What’s yet in this 40 That bears the name of life? Yet in this life 41 Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear, 42 That makes these odds all even.
DUKE, < as Friar >
Be absolute for death. Either death or life 5
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life: 6
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing 7
That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art, 8
Servile to all the skyey influences 9
That < doth > this habitation where thou keep’st 10
Hourly afflict. Merely, thou art death’s fool, 11
For him thou labor’st by thy flight to shun, 12
And yet runn’st toward him still. Thou art not noble, 13
For all th’ accommodations that thou bear’st 14
Are nursed by baseness. Thou ’rt by no means 15
valiant, 16
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork 17
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep, 18
And that thou oft provok’st, yet grossly fear’st 19
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself, 20
For thou exists on many a thousand grains 21
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not, 22
For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get, 23
And what thou hast, forget’st. Thou art not certain, 24
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects 25
After the moon. If thou art rich, thou ’rt poor, 26
For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows, 27
Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey, 28
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none, 29
For thine own bowels which do call thee < sire, > 30
The mere effusion of thy proper loins, 31
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum 32
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor 33
age, 34
But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep 35
Dreaming on both, for all thy blessèd youth 36
Becomes as agèd and doth beg the alms 37
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich, 38
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty 39
To make thy riches pleasant. What’s yet in this 40
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life 41
Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear, 42
That makes these odds all even. 43
Footnotes
7. If I do lose thee: This begins a series of statements that Claudio is instructed to say to life. (See longer note to 3.1.7–40.)
9. Servile . . . influences: i.e., subject to weather and/ or influences from stars and planets (See Picture.)
10. doth: i.e., do; this . . . keep’st: i.e., the body keep’st: dwell
11. fool: (1) simpleton; (2) buffoon, jester (See Picture.)
13. still: always, continually
14. all . . . bear’st: i.e., everything you have about you
15. nursed: fed, supported; baseness: i.e., from base origins
17. fork: i.e., forked tongue
18. worm: perhaps, snake; or, maggot
19. provok’st: invoke; grossly: foolishly
22. That issue out of dust: See Genesis 2.7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground . . .”
24. certain: constant
25–26. complexion . . . moon: i.e., you change as the moon changes complexion: temperament, nature After: in obedience to
26. If . . . poor: See Revelation 3.17: “For thou saist, ‘I am rich . . .’ and knowest not how thou art wretched & miserable, and poor.”
30–31. thine own . . . loins: i.e., your very offspring bowels: offspring, children proper: own
32. serpigo: spreading skin disease, i.e., ringworm; rheum: inflammation of nose or throat
33. nor . . . nor: i.e., neither . . . nor
36. Dreaming on both: i.e., dreaming about both youth and age
37. as agèd: i.e., as if old (because youth must beg for money)
38. eld: old age (See Picture.)
39. heat: ardor, passion; limb: i.e., use of the body (literally, an organ or body part)
42–43. death . . . even: Proverbial: “The end makes all equal.”
