Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/186

164 the infant, which was furnished with a purse of gold, some jewels of her mother’s, and a supply of rich clothing, he took a ship and set sail from Sicily.

Leontes then resolved to send a messenger to the oracle at Delphi, to ask about Hermione, and if Polixenes had loved her, and promised he would abide by the decision of the oracle. Some messengers were accordingly dispatched for Delphi. All this while Hermione was languishing in prison. When the day arrived on which the answer was expected, Leontes had a court assembled, over which he sat in judgment in his regal robes. Poor Hermione, weak and pale from recent illness, was brought before him in the state of a prisoner. She never showed to better advantage than in her patient endurance of her wrongs, and the hearts of all the spectators went out to her. Then the messengers, who had travelled with great speed, came into court with the sealed answer of Apollo. The officer of the court opened it, and read these words:

“Hermione is chaste; Polizenes blameless; Camillo a true subject; Leontes a jealous tyrant; the innocent babe truly begotten, and the king shall live without an heir, if that which is lost is not found.”

At this every one was overjoyed. Never had an oracle spoken more plainly or more to the