1611

THE WINTER'S TALE
by William Shakespeare

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
LEONTES, King of Sicilia

MAMILLIUS, his son, the young Prince of Sicilia
CAMILLO, lord of Sicilia

ANTIGONUS, " " "
CLEOMENES, " " "

DION, " " "
POLIXENES, King of Bohemia

FLORIZEL, his son, Prince of Bohemia
ARCHIDAMUS, a lord of Bohemia

OLD SHEPHERD, reputed father of Perdita
CLOWN, his son

AUTOLYCUS, a rogue
A MARINER

A GAOLER
TIME, as Chorus

HERMIONE, Queen to Leontes
PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione

PAULINA, wife to Antigonus
EMILIA, a lady attending on the Queen

MOPSA, shepherdess
DORCAS, "

Other Lords, Gentlemen, Ladies, Officers, Servants, Shepherds,
Shepherdesses

SCENE:
Sicilia and Bohemia

ACT I. SCENE I.
Sicilia. The palace of LEONTES

Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS
ARCHIDAMUS. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the

like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see,
as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your

Sicilia.
CAMILLO. I think this coming summer the King of Sicilia means to

pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.
ARCHIDAMUS. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be

justified in our loves; for indeed-
CAMILLO. Beseech you-

ARCHIDAMUS. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we
cannot with such magnificence, in so 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.
CAMILLO. You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

ARCHIDAMUS. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me
and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

CAMILLO. Sicilia cannot show himself overkind to Bohemia. They were
train'd together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt

them then such an affection which cannot choose but branch now.
Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made

separation of their society, their encounters, though not
personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts,

letters, loving embassies; that they have seem'd to be together,
though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and embrac'd as it

were from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their
loves!

ARCHIDAMUS. 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.

CAMILLO. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him. It is a
gallant child; one that indeed physics the subject, makes old

hearts fresh; they that went on crutches ere he was born desire
yet their life to see him a man.

ARCHIDAMUS. Would they else be content to die?
CAMILLO. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire

to live.
ARCHIDAMUS. If the King had no son, they would desire to live on

crutches till he had one.
Exeunt

SCENE II.
Sicilia. The palace of LEONTES

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS,
CAMILLO, and ATTENDANTS

POLIXENES. Nine changes of the wat'ry star hath been
The shepherd's note since we have left our throne

Without a burden. Time as long again
Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks;

And yet we should for perpetuity
Go hence in debt. And therefore, like a cipher,

Yet standing in rich place, I multiply
With one 'We thank you' many thousands moe

That go before it.
LEONTES. Stay your thanks a while,

And pay them when you part.
POLIXENES. Sir, that's to-morrow.

I am question'd by my fears of what may chance
Or breed upon our absence, that may blow

No sneaping winds at home, to make us say
'This is put forth too truly.' Besides, I have stay'd

To tire your royalty.
LEONTES. We are tougher, brother,

Than you can put us to't.
POLIXENES. No longer stay.

LEONTES. One sev'night longer.
POLIXENES. Very sooth, to-morrow.

LEONTES. We'll part the time between's then; and in that
I'll no gainsaying.

POLIXENES. Press me not, beseech you, so.
There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' th' world,

So soon as yours could win me. So it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although

'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs
Do even drag me homeward; which to hinder

Were in your love a whip to me; my stay
To you a charge and trouble. To save both,

Farewell, our brother.
LEONTES. Tongue-tied, our Queen? Speak you.

HERMIONE. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until
You had drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir,

Charge him too coldly. Tell him you are sure
All in Bohemia's well- this satisfaction

The by-gone day proclaim'd. Say this to him,
He's beat from his best ward.

LEONTES. Well said, Hermione.
HERMIONE. To tell he longs to see his son were strong;

But let him say so then, and let him go;
But let him swear so, and he shall not stay;

We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.
[To POLIXENES] Yet of your royal presence I'll

adventure the borrow of a week. When at Bohemia
You take my lord, I'll give him my commission

To let him there a month behind the gest
Prefix'd for's parting.- Yet, good deed, Leontes,

I love thee not a jar o' th' clock behind
What lady she her lord.- You'll stay?

POLIXENES. No, madam.
HERMIONE. Nay, but you will?

POLIXENES. I may not, verily.
HERMIONE. Verily!

You put me off with limber vows; but I,
Though you would seek t' unsphere the stars with oaths,

Should yet say 'Sir, no going.' Verily,
You shall not go; a lady's 'verily' is

As potent as a lord's. Will go yet?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner,

Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees
When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?

My prisoner or my guest? By your dread 'verily,'
One of them you shall be.

POLIXENES. Your guest, then, madam:
To be your prisoner should import offending;

Which is for me less easy to commit
Than you to punish.

HERMIONE. Not your gaoler then,
But your kind. hostess. Come, I'll question you

Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys.
You were pretty lordings then!

POLIXENES. We were, fair Queen,
Two lads that thought there was no more behind

But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
And to be boy eternal.

HERMIONE. Was not my lord
The verier wag o' th' two?

POLIXENES. We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' th' sun
And bleat the one at th' other. What we chang'd

Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd

That any did. Had we pursu'd that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd

With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven
Boldly 'Not guilty,' the imposition clear'd

Hereditary ours.
HERMIONE. By this we gather

You have tripp'd since.
POLIXENES. O my most sacred lady,

Temptations have since then been born to 's, for
In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl;

Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes
Of my young playfellow.

HERMIONE. Grace to boot!
Of this make no conclusion, lest you say

Your queen and I are devils. Yet, go on;
Th' offences we have made you do we'll answer,

If you first sinn'd with us, and that with us
You did continue fault, and that you slipp'd not

With any but with us.
LEONTES. Is he won yet?

HERMIONE. He'll stay, my lord.
LEONTES. At my request he would not.

Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st
To better purpose.

HERMIONE. Never?
LEONTES. Never but once.

HERMIONE. What! Have I twice said well? When was't before?
I prithee tell me; cram's with praise, and make's

As fat as tame things. One good deed dying tongueless
Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.

Our praises are our wages; you may ride's
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere

With spur we heat an acre. But to th' goal:
My last good deed was to entreat his stay;

What was my first? It has an elder sister,
Or I mistake you. O, would her name were Grace!

But once before I spoke to th' purpose- When?
Nay, let me have't; I long.

LEONTES. Why, that was when
Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death,

• prince [´prins] n.王子；亲王；君主 (初中英语单词)
• shepherd [´ʃepəd] n.牧羊人 vt.带领 (初中英语单词)
• entertainment [,entə´teinmənt] n.招(款)待；联欢会 (初中英语单词)
• accuse [ə´kju:z] vt.谴责；控告，告发 (初中英语单词)
• affection [ə´fekʃən] n.友爱；慈爱 (初中英语单词)
• absent [´æbsənt, əb´sent] a.不在的 vt.使缺席 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
• absence [´æbsəns] n.不在，缺席；缺乏 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• coldly [´kəuldli] ad.冷淡地 (初中英语单词)
• import [im´pɔ:t, ´impɔ:t] vt.&n.进口；输入 (初中英语单词)
• doctrine [´dɔktrin] n.教义；主义；学说 (初中英语单词)
• sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
• conclusion [kən´klu:ʒən] n.结束；结论；推论 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• wherein [weər´in] ad.那里面 (高中英语单词)
• beseech [bi´si:tʃ] v.恳求，哀求 (高中英语单词)
• sleepy [´sli:pi] a.困的，想睡的 (高中英语单词)
• honesty [´ɔnisti] n.诚实，老实 (高中英语单词)
• mature [mə´tjuə] a.成熟的 v.(使)成熟 (高中英语单词)
• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
• malice [´mælis] n.恶意；怨恨；预谋 (高中英语单词)
• homeward [´həumwəd] ad.&a.回家(的) (高中英语单词)
• hostess [´həustis] n.女主人；旅馆女老板 (高中英语单词)
• innocence [´inəsəns] n.无罪；天真 (高中英语单词)
• justly [´dʒʌstli] ad.公正地，正当地 (英语四级单词)
• verily [´verili] ad.真实的；肯定地 (英语四级单词)
• magnificence [mæg´nifisns] n.壮丽；宏伟；豪华 (英语四级单词)
• potent [´pəutənt] a.有(势)力的；烈性的 (英语四级单词)
• entreat [in´tri:t] vt.恳求，恳请 (英语四级单词)
• whereon [weər´ɔn] ad.在什么上面；因此 (英语六级单词)
• visitation [,vizi´teiʃən] n.访问；视察；检查 (英语六级单词)
• interchange [,intə´tʃeindʒ] vt.交换；兑换 n.交换 (英语六级单词)
• unspeakable [ʌn´spi:kəbl] a.不能以言语表达的 (英语六级单词)