Page 2189 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

Have had resort to you; for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

BRUTUS
Kneel not, gentle Portia.

PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. [280]

Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I your self
But as it were in sort or limitation,

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, [285]
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.

BRUTUS
You are my true and honourable wife,

As dear to me as are the ruddy drops [290]
That visit my sad heart.

PORTIA
If this were true, then should I know this secret.
I grant I am a woman; but withal

A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife.
I grant I am a woman; but withal [295]
A woman well-reputed, Cato’s daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,

Being so fathered and so husbanded?
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose ’em.
I have made strong proof of my constancy, [300]
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband’s secrets?

BRUTUS