Aut. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane 80 to him, though removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman: which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheepwhistling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say, he shall be stoned; but that death is too soft for him, say I: Draw our throne into a sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy. Clo. Has the old man e'er a son, sir, do you hear, an't like you, sir? Aut. He has a son, who shall be flayed alive; then, 'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a wasps' nest; then stand, till he be three quarters and a dram dead: then recovered again with aquavitae, or some other hot infusion: then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day prognostication proclaims 81, shall he be set against a brick wall, the sun looking with a southward eye upon him; where he is to behold him, with flies blown to death. But what talk we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries are to be smiled at, their offences being so capital? Tell me (for you seem to be honest plain men) what you have to the king: being something gently considered 82, I'll bring you where he is aboard, tender your persons to his presence, whisper him in your behalfs; and, if it be in man, besides the king, to effect your suits, here is man shall do it. Clo. He seems to be of great authority: close with him, give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold; show the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado: Remember stoned, and flayed alive. 80 Germane, related. 81 The hottest day foretold in the almanack. 83 i. e. being handsomely bribed; to consider often signified to reward. Vol. IV. 5 Shep. An't please you, sir, to undertake the business for us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as much more; and leave this young man in pawn, till I bring it you. Aut. After I have done what I promised? Aut. Well, give me the moiety:-Are you a party in this business? Clo. In some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it. Aut. O, that's the case of the shepherd's son:Hang him, he'll be made an example. Clo. Comfort, good comfort: we must to the king, and show our strange sights; he must know, 'tis none of your daughter nor my sister; we are gone else. Sir, I will give you as much as this old man does, when the business is performed; and remain, as he says, your pawn, till it be brought you. Aut. I will trust you. Walk before toward the sea-side; go on the right hand; I will but look upon the hedge, and follow you. Clo. We are blessed in this man, as I may say, even blessed. Shep. Let's before, as he bids us; he was provided to do us good. [Exeunt Shepherd and Clown. Aut. If I had a mind to be honest, I see, fortune would not suffer me; she drops booties in my mouth. I am courted now with a double occasion; gold, and a means to do the prince my master good; which, who knows how that may turn back to my advancement? I will bring these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him: if he think it fit to shore them again, and that the complaint they have to the king concerns him nothing, let him call me rogue, for being so far officious: for I am proof against that title, and what shame else belongs to't: To him I will present them, there may be matter in it. [Exit. ACT V. SCENE I. Sicilia. A Room in the Palace of Leontes. Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and others. Cleo. Sir, you have done enough, and have per- A saintlike sorrow: no fault could you make, Leon. Whilst I remember Her and her virtues, I cannot forget My blemishes in them; and so still think of Paul. I think so. Kill'd! Leon. Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: Now, good now, Cleo. Not at all, good lady: You might have spoken a thousand things that would Your kindness better. Paul. Would have him wed again. You are one of those, If you would not so, name Dion. What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue, With a sweet fellow to't? Paul. There is none worthy, Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods Is't not the tenour of his oracle, That king Leontes shall not have an heir, Till his lost child be found? which, that it shall, Leon. I know, in honour,-0, that ever I Had squar'd me to thy counsel!-then, even now, I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes; Have taken treasure from her lips, Paul. And left them Thou speak'st truth. More rich, for what they yielded. : i. e. at rest, dead. So in Antony and Cleopatra :- Cleop. Why, there's more gold; but, sirrah, mark, Again possess her corps; and, on this stage And begin : let Had she such power, She had; and would incense3 me To murder her I married. I should so: Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark Leon. Stars, stars, And all eyes else dead coals!-fear thou no wife, Paul. Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Cleo. You tempt him over-much. Paul. Unless another, 2 The old copy reads: 'And begin, why to me. The transposition of and was made by Steevens. 3 Incense, to instigate or stimulate, was the ancient sense of this word; it is rendered in the Latin dictionaries by dare stimulo. So in King Richard III. "Think you, my lord, this little prating York Was not incensed by his subtle mother?' 4 i. e. split. 5 i. e. meet his eye, or encounter it. Affrontare, Ital. Shakspeare uses this word with the same meaning again in Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 1: That he, as 'twere by accident, may here And in Cymbeline: Your preparation can affront no less than |