Act 5, Scene 2

The same. Before the Palace.

[Enter AUTOLYCUS and a Gentleman.]
Autolycus
2905 Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation?
First Gentleman
2906 I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard the old shepherd
2907 deliver the manner how he found it: whereupon, after a little
2908 amazedness, we were all commanded out of the chamber; only this,
2909 methought I heard the shepherd say he found the child.
Autolycus
2910 I would most gladly know the issue of it.
First Gentleman
2911 I make a broken delivery of the business; but the changes I
2912 perceived in the king and Camillo were very notes of admiration.
2913 They seem'd almost, with staring on one another, to tear the
2914 cases of their eyes; there was speech in their dumbness, language
2915 in their very gesture; they looked as they had heard of a world
2916 ransomed, or one destroyed: a notable passion of wonder appeared
2917 in them; but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing
2918 could not say if the importance were joy or sorrow;—but in the
2919 extremity of the one, it must needs be. Here comes a gentleman
2920 that happily knows more.
[Enter a Gentleman.]
First Gentleman
2921 The news, Rogero?
Second Gentleman
2922 Nothing but bonfires: the oracle is fulfilled: the king's
2923 daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is broken out within
2924 this hour that ballad-makers cannot be able to express it.
2925 Here comes the Lady Paulina's steward: he can deliver you more.
[Enter a third Gentleman.]
Second Gentleman
2926 How goes it now, sir? This news, which is called true, is so like
2927 an old tale that the verity of it is in strong suspicion. Has the
2928 king found his heir?
Third Gentleman
2929 Most true, if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance. That
2930 which you hear you'll swear you see, there is such unity in the
2931 proofs. The mantle of Queen Hermione; her jewel about the neck of
2932 it; the letters of Antigonus, found with it, which they know to
2933 be his character; the majesty of the creature in resemblance of
2934 the mother; the affection of nobleness, which nature shows above
2935 her breeding; and many other evidences,—proclaim her with all
2936 certainty to be the king's daughter. Did you see the meeting of
2937 the two kings?
Second Gentleman
2938 No.
Third Gentleman
2939 Then you have lost a sight which was to be seen, cannot be spoken
2940 of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another, so and in
2941 such manner that it seemed sorrow wept to take leave of them; for
2942 their joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding
2943 up of hands, with countenance of such distraction that they were
2944 to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, being ready to
2945 leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter, as if that joy
2946 were now become a loss, cries 'O, thy mother, thy mother!' then
2947 asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then
2948 again worries he his daughter with clipping her; now he thanks
2949 the old shepherd, which stands by like a weather-bitten conduit
2950 of many kings' reigns. I never heard of such another encounter,
2951 which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it.
Second Gentleman
2952 What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the
2953 child?
Third Gentleman
2954 Like an old tale still, which will have matter to rehearse,
2955 though credit be asleep and not an ear open. He was torn to
2956 pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd's son, who has
2957 not only his innocence,—which seems much,—to justify him,
2958 but a handkerchief and rings of his, that Paulina knows.
First Gentleman
2959 What became of his bark and his followers?
Third Gentleman
2960 Wrecked the same instant of their master's death, and in the
2961 view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments which aided
2962 to expose the child were even then lost when it was found. But,
2963 O, the noble combat that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in
2964 Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband,
2965 another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled: she lifted the
2966 princess from the earth, and so locks her in embracing, as if she
2967 would pin her to her heart, that she might no more be in danger
2968 of losing.
First Gentleman
2969 The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and
2970 princes; for by such was it acted.
Third Gentleman
2971 One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for
2972 mine eyes,—caught the water, though not the fish,—was, when
2973 at the relation of the queen's death, with the manner how she
2974 came to it,—bravely confessed and lamented by the king,—how
2975 attentivenes wounded his daughter; till, from one sign of dolour
2976 to another, she did with an 'Alas!'—I would fain say, bleed
2977 tears; for I am sure my heart wept blood. Who was most marble
2978 there changed colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the
2979 world could have seen it, the woe had been universal.
First Gentleman
2980 Are they returned to the court?
Third Gentleman
2981 No: the princess hearing of her mother's statue, which is in the
2982 keeping of Paulina,—a piece many years in doing and now newly
2983 performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano, who, had
2984 he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, would
2985 beguile nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her ape: he so
2986 near to Hermione hath done Hermione that they say one would speak
2987 to her and stand in hope of answer:—thither with all greediness
2988 of affection are they gone; and there they intend to sup.
Second Gentleman
2989 I thought she had some great matter there in hand; for she
2990 hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever since the death of
2991 Hermione, visited that removed house. Shall we thither, and with
2992 our company piece the rejoicing?
First Gentleman
2993 Who would be thence that has the benefit of access? every wink
2994 of an eye some new grace will be born: our absence makes us
2995 unthrifty to our knowledge. Let's along.
[Exeunt GENTLEMEN.]
Autolycus
2996 Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me, would preferment
2997 drop on my head. I brought the old man and his son aboard the
2998 prince; told him I heard them talk of a fardel and I know not
2999 what; but he at that time over-fond of the shepherd's daughter,—
3000 so he then took her to be,—who began to be much sea-sick, and
3001 himself little better, extremity of weather continuing, this
3002 mystery remained undiscover'd. But 'tis all one to me; for had I
3003 been the finder-out of this secret, it would not have relish'd
3004 among my other discredits. Here come those I have done good to
3005 against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their
3006 fortune.
[Enter Shepherd and Clown.]
Shepherd
3007 Come, boy; I am past more children, but thy sons and daughters
3008 will be all gentlemen born.
Clown
3009 You are well met, sir: you denied to fight with me this other
3010 day, because I was no gentleman born. See you these clothes? say
3011 you see them not and think me still no gentleman born: you were
3012 best say these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie, do;
3013 and try whether I am not now a gentleman born.
Autolycus
3014 I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.
Clown
3015 Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.
Shepherd
3016 And so have I, boy!
Clown
3017 So you have:—but I was a gentleman born before my father; for
3018 the king's son took me by the hand and called me brother; and
3019 then the two kings called my father brother; and then the prince,
3020 my brother, and the princess, my sister, called my father father;
3021 and so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that
3022 ever we shed.
Shepherd
3023 We may live, son, to shed many more.
Clown
3024 Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate as
3025 we are.
Autolycus
3026 I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the faults I have
3027 committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the
3028 prince my master.
Shepherd
3029 Pr'ythee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.
Clown
3030 Thou wilt amend thy life?
Autolycus
3031 Ay, an it like your good worship.
Clown
3032 Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince thou art as honest
3033 a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.
Shepherd
3034 You may say it, but not swear it.
Clown
3035 Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors and franklins say
3036 it, I'll swear it.
Shepherd
3037 How if it be false, son?
Clown
3038 If it be ne'er so false, a true gentleman may swear it in the
3039 behalf of his friend.—And I'll swear to the prince thou art a
3040 tall fellow of thy hands and that thou wilt not be drunk; but I
3041 know thou art no tall fellow of thy hands and that thou wilt be
3042 drunk: but I'll swear it; and I would thou wouldst be a tall
3043 fellow of thy hands.
Autolycus
3044 I will prove so, sir, to my power.
Clown
3045 Ay, by any means, prove a tall fellow: if I do not wonder how
3046 thou darest venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust
3047 me not.—Hark! the kings and the princes, our kindred, are going
3048 to see the queen's picture. Come, follow us: we'll be thy good
3049 masters.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2906archaic vocab
“opening of the fardel, heard the old shepherd”
'Fardel' means a bundle or pack. Here it refers to the bundle of tokens Antigonus left with the infant Perdita: the mantle, the jewel, and his letters. The First Gentleman has witnessed the moment when the old Shepherd opened this bundle before the court and revealed its contents.
TLN 2912archaic vocab
“very notes of admiration”
'Notes' here means signs or marks, and 'admiration' means astonishment or wonder — not praise. The First Gentleman is saying that the visible changes in the King and Camillo were unmistakable tokens of amazement. The phrase is a compressed way of saying their faces and bodies were legible as expressions of wonder.
TLN 2913rhetorical device
“staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes”
'Cases of their eyes' means the eye-sockets (the bony housing of the eyes). Leontes and Camillo stared at each other so intently that the effort seemed as if it would rip their eyes from their sockets. It is a hyperbole conveying the intensity of their mutual shock and disbelief at what they had just heard.
TLN 2914rhetorical device
“speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture”
This is an oxymoron — a deliberate contradiction ('speech' in 'dumbness') — used to convey a paradox that the characters were too overwhelmed for words, yet their silence and their physical gestures communicated more expressively than speech. The paired phrases ('speech...dumbness' / 'language...gesture') form an antithesis that enacts the idea.
TLN 2922cultural context
“Nothing but bonfires: the oracle is fulfilled”
Bonfires were the standard Elizabethan and Jacobean expression of public rejoicing: they were lit throughout a city on news of a military victory, a royal birth, or a great deliverance. The Second Gentleman's report 'Nothing but bonfires' means the city has erupted in spontaneous celebration. The oracle — Apollo's written declaration from Delphos — is fulfilled because the lost daughter Perdita has been found.
classical Apollo and the oracle at Delphos
TLN 2924cultural context
“ballad-makers cannot be able to express it”
Ballad-makers were journalists of the age: they wrote cheap, sensational verse on extraordinary events — murders, prodigies, shipwrecks, wonders — printed as broadsheet ballads and sold at fairs and markets. To say the events surpass what 'ballad-makers cannot be able to express' means the wonder is too great even for the Elizabethan media of popular sensationalism. Autolycus himself is a ballad-seller in Act 4.
TLN 2932archaic vocab
“letters of Antigonus, found with it, which they know to be his character”
'Character' here means handwriting — the distinctive formation of letters by which a person's hand can be recognized. The Third Gentleman is listing the physical proofs of Perdita's identity: the queen's mantle, the jewel, and Antigonus's letter in his own recognizable handwriting. Identifying someone by their 'character' was a standard legal and personal practice.
TLN 2949rhetorical device
“stands by like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings' reigns”
The Third Gentleman compares the old Shepherd to a stone water-fountain (conduit) that has been standing outdoors through the reigns of several monarchs — worn down by decades of weather but still upright and present. The simile captures two things at once: the Shepherd's antiquity and endurance, and the odd position he now occupies, standing in a king's court, weeping, with no comprehension of the grandeur around him.
TLN 2983historical topical
“that rare Italian master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, would beguile nature of her custom”
Julio Romano (c. 1499-1546) was a real Italian Renaissance painter and architect, a pupil of Raphael. He is the only real contemporary artist Shakespeare names by name in any play. His reputation for virtuoso realism — for figures so lifelike they seemed almost alive — makes him the plausible sculptor of a statue so perfect it could be mistaken for Hermione. The praise that he would 'beguile nature of her custom' means he would make nature redundant: his art copies life so exactly it competes with the real thing.
TLN 3009cultural context
“you denied to fight with me this other day, because I was no gentleman born”
In Elizabethan law and custom, only those 'born' into the gentry — possessing a coat of arms granted by the College of Heralds — had the legal right to engage in a gentleman's duel or to claim a gentleman's social standing. The Clown is recalling that his social inferior status previously disqualified him from such challenges. Now that his foster-sister has been recognized as a princess, he and his father have apparently been elevated by royal grant to 'gentlemen born.'
TLN 3035archaic vocab
“Let boors and franklins say it, I'll swear it”
A 'boor' was a peasant or rustic — a man of the lowest agricultural class. A 'franklin' was a free landowner, a prosperous yeoman farmer who held his land outright but was not of gentry rank. The Clown means: let those below gentility merely 'say' a thing without formal commitment; he, now a gentleman, can and will 'swear' it — invoking the oath-taking privilege and obligation of the upper class.
TLN 3039archaic vocab
“thou art a tall fellow of thy hands”
'Tall' here means brave, valiant, or capable — not physically tall. 'A tall fellow of thy hands' means a man of courage and skill, particularly with weapons: someone good in a fight. The Clown is promising Autolycus a glowing reference — that he is a brave, capable man — while immediately and cheerfully admitting he knows this to be false.