Page 746 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

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 [65]
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 [70]
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 [75]
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 play-fellow.

HERMIONE

Grace to boot! [80]
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