That my ability may undergo,

And nobleness impose: at least thus much:
I'll pawn the little blood which I have left
To save the innocent: any thing possible.

Leon. It shall be possible.
Thou wilt perform my

Ant.

Swear by this sword

bidding.

I will, my lord.

Leon. Mark and perform it: seest thou? for the fail 170 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 liege-man 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 it 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 Where chance may nurse or end it. Take it 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,

up.

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Leon.

Casting their savageness aside have done

Like offices of pity. Sir, be

prosperous

In more than this deed does require! And blessing
Against this cruelty fight on thy side,

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Poor thing, condemn'd to loss! [Exit with the child.
No, I'll not rear

Another's issue.

Serv.

Enter a Servant.

Please your highness, posts

From those you sent to the oracle are come

An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed,
Hasting to the court.

First Lord.

Leon.

So please you, sir, their speed

Twenty three days

Hath been beyond account.

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 burthen to me.
And think upon my bidding.

Leave me,

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[Exeunt.

Act Third.

Scene I.

A seaport in Sicilia.

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.

Cleo.

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!

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 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 't.

IO

Cleo.

Dion.

Great Apollo

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

I little like.

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

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Even then will rush to knowledge. Go: fresh horses!
And gracious be the issue.

Scene II.

A court of Justice.

Enter Leontes, Lords, and Officers.

[Exeunt.

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 beloved. 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.

Off. It is his highness' pleasure that the queen

Appear in person here in court.

Silence !

ΙΟ

Enter Hermione guarded; Paulina and Ladies attending. Leon. Read the indictment.

Off. [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 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

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But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me
To say not guilty:' mine integrity,

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so received. But thus, if powers divine
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

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