Citizens. Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! 80
Enter old Capulet in his gown, and his wife.
Cap. What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
Lady Cap. A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?
Cap. My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me. 84
Enter old Montague, and his wife.
Mon. Thou villain Capulet! Hold me not; let me go.
Lady Mon. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.
Enter Prince Escalus, with his train.
Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,— 88
Will they not hear? What ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands 92
Throw your mis-temper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, 96
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old, 100
79 Clubs, bills, and partisans; cf. n.
84 spite: contemptuous defiance
93 mis-temper'd: tempered for an evil purpose
