Hasting to th’ court.

A LORD (to Leontes)

So please you, sir, their speed Hath been. beyond account.

LEONTES

Twenty-three days

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 burden to me. Leave me,

And think upon my bidding.

Exeunt severally

3.1 Enter Cleomenes and Dion

CLEOMENES

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‘th’ off’ring!

CLEOMENES

But of all, the burst

And the ear-deaf‘ning voice o’th’ oracle,

Kin to Jove’s thunder, so surprised my sense

That I was nothing.

DION

If th‘event o’th’ 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.

CLEOMENES

Great Apollo

Turn all to th’ 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 sealed up,

Shall the contents discover, something rare

Even then will rush to knowledge. Go. Fresh horses!

And gracious be the issue.

Exeunt

3.2 Enter Leontes, Lords, and Officers

LEONTES

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 cleared

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.

OFFICER

It is his highness’ pleasure

That the Queen appear in person here in court.

Enter Hermione guarded, with Paulina and Ladies

Silence.

LEONTES Read the indictment.

OFFICER (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.

HERMIONE

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,

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

Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true

As I am now unhappy; which is more

Than history can pattern, though devised

And played to take spectators. For behold me,

A fellow of the royal bed, which owe

A moiety of the throne; a great king’s daughter,

The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing

To prate and talk for life and honour, fore

Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it

As I weigh grief, which I would spare. For honour,

‘Tis a derivative from me to mine,

And only that I stand for. I appeal

To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes

Came to your court how I was in your grace,

How merited to be so; since he came,

With what encounter so uncurrent I

Have strained t’appear thus. If one jot beyond

The bound of honour, or in act or will

That way inclining, hardened be the hearts

Of all that hear me, and my near‘st of kin

Cry ‘Fie’ upon my grave.

LEONTES

I ne’er heard yet

That any of these bolder vices wanted

Less impudence to gainsay what they did

Than to perform it first.

HERMIONE

That’s true enough,

Though ’tis a saying, sir, not due to me.

LEONTES

You will not own it.

HERMIONE

More than mistress of

Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not

At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,

With whom I am accused, I do confess

I loved him as in honour he required;

With such a kind of love as might become

A lady like me; with a love, even such,

So, and no other, as yourself commanded;

Which not to have done I think had been in me