FLAVIUS and MURELLUS enter on one side of the stage, as do a CARPENTER, a COBBLER, and some other commoners from the other end of the stage.
|
FLAVIUS and MURELLUS enter on one side of the stage. A CARPENTER, a COBBLER, and some other commoners enter from the other end of the stage.
|
FLAVIUS Hence! Home, you idle creatures get you home! Is this a holiday? What, know you not, Being mechanical, you ought not walk Upon a laboring day without the sign Of your profession? —Speak, what trade art thou?
|
FLAVIUS Go away! Go home, you lazy creatures. Go home! Is today a holiday? Don't you know that, as working-class men, you shouldn’t walk around on a workday without wearing your work clothes? [To CARPENTER] Tell me, what’s your profession?
|
CARPENTER Why, sir, a carpenter.
|
CARPENTER Why, I’m a carpenter, sir.
|
MURELLUS Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apparel on? —You, sir, what trade are you?
|
MURELLUS Where are your leather apron and ruler? Why are you wearing your finest clothes?
[To COBBLER] And you, sir, what’s your job?
|
COBBLER Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler.
|
COBBLER Well, sir, compared to a skilled workman, I'm just a cobbler, as you would put it.
|
MURELLUS But what trade art thou? Answer me directly.
|
MURELLUS But what’s your trade? Answer me straightforwardly.
|
COBBLER A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience, which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
|
COBBLER I work a trade, sir, that I hope I can practice with a clear conscience. I am a mender of worn soles.
|
MURELLUS What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?
|
MURELLUS What trade, fool? You good-for-nothing fool, what trade?
|
COBBLER Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me. Yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you.
|
COBBLER Sir, I beg you, don’t be angry. Yet, if your soles are worn out, I can mend you.
|
MURELLUS What mean’st thou by that? “Mend” me, thou saucy fellow?
|
MURELLUS What do you mean by that? “Mend” me, you rude man?
|
COBBLER Why, sir, cobble you.
|
COBBLER Well, cobble you, sir.
|