You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, 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 consumed with fire; Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight : For thou sett'st on thy wife. Ant. I did not, sir: These lords, my noble fellows, if they please, I Lord. We can : my royal liege, He is not guilty of her coming hither. Leon. You're liars all. [Exit. I Lord. Beseech your Highness, give us better credit: We've 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. Leon. 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 ter care of her, than you whose daughter she is"; for her, I take it, must refer to babe. Than curse it then. But be it; let it live: — It shall not neither. -[To ANTIGO.] You, sir, come you hither; 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 thy beard's gray,—what will you adventure Ant. Any thing, my lord, That my ability may undergo, And nobleness impose; at least, thus much: pawn the little blood that I have left, I'll To save the innocent: any thing possible. Leon. It shall be possible. Swear by this sword Thou wilt perform my bidding. Ant. I will, my lord. Leon. Mark, and perform it; see'st thou? for the fail Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongued wife, 16" Commend it strangely to some place means commit it to some strange, that is, foreign, place. Leontes maintains the child to be the offspring of a foreigner. The Poet has many such Reculiarities, not to say loosenesses, of language. - Commend for commit occurs repeatedly. So in iii. 2, of this play: mended." "To the certain hazard of all incertainties himself com Where chance may nurse or end it. Take it up. Ant. I swear to do this, though a present death Leon. Another's issue. 2 Atten. and blessing, [Exit with the Child. No, I'll not rear Please your Highness, posts From those you sent to th' oracle are come An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion, Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed, I Lord. So please you, sir, their speed Twenty-three days Hath been beyond account. Leon. They have been absent: 'tis good speed; foretells The great Apollo suddenly will have The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords; A just and open trial. While she lives, Leave me ; [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Sicilia. A Street in some Town. Enter CLEOMENES, DION, and an Attendant. Cleo. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertle the isle; the temple much surpassing 1 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 Cleo. But, of all, the burst And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle, If th' event o' the journey' Dion. The time is worth the use on't.2 Cleo. Great Apollo Turn all to th' best! These proclamations, So forcing faults upon Hermione, I little like. 1 So in Greene's novel: "That it would please his majestie to send sixe of his noblemen whome he best trusted to the Isle of Delphos, there to enquire of the oracle of Apollo." The Poet probably knew that Delphi was a town, and not an island. 2 "The event of our journey will recompense us for the time we spent in it." So in Florio's Montaigne, 1603: "The common saying is, the time we live is worth the money we pay for 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. — [To Attendant.] Go,— Leon. This session - 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 Produce the prisoner. 1 Offi. It is his Highness' pleasure that the Queen Appear in person here in court. Crier. Silence ! HERMIONE is brought in guarded; PAULINA and Ladies attending. Leon. Read the indictment. 1 Offi. [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 pre 1 Even in the sense of equally or indifferently. |