Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed, They have been absent: "Tis good speed; foretells, The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords: Leave me; [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. The same. A Street in some Town. Enter CLEOMENES and DION. Cleo. 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 so should term them) and the reverence 1 The critics have remarked upon what they are pleased to call Shakespeare's blunder in speaking of Delphos as an island. In this, however, he followed Greene, who, being Master of Arts in both the Universities, would hardly he suspected of blundering in his geography. H Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice! Cleo. But, of all, the burst And the ear-deafening 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, — O, be't so! As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy, The time is worth the use on't.2 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. - Go,- fresh 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 belov'd. - Let us be clear'd 2 That is, the event of our journey will recompense us for the Thus in Florio's Translation of Montaigne saying is, the time we live is worth the time we spent in it. 1603: "The common money we pay for it." Of being tyrannous, since we so openly Produce the prisoner. Offi. 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. 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. 3 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 Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it, If powers divine Behold our human actions, (as they do,) Even in the sense of equally or indifferently 2 In the original silence is printed as a stage-direction in modern editions it is given as a part of the text. We agree with Mr. Collier that the word was probably meant to mark the impres sive stillness which ought to be kept on the stage at the entrance of the Queen. H. So 3 Shakespeare often uses pretence for design or intention. in Macbeth 66 Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight of treasonous malice." Tremble at patience. -You, my lord, best know A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, And only that I stand for. I appeal 5 To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes 6 Have strain'd, t' appear thus: if one jot beyond Leon. I ne'er heard yet, That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did, 4 Own, possess. 5 I prize my life no more than I value grief, which I would willingly spare. 6 Encounter so uncurrent is unallowed or unlawful meeting. Strain'd means swerv'd or gone astray from the line of duty. So in Romeo and Juliet: "Nor aught so good, but strain'd from that fair use, revolts." To appear thus is to seem guilty. 7 It is to be observed that originally in our language, two neg atives did not affirm, but only strengthen the negation. Examples of similar phraseology occur in several of our author's plays, and Her. That's true enough; Though 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me. Leon. You will not own it. Her. More than mistress of, Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not (With wh. m I am accus'd,) I do confess To you, and toward your friend, whose love had spoke, Even since it could speak from an infant, freely, I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd 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, 8 You speak a language that I understand not: Leon. Your actions are my dreams : You had a bastard by Polixenes, even in the first act of this very drama: in this passage, according to the present use of words, less should be more, or wanted should be had. 8 To stand within the level of a gun is to stand in a direct line with its mouth. |