'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out[1369]
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,[1370]
And do such bitter business as the day[1371]
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.[1372] 375
O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever[1373]
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:[1374]
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;[1375]
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; 380
How in my words soever she be shent,[1376][1377]
To give them seals never, my soul, consent! [Exit.[1376][1378]
Scene III. A room in the castle.
Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.[1379]
King. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;[1380]
I your commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
The terms of our estate may not endure[1381] 5
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow[1382]
Out of his lunacies.
Guil. We will ourselves provide:[1383]
Most holy and religious fear it is
To keep those many many bodies safe[1384][1385]
That live and feed upon your majesty.[1384] 10
Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound[1386]
With all the strength and armour of the mind
To keep itself from noyance; but much more[1387]
That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests[1388]
The lives of many. The cease of majesty[1389] 15
Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
What's near it with it: it is a massy wheel,[1390]
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount,[1391]
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things[1392]
Are mortised and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,[1393] 20
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone[1394]
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.[1395]
King. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage,[1396]
For we will fetters put about this fear,[1397] 25
Which now goes too free-footed.
Ros. } We will haste us.
Guil.}
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.[1398]
Enter Polonius.