SC I
ROMEO AND JULIET
5
| Gre. | But thou art not quickly moved to strike. |
| Sam. | A dog of the house of Montague moves me. |
| Gre. | To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand;[E 1] therefore, if thou art moved, thou10 runn'st away. |
| Sam. | A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's. |
| Gre. | That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest15 goes to the wall.[E 2] |
| Sam. | 'Tis true;[C 1] and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall.20 |
| Gre. | The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.[E 3] |
| Sam. | 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel[C 2][E 4] with the maids; I will cut[C 3] off their heads.25 |
| Gre. | The heads of the maids?[C 4] |
| Sam. | Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maiden- heads; take it in what sense thou wilt. |
| Gre. | They must take it in[C 5] sense that feel it. |
- ↑ 10. stand] Q1 has "stand to it."
- ↑ 15, 16. weakest … wall] A proverbial saying; so Machin, Dumb Knight: "The weakest must to the wall still." A play of 1600 had the proverb for its title. See [[../../Act 3/Scene 4|III. iv. 12 (note).]]
- ↑ 21, 22. The quarrel … men] Martley's conjecture, "not us their men," is unhappy. Gregory means that masters and men, but not women, are included in the quarrel.
- ↑ 25. cruel] Possibly civil is right, a tyrant's civility to maids showing itself, as Sampson indicates, in a seeming paradox.
