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.
SCENE II.
The outer Room of a Prison.
Enter PAULINA and Attendants.
Paul. The keeper of the prison, call to him; -
[Exit an Attendant.
Let him have knowledge who I am. — Good lady!
No court in Europe is too good for thee,
What dost thou then in prison?
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.
Paul.
Tell her, Emilia,
I'll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from it,
As boldness from my bosom, let it not be doubted
I shall do good.
Now be you blest for it!
I'll to the queen: Please you, come something
Keep. Madam, if t please the queen to send the
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
Freed 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.
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,
Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest
Might come to me again.
Dear gentlewoman, how fares our gracious lady?
Emil. As well as one so great, and so forlorn,
May hold together: On her frights and griefs,
(Which never tender lady hath borne greater,)
She is, something before her time, deliver'd.
Paul. A boy?
Emil.
A daughter, and a goodly babe, 'Tis hop'd, his sickness is discharg`d.
Lusty, and like to live: the queen receives
Much comfort in't: says, My poor prisoner,
These dangerous unsafe lunes o'the king! beshrew
them!
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
4 Lunacies, fits of madness.
Leon. How does the boy?
1 Atten.
He took good rest to night:
They should not laugh if I could reach them; nor Shall she, within my power.
Enter PAULINA, with a Child.
1 Lord. You must not enter. Paul. Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to
Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas,
Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul;
More free, than he is jealous.
Thou, 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. 9
Paul.
For ever
Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou
Tak'st up the princess, by that forced baseness
Which he has put upon't!
He dreads his wife. Paul. So, I would, you did: then, 'twere past all doubt,
1 Alten. Madam, he hath not slept to night; com- You'd call your children yours.
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 heaving, 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.
Away with that audacious lady: Antigonus,
I charg'd thee, that she should not come about me; I knew, she would.
Ant.
On your displeasure's peril, and on mine,
She should not visit you.
I told her so, my lord,
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.
Ant. Lo you now; you hear! When she will take the rein, I let her run; But she'll not stumble.
Paul. Good my liege, I come, — And, I beseech you, hear me, who profess Myself your loyal servant, your physician, Your most obedient counsellor; yet that dare Less appear so, in comforting your evils", Than such as most seem yours: - I say, From your good queen.
Paul. Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say good queen;
And would by combat make her good, so were I A man, the worst 7 about you.
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 3 in't; lest she suspect as he does,
Her children not her husband's!
Once more, take her hence. Paul. A most unworthy and unnatural lord Can do no more.
It is an heretick, that makes the fire,
Not she, which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant;
But this most cruel usage of your queen
(Not able to produce more accusation
Than your own weak-hing'd fancy,) something
Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you, Yea, scandalous to the world.
Out of the chamber with her.
Pecked by a woman; hen-pecked.
9 Worn out old woman.
On your allegiance, Were I a tyrant,
1 Forced is false; uttered with violence to truth. 3 The colour of jealousy.
Leon. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.-
My child? away with't! even thou, that hast
A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence,
And see it instantly consum'd with fire;
Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight:
Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,
(And by good testimony,) or I'll seize thy life,
With what thou else call'st thine: If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;
The bastard brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;
For thou sett'st on thy wife.
Ant.
I did not, sir:
These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.
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1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, give us better credit :
We have always truly serv'd you; and beseech
So to esteem of us: And on our knees we beg,
(As recompense of our dear services,
Past, and to come,) that you do change this purpose;
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 kneel
And call me father?
Than curse it then.
It shall not neither.
Better burn it now, But, be it; let it live: You, sir, come you hither; [To ANTIGONUS. 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 ad
To save this brat's life?
Ant. Any thing, my lord, That my ability may undergo,
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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 lew'd-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 6,
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.
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Poor thing, condemn'd to loss! [Exit with the child.
Leon.
No, I'll not rear
Another's issue.
For most it caught me, the celestial habits,
And the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpriz'd my sense,
That I was nothing.
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.
(Methinks, I so should term them,) and the re- Turn all to the best! These proclamations,
The violent carriage of it
Thus (by Apollo's great divine seal'd up,)
Shall the contents discover, something rare,
Even then, will rush to knowledge. - - Go,-fresh
That way inclining; harden'd be the hearts
Will clear, or end, the business: When the oracle, Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
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,
[Exeunt. Than to perform it first.
That's true enough;
And gracious be the issue!
Leon. The 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 7 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!
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,
Ì 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,
So, and no other, as yourself commanded :
Which not to have done, I think, had been in me
Both disobedience and ingratitude,
To you, and toward your friend; whose love had
spoke,
Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely,
That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy,
HERMIONE is brought in, guarded; PAULINA and I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
Ladies attending.
Leon. Read the indictment.
Offi. Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery with Polixenes, king of Bohemia; and conspiring with Camillo to to take away the life of our sovereign lord the king, thy royal husband; the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true 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 me
To say, Not guilty: mine integrity,
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 9
A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful 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
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so; since he came,
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,
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.
Sir, spare your threats; The bug, which you would fright me with, I seck. To me can life be no commodity :
The crown and comfort of my life, your favour
I do give lost; for I do feel it gone,
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,
1 Is within the reach. 2 They who have done like you. 3 i. e. The degree of strength which it is customary to acquire before women are suffered to go abroad after child bearing.
(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.
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 of 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.
All this we swear. Leon. Break up the seals and read. Offi. [Reads.] Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be not found.
Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo!
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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 betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant,
And horribly ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou wouldst 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.
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death
Of the young prince, whose honourable thoughts
(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-
Not dropp'd down yet.
geance for't
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!
Than all thy woes can stir: therefore betake thee
Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
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.
Leon.
Go on, go on: Thou canst not speak too much: I have deserv'd All tongues to talk their bitterest.
1 Lord. Say no more; Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault I'the boldness of your speech.
Paul. I am sorry for't; All faults I make, when I shall come to know them, I do repent: Alas, I have show'd too much The rashness of a woman he is touch'd To the noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past
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