The Winter's Tale (5 page)

LEONTES
     Ha' not you seen, Camillo —
       But that's past doubt, you have, or your
eye-glass
³¹⁰
       Is thicker than a cuckold's horn — or heard —
       For to a
vision so apparent
³¹²
rumour
       Cannot be mute — or thought — for
cogitation
³¹³
       Resides not in that man that does not think —
       My wife is
slippery
³¹⁵
? If thou wilt confess,
       Or else
be impudently negative,
       To
³¹⁶
have nor eyes nor ears nor thought, then say
       My wife's a
hobby-horse
³¹⁸
, deserves a name
       As
rank
³¹⁹
as any
flax-wench
that
puts to
       Before her troth-plight
: say't and justify't.

CAMILLO
     I would not be a stander-by to hear
     My sovereign mistress
clouded
³²²
so, without
       My
present
³²³
vengeance taken.
'Shrew
my heart,
       You never spoke what did
become
³²⁴
you less
       Than this; which to reiterate
were sin
       As deep as that, though true
³²⁵
.

LEONTES
     Is whispering nothing?
       Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
       Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the
career
³²⁹
       Of laughter with a sigh — a
note infallible
³³⁰
       Of breaking
honesty
³³¹
?
Horsing foot
on foot?
       Skulking in corners? Wishing clocks more swift?
      
Hours
³³³
, minutes? Noon, midnight? And all eyes
       Blind with the
pin and web
³³⁴
but theirs, theirs only,
       That would unseen be wicked? Is this nothing?
       Why then the world and all that's in't is nothing:
       The covering sky is nothing, Bohemia is nothing,
       My wife is
nothing
³³⁸
, nor nothing have these nothings,
       If this be nothing.

CAMILLO
     Good my lord, be cured
       Of this diseased opinion, and
betimes
³⁴¹
.
       For 'tis most dangerous.

LEONTES
     Say it be, 'tis true.

CAMILLO
     No, no, my lord.

LEONTES
     It is. You lie, you lie.
       I say thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee,
       Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave,
       Or else a hovering
temporizer
³⁴⁸
, that
       Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil,
       Inclining to them both. Were my wife's
liver
³⁵⁰
       Infected as her life, she would not live
       The running of one
glass
³⁵²
.

CAMILLO
     Who does infect her?

LEONTES
     Why, he that wears her like her
medal
³⁵⁴
, hanging
       About his neck, Bohemia: who, if I
       Had servants true about me that
bare
³⁵⁶
eyes
       To see alike mine honour as their profits,
       Their own
particular thrifts
³⁵⁸
, they would do that
       Which should
undo
³⁵⁹
more
doing
. Ay, and thou,
       His
cupbearer
³⁶⁰
— whom I from
meaner form
       Have
benched
³⁶¹
and reared to
worship
, who mayst see
       Plainly as heaven sees earth and earth sees heaven,
       How I am
galled
³⁶³
— mightst
bespice
a cup
       To give mine enemy a
lasting wink
³⁶⁴
,
       Which draught to me were
cordial
³⁶⁵
.

CAMILLO
     Sir, my lord,
       I could do this, and that with no
rash
³⁶⁷
potion,
       But with a ling'ring
dram
³⁶⁸
that should not work
      
Maliciously
³⁶⁹
like poison. But I cannot
       Believe this
crack
³⁷⁰
to be in my
dread
mistress,
       So sovereignly being honourable.
       I have loved thee—

LEONTES
    
Make that thy question, and go rot!
³⁷³
       Dost think I am so
muddy
³⁷⁴
, so unsettled,
       To
appoint myself in this vexation
³⁷⁵
, sully
       The purity and whiteness of my sheets —
       Which to preserve is
sleep
³⁷⁷
, which being
spotted
       Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps —
    
Give scandal to the blood
³⁷⁹
o'th'prince my son —
       Who I do think is mine and love as mine —
       Without
ripe moving to't
³⁸¹
? Would I do this?
       Could man so
blench
³⁸²
?

CAMILLO
     I must believe you, sir.
       I do, and will
fetch off
³⁸⁴
Bohemia for't,
       Provided that when he's removed, your highness
       Will take again your queen as yours at first,
       Even
for your son's sake, and thereby for sealing
       The injury of tongues
³⁸⁷
in courts and kingdoms
       Known and allied to yours.

LEONTES
    
Thou dost advise me
       Even so as I mine own course have set down
³⁹⁰
.
       I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

CAMILLO
     My lord,
       Go then; and with a
countenance
³⁹⁴
as clear
       As friendship wears at feasts,
keep
³⁹⁵
with Bohemia
       And with your queen. I am his cupbearer:
       If from me he have wholesome beverage,
       Account me not your servant.

LEONTES
     This is all.
       Do't and thou hast the one half of my heart;
       Do't not, thou splitt'st thine own.

CAMILLO
     I'll do't, my lord.

LEONTES
     I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised me.
Exit

CAMILLO
     O
miserable
⁴⁰⁴
lady! But, for me,
       What
case
⁴⁰⁵
stand I in? I must be the poisoner
       Of good Polixenes, and my
ground
⁴⁰⁶
to do't
       Is the obedience to a master; one
       Who,
in rebellion with himself
⁴⁰⁸
, will have
    
All that are his so too
⁴⁰⁹
. To do this deed,
       Promotion follows.
If
⁴¹⁰
I could find example
       Of thousands that had struck anointed kings
       And flourished after, I'd not do't. But since
       Nor
brass nor stone nor parchment
⁴¹³
bears not one,
       Let villainy itself forswear't. I must
       Forsake the court. To do't, or no, is certain
       To me a
break-neck
⁴¹⁶
.
Happy
star, reign now!
       Here comes Bohemia.

Enter Polixenes

POLIXENES
     This is strange. Methinks
Aside
       My favour here begins to
warp
⁴¹⁹
. Not speak?—
       Good day, Camillo.

CAMILLO
     Hail, most royal sir!

POLIXENES
     What is the news i'th'court?

CAMILLO
    
None rare
⁴²³
, my lord.

POLIXENES
     The king hath on him such a countenance
      
As
⁴²⁵
he had lost some province and a region
       Loved as he loves himself. Even now I met him
       With
customary compliment
⁴²⁷
, when he,
      
Wafting his eyes to th'contrary
⁴²⁸
and
falling
       A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and
       So leaves me to consider what is breeding
       That changes thus his manners.

CAMILLO
     I dare not know, my lord.

POLIXENES
     How, dare not? Do not? Do you know, and dare not?
       Be
intelligent
⁴³⁴
to me.
'Tis thereabouts
.
       For,
to yourself, what you do know, you must
⁴³⁵
,
       And cannot say you dare not. Good Camillo,
       Your changed
complexions
⁴³⁷
are to me a mirror
       Which shows me mine changed too, for I must be
       A party in this alteration, finding
       Myself thus altered with't.

CAMILLO
     There is a sickness
       Which puts some of us in
distemper
⁴⁴²
, but
       I cannot name the disease, and it is caught
      
Of
⁴⁴⁴
you that yet are well.

POLIXENES
     How, caught of me?
       Make me not sighted like the
basilisk
⁴⁴⁶
.
       I have looked on thousands who have
sped
⁴⁴⁷
the better
       By my
regard
⁴⁴⁸
, but killed none so. Camillo —
       As you are certainly a gentleman, thereto
      
Clerk-like
⁴⁵⁰
experienced, which no less adorns
       Our
gentry
⁴⁵¹
than our parents' noble names,
       In
whose success
⁴⁵²
we are
gentle
— I beseech you,
       If you know
aught
⁴⁵³
which does
behove
my knowledge
       Thereof to be informed, imprison't not
       In ignorant concealment.

CAMILLO
     I may not answer.

POLIXENES
     A sickness caught of me, and yet I well?
       I must be answered. Dost thou hear, Camillo,
       I
conjure
⁴⁵⁹
thee, by all the
parts
of man
       Which honour does acknowledge,
whereof the least
       Is not this suit
⁴⁶⁰
of mine, that thou declare
       What
incidency
⁴⁶²
thou dost guess of harm
       Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near,
       Which way to be prevented, if to be.
       If not, how best to bear it.

CAMILLO
     Sir, I will tell you,
       Since I am
charged
⁴⁶⁷
in honour and by him
       That I think honourable: therefore
mark
⁴⁶⁸
my counsel,
     Which must be
ev'n
⁴⁶⁹
as swiftly followed as
       I mean to utter it; or both yourself and me
       Cry lost, and so
goodnight
⁴⁷¹
!

POLIXENES
     On, good Camillo.

CAMILLO
     I am appointed
him
⁴⁷³
to murder you.

POLIXENES
     By whom, Camillo?

CAMILLO
     By the king.

POLIXENES
     For what?

CAMILLO
     He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears,
       As he had seen't or been an instrument
       To
vice
⁴⁷⁹
you to't, that you have touched his queen
       Forbiddenly.

POLIXENES
     O, then my best blood turn
       To an infected jelly and my name
       Be yoked with
his that did betray the best
⁴⁸³
!
       Turn then my freshest reputation to
       A
savour
⁴⁸⁵
that may
strike
the
dullest
nostril
       Where I arrive, and my approach be shunned,
       Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection
       That e'er was heard or read!

CAMILLO
    
Swear his thought over
⁴⁸⁹
       By each particular star in heaven and
       By all their
influences
⁴⁹¹
; you may as well
       Forbid the sea
for to
⁴⁹²
obey the moon
       As
or
⁴⁹³
by oath remove or counsel shake
       The
fabric
⁴⁹⁴
of his folly, whose foundation
       Is piled upon his faith and will continue
      
The standing of his body
⁴⁹⁶
.

POLIXENES
     How should this
grow
⁴⁹⁷
?

CAMILLO
     I know not. But I am sure 'tis safer to
       Avoid what's grown than question how 'tis born.
     If therefore you dare trust my honesty,
       That lies enclosèd in this
trunk
⁵⁰¹
which you
       Shall bear along
impawned
⁵⁰²
, away tonight!
       Your followers I will
whisper to
⁵⁰³
the business,
       And will by twos and threes at several
posterns
⁵⁰⁴
      
Clear them
⁵⁰⁵
o'th'city. For myself, I'll put
       My fortunes to your service,
which are here
       By this discovery lost
⁵⁰⁶
. Be not uncertain,
       For by the honour of my parents, I
       Have uttered truth, which if you seek to
prove
⁵⁰⁹
,
       I dare not
stand by
⁵¹⁰
; nor shall you be safer
       Than one condemnèd by the king's own mouth,
       Thereon his execution sworn.