The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (160 page)

I'll to the king my master that is dead,

And tell him who hath sent me after him.

Sweet Princes, what I did, I did honourably,

doing what I thought was right in my heart;

and you will never see me begging

for shabby and grudging forgiveness.

If truth, innocence and decency won't do,

I'll go to my dead master the king

and tell him who sent me following him.

WARWICK.

Here comes the prince.

Here comes the Prince.

[Enter King Henry the Fifth, attended.]

CHIEF JUSTICE.

Good morrow; and God save your majesty!

Good morning, and God save your Majesty!

KING.

This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,

Sits not so easy on me as you think.

Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear:

This is the English, not the Turkish court;

Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,

But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,

For, by my faith, it very well becomes you:

Sorrow so royally in you appears

That I will deeply put the fashion on

And wear it in my heart:  why then, be sad;

But entertain no more of it, good brothers,

Than a joint burden laid upon us all.

For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,

I'll be your father and your brother too;

Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares:

Yet weep that Harry 's dead, and so will I;

But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears

By number into hours of happiness.

This new and gorgeous title, Majesty,

is not as welcome to me as you think.

Brothers, your sorrow is mixed with fear:

this is the English court, not the Turkish;

it's not an Amurath succeeding an Amurath,

but a Harry a Harry. But be sad, good brothers,

for, I swear, it certainly suits you:

sorrow looks so regal in you

that I will adopt the fashion myself

and keep it in my heart: why then, be sad;

but don't take on more than your share,

good brothers, of the burden we are all suffering.

For I swear to you by heaven

that I shall be your father and your brother too;

let me have your love and I will carry your worries:

but weep for Harry's death, and so will I;

but this Harry who is alive will convert those tears

one by one into hours of happiness.

PRINCES.

We hope no otherwise from your majesty.

We expected no different from your Majesty.

KING.

You all look strangely on me:  and you most;

You are, I think, assured I love you not.

You are all looking at me oddly: you most of all;

you are certain, I think, that I do not like you.

CHIEF JUSTICE.

I am assured, if I be measured rightly,

Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.

I am certain, if I am judged fairly,

that your Majesty has no reason to hate me.

KING.

No!

How might a prince of my great hopes forget

So great indignities you laid upon me?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison

The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?

May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?

No!

How can a Prince of my great position forget

the great insults you have done me?

What! To berate, criticise and throw into prison

the direct heir to the throne of England! Was this kind?

Should this be washed away in the streams of forgetfulness?

CHIEF JUSTICE.

I then did use the person of your father;

The image of his power lay then in me;

And, in the administration of his law,

Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,

Your highness pleased to forget my place,

The majesty and power of law and justice,

The image of the king whom I presented,

And struck me in my very seat of judgement;

Whereon, as an offender to your father,

I gave bold way to my authority

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,

Be you contented, wearing now the garland,

To have a son set your decrees at nought,

To pluck down justice from your awful bench,

To trip the course of law and blunt the sword

That guards the peace and safety of your person;

Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image,

And mock your workings in a second body.

Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;

Be now the father and propose a son,

Hear your own dignity so much profaned,

See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,

Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;

And then imagine me taking your part

And in your power soft silencing your son:

After this cold considerance, sentence me;

And, as you are a king, speak in your state

What I have done that misbecame my place,

My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

I was merely following the wishes of your father;

I was the representative of his power;

and as I was administering his law,

working for the kingdom,

your Highness decided to ignore my position,

and the majesty and power of law and justice,

the counterpart of the king whom I represented,

and hit me right there in my own court;

and so, as you had insulted your father,

I exercised my authority

and sent you to prison. If I did wrong,

think how you would feel, now you are King,

if you had a son who ignored your laws?

Who pulled your judges from their respected seats?

Who ignored the law, so damaging the sword

which is there to protect you?

And even worse, to show disrespect for your royal image,

mocking your laws as passed by your representative?

Examine your royal thoughts, put yourself in this place,

you be the father, and imagine a son,

here your own dignity so insulted,

see your most important laws lightly ignored,

see yourself treated with such contempt by your son:

and then imagine me taking your side,

and as your representative gently silencing your son.

Once you have thought of this then sentence me;

and, as you are King, in a proper regal way

say what I have done that was not fitting for my position,

who I am, or the rule of my master.

KING.

You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;

Therefore still bear the balance and the sword:

And I do wish your honours may increase,

Till you do live to see a son of mine

Offend you and obey you, as I did.

So shall I live to speak my father's words:

"Happy am I, that have a man so bold,

That dares do justice on my proper son;

And not less happy, having such a son,

That would deliver up his greatness so

Into the hands of justice." You did commit me:

For which I do commit into your hand

The unstained sword that you have used to bear;

With this remembrance, that you use the same

With the like bold, just and impartial spirit

As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.

You shall be as a father to my youth:

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,

And I will stoop and humble my intents

To your well-practised wise directions.

And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you;

My father is gone wild into his grave,

For in his tomb lie my affections;

And with his spirit sadly I survive,

To mock the expectation of the world,

To frustrate prophecies and to raze out

Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down

After my seeming. The tide of blood in me

Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:

Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,

Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,

And flow henceforth in formal majesty.

Now call we our high court of parliament:

And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,

That the great body of our state may go

In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;

That war, or peace, or both at once, may be

As things acquainted and familiar to us;

In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.

Our coronation done, we will accite,

As I before remember'd, all our state:

And, God consigning to my good intents,

No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,

God shorten Harry's happy life one day!

You are right, Justice, and you have put your case well.

So still carry the scales and the sword;

and I hope your honours will increase

until you live to see a son of mine

offend you and obey you, as I did.

That way I will be able to say what my father said:

“I am happy that I have a servant brave enough

to make my own son face justice:

and I'm no less happy that I have a son

who is prepared to allow himself, in his great

position, to be judged.” You sentenced me:

and in return for that I am giving you

the sword of justice that you are accustomed to carry,

with this condition–that you use it

with the same

brave, just and impartial spirit

that you did against me. Take my hand.

You shall be like a father to me,

I shall say what you suggest,

and I will adapt my plans according to

your experienced wise advice.

And all you princes, believe me, I beg you,

my father has taken my wild passions

with him to his grave;

and I have taken on his spirit sadly

to prove the expectations of the world wrong,

to confound prophesies, and to erase

the bad opinion of those who assumed

that I am as I appeared. The tide of my blood

was devoted to frivolity until now.

Now it has turned back, back to the sea,

where from now on it will mix with the majesty there

and reflect that as it flows out.

Now I am going to summon the High Court of our Parliament,

and we shall choose the most noble advisers

that our great country can provide to make us

equal to the best ruled nation on Earth;

so that war, or peace, or both at once, can be

things with which we are acquainted and familiar;

you, father, shall lead us in this.

When the coronation is finished, we will summon,

as I mentioned before, our whole government:

and, with God endorsing my good intentions,

there will be no prince nor peer who will have any reason

to wish that God would shorten Harry's happy life by one day!

[Exeunt.]