You will become a true lover soon, and exhaust your friends with
your endless chatter about your feelings. Look, if you really love
the beautiful Hero, enjoy it. I will speak to her and her father
about the matter, and I'll convince Leonato to promise
Hero to you. Isn't that the reason you told me all
this?
CLAUDIO
250
How sweetly you do minister to love,
That know love's grief by his complexion!
But lest my liking might too sudden seem,
I would have salved it with a longer treatise.
CLAUDIO
You can see that I'm sick with love, and
you're taking care of me in just the right way! But I
didn't want you to think that I'm hasty in my
emotions. I was going to explain my feelings with a longer
story.
DON PEDRO
What need the bridge much broader than the flood?
255
The fairest grant is the necessity.
Look what will serve is fit. 'Tis once, thou lovest,
And I will fit thee with the remedy.
I know we shall have reveling tonight.
I will assume thy part in some disguise
260
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio,
And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart
And take her hearing prisoner with the force
And strong encounter of my amorous tale.
Then after to her father will I break,
265
And the conclusion is, she shall be thine.
In practice let us put it presently.
DON PEDRO
Why speak longer than you have to? That's like building
a bridge wider than the river it crosses. Whatever gets the job done
is best. You love Hero; that's all I need to know to want
to find a remedy. They're going to have a costume party
with dancing tonight. I'll disguise myself as you and
pour out “my” feelings to Hero, taking her
prisoner with the force of my love story. Then I'll talk
to her father. And in the end, she's yours!
Let's get started right away.
