Scene III. A room in Polonius’ house.
Enter Laertes and Ophelia
Laertes: My necessaries are embark’d: farewell:
And, sister, as the winds give benefit And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
Ophelia: Do you doubt that?
Laertes: For Hamlet and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The perfume and suppliance of a minute; No more.
Ophelia: No more but so?
Laertes: Think it no more;
For nature, crescent, does not grow alone [In thews and bulk], but, as this temple waxes,
【The inward service of the mind and soul】 Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now 【no soil nor cautel】 doth(does) besmirch 〘The virtue of his will〙: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends 〘The safety and health of this whole state〙;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed [Unto 『the voice and yielding』 of that body 〔Whereof he is the head〕].
Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far [to believe it] As he [in his particular act and place] May give his saying deed; which is no further Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss 〔your honour may sustain〕,
If [with too credent ear] you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open To his unmaster’d importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the 『shot and danger』 of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself ‘scapes not calumnious(诽谤的) strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft(often) before their buttons be disclosed,
And [in the morn and liquid dew of youth] Contagious(传染性的) blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Ophelia: I shall 〘the effect of this good lesson〙 keep,
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me 〘the steep and thorny way〙 〔to heaven〕;
Whiles, like a puff’d and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
Laertes: O, fear me not.
I stay too long: but here my father comes.
Enter Polonius
A double blessing is a double grace,
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Lord Polonius: Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for. There; my blessing with thee(you)!
And these few precepts in thy(your) memory See thou(you) character. Give thy(your) thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou(you) familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou(you) hast(have), and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy(your) soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy(your) palm [with entertainment Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade].
Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee(you).
Give every man thy(your) ear, but few thy(your) voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy(your) judgment.
Costly thy(your) habit [as thy(your) purse can buy],
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft(often) proclaims the man,
And they in France 〔of the best rank and station〕 Are 〘of a most select and generous chief〙 in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft(often) loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine(your) ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
[Farewell]: my blessing season this in thee(you)!
Laertes: Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Lord Polonius: The time invites you; go; your servants tend.
Laertes: Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well 〘What I have said to you〙.
Ophelia: ‘Tis(It is) [in my memory] lock’d,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laertes: Farewell.
Exit
Lord Polonius: What is’t, Ophelia, be hath(has) said to you?
Ophelia: So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
Lord Polonius: Marry(Indeed), well bethought:
‘Tis(It is) told me, he hath(has) very oft(often) of late Given private time to you; and you yourself Have [of your audience] been most free and bounteous:
If it be so, as so ‘tis(it is) put on me,
And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly [As it behoves(应该) my daughter and your honour].
What is between you? give me up the truth.
Ophelia: He hath(has), my lord, of late made many tenders Of his affection to me.
Lord Polonius: Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Ophelia: I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
Lord Polonius: Marry(Indeed), I’ll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That you have ta’en(taken) these tenders [for true pay], 〔Which are not sterling〕.
Tender yourself more dearly;
Or–not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus–you’ll tender 〘me〙 〘a fool〙.
Ophelia: My lord, he hath(has) importuned me [with love] [In honourable fashion].
Lord Polonius: Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
Ophelia: And hath(has) given countenance [to his speech], my lord, [With almost all the holy vows of heaven].
Lord Polonius: Ay, springes 〔to catch woodcocks〕. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal 【the soul】 Lends 〘the tongue〙 〘vows〙:
these blazes, daughter, Giving more light than heat, extinct in both, Even in their promise, as it is a-making, You must not take for fire.
From this time Be somewhat scanter(更节俭的) [of your maiden presence];
Set your entreatments [at a higher rate Than a command to parley].
For Lord Hamlet, Believe so much in him, that he is young And [with a larger tether(系链)] may he walk 〔Than may be given you〕:
in few, Ophelia, Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye 〔which their investments show〕,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds, The better to beguile.
This is for all: I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure, As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to’t(to it), I charge you: come your ways.
Ophelia: I shall obey, my lord.
Exeunt