SCENE III. Another room in the castle.

    Enter KING CLAUDIUS, attended 

KING CLAUDIUS

    I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
    How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
    Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
    He's loved of the distracted multitude,
    Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
    And where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
    But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
    This sudden sending him away must seem
    Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown
    By desperate appliance are relieved,
    Or not at all.

    Enter ROSENCRANTZ
    How now! what hath befall'n?

ROSENCRANTZ

    Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
    We cannot get from him.

KING CLAUDIUS

    But where is he?

ROSENCRANTZ

    Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.

KING CLAUDIUS

    Bring him before us.

ROSENCRANTZ

    Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

    Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN

KING CLAUDIUS

    Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

HAMLET

    At supper.

KING CLAUDIUS

    At supper! where?

HAMLET

    Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
    convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
    worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
    creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
    maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
    variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
    that's the end.

KING CLAUDIUS

    Alas, alas!

HAMLET

    A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
    king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

KING CLAUDIUS

    What dost you mean by this?

HAMLET

    Nothing but to show you how a king may go a
    progress through the guts of a beggar.

KING CLAUDIUS

    Where is Polonius?

HAMLET

    In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger
    find him not there, seek him i' the other place
    yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within
    this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
    stairs into the lobby.

KING CLAUDIUS

    Go seek him there.

    To some Attendants

HAMLET

    He will stay till ye come.

    Exeunt Attendants

KING CLAUDIUS

    Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,--
    Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
    For that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence
    With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;
    The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
    The associates tend, and every thing is bent
    For England.

HAMLET

    For England!

KING CLAUDIUS

    Ay, Hamlet.

HAMLET

    Good.

KING CLAUDIUS

    So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

HAMLET

    I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
    England! Farewell, dear mother.

KING CLAUDIUS

    Thy loving father, Hamlet.

HAMLET

    My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man
    and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!

    Exit

KING CLAUDIUS

    Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;
    Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night:
    Away! for every thing is seal'd and done
    That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.

    Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN
    And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught--
    As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
    Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
    After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
    Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set
    Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
    By letters congruing to that effect,
    The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
    For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
    And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
    Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.

    Exit
