The two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare

“Speed:

Sir Proteus, save you. Saw you my master?

Proteus:

But now he parted hence, to embark for Milan.

Speed:

Twenty to one, then, he is shipp’d already,

And I have play’d the sheep in losing him.

Proteus:

Indeed, a sheep doth very often stray,

An if the shepherd be awhile away.

Speed:

You conclude that my master is a shepherd then,

And I a sheep?

Proteus:

I do.

Speed:

Why, then, my horns are his horns, whether I

wake or sleep?

Proteus:

A silly answer, and fitting well a sheep.

Speed:

This proves me still a sheep.

Proteus:

True; and thy master a shepherd.

Speed:

Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance.

Proteus:

It shall go hard but I’ll prove it by another.

Speed:

The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep

The shepherd; but I seek my master, and my

Master seeks not me: therefore I am no sheep.

Proteus:

The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd,

The shepherd for food follows not the sheep;

Thou for wages follows thy master, thy master

For wages follows not thee: therefore thou art a

Sheep.

Speed:

Such another proof will make me cry ‘ba’.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.188).

“Proteus:

Thus I have shunn’d the fire for fear of burning,

Ad drench’d me in the sea, where I am drowned.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.191).