Which should undo more doing. Ay, and thou,
His cupbearer,-whom I from meaner form

Have benched, and reared to worship; who mayst see Plainly, as heaven sees earth, and earth sees heaven, How I am galled,-mightst bespice a cup,'

To give mine enemy a lasting wink;

Which draught to me were cordial.

Cam.

Sir, my lord,

I could do this; and that with no rash 2 potion,
But with a lingering dram, that should not work
Maliciously like poison. But I cannot

Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress,
So sovereignly being honorable.

I have loved 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
The purity and whiteness of my sheets,
Which to preserve, is sleep; which being spotted,
Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps?
Give scandal to the blood o' the prince, my son,
Who, I do think, is mine, and love as mine;
Without ripe moving to't? Would I do this?
Could man so blench ?5

Cam.

I must believe you, sir.
I do; and will fetch off Bohemia for❜t ;

Provided, that when he's removed, your highness
Will take again your queen, as yours at first;

1 "Bespice a cup." So in Chapman's Translation of the tenth book of the Odyssey :—

with a festival

She'll first receive thee; but will spice thy bread
With flowery poisons."

2 Rash is hasty; as in King Henry IV. Part II. "rash gunpowder." Maliciously is malignantly, with effects openly hurtful.

3 Make that, i. e. Hermione's disloyalty, which is a clear point, a subject of doubt, and go rot! Dost think I am such a fool as to torment myself, and bring disgrace on me and my child, without sufficient grounds?

4 Something is necessary to complete the verse. Hanmer reads:"Is goads and thorns, nettles and tails of wasps."

5 To blench is to start off, to shrink.

Even for your son's sake; and thereby, for sealing
The injury of tongues in courts and kingdoms
Known and allied to yours.

Leon.

Thou dost advise me,

Even so as I mine own course have set down.

I'll give no blemish to her honor, none.

Cam.

My lord,
Go then; and with a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia,
And with your queen. I am his cupbearer;

If from me he have wholesome beverage,

Account me not your servant.

Leon.

This is all;

Do't, and thou hast the one half of my heart;

Do't not, thou splittest thine own.

Cam.

I'll do❜t, my lord.

Leon. I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised

me.

Cam. O miserable lady-But, for me,

[Exit.

What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner
Of good Polixenes: and my ground to do't
Is the obedience to a master; one,
Who, in rebellion with himself, will have
All that are his, so too.-To do this deed,
Promotion follows. If 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, bears not one,
Let villany itself forswear't. I must

Forsake the court: to do't, or no, is certain

To me a break-neck. Happy star, reign now'
Here comes Bohemia.

Pol.

Enter POLIXENES.

This is strange! Methinks

My favor here begins to warp. Not speak?

Good-day, Camillo.

Cam.

Pol. What is the news i'the court?

Cam.

Hail, most royal sir!

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

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;
And cannot say you dare not. Good Camillo,
Your changed complexions 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 it.

Cam.

There is a sickness

Which puts some of us in distemper; but

I cannot name the disease; and it is caught

Of

you that

Pol.

yet are well.

How! caught of me?

Make me not sighted like the basilisk.

I have looked on thousands, who have sped the better
By my regard, but killed none so. Camillo,-

As you are certainly a gentleman; thereto
Clerk-like, experienced, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,

In whose success we are gentle,'-I beseech you,
If you know aught which does behove my knowledge`
Thereof to be informed, imprison it not

In ignorant concealment.

Cam.

I may not answer.

Pol. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well! I must be answered.-Dost thou hear, Camillo,

I conjure thee, by all the parts of man,

Which honor does acknowledge,-whereof the least

1 Success, for succession. Gentle, well born, was opposed to simple.

Is not this suit of mine,-that thou declare
What incidency 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.

Cam.

Sir, I'll tell you; Since I am charged in honor, and by him

That I think honorable. Therefore, mark my counsel; Which must be even as swiftly followed, as

I mean to utter it; or both yourself and me

Cry, lost, and so good-night.

Pol.
On, good Camillo.
Cam. I am appointed him to murder you.
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

you

To vice 2 you to't,-that have touched his queen
Forbiddenly.
Pol.

O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly; and my name

Be yoked with his, that did betray the best!3
Turn then my freshest reputation to

A savor, 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!

Swear his thought over

Cam.
By each particular star in heaven, and
By all their influences, you may as well
Forbid the sea for to obey the moon,

4

1 "I am appointed him to murder you;" I am the person appointed to murder you.

2 i. e. to screw or move you to it. A vice, in Shakspeare's time, meant any kind of winding screw. The vice of a clock was a common expression.

3 That is, Judas.

4 "Swear his thought over." The meaning apparently is, " Over-swear his thought by," &c.

As, or by oath, remove, or counsel, shake
The fabric of his folly; whose foundation
Is piled 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 inclosed in this trunk, which you
Shall bear along impawned,-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
My fortunes to your service, which are here
By this discovery lost. Be not uncertain :
For, by the honor of my parents, I

Have uttered truth; which if you seek to prove,
I dare not stand by; nor shall you be safer

?

Than one condemned by the king's own mouth, thereon

His execution sworn.

Pol.

I do believe thee:

Give me thy hand;

I saw his heart in his face.

Be pilot to me, and thy places shall

Still neighbor mine.

My ships are ready, and

My people did expect my hence departure

Two days ago. This jealousy

Is for a precious creature; as she's rare,

Must it be great; and, as his person's mighty,
Must it be violent; and as he does conceive
He is dishonored by a man which ever
Professed to him, why, his revenges must

In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me;
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort

The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing

1 "Is piled upon his faith;" this folly which is erected on the foundation of settled belief.

2 i. e. I will place thee in elevated rank, always near to my own in dignity, or near my person.