Leon.

Twenty-three days

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 publickly accus'd, 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. The same. A Street in some Town.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION.

Cleo. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertile the isle1; 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 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 surpris'd my sense,
That I was nothing.

1 Warburton has remarked that the temple of Apollo was at Delphi, which was not an island. But Shakspeare little regarded geographical accuracy. He followed Green's Dorastus and Fawnia, in which it is called the isle of Delphos. There was a temple of Apollo in the isle of Delos.

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't2.

Cleo.

Great Apollo,

Turn all to the best! These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,

I little like.

Dion.

The violent carriage of 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.-

horses ;

And gracious be the issue!

Go,-fresh

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The same. A Court of Justice.

LEONTES, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated.

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
Of being tyrannous, since we so openly
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.-
Produce the prisoner.

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

2 The time is worth the use on't;' that is, the event of our journey will recompense us for the time we spent in it. Thus in Florio's Translation of Montaigne, 1603: The common saying is, the time we live is worth the money we pay for it.'

HERMIONE is brought in, 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 pretence1 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.

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 To say, Not guilty: mine integrity,

divine

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so receiv'd. But thus,-If powers
Behold our human actions (as they do),

I doubt not then, but innocence shall make
False accusation blush, and tyranny

Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know
(Who least will seem to do so), my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which3 is more
Than history can pattern, though devis'd,

1 i. e. the design. Shakspeare often uses the word for design or intention. So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: 'publisher of this pretence.' And in Macbeth:

'Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight

Of treason's malice.'

2 i. e. my virtue being accounted wickedness, my assertion of it will pass but for a lie. Falsehood means both treachery and lie. 3 Which, that is, which unhappiness.

And play'd, to take spectators: For behold me,A fellow of the royal bed, which owe1

A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing
To prate 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 5: for honour,
"Tis a derivative from me to mine,

And only that I stand for. I appeal

To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so; since he came,
With what encounter so uncurrent I

Have strain'd, to appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honour; or, in act, or will,
That way inclining; harden'd be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry, Fye upon my grave!

Leon.

I ne'er heard yet,
That any of these bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first7.

4 Own, possess.

5 I prize my life no more than I value grief, which I would willingly spare. This sentiment, which is probably derived from Ecclesiasticus, iii. 11, cannot be too often impressed on the female mind: The glory of a man is from the honour of his father; and a mother in dishonour is a reproach to her children?'

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 negatives did not affirm, but only strengthen the negation. Examples of similar phraseology occur in several of our author's plays, and even in the first act of this very drama: in this passage, Johnson observes that, according to the present use of words, less should be more, or wanted should be had.

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
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,
(With whom I am accus'd) I do confess,
I lov'd him, as in honour he requir'd;
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. Now, for conspiracy,
I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
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 no more than I, are ignorant.

Leon. You knew of his departure, as you know What you have underta'en to do in his absence. Her. Sir,

You speak a language that I understand not:
My life stands in the level of your dreams,
Which I'll lay down.

Leon.

Your actions are my dreams; You had a bastard by Polixenes,

8 See note 1, p. 38. To stand within the level of a gun is to stand in a direct line with its mouth, and in danger of being hurt by its discharge. This expression often occurs in Shakspeare; take one instance from K. Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 2:

'I stood i'the level

Of a full charg'd confederacy, and give thanks
To you that chok'd it.'