Root, oak

Winter’s Tale, [2.3.70-90]. Leontes. “A nest of traitors!” Antigonus. “I am none, by this good light.” Paulina. “Nor I, nor any/ But one that’s here, and that’s himself; for he/ The sacred honor of himself, his queen’s,/ His hopeful son’s, his babe’s, betrays to slander,/ Whose sting is sharper than the sword’s; and will not –/ For, as the case no stands, it is a curse/ He cannot be compell’d to ‘t– once remove/ The root of his opinion, which is rotten/ As ever oak or stone was sound.”