Cam. No, no, my lord. It is; you lie, you lie: Leon. I say, thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee; Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave; Or else a hovering temporizer, that Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil, The running of one glass. Cam. Who does infect her? Leon. Why he, that wears her like her medal,* hanging About his neck, Bohemia: Who-if I Had servants true about me: that bare eyes Have bench'd, and rear'd to worship; who may'st see Plainly, as heaven sees earth, and earth sees heaven, Cam. Sir, my lord, I could do this; and that with no rash potion, But with a ling'ring dram, that should not work Maliciously like poison: But I cannot Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress, So sovereignly being honourable. I have lov'd thee, Leon. Make't thy question, and go rot!3 Dost think, I am so muddy, so unsettled, To appoint myself in this vexation? sully like her medal,] i. e. her portrait. 5 Make't thy question, and go rot! &c.] This refers to what Camillo has just said, relative to the Queen's chastity. The purity and whiteness of my sheets, Cam. I must believe you, sir: Provided, that when he's remov'd, your highness Even for your son's sake; and, thereby, for sealing Leon. Thou dost advise me, Even so as I mine own course have set down: I'll give no blemish to her honour, none. Go then; and with a countenance as clear As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia, If from me he have wholsome beverage, Account me not your servant. Leon. This is all: Do't, and thou hast the one half of my heart; Cam. me. Cam. O miserable lady!-But, for me, [Exit. Could man so blench?] To blench is to start off, to shrink. 2 Of thousands, that had struck anointed kings, Forsake the court: to do't, or no, is certain Pol. Enter POLIXenes. This is strange! methinks, My favour here begins to warp. Not speak? Good-day, Camillo. Cam. Hail, most royal sir! Pol. What is the news i'the court? None rare, my lord. Cam. I dare not know, my lord. Pol. How! dare not? do not. Do you know, and dare not Be intelligent to me? 'Tis thereabouts; For, to yourself, what you do know, you must; Cam. There is a sickness Which puts some of us in distemper; but I cannot name the disease; and it is caught you that yet are well. Of Pol. How! caught of me? Make me not sighted like the basilisk: I have look'd on thousands who have sped the better If Thereof to be inform'd, imprison it not Cam. I may not answer. Pol. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well! I must be answer'd.-Dost thou hear, Camillo, I conjure thee, by all the parts of man, Which honour does acknowledge, whereof the least Is not this suit of mine,-that thou declare Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near; If not, how best to bear it. Cam. Sir, I'll tell you; Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him. That I think honourable: Therefore, mark my counsel; Which must be even as swiftly follow'd, as Pol. On, good Camillo. Cam. I am appointed Him to murder you." 8 ↑ In whose success we are gentle,] Success here means succession. Gentle is evidently opposed to simple; alluding to the distinction between the gentry and yeomanry. 8 I am appointed Him to murder you.] i. e. I am the person ap pointed to murder you. VOL. III. NN Pol. By whom, Camillo ? Cam. Pol. By the king. For what? Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears, As he had seen't, or been an instrument To vice you to't,-that you have touch'd his queen Forbiddenly. Pol. O, then my best blood turn To an infected jelly; and my name Be yok'd with his, that did betray the best! A savour, that may strike the dullest nostril Cam. Swear his thought over By each particular star in heaven, and By all their influences, you may as well Forbid the sea for to obey the moon, As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake The fabrick of his folly; whose foundation Is pil'd upon his faith, and will continue The standing of his body. Pol. How should this grow? Cam. 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 enclosed in this trunk, which you Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night. Your followers I will whisper to the business; And will, by twos, and threes, at several posterns, Clear them o' the city: For myself, I'll put 9 To vice- i. e. to draw, persuade you; probably for advise. whose foundation I Is pil'd upon his faith,] This folly which is erected on the foundation of settled belief. |