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Antechamber in LEONTES’ palace. |
A waiting room in Leontes’ palace. |
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Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS |
CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS enter. |
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ARCHIDAMUS
If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia. |
ARCHIDAMUS
Camillo, if you ever happen to accompany your King to Bohemia, as I am accompanying mine to Sicilia, you’ll see there’s a great difference between our countries—and our masters. |
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CAMILLO
I think, this coming summer, the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him. |
CAMILLO
I think the King of Sicilia plans to visit the King of Bohemia this coming summer. |
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ARCHIDAMUS
Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeed— |
ARCHIDAMUS
If our hospitality is inadequate, we’ll make up for it with our love for you; in fact— |
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CAMILLO
Beseech you,— |
CAMILLO
Please— |
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ARCHIDAMUS
Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence—in so rare—I know not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us. |
ARCHIDAMUS
Truly, I say it from experience. We can’t match the magnificence, the excellence—I don’t even know how to describe it. We’ll give you drinks to dull your senses, so that you won’t be aware of our inadequacies, and even if you will be too sleepy to praise us, you won’t be able to accuse us of negligence, either. |
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CAMILLO
You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely. |
CAMILLO
You are putting too great a value on something that is given for free. |
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ARCHIDAMUS
Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts it to utterance. |
ARCHIDAMUS
Believe me, I say what my knowledge tells me, and I say it honestly. |
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CAMILLO
Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves! |
CAMILLO
The King of Sicily could never be anything but kind to the King of Bohemia. They were brought up together as children, and so they have a deep-rooted affection for one another that can only grow. Because of their adult responsibilities and their duties as kings, they have not been able to meet personally. Instead their meetings have taken place via royal deputies and through the exchange of presents, letters, and fond words. Through these means they’ve stayed in touch despite the great distance between them. May the heavens keep their friendship strong! |
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ARCHIDAMUS
I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius: it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note. |
ARCHIDAMUS
I don’t think there is anything in the world that can shake their friendship. And you have an indescribable comfort in the young prince Mamillius. He has the greatest potential of any young gentleman I’ve ever seen. |
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CAMILLO
I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man. |
CAMILLO
I agree with you regarding his potential. He is a noble child, and he is like a medicine for his subjects. The old feel young, and those who were crippled even before he was born now hope to live long enough to see him grow into a man. |
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ARCHIDAMUS
Would they else be content to die? |
ARCHIDAMUS
Would they otherwise want to die? |
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CAMILLO
Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live. |
CAMILLO
Yes, if they didn’t have any other reason for them to want to live. |
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ARCHIDAMUS
If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. |
ARCHIDAMUS
If the king didn’t have a son, they would want to live as cripples until he had one. |
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Exeunt |
They exit. |