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.

Leon.

I will, my lord!

Mark and perform it, see'st thou: for

the fail

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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
Of our dominions, and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to it 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

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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 blessing
Against this cruelty fight on thy side,
Poor thing, condemn'd to loss!

Leon.

Another's issue.

Serv.

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[Exit with the child.

No, I'll not rear

Enter a 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.

Leon.

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 heart will be a burthen to me. Leave me,
And think upon my bidding.

Cleo.

ACT III.

SCENE I. A sea-port in Sicilia.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION.

200

[Exeunt.

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

I shall report,

Dion. 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!

Cleo.

But of all, the burst And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle,

Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised my sense, 10 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.

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

20

Even then will rush to knowledge. Go: fresh

horses!

And gracious be the issue!

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A court of Justice.

Enter LEONTES, Lords, and Officers.

Leon. 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 the prisoner.

Off. It is his highness' pleasure that the queen Appear in person here in court.

Silence!

Enter HERMIONE guarded; PAULINA and
Ladies attending.

Leon. Read the indictment.

ΙΟ

Off. [Reads] 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 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. *Design.

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

*Avail.

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express† it, Be so received. But thus: if powers divine Behold our human actions, as they do, †Reveal. 30 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 devised
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 hopeful prince, here standing 41 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
That way inclining, harden'd be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry fie 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.

50

More than mistress of 60

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 to have done I think had been in me Both disobedience and ingratitude

Το

70

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,

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's 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.

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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:

*Guilt.

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.

90

Her. 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. My third com

fort,

Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast,
The innocent milk in it most innocent mouth,
Haled out to murder: myself on every post
Proclaimed 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,

100

IIO