The great Apollo suddenly will have 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 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, Dion. If the event o'the journey Cleo. Great Apollo, * The time is worth the use on't.] The time is worth the use on't, means, the time which we have spent in visiting Delos, has recompensed us for the trouble of so spending it. Turn all to the best! These proclamations, 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,Go,fresh horses; And gracious be the issue! SCENE II. The same. A Court of Justice. [Exeunt. LEONTES, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated. Leon. This sessions (to our great grief, we pronounce,) 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 • Even to the guilt, or the purgation.] The word even is not to be understood here as an adverb, but as an adjective, signifying equal or indifferent. 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 To say, Not guilty; mine integrity, Being counted falsehood,' shall, as I express it, Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know, A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, pretence ] Is, in this place, taken for a scheme laid, a design formed. mine integrity, &c.] That is, my virtue being accounted wickedness, my assertion of it will pass but for a lie. Falsehood means both treachery and lie. JOHNSON. For life, I prize it] Life is now to me only grief, and as such only is considered by me: I would therefore willingly dismiss it. JOHNSON.. As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour, "Tis a derivative from me to mine,7 And only that I stand for. I appeal To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes With what encounter so uncurrent I Have strain'd, to 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, Than to perform it first. 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, 'Tis a derivative from me to mine,] This sentiment, which is probably borrowed 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 unto her children." STEEVENS. I ne'er heard yet, That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did, Than to perform it first.] It is apparent that according to the proper, or at least, according to the present, use of words, less should be more, or wanted should be had. But Shakspeare is very uncertain in his use of negatives. It may be necessary once to observe, that in our language, two negatives did not originally affirm, but strengthen the negation. This mode of speech was in time changed, but, as the change was made in opposition to long custom, it proceeded gradually, and uniformity was not obtained but through an intermediate confusion. JOHNSON. (With whom 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, Is, that Camillo was an honest man; And, why he left your court, the gods themselves, Leon. You knew of his departure, as you know Leon. Your actions are my dreams; You had a bastard by Polixenes, And I but dream'd it :-As you were past all shame, (Those of your fact are so,') so past all truth: Which to deny, concerns more than avails: For as Thy brat hath been cast out, like to itself, Her. Sir, spare your threats; 9 My life stands in the level] To be in the level is, to be within the reach. 3. (Those of your fact are so,)] i. e. guilt. |