_Pol._ Come, go with me; I will go seek the king. This is the very ecstacy of love;[3] What, have you given him any hard words of late?
_Oph._ No, my good lord; but, as you did command, I did repel his letters, and denied His access to me.
_Pol._ That hath made him mad. Come, go we to the king: This must be known; which, being kept close, might move More grief to hide than hate to utter love.[4] Come. [_Exeunt_ L.H.]
_Enter_ KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, _and_ Attendants (R.H.)
_King._ (C.) Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern! Moreover that we much did long to see you, The need we have to use you did provoke Our hasty sending. Something have you heard Of Hamlet's transformation. What it should be, More than his father's death, that thus hath put him So much from the understanding of himself,[5] I cannot dream of: I entreat you both, That you vouchsafe your rest[6] here in our court Some little time: so by your companies To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus, That, open'd, lies within our remedy.
_Queen._ (R.C.) Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you; And sure I am two men there are not living To whom he more adheres. If it will please you So to expend your time with us a while, Your visitation shall receive such thanks As fits a king's remembrance.
_Ros._ (R.) Both your majesties Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,[7] Put your dread pleasures more into command Than to entreaty.
_Guil._ (R.) But we both obey, And here give up ourselves, in the full bent,[8] To lay our service freely at your feet.
_King._ Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
_Queen._ I do beseech you instantly to visit My too much changèd son. Go, some of you, And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. [_Exeunt_ ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, _and_ Attendants, R.H.]
_Pol._ Now do I think (or else this brain of mine Hunts not the trail of policy[9] so sure As it hath us'd to do), that I have found The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
_King._ (C.) O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.
_Pol._ (L.C.) My liege, and madam, to expostulate[10] What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time, Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time; Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,-- I will be brief:--Your noble son is mad: Mad call I it; for, to define true madness, What is't, but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go.