The Two Gentlemen of Verona understandable when one considers the cultural and social "milieu" of the play itself. Language is of primary importance in the play insofar as Valentine and Proteus speak in blank verse, but Launce and Speed speak (for the most part) in prose. More specifically, the actual content of many of the speeches serve to illustrate the pompousness of Valentine and Proteus' exalted outlook, and the more realistic and practical outlook of the servants. This is most apparent in Act 3, Scene 1. Valentine has just given a lengthy speech lamenting his banishment and musing on how he cannot possibly survive without
Proteus of sacrifice, and return three days later. He followed these instructions, and upon returning, he found in one of the carcasses a swarm of bees which he took to his apiary. The bees were never again troubled by disease. The children of Proteus, besides Eidothea, include Polygonus and Telegonus, who both challenged Heracles at the behest of Hera and were killed, one of Heracles' many successful encounters with representatives of the pre-Olympian world order. Another Proteus occurs in Greek myth as one of the fifty sons of King Aegyptus. There are also legends concerning Apollonius of Tyana that say Proteus