I Know Thee Not, Old Man

Tom Hiddleston as King Henry V in The Hollow Crown (2012)

Listen to:

I Know Thee Not, Old Man (2:06)

from Henry IV, Part II

by William Shakespeare

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Henry IV, part 2 – Act V, Scene 4

Prince Henry, having indeed redeemed himself in his father’s eyes,  

upon the death of his father now King Henry V, 

walks along a London street, where he passes Falstaff, 

his profligate former mentor of vices. 

The old sinner calls out piteously to him, 

“My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!” 

King Henry replies:

KING HENRY V 

I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers;

How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!

I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,

So surfeit-swell'd, so old and so profane;

But, being awaked, I do despise my dream.

Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace;

Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape

For thee thrice wider than for other men.

Reply not to me with a fool-born jest:

Presume not that I am the thing I was;

For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,

That I have turn'd away my former self;

So will I those that kept me company.

When thou dost hear I am as I have been,

Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,

The tutor and the feeder of my riots:

Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,

As I have done the rest of my misleaders,

Not to come near our person by ten mile.

For competence of life I will allow you,

That lack of means enforce you not to evil:

And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,

We will, according to your strengths and qualities,

Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord,

To see perform'd the tenor of our word. Set on.