Cleo.
Sir, you have done enough, and have perform'd
A saint-like sorrow: At the last,
Do, as the heavens have done; forget your evil;
With them, forgive yourself.

Leon.
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 heirless it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy'd the sweet'st companion, that e'er man
Bred his hopes out of.

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

Leon.
I think so. Kill'd!
She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strikest me
Sorely, to say I did: Now, good now,
Say so but seldom.

Cleo.
Not at all, good lady:
You might have spoken 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.

Dion.
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.

Paul.
The gods
Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo said,
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. [To Leontes.

Leon.
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.

Leon.
Thou speak'st truth.
No more such wives; therefore, no wife:
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul.
Will you swear
Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leon.
Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit!

Paul.
Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.

Cleo.
You tempt him over-much.

Paul.
I have done.
Yet, if my lord will marry,—give me the office
To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young
As was your former; but she shall be such,

As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy
To see her in your arms. Enter First Lord.

1st Lord.
One that gives out himself Prince Florizel,
Son of Polixenes, with his princess, desires access
To your high presence.

Leon.
What with him? he comes not
Like to his father's greatness: his approach,
So out of circumstance, and sudden, tells us,
'Tis not a visitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need, and accident. What train?

1st Lord.
But few,
And those but mean.

Leon.
His princess, say you, with him?

1st Lord.
Ay; the most peerless piece of earth, I think,
That e'er the sun shone bright on.

Leon.
Go, Cleomenes;
Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends,
Bring them to our embracement.—[Exeunt Cleomenes, and Lords.]—Still 'tis strange,
He thus should steal upon us.

Paul.
Had our prince,
(Jewel of children) seen this hour, he had pair'd
Well with this lord; there was not full a month
Between their births.

Leon.
Pr'ythee no more; thou know'st
He dies to me again when talk'd of: sure,
When I shall see this gentleman, thy speeches
Will bring me to consider that which may
Unfurnish me of reason.— Re-enter Cleomenes, with Florizel, Perdita, and Lords.
They are come.—Most dearly welcome!
And your fair princess, goddess! O, alas;
I lost a couple, that 'twxit heaven and earth
Might thus have stood, begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do: and then I lost
(All mine own folly) the society,
Amity too, of your brave father; whom,

Though bearing misery, I desire my life
Once more to look upon.

Flo.
By his command
Have I here touch'd Sicilia, and from him
Give you all greetings that a king and friend
Can send his brother, whom he loves
More than all the sceptres,
And those that bear them, living.

Leon.
O, my brother,
The wrongs I have done thee stir
Afresh within me:—Welcome hither,
As is the spring to the earth: the blessed gods
Purge all infection from our air, whilst you
Do climate here! You have a noble father,
A graceful^{1 note} gentleman, against whose person,
So sacred as it is, I have done sin;
For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me issueless; and your father's bless'd
(As he from heaven merits it) with you,
Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,
Might I a son and daughter now have look'd on,
Such goodly things as you? Enter Archidamus, and two Bithynian Lords.

Arch.
Please you, great sir,
Bithynia greets you from himself, by me;
Desires you to attach his son, who has
(His dignity and duty both cast off)
Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A shepherd's daughter.

Leon.
Where's Bithynia? speak.

Arch.
Here in your city; I now came from him.
To your court whiles he was hast'ning (in the chase
Of this fair couple) meets he on the way
The father of this seeming lady, and
Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young prince.

Flo.
Camillo has betray'd me;
Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now,
Endur'd all weathers.

Arch.
He's with the king your father.

Leon.
Who? Camillo?

Arch.
Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now
Has these poor men in question.^{2 note}

Per.
O, my poor father!—
The heaven sets spies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

Leon.
You are married?

Flo.
We are not, sir, nor are we like to be;
The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first.

Leon.
My lord,
Is this the daughter of a king?

Flo.
She is,
When once she is my wife.

Leon.
That once, I see, by your good father's speed,
Will come on very slowly. I am sorry
Your choice is not so rich in worth^{3 note} as beauty.

Flo.
Dear, look up:
Though fortune, visible an enemy,
Should chase us, with my father; power no jot
Hath she to change our loves.—'Beseech you, sir,
Remember since you ow'd no more to time^{4 note}
Than I do now: with thought of such affections,
Step forth mine advocate; at your request
My father will grant precious things as trifles.

Leon.
Would he do so, I'd beg your precious mistress,
Which he counts but a trifle.

Paul.
Sir, my liege,
Your eye hath too much youth in't: not a month
'Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazes
Than what you look on now.

Leon.
I thought of her,
Even in these looks I made.—But your petition [To Florizel.
Is yet unanswer'd: I will to your father;
Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires,
I am friend to them, and you: upon which errand
I now go toward him; therefore, follow me,
And mark what way I make: Come, good my lord. [Exeunt.

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