You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
Will never do him good, not one of you.

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 :
Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,
And by good testimony; or I'll seize thy life,
With what thou else call'st thine. If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so ;
The bastard's brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;

For thou sett'st on thy wife.

Ant.

I did not, sir:

These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

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
To save this brat's life?

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
Of any point in't shall not only be

Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongued wife,
Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee,
As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it
To some remote and desert place, quite out
Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection
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 16

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
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 !
Against this cruelty, fight on thy side,
Poor thing, condemn'd to loss!

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,
Hasting to th' Court.

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;
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady; for, as she hath
Been publicly accused, 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 ;

[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
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-deafening voice o' the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised my sense,
That I was nothing.

If th' event o' the journey'

Dion.
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

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
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to th' guilt or the purgation.-

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.