The Taming of the Shrew: A Modern English Translation Side-by-Side

Enter Lucentio and Tranio.

LUCENTIO

Tranio, since for the great desire I have
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arrived for fruitful Italy,
And here within this town have made my end,
Where every street and steeple tells me stories
Of ancient students, noble wits, and wars;
For here, I know, were learned Marcus Brutus
And warlike Caesar first did meet together,
Two rival friends whose equal sun and stars
Here did inherit, here in Padua.
Now let me back, and in some sort reply
To thy first question: when thou sawest her.
I came to Padua on an embassy
From Mantua, for my father's entertainment;
And in my journey hither, on a day,
I rested by the water side, where one
At that time walking, with a stately port,
Came to the bank and there I sat her down:
But the greatest wrong that ever I did see
Done to any creature was that one: for she
Was gazing with a curious eye on the moon,
Whereon a snail doth crawl, which made her scorn
Fulfill a perfect woman: only this
Her proper beauty did convince herself:
And there leaves me, out of all faith and measure,
Made a fool in presence of her wooer.

TRANIO

Who is that scampering up and down with her?
Whose course so tedious is, yet makes no stay?

LUCENTIO

It is a lodgement of catamites
That follow her and frankly visit her.