Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be not found 15

Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo!

[blocks in formation]

Leon. There is no truth at all i'the oracle:

The sessions shall proceed; this is mere falsehood.

Enter a Servant, hastily.

Serv. My lord the king, the king!

Leon.

What is the business?

Serv. O sir, I shall be hated to report it:
The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear
Of the queen's speed 16, is gone.

Leon.

Serv.

How! gone?

[blocks in formation]

Leon. Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves

Do strike at my injustice.

Paul. This news is mortal to the queen :-Look

down,

And see what death is doing.

Take her hence;

Leon.
Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover.—
I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion :-
'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her

Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon

[Exeunt PAULINA and Ladies, with HERM. My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle! I'll reconcile me to Polixenes;

15 This is almost literally from Greene's novel.

16

i. e. of the event of the queen's trial.

well or ill.

We still say, he sped

New woo my queen; recall the good Camillo;
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy:
For, being transported 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
My swift command, though I with death, and with
Reward, did threaten and encourage him,
Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,
And fill'd with honour, to my kingly guest
Unclasp'd my practice; quit his fortunes here,
Which you knew great; and to the certain 17 hazard
Of all incertainties himself commended 18,
No richer than his honour:-How he glisters
Thorough my rust! and how his piety
Does my deeds make the blacker 19!

Paul.

Re-enter PAULINA.

Woe the while!

O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it,
Break too!

1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady?

Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? What wheels? racks? fires? What flaying? boiling In leads or oils? what old, or newer torture Must I receive; whose every word deserves To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny Together working with thy jealousies,Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle

17 Certain is not in the first folio, it was supplied by the editor of the second.

18 See p. 45, note 16.

19 This vehement retractation of Leontes, accompanied with the confession of more crimes than he was suspected of, is agreeable to our daily experience of the vicissitudes of violent tempers, and the eruptions of minds oppressed with guilt.

55

For girls of nine!-O, think, what they have done,
And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant 20,
And damnable 21 ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou would'st have poison'd good Camillo's honour,
To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil

Would have shed water out of fire 23, ere done't:
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death

Of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts (Thoughts high for one so tender) cleft the heart That could conceive, a gross and foolish sire Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no, Laid to thy answer: But the last,-O, lords, When I have said, The sweetest, dearest, creature's dead; and vencry, woe!-the queen, the queen, geance for't

Not dropp'd down yet.

1 Lord.

The higher powers forbid !

Paul. I say, she's dead; I'll swear't: if word,

nor oath,

Prevail not, go

and see: if

you can bring

Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,

20 The same construction occurs in the second book of Phaer's version of the Æneid:

'When this the young men heard me speak, of wild they

waxed wood.'

21 Damnable is used here adverbially. So in All's Well that Ends Well:-'Tis not meant damnable in us.'

The poet forgot that Paulina was absent during the king's

self-accusation.

23 i. e. a devil would have shed tears of pity, ere he would have perpetrated such an action.

Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you
As I would do the gods.-But, O thou tyrant!
Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir; therefore betake thee
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.

Leon.
Go on, go on:
Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserv'd
All tongues to talk their bitterest.

1 Lord. Say no more; Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault I'the boldness of your speech.

Paul.

I am sorry for't;

All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,
I do repent: Alas, I have show'd too much
The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd

To the noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past

help,

Should be past grief: Do not receive affliction
At my petition, I beseech you; rather

Let me be punish'd, that have minded you

Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege,
Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman:

The love I bore your queen,-lo, fool again!-
I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children;
I'll not remember you of my own lord,
Who is lost too: Take your patience to you,
And I'll say nothing.

Leon.

Thou didst speak but well,

When most the truth; which I receive much better Than to be pitied of thee.

Pr'ythee, bring me To the dead bodies of my queen, and son: One grave shall be for both; upon them shall

The causes of their death appear, unto
Our shame perpetual: Once a day I'll visit
The chapel where they lie: and tears, shed there,
Shall be my recreation: So long as

Nature will bear up with this exercise,
So long I daily vow to use it. Come,
And lead me to these sorrows.

SCENE III. Bohemia.

A desert Country near the Sea.

57

[Exeunt.

Enter ANTIGONUS, with the Child; and a

Mariner.

Ant. Thou art perfect1 then, our ship hath touch'd

upon

The deserts of Bohemia?

Mar. We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly, Ay, my lord; and fear And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, The heavens with that we have in hand are angry, And frown upon us.

Ant. Their sacred wills be done!-Go, get aboard; Look to thy bark; I'll not be long, before

I call

upon thee.

Mar. Make your best haste; and go not
Too far i' the land: 'tis like to be loud weather;
Besides, this place is famous for the creatures
Of prey, that keep upon't.

Ant.

Go thou away:

I'll follow instantly.

Mar.

I am glad at heart

Ant.

To be so rid o'the business.

I have heard, (but not believ'd), the spirits of the dead

[Exit.

Come, poor babe:

i. e. well assured.

« AnkstesnisTęsti »