Page 790 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

The bound of honour, or in act or will [50]
That way inclining, harden’d be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near’st of kin
Cry fie upon my grave!

LEONTES
I ne’er heard yet

That any of these bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did [55]
Than to perform it first.

HERMIONE
That’s true enough,

Though ’tis a saying, sir, not due to me.

LEONTES
You will not own it.

HERMIONE
More than mistress of
Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes, [60]

With whom I am accus’d, I do confess
I lov’d him as in honour he requir’d,
With such a kind of love as might become
A lady like me; with a love, even such,

So, and no other, as yourself commanded: [65]
Which, not to have done, I think had been in me
Both disobedience and ingratitude
To you, and toward your friend, whose love had spoke,

Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely,
That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy, [70]
I know not how it tastes, though it be dish’d
For me to try how: all I know of it,

Is that Camillo was an honest man;
And why he left your court, the gods themselves
(Wotting no more than I) are ignorant. [75]