Act III. Scene I. The Winter’s Tale. Craig, W.J., ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914.

The Winter’s Tale

Act III. Scene I.

A Sea-port in Sicilia.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION.
Cleo. The climate’s delicate, the air most sweet,
Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing	4
The common praise it bears.
Dion. I shall report,
For most it caught me, the celestial habits,—
Methinks I so should term them,—and the reverence	8
Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!
How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly
It was i’ the offering!
Cleo. But of all, the burst	12
And the ear-deafening voice o’the oracle,
Kin to Jove’s thunder, so surpris’d my sense,
That I was nothing.
Dion. If the event o’ the journey	16
Prove as successful to the queen,—O, be’t so!—
As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on’t.
Cleo. Great Apollo	20
Turn all to the best! These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,
I little like.
Dion. The violent carriage of it	24
Will clear or end the business: when the oracle,
Thus by Apollo’s great divine seal’d up,
Shall the contents discover, something rare
Even then will rush to knowledge.—Go:—fresh horses!	28
And gracious be the issue! [Exeunt.