THE WINTER'S TALE

The "oracle of Delphos" plays a very important part in the drama of The Winter's Tale. The insanely jealous king, Leontes, has ordered his innocent wife to prison and, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of everybody else, is so sure of the soundness of his groundless suspicions that he confidently sends two of the lords of his court to the oracle to there get a pronouncement upon the subject. In Scene I, Act II:

Leontes:

Yet, for a greater confirmation,—

For in an act of this importance 'twere

Most piteous to be wild,-I have dispatch'd in
post

To sacred Delphos, to Apollo's temple,
Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know

Of stuff'd sufficiency. Now, from the oracle

They will bring all; whose spiritual counsel had,
Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well?

First Lord:

Well done, my lord.

Leontes:

Though I am satisfied and need no more
Than what I know, yet shall the oracle

Give rest to the minds of others, such as he
Whose ignorant credulity will not

Come up to the truth. So have we thought it

good

From our free person she should be confin'd,
Lest that the treachery of the two fled hence
Be left her to perform. Come, follow us:
We are to speak in public; for this business
Will raise us all.

Antigonus [Aside]:

To laughter, as I take it,

If the good truth were known.

Meantime he orders Antigonus to take the babe Perdita to some remote and desert place out of his dominions.

Leontes:

To some remote and desart place quite out

Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune
It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,
On thy soul's peril and thy body's torture,
That thou commend it strangely to some place,
Where chance may nurse or end it.

Following this the two messengers entrusted with the mission to the oracle return. At the end of Act II we have this:

Servant:

Please your highness, posts

From those you sent to the oracle are come
An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,
Hasting to the court.

First Lord:

So please you, sir, their speed

Hath been beyond account.

Leontes:

Twenty-three days

They have been absent: 'tis good speed; foretells

The great Apollo suddenly will have
The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady; for, as she hath
Been publicly accus'd, so shall she have
A just and open trial. While she lives
My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me,
And think upon my bidding.

The first scene in Act III is a seaport and the returning lords, coming ashore, discuss in their conversation the impressions received from the country and the temple they have visited.

Cleomenes:

Dion:

Enter Cleomenes and Dion.

The climate's delicate, the air most sweet,
Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing
The common praise it bears.

I shall report,

For most it caught me, the celestial habits,—
Methinks I so should term them,-and the

reverence

Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!
How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly
It was i' the offering!

Cleomenes:

Dion:

But of all, the burst

And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense,
That I was nothing.

If the event o' the journey

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.

Cleomenes:

Great Apollo

Turn all to the best! These proclamations,

Dion:

So forcing faults upon Hermione,
I little like.

The violent carriage of it

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!

And gracious to the issue!

When the queen was brought to trial, protesting her innocence, and being brutally arraigned by the king, the returning messengers reach the court with their important document:

Re-enter Officers, with Cleomenes and Dion.

Officer:

You here shall swear upon this sword of justice,
That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have

Been both at Delphos, and from thence have

brought

This seal'd-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd
Of great Apollo's priest, and that since then
You have not dar'd to break the holy seal,
Nor read the secrets in't.

Cleomenes and Dion:

Leontes:

All this we swear.

Break up the seals, and read.

Officer:

Lords:

Hermione is chaste; Polixenes blameless; Camillo a true subject; Leontes a jealous tyrant; his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found!

Now blessed be the great Apollo!

Hermione:

Praised!