SCENE I.
An antichamber in Leontes' palace.
Enter Camillo, and Archidamus.
Arch.
If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia,
on the like occasion whereon my services are
-- 288 --
now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference
betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.
-- 289 --
Cam.
I think, this coming summer, the king of
Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he
justly owes him.
Arch.
Wherein our entertainment shall shame us2 note,
we will be justified in our loves: for, indeed,—
Cam.
'Beseech you,—
Arch.
Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my
knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence—in so
-- 290 --
rare—I know not what to say.—We will give you
sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our
insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as
little accuse us.
Cam.
You pay a great deal too dear, for what's
given freely.
Arch.
Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs
me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.
Cam.
Sicilia cannot shew himself over-kind to Bohemia.
They were trained together in their childhoods;
and there rooted betwixt them then such an
affection, which cannot chuse but branch now. Since
their more mature dignities, and royal necessities, made
separation of their society, their encounters, though
not personal, have been royally attorney'd3 note, with interchange
of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they
have seem'd to be together, though absent; shook
hands, as over a vast4 note
: and embrac'd, as it were, from
the ends of opposed winds.9Q0453 The heavens continue
their loves!
Arch.
I think, there is not in the world either malice,
or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable
comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a
gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever came
into my note.
Cam.
I very well agree with you in the hopes of
him: It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physicks
-- 291 --
the subject5 note
, makes old hearts fresh: they, that went
on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to
see him a man.
Arch.
Would they else be content to die?
Cam.
Yes; if there were no other excuse why they
should desire to live.
Arch.
If the king had no son, they would desire to
live on crutches 'till he had one.
[Exeunt.
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].