Exeter arrests the three, and they tell the king they are ready to die for their crimes; they ask him to forgive them, and each asserts that he is glad that their plan has been uncovered. Henry, in words that suggest his greatness as a magistrate, says that he holds no personal grudge ("Touching our person seek we no revenge"), but the safety of the nation is at hand. He therefore pronounces the sentence:
Hear your sentence.
You have conspired against our royal person
Join'd with a proclaimed enemy and from his coffers
Received the golden earnest of our death . . .
Therefore, get you hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death.
(166-78)
Then, exhibiting further the qualities of mature kingship, he turns his attention immediately to matters of state and prepares for the embarkation to France.
