion I am now

enjoying, I met your groom at

the altar of Mars.  You were lovely at that time;

Juno's cloak was not more lovely than your hair,

nor more plentiful.  Your golden locks

hadn't been torn or windblown; Fortune

smiled upon you.  Our kinsman Hercules

(who then had less power than your eyes) put down his club;

he tumbled down on his Nemean hide,

and swore he had become weak.  Oh grief and time,

with your terrible greed, you will devour everything!

FIRST QUEEN.

O, I hope some god,

Some god hath put his mercy in your manhood,

Whereto he’ll infuse pow’r, and press you forth

Our undertaker.

Oh, I hope some god

has added mercy to your manly virtues,

which he will make work and employ you

to do this service for us.

THESEUS

O, no knees, none, widow!

Unto the helmeted Bellona use them,

And pray for me your soldier.

Troubled I am.

Oh, no kneeling, widow!

Use your knees to pray to the goddess of war,

and pray for me as your soldier.

I am troubled.

Turns away.

SECOND QUEEN.

Honored Hippolyta,

Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain

The scythe-tusk’d boar; that with thy arm, as strong

As it is white, wast near to make the male

To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord,

Born to uphold creation in that honor

First Nature styl’d it in, shrunk thee into

The bound thou wast o’erflowing, at once subduing

Thy force and thy affection; soldieress

That equally canst poise sternness with pity,

Whom now I know hast much more power on him

Than ever he had on thee, who ow’st his strength,

And his love too, who is a servant for

The tenor of thy speech; dear glass of ladies,

Bid him that we, whom flaming war doth scorch,

Under the shadow of his sword may cool us;

Require him he advance it o’er our heads;

Speak’t in a woman’s key—like such a woman

As any of us three; weep ere you fail;

Lend us a knee;

But touch the ground for us no longer time

Than a dove’s motion when the head’s pluck’d off;

Tell him, if he i’ th’ blood-siz’d field lay swoll’n,

Showing the sun his teeth, grinning at the moon,

What you would do.

Respected Hippolyta,

Most feared Amazonian, who has killed

the sharp-tusked boar; you who almost,

with your strong white arm, subdued

the male sex, until your lord here,

this perfect specimen

of Nature, pushed your advances

back, capturing your force and your love;

as a soldier you can show both sternness and pity,

and I now know you have much more power over him

than he ever had over you, you have captured his force

and his love too, he will do

anything you say; dear perfect lady,

tell him that we, burned by flaming war,

want to be cooled in the shade of his sword;

tell him to hold it over our heads;

speak to him as a woman - a woman like any of us;

weep before you admit defeat;

kneel to him;

but don't do so for longer

than a dove keeps moving when its head is cut off;

tell him what you would do if he lay rotting

on a blood-soaked battlefield, turning into a skeleton

beneath the open skies.

HIPPOLYTA

Poor lady, say no more:

I had as lief trace this good action with you

As that whereto I am going, and never yet

Went I so willing way. My lord is taken

Heart-deep with your distress. Let him consider.

I’ll speak anon.

Poor lady, say no more:

I'm as happy to help you

as I am to be married, and I was never

happier about anything than that.  My lord

feels your distress deep in his heart.  Let him think.

I'll speak to him soon.

THIRD QUEEN.

O, my petition was

Kneel to Emilia.

Set down in ice, which by hot grief uncandied

Melts into drops; so sorrow wanting form

Is press’d with deeper matter.

Oh, my request was

written on ice, which was melted by

bitter hot grief; so sorrow cannot show itself

when faced with such a great evil.

EMILIA

Pray stand up,

Your grief is written in your cheek.

Please stand up,

your grief is obvious from your face.

THIRD QUEEN.

O, woe,

You cannot read it there. There, through my tears,

Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,

You may behold ’em. Lady, lady, alack!

He that will all the treasure know o’ th’ earth

Must know the centre too; he that will fish

For my least minnow, let him lead his line

To catch one at my heart. O, pardon me,

Extremity, that sharpens sundry wits,

Makes me a fool.

Oh, you cannot

see my sorrow there.  You can see my cheeks under my tears

like wrinkled pebbles in a watery stream.

Alas, lady!

Someone who wants the treasure of the earth must dig into it;

if you want to know any part of my grief

you have to look deep into my heart.  Oh, pardon me,

extreme suffering, that makes some people sharper,

makes me a fool.

EMILIA

Pray you say nothing, pray you.

Who cannot feel nor see the rain, being in’t,

Knows neither wet nor dry. If that you were

The ground-piece of some painter, I would buy you

T’ instruct me ’gainst a capital grief indeed—

Such heart-pierc’d demonstration! But alas,

Being a natural sister of our sex,

Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me

That it shall make a counter-reflect ’gainst

My brother’s heart, and warm it to some pity,

Though it were made of stone. Pray have good comfort.

Please, I beg you, say nothing.

Someone who can't see or feel the rain,

when they're in it,

knows nothing.  If you were

a painting, I would buy you

to keep as an example of the greatest sorrow-

such a heartrending example!  But alas,

as all we women are sisters,

your sorrow affects me so deeply

that it will reflect off me into

my brother's heart, and kindle pity there

even if it were made of stone.  Please be sure of that.

THESEUS

Forward to th’ temple. Leave not out a jot

O’ th’ sacred ceremony.

Onward to the temple.  Don't leave out a word

of the sacred ceremony.

FIRST QUEEN.

O, this celebration

Will long last and be more costly than

Your suppliants’ war! Remember that your fame

Knolls in the ear o’ th’ world; what you do quickly

Is not done rashly; your first thought is more

Than others’ labored meditance; your premeditating

More than their actions. But, O Jove, your actions,

Soon as they move, as asprays do the fish,

Subdue before they touch. Think, dear Duke, think

What beds our slain kings have!

Oh, this celebration

will last a long time and cost more

than the war we have been in!  Remember that you

are famous throughout the world; what you do quickly

is not done hotheadedly; your initial thought is worth more

than the long contemplation of others; your plans

are worth more than their actions.  But, by god,

once you start moving your actions subdue men

before they even begin, as the shadow of the osprey

scares the fish.  Think, dear Duke, think

of where our dead kings are lying!

SECOND QUEEN.

What griefs our beds

That our dear lords have none!

How sad we are in our beds,

knowing our dear lords have none!

THIRD QUEEN.

None fit for th’ dead:

Those that with cords, knives, drams, precipitance,

Weary of this world’s light, have to themselves

Been death’s most horrid agents, humane grace

Affords them dust and shadow.

None that are fit for the dead:

those who have brought death upon themselves,

tired of living, in the most horrible ways,

with hanging, stabbing, poison, leaping from heights,

the kindness of humanity allows them a decent burial.

FIRST QUEEN.

But our lords

Lie blist’ring ’fore the visitating sun,

And were good kings when living.

But our lords

are lying burning under the hot sun,

and they were good kings when they were alive.