The Plays of William Shakspeare

She's an adultress; I have said, with whom :
More, she's a traitor; and Camillo is
A federary with her; and one that knows
What she should shame to know herself,
But with her most vile principal, that she's
A bed-swerver, even as bad as those
That vulgars give bold titles; ay, and privy
To this their late escape.

Her.

No, by my life,
Privy to none of this: How will this grieve you,
When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that
You thus have publish'd me? Gentle my lord,
You scarce can right me throughly then, to say
You did mistake.

Leon.

No, no; if I mistake

In those foundations which I build upon,
The centre is not big enough to bear

A school-boy's top.-Away with her to prison:
He, who shall speak for her, is afar off guilty,
But that he speaks.

Her.
There's some ill planet reigns:
I must be patient, till the heavens look
With an aspect more favourable.-Good my lords,
I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are; the want of which vain dew,
Perchance, shall dry your pities: but I have
That honourable grief lodg'd here, which burns
Worse than tears drown: 'Beseech you all, my
lords,

With thoughts so qualified as your charities
Shall best instruct you, measure me ;-and so
The king's will be perform'd !
Leon.

Shall I be heard?
[To the Guards.
Her. Who is't, that goes with me?-'Beseech
your highness,

My women may be with me; for, you see,
My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools;
There is no cause: when you shall know, your
mistress

Has deserv'd prison; then abound in tears,
As I come out this action, I now go on,
Is for my better grace.-Adieu, my lord;

I never wish'd to see you sorry; now,

We need no grave to bury honesty ;
There's not a grain of it, the face to sweeten
Of the whole dungy earth.

Leon.

What! lack I credit? 1 Lord. I had rather you did lack, than I, my lord,

Upon this ground: and more it would content me
To have her honour true, than your suspicion ;
Be blam'd for't how you might.

Leon.
Why, what need we
Commune with you of this? but rather follow
Our forceful instigation? Our prerogative
Calls not your counsels; but our natural goodness
Imparts this: which-if you (or stupified,
Or seeming so in skill,) cannot, or will not,
Relish as truth, like us; inform yourselves,
We need no more of your advice: the matter,
The loss, the gain, the ordering on't, is all
Properly ours.
And I wish, my liege,
You had only in your silent judgment tried rt,
Without more overture.
How could that be?
Either thou art most ignorant by age,
Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo's flight,
Added to their familiarity,

Ant.

Leon.

(Which was as gross as ever touch'd conjecture,
That lack'd sight only, nought for approbation,
But only seeing, all other circumstances
Made up to the deed,) doth push on this proceed-
ing.

Yet, for a greater confirmation,

(For, in an act of this importance, 'twere
Most piteous to be mild,) I have despatch'd in post,
To sacred Delphos, to Apollo's temple,
Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know

Of stuff'd sufficiency: Now, from the oracle
They will bring all; whose spiritual counsel had,

I trust, I shall.- -My women, come; you have Shall stop, or spur me. Have I done well?

leave.

Leon. Go, do our bidding; hence.

[Exeunt Queen and Ladies. 1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, call the queen again. Ant. Be certain what you do, sir; lest your justice

Prove violence: in the which three great ones suffer,

Yourself, your queen, your son.
1 Lord.

For her, my lord,-
I dare my life lay down, and will do't, sir,
Please you to accept it, that the queen is spotless
I' the eyes of heaven, and to you; I mean,
In this which you accuse her.

Ant.

If it prove

She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where

I lodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her;
Than when I feel, and see her, no further trust her;
For every inch of woman in the world,
Ay, every dram of woman's flesh, is false,
If she be.

Leon. Hold your peaces.

1 Lord.

Good my lord,

Ant. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves:
You are abus'd, and by some putter-on,
That will be damn'd for't; 'would I knew the

villain,

I would land-damn him: Be she honour-flaw'd,-
I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven;
The second, and the third, nine, and some five;
If this prove true, they'll pay for't: by mine ho-

nour,

I'll geld them all: fourteen they shall not see,
To bring false generations: they are co-heirs;
And I had rather glib myself, than they
Should not produce fair issue.

1 Lord. Well done, my lord.

Leon. Though I am satisfied, and need no more
Than what I know, yet shall the oracle
Give rest to the minds of others; such as he,
Whose ignorant credulity will not
Come up to the truth: So have we thought it good,
From our free person she should be confin'd;
Lest that the treachery of the two, fled hence,
Be left her to perform. Come, follow us;
We are to speak in publick; for this business
Will raise us all.

Ant. [Aside.] To laughter, as I take it,
If the good truth were known.

He must be told on't, and he shall: the office
Becomes a woman best; I'll take't upon me :
If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blister;
And never to my red-look'd anger be
The trumpet any more :-Pray you, Emilia,
Commend my best obedience to the queen;
If she dares trust me with her little babe,
I'll show't the king, and undertake to be
Her advocate to th' loudest: We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o'the child;
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.
Emil.

Most worthy madam,
Your honour, and your goodness, is so evident,
That your free undertaking cannot miss
A thriving issue; there is no lady living,

So meet for this great errand: Please your ladyship
To visit the next room, I'll presently
Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer;
Who, but to-day, hammer'd of this design;
But durst not tempt a minister of honour,
Lest she should be denied.

Keep. Madam, if't please the queen to send the babe,

I know not what I shall incur, to pass it,
Having no warrant.

Paul. You need not fear it, sir:

The child was prisoner to the womb; and is,
By law and process of great nature, thence
Free'd and enfranchis'd: not a party to
The anger of the king; nor guilty of,
If any be, the trespass of the queen.
Keep. I do believe it.
Paul.
Do not you fear: upon
Mine honour, I will stand 'twixt you and danger.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter Leontes, Antigonus, Lords, and other Attendants.

Leon. Nor night nor day, no rest: It is but weakness

To bear the matter thus ; mere weakness, if
The cause were not in being ;-part o'the cause,
She, the adultress; for the harlot king
Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
And level of my brain, plot-proof: but she
I can hook to me: Say, that she were gone,

Conceiving the dishonour of his mother,
He straight declin'd, droop'd, took it deeply;
Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on't in himself;
Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep,
And downright languish'd.-Leave me solely :-go,
See how he fares. [Exit Attend.]-Fye, fye! no
thought of him;

The very thought of my revenges that way
Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty:
And in his parties, his alliance,-Let him be,
Until a time may serve for present vengeance,
Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes
Laugh at me; make their pastime at my sorrow :
They should not laugh, if I could reach them; nor
Shall she, within my power.

1 Attend. Madam, he hath not slept to-night; commanded

None should come at him.

Paul.

Not so hot, good sir;
I come to bring him sleep. 'Tis such as you,-
That creep like shadows by him, and do sigh
At each his needless heavings,-such as you
Nourish the cause of his awaking: I

Do come with words as med'cinal as true;
Honest, as either; to purge him of that humour,
That presses him from sleep.
Leon.
What noise there, ho?
Paul. No noise, my lord; but needful conference,
About some gossips for your highness.

Leon.

How?

Away with that audacious lady: Antigonus,

Ant.

I charg'd thee, that she should not come about me,
I knew, she would.
I told her so, my lord,
On your displeasure's peril, and on mine,
She should not visit you.

Leon.
What, canst not rule her?
Paul. From all dishonesty, he can in this,
(Unless he take the course that you have done,
Commit me, for committing honour,) trust it,
He shall not rule me.

A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door: | You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
A most intelligencing bawd!

Paul.

Not so:

I am as ignorant in that, as you
In so entitling me: and no less honest

[Exit.

Will never do him good, not one of you.
So, so-Farewell; we are gone.
Leon. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to
this.-

Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant, My child? away with't!-even thou, that hast
As this world goes, to pass for honest.
A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence,
Leon.
And see it instantly consum'd with fire;
Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up
straight:

Traitors!

Will you not push her out? Give her the bastardThou, dotard, [to Antigonus.] thou art womantir'd, unroosted

By thy dame Partlet here,-take up the bastard;
Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone.
Paul.
For ever

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

Tak'st up the princess, by that forced baseness
Which he has put upon't!

Leon.

He dreads his wife.

Which, being so horrible, so bloody, must
Lead on to some foul issue: We all kneel.

Leon. I am a feather for each wind that blows:-
Shall I live on, to see this bastard kneei
hus-And call me father? Better burn it now,
Than curse it then. But, be it; let it live:
It shall not neither.-You, sir, come you hither,
[To Antigonus

And now baits me!-This brat is none of mine;
It is the issue of Polixenes :

Hence with it; and, together with the dam,
Commit them to the fire.

Paul.

It is yours;

And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you, 'tis the worse.-Behold, my lords,
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,
The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the
valley,

The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles;

The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger :-
And thou, good goddess nature, which hast made it
So like to him that got it, if thou hast

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours
No yellow in't; lest she suspect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's!

Leon.
A gross hag!
Aud, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,
That wilt not stay her tongue.

Ant.
Hang all the husbands,
That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself
Hardly one subject.

Leon.

Once more, take her hence. Paul. A most unworthy and unnatural lord Can do no more.

You, that have been so tenderly officious
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,
To save this bastard's life for 'tis a bastard,
So sure as this beard's grey,-what will you adven-

ture

To save this brat's life?

Ant.

Any thing, my lord, That my ability may undergo, And nobleness impose: at least, thus much; I'll pawn the little blood which I have left, To save the innocent: any thing possible. Leon. It shall be possible: Swear by this sword, Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant.

I will, my lord. Leon. Mark, and perform it; (seest thou?) for the fail

Of any point in't shall not only be
Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongu'd wife;
Whom, for this time, we pardon. We enjoin thee,
As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it
To some remote and desert place, quite out
Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune
It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,-
On thy soul's peril, and thy body's torture,-
That thou commend it strangely to some place,
Where chance may nurse, or end it: Take it up.

Ant. I swear to do this, though a present death
Had been more merciful.-Come on, poor babe:
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens,
To be thy nurses! Wolves, and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous
In more than this deed doth require! and blessing,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy side,
Poor thing, condemn'd to loss!

Twenty-three days

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,
Hasting to the court.
1 Lord.
So please you, sir, their speed
Hath been beyond account.
Leon.
They have been absent: "Tis good speed; foretells,
The great Apollo suddenly will have
The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady: for, as she hath
Been publickly accus'd, so shall she have
A just and open trial. While she lives,
My heart will be a burden to me.
And think upon my bidding.

ACT III.

Leave me ;

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-The same. A Street in some Town.
Enter Cleomenes and Dion.

Cleo. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet;
Fertile the isle; the temple much surpassing
The common praise it bears.
Dion.

I shall report,
For most it caught me, the celestial habits,
(Methinks, I so should term them,) and the rever
Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!
How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly
It was i'the offering!

Cleo.

But, of all, the burst And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle, Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense, That I was nothing.

Dion.

[ence

If the event o'the journey
Prove as successful to the queen,-O, be't so!-
As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on't.

Cleo.

Great Apollo,
Turn all to the best! These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,

I little like.
Dion.

The violent carriage of it

Will clear, or end, the business: When the oracle,
(Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up,)
Shall the contents discover, something rare,
Even then will rush to knowledge.Go, fresh
And gracious be the issue !

horses ;

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The same. A Court of Justice.
Leontes, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated.
Leon. This sessions (to our great grief, we pro-
nounce,)

Even pushes 'gainst our heart: The party tried,
The daughter of a king; our wife; and one
Of us too much belov'd.-Let us be clear'd
Of being tyrannous, since we so openly
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.
Produce the prisoner.

Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen
Appear in person here in court.-Silence !
Hermione is brought in, guarded; Paulina and La.
dies, attending.

Leon. Read the indictment.

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so receiv'd. But thus,-If powers divine
Behold our human actions, (as they do,)
I doubt not then, but innocence shall make
False accusation blush, and tyranny
Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know,
(Who least will seem to do so,) my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devis'd,
And play'd, to take spectators: For behold me,-
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe
A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopefu! prince,-here standing,
To prate and talk for life, and honour, 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it,
As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for. I appeal

To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
How merited to be so; since he came,
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
With what encounter so uncurrent I
Have strain'd, to appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honour; or, in act, or will,
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
That way inclining; harden'd be the hearts
Cry, Fye upon my grave!

Leon.
I ne'er heard yet,
That any of these bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first.
Her.

That's true enough;
Though 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me.
Leon. You will not own it.

Her.
More than mistress of,
Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,
(With whom I am accus'd,) I do confess,
I lov'd him, as in honour he requir'd;
With such a kind of love, as might become
A lady like me; with a love, even such,
Which not to have done, I think, had been in me
So, and no other, as yourself commanded :
Both disobedience and ingratitude,
[spoke,
Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely,
To you, and toward your friend; whose love had
That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy,
I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
For me to try how all I know of it,
Is, that Camillo was an honest man ;
And, why he left your court, the gods themselves,
Wotting no more than I, are ignorant.

Leon. You knew of his departure, as you know
What you have underta'en to do in his absence.
Her. Sir,

You speak a language that I understand not:
My life stands in the level of your dreams,
Which I'll lay down.

Leon.

Your actions are my dreams;
You had a bastard by Polixenes,
And I but dream'd it :-As you were past all shame,
(Those of your fact are so,) so past all truth:
Which to deny, concerns more than avails:

For as

Thy brat hath been cast out, like to itself,
No father owning it, (which is, indeed,
More criminal in thee, than it,) so thou
Shalt feel our justice; in whose easiest passage,
Look for no less than death.

Her.

Offi. Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery with PoHixenes, king of Bohemia; and conspiring with Sir, spare your threats; Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign lord The bug, which you would fright me with, I seek. the king, thy royal husband: the pretence whereof To me can life be no commodity: being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Her- The crown and comfort of my life, your favour, mione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true I do give lost; for I do feel it gone, subject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to fly away by night.

Her. Since what I am to say, must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation; and
The testimony on my part, no other

But what comes from myself; it shall scarce boot
To say, Not guilty; mine integrity,

[me

But know not how it went: My second joy,
And first-fruits of my body, from his presence,
I am barr'd, like one infectious: My third comfort,
Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast,
The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth,
Haled out to murder: Myself on every post
Proclaim'd a strumpet; with immodest hatred,

The child-bed privilege denied, which 'longs
To women of all fashion :-Lastly, hurried
Here to this place, i'the open air, before
I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,
Tell me what blessings I have here alive,
That I should fear to die? Therefore, proceed.
But yet hear this; mistake me not;No! life,
I prize it not a straw :-but for mine honour,
(Which I would free,) if I shall be condemn'd
Upon surmises; all proofs sleeping else,
But what your jealousies awake; I tell you
Tis rigour, and not law. Your honours all,
I do refer me to the oracle;
Apollo be my judge.

1 Lord.

This your request Is altogether just: therefore, bring forth, And in Apollo's name, his oracle.

[Exeunt certain Officers. Her. The emperor of Russia was my father: O, that he were alive, and here beholding His daughter's trial! that he did but see The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes Of pity, not revenge!

Re-enter Officers, with Cleomenes and Dion.

Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword justice,

That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have

Been both at Delphos; and from thence have brought

This seal'd-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd
Of great Apollo's priest; and that, since then,
You have not dar'd to break the holy seal,
Nor read the secrets in't.

How! gone? Is dead. Leon. Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves

Do strike at my injustice. [Hermione faints.] How now there?

Paul. This news is mortal to the queen :-Look down,

And see what death is doing.
Leon.

Take her hence.

Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover.—
I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion :-
'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her
Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon

[Exeunt Paulina and Ladies, with Herm.
My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle!
I'll reconcile me to Polixenes;
New woo my queen; recall the good Camillo ;
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy.
For, being transported by my jealousies
To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
Camillo for the minister, to poison

My friend Polixenes: which had been done,
But that the good mind of Camillo tardied
My swift command, though I with death, and with
Reward, did threaten and encourage him,
Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,

O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it,
Break too!

1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady?

Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me?

What wheels? racks ? fires? What flaying? boiling.
In leads, or oils ? what old, or newer torture
Must I receive; whose every word deserves
To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny
Together working with thy jealousies,
Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
For girls of nine !-O, think, what they have done,
And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all
Thy by gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betrayd'st Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant,
And damnable ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou would'st have poison'd good Camillo's
honour,

To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil
Would have shed water out of fire, ere don't:
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death
Of the young prince; whose honourable thought
(Thoughts high for one so tender,) cleft the heart
That could conceive, a gross and foolish sire
Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Laid to thy answer: But the last,-O, lords,
When I have said, cry, woe the queen, the
queen,

The sweetest, dearest, creature's dead; and ven-
geance for't
Not dropp'd down yet.

1 Lord. The higher powers forbid! Paul. I say, she's dead: I'll swear't: if word,

nor oath,

Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring
Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,
Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you
As I would do the gods,-But, O thou tyrant!
Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir: therefore betake thee
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.
Go on, go on :

Leon.

Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserv'd All tongues to talk their bitterest.

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