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Home : The Comedy of Errors : Act 2, scene i Read the Study Guide: The Comedy of Errors
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The Comedy of Errors
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Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA
ADRIANA and LUCIANA enter.
 ADRIANA
  Neither my husband nor the slave returned
  That in such haste I sent to seek his master?
  Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock.
ADRIANA
Neither my husband nor the slave has returned, even though I sent the slave off running. Surely, Luciana, it's already two o'clock.
 LUCIANA
  Perhaps some merchant hath invited him,
5 And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner.
  Good sister, let us dine and never fret.
  A man is master of his liberty;
  Time is their master, and when they see time
  They'll go or come. If so, be patient, sister.
LUCIANA
Maybe some merchant at the marketplace invited him home for lunch. Sister, let's eat and stop worrying. A man is master of his own freedom: time is his only master, and when the right moment comes along, he'll come or go as he pleases. If this is so, be patient, sister.
 ADRIANA
10 Why should their liberty than ours be more?
ADRIANA
Why should men be more free than women?
 LUCIANA
  Because their business still lies out o' door.
LUCIANA
Because their business lies outside the home.
 ADRIANA
  Look when I serve him so, he takes it ill.
ADRIANA
Listen, when I behave this way toward him, he hates it.
 LUCIANA
  O, know he is the bridle of your will.
LUCIANA
Oh, you should know that he's the bridle to your will.
 ADRIANA
  There's none but asses will be bridled so.
ADRIANA
Only a mule would agree to that.
 LUCIANA
15 Why, headstrong liberty is lashed with woe.
  There's nothing situate under heaven's eye
  But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky.
  The beasts, the fishes, and the wingèd fowls
  Are their males' subjects and at their controls.
20 Man, more divine, the masters of all these,
LUCIANA
Why, too much freedom leads to woe. There's nothing under heaven that doesn't have its limits. The beasts on the earth, the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky are all subject to the males of their species and under their control. Men, who are nearest to God, are the masters of all these creatures. And men—the lords of the wide

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