"Sir, suffer this passion at home." "It would be better not to reveal this fire before strangers." "If the flames of Purgatory are like those which burn me now, I'd sooner be a beast and have my soul disappear than go to Heaven by passing through this fire." "That isn't Christian." "Or don't you believe in Christ?" "In Christ?" "I believe in MeIibea." "And I belong to MeIibea." "And I adore MeIibea, and I Iove MeIibea." "There he is on the corner!" "In this I see, MeIibea, God's greatness." "In what, CaIisto?" "In giving you such perfect beauty, and allowing me to see you and speak to you." "Who was ever rewarded in this life as I am now?" "You think it such a great reward?" "If God should place me above His saints in Heaven I should not be as happy." "Go away, oaf!" "Tristan!" "Here, take this!" "Tristan!" "It's a poor business to want only one thing!" "Why do you reprove me?" "You subject man's superiority to woman's imperfection." "MeIibea, a woman?" "MeIibea is God!" "Read Seneca, and you will see how he speaks of women." "DeceitfuI, giddy-headed, haughty, inconstant, foolish, sIuttish, dirty." "shameless." "shameless." "Scheming..." "Enough!" "And you have not heard the Church." ""This is the inveterate evil of woman, who drove Adam from the delights of Paradise, who thrust mankind into hell."" "What has that to do with MeIibea?" "MeIibea is virtue, dignity, elegance, divine beauty." "Have you seen the gold spun in Arabia?" "Her hair is finer and shines with more light." "That's enough to transform men into stone." "Into asses rather!" "Men!" "Sir!" "Her eyes are dark, aImond shaped, with long eyelashes and arched brows." "Her lips are red and plump." "Imagine the form of her breasts, firm and rounded!" "As you insist, and as I would not have you end badly, I'II make your wishes come true." "I know a witch called CeIestina." "She is clever and shrewd." "If she chooses, she can provoke a rock and make it burn with lust." "If you do me such a favor, this cuirass you admire is yours." "If he urges me on with these spurs, I'II bring her to his bed." "sleep, sir!" "CeIestina!" "It is I, Sempronio!" "EIicia!" "EIicia!" "Do you hear me?" "Wait!" "No!" "Wait!" "I cannot!" "Now what is it?" "It's Sempronio!" "What do I do with Crito?" "tell him your cousin has come and put him in the attic." "Who is this Sempronio?" "My cousin!" "You're risking your life if he should find you!" "Run!" "Is it very high?" "Go up this way." "What a surprise you gave me." "Come here and embrace me!" "How could you wait three days before coming?" "EIicia!" "Here he is!" "Who, aunt?" "Sempronio!" "How my heart leaps!" "Where?" "Where is he?" "Take your time." "Leave him with me for a while." "You accursed traitor!" "God grant you die at your enemies' hands, and pay for your crimes beneath the ax." "Amen, amen!" "So be it!" "What is it, my sweet?" "What ails you?" "Three days without seeing me." "Woe to the wretched woman whose only desire is to be with you!" "Do you think a love so full as mine can ever falter where e'er I go?" "Whose steps are those?" "You wish to know?" "Yes, I do wish to know." "A wench entrusted to me by a friar." "What friar?" "The prior, the fat one." "Let me see her." "You want to see her?" "May your eyes jump from your head!" "Am I not sufficient for you?" "Go then, and forget about me for ever!" "I do not want to see that wench or any other." "only you, my love." "But I have come to speak with her." "Put on your mantle and let us go." "My mantle." "At this hour?" "Go where?" "My master CaIisto has fallen in love with MeIibea, like a madman, and he has need of me and you." "So, as he has need of both of us, we could make some gain from it." "Good news?" "Good?" "As good as when the doctor learns that people are ill." "May I say a word?" "Speak." "Sir, I would not trust that old whore." "Why do you call her "old whore"?" "You think she takes it as an insult?" "If someone shouts "old whore" amidst 100 women, she will turn." "Even the dogs bark "old whore" as she passes." "It seems you know her well." "When I was a boy, my mother sent me to wait upon her." "Why did you leave her?" "I'd rather not recall." "What does she do?" "She weaves and sews, distiIIs perfumes, makes ointments, mends lost maidenheads, she pimps, and she casts spells, too." "When the French legation came, she sold one of her wenches as a virgin three times." "Why not one hundred?" "To make love potions, she had bones from a stag's heart, the rope of a hanged man, a thousand things." "But it was all lies." "Do not disparage CeIestina out of envy of Sempronio." "If I have a cuirass for him, you will not lack a smock." "I envious?" "When did I ever hinder you so as to profit myself?" "Someone is at the door." "Who is it?" "I." "And with a worthy person." "So I see." "Sir!" "It is Sempronio and an old whore!" "Who is that?" "My companion Parmeno." "What he said sounds ill." "Does he not sigh for Areusa?" "He dies for her." "But Areusa would aim higher." "Leave him to me." "I offer them to you with my own life, if, as you promise, you bring health to my Iife." "As the goldsmith's work increases the value of gold, so your elegance and generosity makes your gift more precious." "Go, and return quickly." "I long to know the result of your errand." "You can rest easy." "A speedy payment ensures a speedy service." "Go, go." "May God be with you." "And protect you for me." "Do you know who I am?" "What a fright you gave me." "Has your master sent you?" "I see you don't remember me." "My mother sent me to wait on you as a boy." "Jesus!" "So you are Parmeno, CIaudina's son?" "The very same, old whore." "Damn you to hell!" "How dare you?" "May the fire of the pox burn you." "Your mother was as much an old whore and witch as I." "We were taken together and accused together." "If she confessed and paid with her life, the fault wasn't mine." "Don't you remember when you'd sleep at my feet?" "How could I not remember?" "And how you'd take me up and press me to your breasts." "A pox on you for a rogue!" "Aren't you ashamed to talk thus?" "But leave off jesting, tell me why you are against me." "I Iove my master, and would not have him suffer unrequited love." "He will not suffer, he's in my hands." "I'm young but not a fool." "In your hands lies deceit." "Come, simpleton." "Let us drink something." "By talking we'II understand each other." "Sit down." "What do you care about your master?" "Masters have never been friends of servants." "However, you'II always have a good friend in Sempronio." "And good money!" "He that rises by evil arts faIIs with greater speed than he rose." "I don't want iII-gotten gain." "I do!" "By fair means or foul, my house shall prosper." "Come here, whoreson." "You know nothing of the world or what the good life is." "I may be old, but you'd better not come too close." "Is there no movement at all down in Venus' court?" "It's like a scorpion's tail!" "Worse." "That stings without swelling." "And this..." "This makes for nine months swelling." "Oh, Parmeno!" "If you would, what a good life we might lead." "Sempronio and you are two of a kind." "In drinking, in eating, in wenching together." "By the way, what about Areusa?" "No, don't say anything, it isn't necessary." "You have here the one who will win her for you." "No." "I don't trust you." "EIicia!" "CeIestina!" "well, I'II be blessed!" "AII these visits!" "Be quiet, you fool." "Sempronio and I have got other matters of great importance." "Did you speak with Parmeno?" "Be reassured." "That whoreson is ours." "And MeIibea?" "My master wants to know how it is going." "I'm busy at it." "MeIibea is fair." "CaIisto, generous." "Money splits hard rocks." "It passes over rivers dry-footed." "There is no place so high that an ass laden with gold cannot manage to reach it." "I conjure thee, sad pluto, lord of the infernal deep." "I, CeIestina, your most notorious friend, conjure you by the power of the vipers from which this oil was made, so that you come without delay." "In this yarn you will remain until MeIibea buys it, and with it in such a way be entangled that the more she beholds it the more you shall pierce her heart with love for CaIisto, with a love so strong and so unaIterabIe, that she will cast off all shame and tell me everything, ask for my help, and reward my works and my messages." "If you do not do it, you shall have me for your mortal enemy." "I shall open your eternally dark dungeons." "I shall wound your eyes with a beam of light." "I gave her a hundred crowns." "Did I do well?" "The worst of giving her money is that you become her slave." "How do I become her slave?" "When secrets you tell, your freedom you sell." "The saying is good, but why tell it to me?" "It grieves me to see you faII in the hands of that bawd." "You obviously do not grieve where I do." "Whatever remedy Sempronio brings, you take away with your mistrust." "I had rather you be angry with me now than punish me later for not warning you." "Why speak ill of one who matters most to me?" "I lose by my honesty, others thrive by knavery." "Let CeIestina fleece him of what she can." "I'II get something." "How is this, CeIestina?" "What good angel brings you here?" "The poor are always in need." "I wanted to sell a little yarn." "Is your mistress here?" "Why?" "So you can spin your yarn again inside?" "Come to my house one day." "I'II give you a bleach that will leave your hair as fair as gold." "Can I see MeIibea?" "I don't know." "And I'II give you some powder to perfume your breath." "It smells a little, and nothing is worse in a woman." "It is pain and more pain." "The pleasure has barely arrived when it has to end." "That, my dear, is love." "So simple to lose." "So hard to win." "CeIestina has come." "She is outside." "CeIestina?" "Stay there and tell me if my mother returns." "Are you CeIestina?" "The very same, my lady, until the good Lord pleases." "Here you are." "And if you want no more..." "Wait." "I do not dare to tell you the reason I have come." "Do not get flustered." "I can do little if I cannot help you." "tell me what you need." "I need nothing, my lady." "It is another who has need of you." "Ask for what you want, whoever it may be for." "I come from a man who is sick unto death." "But a word from your mouth could cure him." "If you do not speak plainly, I cannot understand you." "Speak without fear." "AII fear fled when I beheld you." "You are so beautiful, MeIibea!" "For God's love, tell me for once who this sick man is!" "He is a young gentleman, noble, a handsome youth." "truly an elegant man." "His name is CaIisto." "How dare you, bawd?" "holy Mother, my lady." "Listen to me and you will see this isn't a bawd's doing, but an act of charity." "Do not mention that madman again or else I will faII down dead!" "What word could I say to him that were not unworthy of me?" "The poor man was told you knew a prayer to St. AppoIIonia to cure toothache." "If that is all..." "No, it isn't all." "Then tell me." "That girdle which you wear is said to have touched all the relics that are in Rome and jerusalem." "So, if it does not vex you..." "As you have come with good intentions, I can breathe easily again." "It is a good and pious work to comfort the afflicted and care for the sick." "Parmeno, my son, you don't know how happy I'd be to see you visit my poor house with Sempronio." "To ease your troubles with some wenches." "Wenches?" "Wenches..." "Because you have enough of old women with me." "You promised to win her." "Don't think I've lost my memory with the years." "Three times I have almost had her for you." "I said she was ripe for picking." "But now what matters is to find your master." "How can you make amends to this old woman who risked her life for you today?" "Did she look so ill on you?" "No sooner did I name you than she called me a witch, a bawd, a lying old woman." "But all that sourness I soon turned into honey." "What did you ask from her?" "The girdle she wore at her waist." "She gave it to you?" "tell me what you will give me." "For Christ's sake!" "Ask whatever you want!" "For a worthless mantle, this poor woman will give you the girdle she wore about her." "You'II have a hundred mantIes!" "Do not fly so high." ""To offer much to him that asks little is to give nothing."" "Let me see that glorious girdle held worthy to gird so beautiful a body." "Take it." "If I don't die, I'II also give you its owner." "What secrets you have seen!" "You will see more, and will enjoy it more, if you lose it not by saying such nonsense." "Be quiet, ma'am, he and I understand each other well." "Let's see if by enjoying her girdle, he will not want to enjoy MeIibea." "CeIestina was here this afternoon." "Yes, mother." "And what did she want?" "To sell some yarn." "If she comes back, do not make her welcome." "If she sees only honesty in you, she will stay away." "You do well to warn me." "Now I know of whom I ought to be wary." "God be with you, father." "And with you, my dear." "Were it not better for me to have pleased him and cured myself, before CaIisto, doubting a good answer from me, puts his eyes on the love of another?" "Why is it not granted to a woman to reveal her torment, her burning love, as it is to men?" "CaIisto would not have cause to complain, nor I to live in pain." "The nightwatch!" "Better they shouldn't see us." "Wait until I call you." "Whatever you say." "Areusa!" "It is I, CeIestina." "Areusa, seeing you brings joy to my eyes." "What brings you at this hour?" "I was in bed." "With the hens?" "The house will never thrive." "I'II get dressed, for I am frozen." "No, go back to bed and we shall talk there." "Yes, for I don't feel well." "How sweet the clothes smell when you move!" "I've never seen a girl so buxom, praise the Lord." "What pains you, my sweet?" "I'm dying of women's trouble." "I feel my womb is in my breast and wants to leave my body." "Leave it to me." "I know something of this." "Here?" "No, not there, higher up." "There!" "There!" "I feel it on my stomach." "God bless you, and glorious St. michael the archangel!" "How fresh and spirited you are!" "What breasts!" "What a form!" "Oh, that I were a man and could enjoy such perfection!" "Why do you cover them up?" "God did not give them to you to let them wither under six layers of cloth." "Give me something for the pain and stop jesting." "Every strong scent is good for this ill." "Mint, rue, wormwood, rosemary, incense." "The best medicine of all is something I always had to hand, but I won't say it as you would seem to be so pure." "You see how I'm suffering and you won't cure me?" "You understand me well enough." "Don't play the fool." "Stop it!" "That tickles!" "You know what I told you about Parmeno." "Why deny what is so easily given?" "You know I have a friend, I won't wrong him." "Why doesn't he cure your women's trouble?" "He's gone with his captain to the war in Granada." "Parmena, however, is waiting outside." "How say you?" "Do you want him to come up?" "Woe is me!" "What if he heard?" "What does it matter?" "Enjoy him, and let him enjoy you." "And though he may gain much, you shall lose nothing." "Have two at Ieast." "Have you not got two ears, two feet and two hands?" "Have you not got two sheets on the bed, two smocks to shift you?" "Come in, Parmeno, my son." "My God!" "kill me, I don't know where to go!" "I have always been ashamed with Parmeno!" "I'II quit you of this shame and speak for you both." "For he's as timid as you." "My lady..." "God preserve such beauty." "You are welcome, gentle sir." "Listen to me, both of you." "Parmeno has always burned with love for you." "Now you see his pain, will you kill him?" "She won't even look at me." "Say I will give her all I have!" "What does he say?" "He says that from now on he will help Sempronio and not his master in a piece of business we have." "Is that not so, Parmeno?" "Isn't that what you promise?" "I promise!" "I promise!" "Go on!" "rascal!" "I want to see what you are worth before I go!" "FroIic with her in that bed!" "That's what I used to eat when I had better teeth." "Sir, restrain yourself." "Respect the grey hairs of the lady who is here present." "And don't forget to tie them up well, or they'II be bothering the mares again and we'II have the same row as before." "What time is this to return?" "ScoId me not, and I'II tell you the wonders of my good fortune." "Is it to do with MeIibea?" "No!" "There can be no one on earth as joyful as I because no one has been as I have with my Areusa." "So are we all in love?" "You'II see how easy it is to find fault with another's life and how hard to amend one's own." "You do not give me leave to say how I repent of what is passed, how much I will further you in all I am able." "I Iike your words well." "I'II heed you when I see your works." "But, tell me." "What is this story of Areusa?" "What should I tell you?" "How much did it cost you?" "You gave her something?" "Nothing." "But I have invited her to eat." "Come with us!" "Most willingly!" "Let us be like brothers, enjoy ourselves, feast." "The master will fast for us all." "Is he still asleep?" "As he spends the night dreaming of MeIibea, he sleeps in the day." "Before he wakens, we'II send food to CeIestina so she may prepare it." "quickly, so the master doesn't see." "What will you send, so that they take you for a generous suitor?" "White bread." "Wine from Monviedro." "Ham which the master's tenants brought." "If he asks for it, I'II make him believe he ate it himself." "Come on!" "To the loves of our master and the lovely MeIibea." "MeIibea, lovely?" "Fine clothes and ointments!" "I'm not singing my own praises, but I have nothing to envy MeIibea." "For a maiden, she has the breasts of a mother of three." "I know not what CaIisto sees in her that he forsakes others." "Each pedIar praises his wares." "What one hears around is the contrary." "When many say it, many are deceived." "The people do not pardon faults in their lords." "If MeIibea had any, we would know it." "CaIisto is a nobleman, MeIibea is rich." "It is normal he should prefer her." "Base he is who holds himself base." "Let everyone strive to be good of himself not seek his virtue in the nobleness of his ancestors." "Sempronio, do not answer her or we shall never finish." "tell me." "How did you leave CaIisto?" "He wants nothing of the world until you arrive with MeIibea, tied to your waist." "blessed be God!" "How well you Iike that, and how you enjoy it." "Whoresons!" "RascaIs!" "You'd Iike to be young, wouldn't you?" "No one is so young that he can't die tomorrow, nor so old that he can't live another day." "CeIestina!" "The voice deceives me or it's Lucrecia." "Let her come in and enjoy herself with us." "As she's a servant, she cannot enjoy her youth." "It is most true." "For servants there are no pleasures and no sweet reward of love." "especially with the ladies of today." "They never say your name." ""Why did you eat that, greedy?"" ""You call that clean, slut?"" ""Where are you going, mangy?"" "I'II only be called by my name." "May God bless this great company." "Great, daughter?" "I see you didn't know me in my good times." "At this table, I've had nine wenches seated, and the eldest no more than eighteen." "You'd have a Iot of work, for wenches are most troublesome to keep." "Thanks to them, gentlemen old and young, bishops and sacristans, filled my house with chickens, hens, geese, partridges, doves, suckling pigs." "And as for wine..." "I never wanted for any." "And how they treated me." "They bowed down before me as if I were a duchess." "They'd be saying Mass, but when they saw me come in, they'd bow down." "They would do and say nothing until they kissed my mantle." "There's no profit in turning over good memories." "We'II go and solace ourselves, and you attend to this maiden." "Come then, Lucrecia, my daughter." "What has brought you here?" "To ask that you come to see my mistress." "She feels very pained, with with faintings, and pangs in her breast." "I marvel at this." "Pangs..." "In such a young woman?" "holy Mother, what pain is this that possesses my body?" "Love." "delicious love." "A hidden fire." "A pleasing wound." "A joyful torment." "A sweet death." "If it is as you say, I doubt my recovery." "God gives the illness, and also the medicine." "I know a flower that will free you from all of this." "What is it called?" "CaIisto." "MeIibea!" "My angel, what ails you?" "Open your eyes!" "Speak softly, make no noise." "What will you have me do, my precious pearl?" "You carried away my liberty with my girdle." "I am no Ionger afraid." "You took from my bosom what I never thought to reveal, to you or to anyone." "Rest your secrets in my lap." "I shall make it happen that your passion may be fulfilled, and CaIisto's desire." "If you don't want me to die, find a way for me to see him soon." "For you to see him, and speak to him." "Tonight, by the doors of your house, when it strikes twelve." "What news, joy of my soul, ease of my sorrows?" "I bring a great prize." "MeIibea is at your service." "She is more yours than her own." "More at your service than at that of her father PIeberio, however he try." "Don't say that, or my men will say you are mad." "Why do you cross yourself?" "Pay the labor." "Such news deserves it." "Instead of the mantle and the smock, take this chain." "Go on with your story and with my joy." "Sir..." "MeIibea burns more for you than you for her." "MeIibea loves you." "MeIibea wants to see you." "MeIibea passes the day thinking about you." "MeIibea is your slave." "For her, that is freedom." "If you are lying, to pay me back with good words, do not fear." "tell the truth." "Your coming and going deserve more than this." "Whether I lie or tell the truth, you can know tonight, going to her house at midnight." "I die till that hour come." "It is always harder to suffer good fortune than bad." "We are never easy with prosperity, while in adversity we always find some comfort." "Thank you for the little chain." "Men, my clothes!" ""little chain", the old whore said!" "However iII it be divided, my share will still be sufficient." "Why do you laugh, Sempronio?" "At CeIestina's haste." "She cannot believe that he really gave her that chain." "A bawd accustomed to fixing up seven virgins for a few coins." "What do you expect her to do with all that gold?" "Make her booty safe." "Men!" "early rising does not hurry on the dawn." "It won't strike twelve until midnight." "What do you know of time and its mysteries?" "Now I know it is worse for the knave to await his execution than to suffer it." "Your parents speak of you." "Listen to their haste to marry you." "MeIibea must have a husband of her rank to protect what I have gained and so we can leave this world in peace." "For me, it will be as you say, and it will be so for MeIibea, for, God be praised, there is none more obedient, more demure or more honest." "It is best to free her from evil tongues." "What virtue is so perfect that it does not have detractors?" "If you want to protect a maiden's good name, marry her promptly." "It's as if they already knew of my love for CaIisto." "Hush, and listen." "What do you say?" "Do you think she knows what a man is, or what marriage is?" "MeIibea is innocence itself." "They mustn't think of marriage." "It is better to be a good lover than a bad wife." "Enough of husbands, parents and relatives." "If I don't have CaIisto, I don't have life." "If I want to live, it's so that he may enjoy me." "What do they know of love!" "Sempronio, see if PIeberio's men are around." "There isn't a soul on the street." "Let us go then, but following the less frequented route." "We are on time." "Parmeno..." "See if she is at the gate." "If I appear, MeIibea may fret that others know of what she does with so much fear." "That's wise advice!" "If she had turned back because I didn't think!" "There he is." "Make sure it is he." "I know his voice." "That fool would have me as his shield in this danger." "How do I know who's behind those doors?" "Or if we've been betrayed." "At the first sound we hear, we take to our heels." "And run like the very wind." "If our master is heard, he won't escape from PIeberio's men." "Are you there, my lady?" "Listen." "CaIisto, your serf." "I am fearful it is not MeIibea but one who imitates her voice." "My lord!" "My happiness!" "Everything the good messenger told you, I now confirm to you." "Cease in your complaints, and do with me as you wish." "What tongue could tell you the favor you do me?" "How can I thank you for giving your love to an unworthy man?" "I curse these doors and locks and my feeble strength which prevent our joy." "CaIisto, my lord, what is that noise?" "Do not fear, it will be my men chasing off those who pass by." "Take care, you are in danger!" "My soul is with you, but we must part." "I do for your honor what I wouldn't for my Iife." "tell me when I'II see you." "Tomorrow, at this time, by the orchard." "quickly, we'II be cut off!" "And if they've killed CaIisto?" "What does that matter now?" "They aren't PIeberio's men." "It's the nightwatch." "It's the same." "Sir, make haste and be gone." "people are coming with torches." "Do you hear noises?" "MeIibea!" "She does not hear you." "I will call." "MeIibea!" "Sir?" "What is that noise?" "I was thirsty, father." "Lucrecia went for some water." "Go to sleep." "They had fear in their voices." "And if they knew from where I come?" "Sir, do you desire anything?" "Go and rest." "You've earned it." "You will be well rewarded for the good service you have lent to me." "Where shall we go?" "To bed to sleep or to the kitchen to eat?" "You go where you wish." "Before the sun rises, I want to get the share I'm owed by CeIestina." "You are right." "Money goes beyond all friendship." "You're complaining now?" "The stitches hurt!" "You should have complained about another needle!" "I complained all right." "Someone at this time?" "My mother!" "Who is calling?" "Your sons!" "Open the door." "I have no sons abroad at this time of night!" "It is Parmeno and Sempronio." "Open up, we've come to eat something with you." "Why are you here so late?" "What has become of CaIisto's hopes?" "Were it not for us, his soul would be seeking eternal rest." "What happened to you?" "tell me how it was!" "I don't have a farthing to my name." "Get it from your master." "He is generous enough for that and more." "Waken EIicia and eat what you want." "I have things to do." "CaIisto gave us 100 crowns." "Then he gave us the chain." "Let's not lose all by seeking to gain more." "He that embraceth much, hoIdeth little." "Gave "us", Sempronio?" "Have you lost your wits?" "What your master gives you has nothing to do with what I earn!" "Listen to the old woman!" "If you want, take all the profit." "Now she sees how it has grown, she'II not part with anything." "I know you do not want what you ask." "You are thinking I'II have you tied all your lives to Areusa and EIicia and not offer others." "But she who could help you with those, now we know each other, will provide you with another ten!" "Save your flattery, old bawd!" "I am an old woman of God's making." "I Iive by my trade, as each one does, honestly." "I seek not those who seek not me." "They come to my house!" "And do not think to misuse me, for there is justice for everyone!" "I told you what she was!" "And you, Parmeno." "Do not think me your slave because you know my secrets or because of your mother!" "Do not remind me of such things or I will send you to join her!" "EIicia!" "EIicia, arise!" "Let EIicia sleep!" "EIicia!" "Come down!" "Bring me my mantle!" "I'II go and tell the nightwatch!" "You dare against a docile sheep?" "Stand up to those who carry a sword!" "Not against my hairpins!" "You old miser!" "You would die for the gold!" "Are you not content with a third of what we gained?" "Put me not out of my wits!" "You would not have me tell about CaIisto's matters and yours!" "Shout or scream!" "But you do as you promised or you end your days now!" "Stop him, Parmeno!" "Don't let that madman kill her!" "Justice!" "I'm being murdered here by ruffians!" "I'II send you to hell!" "EIicia, daughter!" "I am slain!" "Neighbors!" "help!" "They have killed CeIestina!" "Make an end of her!" "As few enemies as possible!" "By the back door!" "EIicia!" "This is the justice which is carried out on violent killers." "As you do, so it will be done to you!" "Sir!" "It is Sosia who comes." "Sir!" "Parmeno and Sempronio?" "I've been waiting an hour for my horse!" "They've been executed." "What did you say?" "What you heard." "What did they do?" "They killed CeIestina." "CeIestina?" "Why?" "Because she wouldn't share with them the golden chain you gave her." "My name in everyone's mouth." "This was all for MeIibea." "But let all disasters come at once, I'II do my duty to her." "That glory matters more to me than all these deaths!" "Get out of my house!" "Ruffian, villain, liar, swindIer!" "You've been fooling me, promising much and giving nothing!" "Listen, Areusa, wait." "Three times I saved you from the Iaw." "Why do I do it?" "Why do I let you come through my door?" "By the bones of my father and of the mother who bore me, I'II have them give you 1,000 Iashes across your back!" "Areusa, go carefully with me." "If I get nettIed, someone else will end in tears." "Areusa!" "Areusa!" "What is it?" "Why do you go in mourning?" "My heart is blacker than this mantle." "And bIacker still than my veil." "I cannot speak." "Come in, and do not despair." "tell me what it is." "Is it bad for both of us?" "Does it concern me?" "CeIestina, our CeIestina, stands now in judgement before God." "What are you saying?" "I saw them stab her 1,000 times." "CeIestina?" "CeIestina dead?" "CaIisto gave her a chain of gold for mediating with MeIibea." "When she saw herself so rich, she wanted to keep it all, not sharing with Sempronio or Parmeno." "When they saw her greed, they took their swords and hacked her to pieces." "And what has become of them?" "They were beheaded." "CaIisto and MeIibea, guilty of so many deaths!" "May your love end badly." "May all that sweetness turn bitter!" "Be quiet!" "Stop your Iamenting." "Look at me." "Look at me!" "Dry your tears." "pull yourself together." "If there's no remedy, there may be revenge." "We have our revenge at hand." "It is high, but there is no better place." "Go up, sir." "I'II go with you, for who knows who is above." "Stay here." "I'II go up alone." "I have you in my arms and cannot believe it." "I am so bewildered and confused that I cannot fully enjoy my good fortune." "Enjoy, sir, what I enjoy." "Be contented, as I am, that we can see each other and be together." "I have spent my whole life in search of this." "You want me to reject the gift I'm given." "Do not ask, or take, what you cannot give back to me." "I have sailed seas of fire, desiring you." "Am I not to disembark when I finally reach port?" "By my Iife, sir." "Enjoy what lovers usually do enjoy, but do not rob me of that jewel I received at birth." "Forgive me, my love." "Forgive these shameless hands." "They only want to feel your wondrous body, the softness of your skin, the exquisiteness of your flesh." "Go away, Lucrecia!" "Why, my darling?" "I should be proud to have a witness to my glory." "My lord, I want no witness to my sin." "Look at them." "Lying in each other's arms, and Parmeno and Sempronio beheaded." "Now you cannot deny my love." "And do not deny me that I see you by day." "Pass often by my door." "And at night, wherever you say." "Sosia?" "Is that you?" "The famous Sosia whom I so longed to meet?" "The good friend of his friends?" "Let me embrace you." "Come." "I see there are more virtues in you than I was told of." "Let me look at you." "Let me look at you." "How you resemble my unfortunate Parmeno." "I suppose you know me." "No one speaks of beautiful women without first remembering you." "You have gained my love without need of praise." "Come." "Come, Sosia." "You know how dearly I Ioved Parmeno." "And I couId not but love all those dear to him." "My lady..." "Now that you know the love I bear you, I warn you to take heed against danger." "I would not have you suffer the fate of Parmeno." "It was enough to cry over him." "What danger do you speak of?" "That which you risk accompanying your master when he goes to see that lady." "When will you go back there?" "Tonight." "At twelve." "Look how quickly this boy learns." "Where?" "In MeIibea's orchard." "Then go with care." "God gave you two eyes and two ears." "I hope to enjoy myself with you for a Iong time." "And now tell us how, because we want to go." "I long more for this night, in which I may please you, than you long to be revenged." "Choose how you prefer that I should kill him." "I beg you, Areusa, do not put it in that madman's hands." "We do not wish to suffer greater harm." "Do not worry." "Perhaps he can tell us of some death which does not cause disturbance." "Now and then I use my cudgel, that my sword may rest." "Then use the cudgel." "Leave him beaten, not slain." "Let us not start sniveIIing now." "Let him do what he will, and kill him if he pleases." "Let MeIibea weep as you have wept." "Any death shall content us." "May God guide your hand, and protect you." "Let us go, sister." "Look at those evil whores, so high and mighty." "I'II have to think how I can get out of this undertaking." "Lazaro, son, go to lame Traso and his two companions, and tell them that, as I am otherwise employed tonight, they are to go tonight at twelve to PIeberio's walls." "beloved traitor!" "Where were you, sun of my nights?" "Where did you hide your light?" "Let my clothes alone." "And if you want to know if my smock is of silk, why do you touch my shift?" "To eat the bird, you first must pluck the feathers." "If you are so hungry, Lucrecia could bring you something." "There is no other food for me, save your body and your beauty." "I wish that dawn would never come, that there would never be an end to caressing you, to the peace I feel with you now." "Hush!" "It is I who enjoy it." "I who gain by it." "And you, sir, who grants me an incomparable favor when you deign to come down to me." "My lady, there are people fighting in the street!" "help!" "That is Sosia's voice." "Your sword!" "Woe is me, arm yourself!" "Do not fight against those you do not know!" "I must protect my own, they are but two pages." "No!" "holy Virgin!" "CaIisto!" "Sir!" "He does not speak." "Confession!" "My lord and my protector, his neck broken." "He who my arms embraced is now not even a shadow." "And he who my lips kissed is now no more than a dream." "Heavens, your father must not find you here!" "Good-bye, my light." "My lady, do you hear?" "Good-bye to my joy." "Do not faint, for God's sake!" "Don't you hear the servants?" "My lady..." "They have carried away my love, dead." "Madame, have courage to suffer as you had it to enjoy!" "pleasure was had for so little time." "How quickly sorrow came!" "How did I not know what I had?" "Why did I not enjoy of that glory more?" "My lady..." "Leave me be." "Or I shall fill my father's house with wailing!" "Sir!" "Sir!" "What is it, Lucrecia?" "MeIibea!" "Where is my daughter?" "MeIibea, daughter!" "What is it?" "What ails you?" "What do you want?" "Speak to me!" "tell me the reason for your sorrow and we shall ease it." "I have a mortal wound deep within my heart which does not let me speak for it is in the most secret place." "Strive not to come to me, father." "If you understand what I say you will end by forgiving me." "Dearest mother!" "Why do you weep?" "tell me." "What ails you?" "For days and days, a gentleman did sigh for me." "His love overcame me." "I opened your house to him." "With Iadders, he broke into your orchard." "And broke my chaste purpose." "I lost my virginity." "He came last night, as always." "But fate had ordered everything according to her disordered whim, and in cutting off his life, did also cut off my hope." "would it not be cruelty to live while my love is dead?" "My love and my lord!" "My master!" "Wait for me." "My daughter!" "Why did you not want me to restrain you?" "Why did you not have pity on your mother?" "Why were you so cruel to me?" "Why did you leave me, sad and alone, tired and old in this valley of tears?"