The Winter's Tale (9 page)

DION
     I shall report,
       For most it
caught
⁵
me, the celestial
habits
,
       Methinks I so should term them, and the reverence
       Of the
grave
⁷
wearers. O, the sacrifice!
       How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly
       It was i'th'off'ring!

CLEOMENES
     But of all, the burst
       And the ear-deaf'ning voice o'th'oracle,
      
Kin
¹²
to Jove's thunder, so
surprised
my sense
       That I was nothing.

DION
     If
th'event
¹⁴
o'th'journey
       Prove as successful to the queen — O, be't so! —
       As it hath been to us
rare
¹⁶
, pleasant, speedy,
       The time is
worth the use on't
¹⁷
.

CLEOMENES
     Great Apollo
       Turn all to th'best! These proclamations,
       So forcing faults upon Hermione,
       I little like.

DION
     The
violent carriage of it
²²
       Will clear or end the business: when the oracle,
       Thus by Apollo's
great divine
²⁴
sealed up,
       Shall the contents
discover
²⁵
, something rare
       Even then will rush to knowledge. Go, fresh horses!
       And gracious be the issue!
Exeunt

Location: Sicilia

Enter Leontes, Lords, Officers

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
⁴
us too much beloved. Let us be cleared
       Of being tyrannous, since we so openly
       Proceed in justice, which shall have due course,
      
Even to the guilt or the purgation
⁷
.
       Produce the prisoner.

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

[
Enter Hermione as to her trial, Paulina and Ladies attending
]

LEONTES
     Read the indictment.

OFFICER
     Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes,
Reads
       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
¹⁷
whereof being by circumstances partly laid open,
       thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a
       true subject, didst
counsel
¹⁹
and aid them, for their better
       safety, to fly away by night.

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
²⁴
me
       To say ‘Not guilty':
mine integrity
       Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
       Be so received
²⁵
. 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
³¹
. You, my lord, best know,
       Whom least will seem to do so, my past life
       Hath been as
continent
³³
, as chaste, as true,
       As I am now unhappy, which is more
       Than
history
³⁵
can
pattern
, though devised
       And played to
take spectators
³⁶
. For behold me
       A fellow of the royal bed,
which owe
³⁷
       A
moiety
³⁸
of the throne, a great king's daughter,
       The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing
       To
prate
⁴⁰
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
⁴¹
: for honour,
       'Tis a derivative from me to mine,
       And only that I stand for. I appeal
       To your own
conscience
⁴⁵
, sir, before Polixenes
       Came to your court, how I was in your
grace
⁴⁶
,
       How
merited
⁴⁷
to be so. Since he came,
      
With what
encounter
so uncurrent I
       Have strained t'appear thus
⁴⁸
: if one jot beyond
       The bound of honour, or in act or will
       That way inclining, hardened be the hearts
       Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
       Cry
fie
⁵³
upon my grave!

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
⁵⁴
.

HERMIONE
     That's true enough.
       Though '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
⁶¹
. 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
       To you and toward your
friend, whose love had spoke,
       Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely
       That it was yours
⁷¹
. Now, for conspiracy,
       I know not how it tastes, though it be
dished
⁷⁴
       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
⁷⁸
no more than I — are ignorant.

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
⁸³
,
      
Which
⁸⁴
I'll lay down.

LEONTES
     Your actions are my dreams.
       You had a bastard by Polixenes,
       And I but dreamed it. As you were past all shame —
       Those
of your fact
⁸⁸
are so — so past all truth,
       Which to deny
concerns more than avails
⁸⁹
, for as
     Thy brat hath been cast out,
like to itself
⁹⁰
,
       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
⁹³
.

HERMIONE
     Sir, spare your threats.
       The
bug
⁹⁶
which you would fright me with, I seek.
       To me can life be no
commodity
⁹⁷
;
       The crown and comfort of my life, your favour,
       I do
give
⁹⁹
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 barred, like one infectious. My third comfort
      
Starred most unluckily
¹⁰³
, is from my breast —
       The innocent milk in
it
¹⁰⁴
most innocent mouth —
      
Haled
¹⁰⁵
out to murder. Myself on every
post
       Proclaimed a
strumpet
¹⁰⁶
, with
immodest
hatred
       The
child-bed privilege
¹⁰⁷
denied, which
'longs
       To women of all
fashion
¹⁰⁸
. Lastly, hurried
       Here to this place, i'th'open air, before
       I have got
strength of limit
¹¹⁰
. 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,
       Which I would
free
¹¹⁵
— if I shall be condemned
       Upon surmises, all proofs
sleeping else
¹¹⁶
       But what your jealousies
awake
¹¹⁷
, I tell you
     'Tis
rigour and not law
¹¹⁸
. Your honours all,
       I do refer me to the oracle:
       Apollo be my judge!

A LORD
     This your request
       Is altogether just: therefore bring forth,
       And in Apollo's name, his oracle.
[
Exeunt some Officers
]

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
¹²⁷
of my misery; yet with eyes
       Of pity, not revenge!

[
Enter Officers, with Cleomenes and Dion
]

OFFICER
     You here shall swear upon this sword of
Holds sword
           justice,
       That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have
       Been both at Delphos, and from thence have brought
       This sealed-up oracle, by the hand delivered
       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
AND
DION
     All this we swear.

LEONTES
     Break up the seals and read.

OFFICER
     Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless,
Reads
                    Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous
                    tyrant, his innocent babe
truly
                    begotten
¹⁴⁰
, and the king shall live without an
                    heir, if that which is lost be not found.

LORDS
     Now blessèd 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'th'oracle:
       The
sessions
¹⁴⁷
shall proceed: this is mere falsehood.

[
Enter a Servant
]

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
¹⁵¹
and fear
       Of the queen's
speed
¹⁵²
, is gone.

LEONTES
     How? Gone?

SERVANT
     Is dead.

LEONTES
     Apollo's angry, and the heavens themselves
       Do strike at my injustice.
Hermione faints
                   How now there!

PAULINA
     This news is
mortal
¹⁵⁷
to the queen. Look down
       And see what death is doing.

LEONTES
     Take her hence.
       Her heart is but o'ercharged. She will recover.
       I have too much believed mine own suspicion:
       Beseech you, tenderly apply to her
       Some remedies for life.—
[
Exeunt Ladies, carrying Hermione
]

                                                                   Apollo, pardon
       My great profaneness gainst thine oracle!
       I'll reconcile me to Polixenes,
       New woo my queen, recall the good Camillo,
       Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy.
       For, being
transported
¹⁶⁸
by my jealousies
       To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
       Camillo for the minister to poison
       My friend Polixenes, which had been done,
       But that the good mind of Camillo
tardied
¹⁷²
       My swift command, though I with death and with
       Reward did threaten and encourage him,
      
Not doing it and being done
¹⁷⁵
. He, most humane
       And filled with honour, to my kingly guest
      
Unclasped my practice
¹⁷⁷
, quit his fortunes here —
       Which you knew great — and to the hazard
       Of all incertainties himself
commended
¹⁷⁹
,
      
No richer than
¹⁸⁰
his honour. How he
glisters
       Through my rust! And how his piety
       Does my deeds make the blacker!