Shakespeare Portal

Act 4, Scene 2

Bohemia. A Room in the palace of POLIXENES.

  1. [Enter POLIXENES and CAMILLO.]
  2. Polixenes
  3. 1584 I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importunate: 'tis
  4. 1585 a sickness denying thee anything; a death to grant this.
  5. Camillo
  6. 1586 It is fifteen years since I saw my country; though I have
  7. 1587 for the most part been aired abroad, I desire to lay my bones
  8. 1588 there. Besides, the penitent king, my master, hath sent for me;
  9. 1589 to whose feeling sorrows I might be some allay, or I o'erween
  10. 1590 to think so,—which is another spur to my departure.
  11. Polixenes
  12. 1591 As thou lovest me, Camillo, wipe not out the rest of thy
  13. 1592 services by leaving me now: the need I have of thee, thine own
  14. 1593 goodness hath made; better not to have had thee than thus to want
  15. 1594 thee; thou, having made me businesses which none without thee can
  16. 1595 sufficiently manage, must either stay to execute them thyself, or
  17. 1596 take away with thee the very services thou hast done; which if I
  18. 1597 have not enough considered,—as too much I cannot,—to be more
  19. 1598 thankful to thee shall be my study; and my profit therein the
  20. 1599 heaping friendships. Of that fatal country Sicilia, pr'ythee,
  21. 1600 speak no more; whose very naming punishes me with the remembrance
  22. 1601 of that penitent, as thou call'st him, and reconciled king, my
  23. 1602 brother; whose loss of his most precious queen and children are
  24. 1603 even now to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when sawest thou the
  25. 1604 Prince Florizel, my son? Kings are no less unhappy, their issue
  26. 1605 not being gracious, than they are in losing them when they have
  27. 1606 approved their virtues.
  28. Camillo
  29. 1607 Sir, it is three days since I saw the prince. What his happier
  30. 1608 affairs may be, are to me unknown; but I have missingly noted
  31. 1609 he is of late much retired from court, and is less frequent to
  32. 1610 his princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared.
  33. Polixenes
  34. 1611 I have considered so much, Camillo, and with some care; so
  35. 1612 far that I have eyes under my service which look upon his
  36. 1613 removedness; from whom I have this intelligence,—that he is
  37. 1614 seldom from the house of a most homely shepherd,—a man, they
  38. 1615 say, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his
  39. 1616 neighbours, is grown into an unspeakable estate.
  40. Camillo
  41. 1617 I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a daughter of most
  42. 1618 rare note: the report of her is extended more than can be
  43. 1619 thought to begin from such a cottage.
  44. Polixenes
  45. 1620 That's likewise part of my intelligence: but, I fear, the
  46. 1621 angle that plucks our son thither. Thou shalt accompany us
  47. 1622 to the place; where we will, not appearing what we are, have
  48. 1623 some question with the shepherd; from whose simplicity I think
  49. 1624 it not uneasy to get the cause of my son's resort thither.
  50. 1625 Pr'ythee, be my present partner in this business, and lay
  51. 1626 aside the thoughts of Sicilia.
  52. Camillo
  53. 1627 I willingly obey your command.
  54. Polixenes
  55. 1628 My best Camillo!—We must disguise ourselves.
  56. [Exeunt.]