Page 850 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4
P. 850
Did perish with the infant. ’Tis your counsel
My lord should to the heavens be contrary, [45]
Oppose against their wills. (To Leontes) Care not for issue;
The crown will find an heir. Great Alexander
Left his to th’ worthiest; so his successor
Was like to be the best.
LEONTES
Good Paulina,
Who hast the memory of Hermione, [50]
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, −
PAULINA
And left them
More rich for what they yielded.
LEONTES
Thou speak’st truth. [55]
No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,
And better us’d, would make her sainted spirit
Again possess her corpse, and on this stage
(Were we offenders now) appear soul-vex’d,
And begin, ‘Why to me?’
PAULINA
Had she such power, [60]
She had just cause.
LEONTES
She had; and would incense me
To murder her I married.
PAULINA
I should so:
