Leon. Another's issue. 1 Atten. No, I'll not rear Please your highness, posts, From those you sent to the oracle, are come An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion, Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed, Hasting to the court. 1 Lord. So please you, sir, their speed Twenty-three days Hath been beyond account. Leon. They have been absent: 'Tis good speed; foretels, 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 reve rence Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice! Cleo. But, of all, the burst And the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle, That I was nothing. Dion. If the event o'the journey Prove as successful to the queen,—O, be't so!— 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, horses; And gracious be the issue! [Exeunt. SCENE II. THE SAME. A COURT OF JUSTICE. Leontes, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated. Leon. This sessions (to our great grief, we pro nounce,) Even pushes 'gainst our heart: The party tried, Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen Appear in person here in court. - Silence! 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 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. 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, I doubt not then, but innocence shall make A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, And only that I stand for. I appeal To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes Have strain'd, to appear thus: if one jot beyond The bound of honour; or, in act, or will, Cry, Fie upon my grave! Leon. I ne'er heard yet, That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did, 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, With such a kind of love, as might become 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, 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 his absence. |