Cam.

Leon.

sir :

335

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

Thou dost advise me

Even so as I mine own course have set down:
I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

Cam. My lord,

340

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.

345

This is all:

Leon.

Do't, and thou hast the one half of my heart;
Do't not, thou splitt'st 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.

351

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

355

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 flourish'd after, I'ld 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!

360

334. fetch off] Used here as

euphemism for "kill."

an

337-8. for sealing tongues] in order to silence injurious tongues.

348. Do't... heart] In Pandosto Franion the cupbearer is promised "a thousand crowns of yearly revenue" if he will poison Egistus.

352. case] position. 356. so] in rebellion.

358. anointed kings] Sir William

Blackstone found in this reference to the slaying of anointed kings evidence that the play could not have been written during the reign of Elizabeth, inasmuch as the passage would have been intolerable in the ears of one who had put Mary Queen of Scots to death. But the evidence for a date of composition after 1603 rests on surer ground than this.

363. break-neck] Used figuratively for

Here comes Bohemia.

Pol.

Cam.

Re-enter POLIXENES.

This is strange: methinks

365

My favour here begins to warp. Not speak?
Good day, Camillo.

Pol. What is the news i' the court?

Hail, most royal sir!

None rare, my lord.

Cam.
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.

Cam.

Pol.

370

375

380

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 alter'd with 't.

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

385

How! caught of me!

365. My] Me F 2.

366.

364. Re-enter Polixenes] Enter Polixenes Ff. Hail] Hoyle F 2. 376. my lord] om. Hanmer. 377. do not] dare not Hanmer. 379. you do] Ff 1, 2; do you Ff 3, 4.

destruction, ruin; compare W. Dell, The Way of Peace, 115 (1649): "The very breakneck of the Churches peace and unity."

363. Happy now] Good fortune attend me. The reference is to the entrance of Polixenes.

...

372. Wafting contrary] Turning his glance in the opposite direction. 372. falling] letting fall.

378. Be intelligent. thereabouts] Furness paraphrases thus: "Be intelligible-it must be something of this nature: that you know and dare not 365. warp] become distorted. Com- tell." Compare Antony and Cleopatra, pare the transitive use of the word in II. X. 29: "Ay, are you thereabouts?" All's Well that Ends Well, v. iii. 49 :— 379. you must] you must know. "His scornful perspective. 381. Your changed complexions] the Which warped the line of every pale faces of you and Leontes. other favour."

Make me not sighted like the basilisk:

Cam.

I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better
By my regard, but kill'd none so. Camillo,-
As you are certainly a gentleman; thereto
Clerk-like experienc'd, which no less adorns
Our gentry than our parents' noble names,

In whose success we are gentle,-I beseech you,

390

If you know aught which does behove my knowledge 395
Thereof to be inform'd, imprison 't not

In ignorant concealment.

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
What incidency thou dost guess of harm

400

Cam.

Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;

If not, how best to bear it.

Sir, I will tell you;
Since I am charged in honour and by him

That I think honourable: therefore mark my counsel,
Which must be ev'n as swiftly follow'd 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?

405

410

392. experienc'd] F 1; ex410. me] I Collier

389. I have] Ff 1, 4; I Ff 2, 3; I 've Pope. pedienc'd Ff 2, 3, 4. 405. if to be] if it be Theobald. MS. 412. I am appointed him] F 1; I appointed him Ff 2, 3, 4; I am appointed by him Long MS.; I am appointed, sir, Hanmer.

66

388. basilisk] Halliwell illustrated the allusion by the following quotation from Holland's Plinie, xxix. cap. 4: 'Yea, and (by report) if he [the basilisk] do but set his eie on a man, it is enough to take away his life." We may also compare Cymbeline, 11. iv. 107:

"It is a basilisk unto mine eye, Kills me to look on it."

394. In whose success] in succession from whom.

400. all the parts of man] "all the

Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears,
As he had seen 't, or been an instrument

Pol.

Cam.

Pol.

To vice you to 't, that you have touch'd his queen
Forbiddenly.

O then, my best blood turn

To an infected jelly, and my name

Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to

A savour that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive, and my approach be shunn'd,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection
That e'er was heard or read!

415

420

Swear his thought over

425

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 fabric of his folly, whose foundation
Is piled upon his faith, and will continue
The standing of his body.

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,

416. To vice] To 'ntice Heath. thought Theobald conj.

430

435

424. his thought] this though Theobald; this

416. vice] Heath and others have proposed to read 'ntice or 'tice for vice. This is needless, and the word " vice is used here in the sense of to screw tight as in a vice. In Twelfth Night, v. i. 116-7, there is a very similar figure of speech, with the word "screw" for "vice":

"I partly know the instrument

That screws me from my true place in your favour."

The use of the word "instrument" in both passages makes the figure quite clear.

419. his... Best] The reference is to Judas's betrayal of Jesus.

424. Swear his thought over 1 In Twelfth Night, v. i. 261, Viola says:

Pol.

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 honour of my parents, I
Have utter'd 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.

I do believe thee:
I saw his heart in 's face. Give me thy hand:
Be pilot to me and thy places shall
Still neighbour mine. My ships are ready, and
My people did expect my hence departure
Two days ago. This jealousy

440

445

450

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 dishonour'd by a man which ever

455

Profess'd 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
Of his ill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo;

460

444. by] by 't Hanmer.

445. condemned] Ff 2, 3, 4; condemn'd F 1. 445-6. mouth: Thereon his] F; mouth, thereon His Capell, etc.; see note infra. 448. places] paces Malone. 451. jealousy] jealousy of his Walker. 458. and] Heav'n Hanmer. 458-9. comfort. theme] consort . . . throne Jack

son. 459. queen] queen's; Warburton.

441. discovery] disclosure.

444. I dare not stand by] Deighton paraphrases, "I dare not stay to see the result." Hanmer's substitution of by 't for by is unnecessary.

446. Thereon. sworn] I follow the Folios in regarding "Thereon" as the first word in line 446. Most editors from Capell onwards have removed it to the position of the final word in line 445. The meaning of the clause is, as Deighton points out, "whose death, as a sequel to his conviction, has been predetermined."

448. places] There is no need whatever to read "paces." By "places" is meant either "places of abode," or 66 'positions in life."

456. Profess'd] made great professions of love. With this use of the verb, compare Julius Cæsar, 1. ii. 77 :know

"If you

459. theme] dream Collier MS. That I profess myself in banquetting

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous."

...

458-60. Good expedition suspicion] This passage has been pronounced corrupt by many editors, and various emendations have been suggested, some of which will be found in the textual notes above. Furness, however, stoutly declares that the text needs no emendation and interprets the general situation, as well as the actual passage in the text, in the following way: "It is necessary that we should retain our respect for Polixenes, and it is a dramatic necessity that he should be removed from the scene. There can be no friendly leave-taking from Leontes, still less can there be a hostile one. Polixenes must go away by stealth, there is no other course. But, to save himself