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PAULINA: I dare be sworn These dangerous unsafe lunes i' 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 ... |
EMILIA: 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 ... |
PAULINA: Tell her, Emilia. I'll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from't As boldness from my bosom, let 't not be doubted I shall do good. |
EMILIA: Now be you blest for it! I'll to the queen: please you, come something nearer. |
Gaoler: Madam, if't please the queen to send the babe, I know not what I shall incur to pass it, Having no warrant. |
PAULINA: You need not fear it, sir: This child was prisoner to the womb and is By law and process of great nature thence Freed and enfranchised, not a party to The anger of the king nor guilty of, If any be, the trespass of the queen. |
Gaoler: I do believe it. |
PAULINA: Do not you fear: upon mine honour, I will stand betwixt you and danger. |
LEONTES: 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 adulteress; 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... |
First Servant: My lord? |
LEONTES: How does the boy? |
First Servant: He took good rest to-night; 'Tis hoped his sickness is discharged. |
LEONTES: To see his nobleness! Conceiving the dishonour of his mother, He straight declined, 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. Fie, fie! no thought of him: The thought of ... |
First Lord: You must not enter. |
PAULINA: Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me: Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas, Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul, More free than he is jealous. |
ANTIGONUS: That's enough. |
Second Servant: Madam, he hath not slept tonight; commanded None should come at him. |
PAULINA: 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 medicinal as true, Honest as either, to purge him of that humour That presses him from sleep. |
LEONTES: What noise there, ho? |
PAULINA: No noise, my lord; but needful conference About some gossips for your highness. |
LEONTES: How! Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus, I charged thee that she should not come about me: I knew she would. |
ANTIGONUS: I told her so, my lord, On your displeasure's peril and on mine, She should not visit you. |
LEONTES: What, canst not rule her? |
PAULINA: 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. |
ANTIGONUS: La you now, you hear: When she will take the rein I let her run; But she'll not stumble. |
PAULINA: 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, I come From your good queen. |
LEONTES: Good queen! |
PAULINA: Good queen, my lord, Good queen; I say good queen; And would by combat make her good, so were I A man, the worst about you. |
LEONTES: Force her hence. |
PAULINA: Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes First hand me: on mine own accord I'll off; But first I'll do my errand. The good queen, For she is good, hath brought you forth a daughter; Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing. |
LEONTES: Out! A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door: A most intelligencing bawd! |
PAULINA: Not so: I am as ignorant in that as you In so entitling me, and no less honest Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant, As this world goes, to pass for honest. |
LEONTES: Traitors! Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard. Thou dotard! thou art woman-tired, unroosted By thy dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard; Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone. |
PAULINA: For ever Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou Takest up the princess by that forced baseness Which he has put upon't! |
LEONTES: He dreads his wife. |
PAULINA: So I would you did; then 'twere past all doubt You'ld call your children yours. |
LEONTES: A nest of traitors! |
ANTIGONUS: I am none, by this good light. |
PAULINA: Nor I, nor any But one that's here, and that's himself, for he The sacred honour of himself, his queen's, His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; and will not-- For, as the case now stands, it is a curse He cannot be compell'd to't--once remove The root of hi... |
LEONTES: A callat Of boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband 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! |
PAULINA: 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's frown, his forehead, nay, the valley, The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek, His smiles, The ver... |
LEONTES: A gross hag And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd, That wilt not stay her tongue. |
ANTIGONUS: Hang all the husbands That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself Hardly one subject. |
LEONTES: Once more, take her hence. |
PAULINA: A most unworthy and unnatural lord Can do no more. |
LEONTES: I'll ha' thee burnt. |
PAULINA: I care not: It is an heretic 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-hinged fancy, something savours Of tyranny and will ignoble make you, Yea, scandalous to the world. |
LEONTES: On your allegiance, Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant, Where were her life? she durst not call me so, If she did know me one. Away with her! |
PAULINA: I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove send her A better guiding spirit! What needs these hands? You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, Will never do him good, not one of you. So, so: farewell; we are gone. |
LEONTES: 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 consumed 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, W... |
ANTIGONUS: I did not, sir: These lords, my noble fellows, if they please, Can clear me in't. |
Lords: We can: my royal liege, He is not guilty of her coming hither. |
LEONTES: You're liars all. |
First Lord: Beseech your highness, give us better credit: We have always truly served you, and beseech you 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. |
LEONTES: I am a feather for each wind that blows: Shall I live on to see this bastard kneel 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; You that have been so tenderly officious With Lady Margery, your midwife there, To save this bas... |
ANTIGONUS: 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. |
LEONTES: It shall be possible. Swear by this sword Thou wilt perform my bidding. |
ANTIGONUS: I will, my lord. |
LEONTES: Mark and perform it, see'st thou! for the fail Of any point in't shall not only be Death to thyself but to thy lewd-tongued wife, Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee, As thou art liege-man to us, that thou carry This female bastard hence and that thou bear it To some remote and desert place quite out ... |
ANTIGONUS: 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 does require! And ble... |
LEONTES: No, I'll not rear Another's issue. |
Servant: Please your highness, posts From those you sent to the oracle are come An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion, Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed, Hasting to the court. |
First Lord: So please you, sir, their speed Hath been beyond account. |
LEONTES: Twenty-three days 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 publicly accused, so shall she have A just and open trial. While she lives My... |
CLEOMENES: 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 reverence Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice! How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly It was i' the offering! |
CLEOMENES: But of all, the burst And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle, Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised my sense. That I was nothing. |
DION: 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. |
CLEOMENES: 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 horses! And gracious be the issue! |
LEONTES: This sessions, to our great grief we pronounce, Even pushes 'gainst our heart: the party tried The daughter of a king, our wife, and one Of us too much beloved. 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 ... |
Officer: It is his highness' pleasure that the queen Appear in person here in court. Silence! |
LEONTES: Read the indictment. |
Officer: |
HERMIONE: 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 received. But thus: if powers divine Behold our human act... |
LEONTES: I ne'er heard yet That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did Than to perform it first. |
HERMIONE: That's true enough; Through 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me. |
LEONTES: You will not own it. |
HERMIONE: More than mistress of Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not At all acknowledge. For Polixenes, With whom I am accused, I do confess I loved him as in honour he required, 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 t... |
LEONTES: You knew of his departure, as you know What you have underta'en to do in's absence. |
HERMIONE: Sir, You speak a language that I understand not: My life stands in the level of your dreams, Which I'll lay down. |
LEONTES: 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 the... |
HERMIONE: Sir, spare your threats: The bug which you would fright me with I seek. 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.... |
First Lord: This your request Is altogether just: therefore bring forth, And in Apollos name, his oracle. |
HERMIONE: 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! |
Officer: You here shall swear upon this sword of justice, That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have Been both at Delphos, and from thence have brought The seal'd-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd Of great Apollo's priest; and that, since then, You have not dared to break the holy seal Nor read the secrets in't. |
CLEOMENES: All this we swear. |
LEONTES: Break up the seals and read. |
Officer: |
Lords: Now blessed be the great Apollo! |
HERMIONE: Praised! |
LEONTES: Hast thou read truth? |
Officer: Ay, my lord; even so As it is here set down. |
LEONTES: There is no truth at all i' the oracle: The sessions shall proceed: this is mere falsehood. |
Servant: My lord the king, the king! |
LEONTES: What is the business? |
Servant: O sir, I shall be hated to report it! The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear Of the queen's speed, is gone. |
LEONTES: How! gone! |
Servant: Is dead. |
LEONTES: Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves Do strike at my injustice. How now there! |
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