Cleomines.
Sir, you have done enough, and have perform'd
A saint-like sorrow: no fault could you make,
Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down
More penitence, than done trespass. At the last,
Do as the heav'ns have done, forget your evil;
With them, forgive yourself.

Leo.
Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself; which was so much,
That heir-less it hath made my Kingdom; and
Destroy'd the sweet'st companion, that e'er man^{9 note}

Paul.
True, too true, my Lord;
If one by one you wedded all the world,
Or, from the* ^note All that are, took something good,
To make a perfect woman; she, you kill'd,
Would be unparallel'd.

Leo.
I think so. Kill'd?
Kill'd? she I kill'd? I did so, but thou strik'st me
Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter
Upon thy tongue, as in my thought. Now, good now,
Say so but seldom.

Cleo.
Not at all, good Lady;
You might have spoke a thousand things, that would
Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd
Your kindness better.

Paul.
You are one of those,
Would have him wed again.

Dio.
If you would not so,
You pity not the state, nor the remembrance
Of his most sovereign name; consider little,
What dangers (by his Highness' fail of issue)
May drop upon his kingdom, and devour
Incertain lookers on. What were more holy,
Than to rejoice, the former Queen is well?^{1 note}

Paul.
There is none worthy,

Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the Gods
Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo said,
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,
Is all as monstrous to our human reason,
As my Antigonus to break his grave,
And come again to me; who, on my life,
Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counsel,
My Lord should to the heav'ns be contrary;
Oppose against their wills.—Care not for issue; [To the King.
The crown will find an heir. Great Alexander
Left his to th' worthiest; so his successor
Was like to be the best.

Leo.
Good Paulina,
Who hast the memory of Hermione,
I know, in honour: O, 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
More rich, for what they yielded.

Leo.
Thou speak'st truth:
No more such wives, therefore no wife; one worse,
And better us'd, would make her sainted spirit^{2 note}