He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;392
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts.
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;396
Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause.
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads; all this can I
Truly deliver.
Fort.Let us haste to hear it,400
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune;
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom.
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.404
Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak.
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this same be presently performed.
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance408
On plots and errors happen.
Fort.Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on.
To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,412
The soldiers' music and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him.
392 stage: platform
396 casual: unpremeditated
397 forc'd: unreal
403 rights of memory: ancient claims
406 draw on more: be seconded by others
411 been put on: been put to the proof, tried
