520

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; tho' 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 blessing,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy side.

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Poor thing, condemn'd to loss! [Exit, with the Child. Leo. No; I'll not rear

Another's issue.

Enter a Messenger.

Mes. Please your highness, posts,

From those you sent to the oracle, are come

An hour since. Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,

Hasting to the court.

Lord. So please you, sir, their speed

Hath been beyond account.

Leo. Twenty-three days

540

They have been absent: 'Tis good speed; foretels,

The great Apollo suddenly will have

The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;
Summon a session, that we may arraign

Our

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.

Leave me,

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[Exeunt severally.

ACT III. Scene 1.

A Part of Sicily, near the Sea-Side, Enter CLEOMENES, and DION, with Attendants.

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 se should term them), and the reve

rence

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-deafning voice o'the oracle,

Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense,

That I was nothing.

Dion. If the event o'the journey

Prove as successful to the queen (8 be't so!)

10

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. LEONTES, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated.

Leo. This session (to our great grief, we pro

nounce),

Even pushes 'gainst our heart. The party try'd,
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.

30

Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen Appear in person here in court.-Silence!

HERMIONE is brought in, guarded; PAULINA, and Ladies, attending.

Leo. Read the indictment.

38

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 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

Eiij

бо

Than

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 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, şir, 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 bounds of honour; or, in act, or will
That way inclining; hard'ned be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry, Fy, upon my grave!

Leo. I ne'er heard yet,

That any of those bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first.

Her. That's true enough ;

Tho' 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me.

Leo. You will not own it.

Her. More than mistress of,

What comes to me in name of fault, I must not

At all acknowledge. For Polixenes

(With whom I am accus'd), I do confess,

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80

I lov'd