340

Even for your son's sake; and thereby for sealing
The injury of tongues in courts and kingdoms
Known and allied to yours.
Leon.

Thou dost advise me
Even so as I mine own course have set down :
I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

Cam. My lord,
Go then; and with a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia
And with your queen.

I am his cupbearer :
If from me he have wholesome beverage,
Account me not your servant.
Leon.

This is all :
Do't and thou hast the one half of my heart;
Do't not, thou split'st thine own.
Cam.

I'll do 't, my lord.
Leon. I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised

[Exit. 350 Cam. O miserable lady! But, for me, What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner Of good Polixenes; and my ground to do 't Is the obedience to a master, one Who in rebellion with himself will have All that are his so too. To do this deed, Promotion follows. If I could find example Of thousands that had struck anointed kings And flourish'd after, I ’ld not do 't ; but since Nor brass nor stone nor parchment bears not one, 360 Let villany itself forswear 't. I must Forsake the court: to do 't, or no, is certain To me a break-neck.

Happy star reign now! Here comes Bohemia.

me.

370

Re enter POLIXENES.
Pol.

This is strange: methinks
My favour here begins to warp. Not speak ?
Good day, Camillo.
Cam.

Hail, most royal sir !
Pol. What is the news i' the court ?
Cam.

None rare, my lord.
Pol. The king hath on him such a countenance
As he had lost some province and a region
Loved as he loves himself: even now I met him
With customary compliment; when he,
Wafting his eyes to the contrary and falling
A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and
So leaves me to consider what is breeding
That changeth thus his manners.

Cam. I dare not know, my lord.
Pol. How ! dare not! do not. Do you know,

and dare not ?
Be intelligent to me: 'tis thereabouts;
For, to yourself, what you do know, you must,
And cannot say, you dare not. Good Camillo, 380
Your changed complexions are to me a mirror
Which shows me mine changed too; for I must be
A party in this alteration, finding
Myself thus alter'd with 't.
Cam.

There is a sickness
Which puts some of us in distemper, but
I cannot name the disease; and it is caught
Of you

that

yet are well. Pol.

How ! caught of me! Make me not sighted like the basilisk: I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better

390

400

By my regard, but kill'd none so. Camillo,
As you are certainly a gentleman, thereto
Clerk-like experienced, which no less adorns
Our gentry than our parents' noble names,
In whose success we are gentle,- I beseech you,
If you know aught which does behove my know-

ledge
Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not
In ignorant concealment.
Cam.

I may not answer.
Pol. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well !
I must be answer'd. Dost thou hear, Camillo,
I conjure thee, by all the parts of man
Which honour does acknowledge, whereof the least
Is not this suit of mine, that thou declare
What incidency thou dost guess of harm
Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;
If not, how best to bear it.
Cam.

Sir, I will tell you ;
Since I am charged in honour and by him
That I think honourable: therefore mark my

counsel,
Which must be even as swiftly follow'd as
I mean to utter it, or both yourself and me
Cry lost, and so good night!
Pol.

On, good Camillo.
Cam. I am appointed him to murder you.
Pol. By whom, Camillo ?
Cam.

By the king
Pol.

For what? Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he

410 420

430

As he had seen 't or been an instrument
To vice you to 't, that you have touch'd his queen
Forbiddenly.
Pol.

O, then

my

best blood turn
To an infected jelly and my name
Be yoked with his that did betray the Best !
Turn then my freshest reputation to
A savour that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive, and my approach be shunnid,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection
That e'er was heard or read !
Cam.

Swear his thought over
By each particular star in heaven and
By all their influences, you may as well
Forbid the sea for to obey the moon
As or by oath remove or counsel shake
The fabric of his folly, whose foundation
Is piled upon his faith and will continue
The standing of his body.
Pol.

How should this grow?
Cam. I know not : but I am sure 'tis safer to
Avoid what 's grown than question how 'tis born.
If therefore you dare trust my honesty,
That lies enclosed in this trunk which you
Shall bear along impawn'd, away to-night!
Your followers I will whisper to the business,
And will by twos and threes at several posterns
Clear them o' the city. For myself, I'll put

o My fortunes to your service, which are here By this discovery lost. Be not uncertain; For, by the honour of my parents, I 416. vice, screw, force. bear it down by oaths taken in

440

450

Have utter'd truth : which if you seek to prove,
I dare not stand by ; nor shall you be safer
Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth,

thereon
His execution sworn.
Pol.

I do believe thee :
I saw his heart in's face. Give me thy hand :
Be pilot to me and thy places shall
Still neighbour mine. My ships are ready and
My people did expect my hence departure
Two days ago. This jealousy
Is for a precious creature : as she's rare,
Must it be great, and as his person's mighty,
Must it be violent, and as he does conceive
He is dishonour'd by a man which ever
Profess d to him, why, his revenges must
In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me :
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
Of his ill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo;
I will respect thee as a father if
Thou bear'st my life off hence : let us avoid.

Cam. It is in mine authority to command
The keys of all the posterns : please your highness
To take the urgent hour. Come, sir, away.

[Exeunt. 448. places, station.

nothing, etc., involved (with

Polyxenes) in his suspicions, but 459. part of his theme, but in no wise sharing it.

460