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ACT III.

SCENE I. Britain. A Room of State in Cymbeline's Palace. Enter CYMBELINE, Queen, CLOTEN, and Lords, at one door; and at another, CAIUS LUCIUS, and Attendants.

Cym. Now say, what would Augustus Cæsar with us?

Luc. When Julius Caesar, (whose remembrance

yet

Becomes a warlike people, whom we reckon
Ourselves to be. We do say then to Cæsar,
Our ancestor was that Mulmutius, which
Ordain'd our laws; whose use the sword of Casa.
Hath too much mangled; whose repair, and fran-
chise,

Shall, by the power we hold, be our good deed,
(Though Rome be therefore angry;) Mulmutiu
Who was the first of Britain, which did put
made our laws,
His brows within a golden crown, and call'd

tongues,Himself a king.

Lives in men's eyes; and will to ears,
and
Be theme, and hearing ever,) was in this Britain,
And conquer'd it, Cassibelan, thine uncle
(Famous in Cæsar's praises, no whit less
Than in his feats deserving it,) for him,
And his succession, granted Rome a tribute,
Yearly three thousand pounds; which by thee lately

Is left untender'd.

Queen.

Shall be so ever.

Clo.

And, to kill the marvel,

There be many Cæsars,
Ere such another Julius. Britain is

A world by itself; and we will nothing pay,
For wearing our own noses.

Queen.
That opportunity,
Which then they had to take from us, to resume
We have again. Remember, sir, my liege,
The kings your ancestors; together with
The natural bravery of your isle; which stands
As Neptune's park, ribbed and paled in
With rocks unscaleable, and roaring waters;
With sands, that will not bear your enemies' boats,
But suck them up to the top-mast. A kind of con-
quest

Cæsar made here; but made not here his brag
Of, came, and suw, and overcame; with shame,
The first that ever touch'd him,) he was carried
From off our coast, twice beaten; and his shipping,
(Poor ignorant baubles!) on our terrible seas,
Like egg-shells mov'd upon their surges, crack'd
As easily 'gainst our rocks: for joy whereof,
The fam'd Cassibelan, who was once at point,
(O, giglot' fortune!) to master Caesar's sword,
Made Lud's town with rejoicing fires bright,
And Britons strut with courage.

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Clo. Come, there's no more tribute to be paid: Our kingdom is stronger than it was at that time; and, as I said, there is no more such Cesars: other of them may have crook'd noses: but, to owe such straight arms, none.

Cym. Son, let your mother end.

Clo. We have yet many among us can gripe as nard as Cassibelan; I do not say, I am one; but I have a hand.-Why tribute? why should we pay tribute? If Cæsar can hide the sun from us with a blanket, or put the moon in his pocket, we will pay him tribute for light; else, sir, no more tribute, pray

you now.

Cým. You must know,

Till the injurious Romans did extort

This tribute from us, we were free: Caesar's ambi

tion

(Which swell'd so much, that it did almost stretch The sides o' the world,) against all colour,2 here Did put the yoke upon us; which to shake off,

1 '0, false and inconstant fortune! A giglot was a strumpet. So in Measure for Measure:Away with those giglots too.' And in Hamlet :-

'Out, out, thou strumpet fortune! The poet has transferred to Cassibelan an adventure which happened to his brother Nennius. See Holinshed, book iii. ch. xiii. 'The same historie also maketh mention of Nennius, brother to Cassibelane, who in fight happened to get Cæsar's sword fastened in his shield, by a blow which Cæsar stroke at him. But Nennius died, within 15 daies after the battel, of the hurt received at Cæsar's hand; although after he was hurt he slew Labienus, one of the Roman tribunes.'

2 i. e. without any pretence of right.

3 Some few hints for this part of the play are taken from Holinshed.

i. e. at the extremity of defiance. So in Helyas Knight of the Swanne blk 1. no date:-'Here is my

Luc.

I am sorry, Cymbeline, That I am to pronounce Augustus Cæsar (Cæsar, that hath more kings his servants, than Thyself domestic officers,) thine enemy: In Caesar's name pronounce I 'gainst thee: look Receive it from me, then :-War, and confusion, For fury not to be resisted:-Thus defied, I thank thee for myself.

Cym. Thou art welcome, Caius, Thy Cæsar knighted me; my youth I spent Much under him ;3 of him I gather'd honour; Which he, to seek of me again, perforce, Behoves me keep at utterance ;4 I am perfect," That the Pannonians and Dalmatians, for Their liberties, are now in arms: a precedent Which, not to read, would show the Britons cold: So Cæsar shall not find them.

Luc.

Make

Let proof speak. Clo. His majesty bids you welcome. seek us afterwards in other terms, you shall find pastime with us a day, or two, longer: If you us in our salt-water girdle: if you beat us out o it, it is yours; if you fall in the adventure, our crows shall fare the better for you; and there's an end.

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SCENE II. Another Room in the same. Enter PISANIO.

Pis. How! of adultery? Wherefore write you not
What monster's her accuser?-Leonatus!
O, master! what a strange infection
Is fallen into thy ear? What false Italian
(As poisonous tongu'd, as handed,) hath prevail'd
On thy too ready hearing?-Disloyal? No:
She's punish'd for her truth; and undergoes,
More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults
As would take in some virtue.--O, my master
Thy mind to her is now as low, as were
Thy fortunes."-How! that I should murder her?
Upon the love, and truth, and vows, which I
Have made to thy command?-I, her?-her blood ?
If it be so to do good service, never
Let me be counted serviceable. How look I,
That I should seem to lack humanity,
So much as this fact comes to? Do't: The letter
[Reading

That I have sent her, by her own command
Shall give thee opportunity :-O, damn' paper!
Black as the ink that's on thee! Sensekss bauble,

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7 Thy mind compared to hers is now as low as thy condition was compared to hers. According to modern notions of grammatical construction, it should be thy mind to hers.'

8 The words here read by Pisanio from his master's letter (as it is afterwards given in prose) are not found there, though the substance of them is contained in it Malone thinks this a proof that Shakspeare had no view to the publication of his pieces-the inaccuracy would hardly be detected by the ear of the spectator, though 11 could hardly escape an attentive reader

Art thou a feodary1 for this act, and look'st
Co virgin-like without? Lo, here she comes.
Enter IMOGen.

I am ignorant in what I am commanded.
Imo. How now, Pisanio?

Pis. Madam, nere is a letter from my lord.
Imo. Who? thy lord? that is my lord? Leonatus?
O, learn'd indeed were that astronomer,
That knew the stars, as I his characters;
He'd lay the future open.-You good gods,
Let what is here contain'd relish of love,
Of my lord's health, of his content, yet not,
That we two are asunder, let that grieve him,-
Some griefs are med'cinable;) that is one of them,
For it doth physic love ;-of his content,
All but in that!-Good wax, thy leave :-Bless'd be,
You bees, that make these locks of counsel! Lovers,
And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike ;
Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yet
You clasp young Cupid's tables.-Good news, gods!
[Reads.

Justice, and

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father's wrath, should he take me in his don could not be so cruel to me as3 you, O the dearest of creatures, would not even renew me with your eyes. Take notice, that I am in Cambria, at Milford-Haven. What your own love will, out of this, advise you, follow. So, he wishes you all happiness, that remains loyal to his vow, and your, increasing in love,4 LEONATUS POSTHUMUS. O, for a horse with wings!--Hear'st thou, Pisanio? He is at Milford Haven: Read, and tell me How far 'tis thither. If one of mean affairs May plod it in a week, why may not I Glide thither in a day?--Then, true Pisanio, (Who long'st, like me, to see thy lord; who long'stO, let me 'bate,--but not like me ;-yet long'st, But in a fainter kind :-0, not like me; For mine's beyond beyond3) say, and speak thick ;6 (Love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing, To the smothering of the sense,) how far it is To this same blessed Milford: And, by the way, Tell me how Wales was made so happy, as To inherit such a haven: But, first of all, How we may steal from hence; and, for the gap That we shall make in time, from our hence-going, And our return, to excuse:"--but first, how get

hence:

Why should excuse be born or e'er begot!
We'll talk of that hereafter. Pr'ythee, speak,
How many score of miles may we well ride
"Twixt hour and hour?

Pis. One score, 'twixt sun and sun,
Madam, 's enough for you; and too mucn too.
Imo. Why, one that rode to his execution, mar,
Could never go so slow: I have heard of riding
wagers,9

Where horses have been nimbler than the sands
That run ' the cock's behalf:10-But this it
foolery :-

Go, bid my woman feign a sickness, say
She'll home to her father: and provide me, pre
sently,

A riding suit; no costlier than would fit
A franklin's1i housewife.

Pis.

Madam, you're best12 considėj Imo. I see before me, man, nor here, nor here, Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them, That I cannot look through.13 Away, I pr'ythee Do as I bid thee: There's no more to say; Accessible is none but Milford way. [Exeur SCENE III. Wales. A mountainous Countr with a Cave. Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIU and ARVIRAGUS.

Bel. A goodly day not to keep house, with such Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: Th gate

Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bot

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you,

Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow'd:15 To apprehend thus,
And often to our comfort, shall we find
Draws us a profit from all things we see:
The sharded16 beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing'd eagle. O, this life
Is nobler, than attending for a check;
Richer, than doing nothing for a brabe ;17

to be paid with interest on his return from Jerusalem
(or, as we should now speak, travelling thither for a
wager,) defends it as an honest means of gaining the
charges of his journey, especially when no meane
lords, and lords' sonnes, and gentlemen in our court,
put out money upon a horse-race under themselves,

1 i. e. a subordinate agent, as a vassal to his chief. A feodary, however, meant also a prime agent, or steward, who received aids, reliefs, suits of service, &c. due to any lord.'-Glossographia Anglicana Nova, 1719. Yet after all, it may be doubted whether Shak-yea, upon a journey afoote.' speare does not use it to signify a confederate or accomplice, as he does federary in The Winter's Tale, Act ii.

Sc. 1:

'More, she's a traitor, and Camillo is
A federary with her.'

2 i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. So in King Henry IV. Part I. :-

'O, I am ignorance itself in this.'

3 As is here used for that. See Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc. 2. The word not in the next line, being accidentally omitted in the old copy, was supplied by Malone.

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4 We should now write yours, increasing in love,' Your is to be joined in construction with Leonatus Posthumus, and not with increasing; the latter is a participle present, and not a noun.

5 i. e. her longing is further than beyond; beyond any thing that desire can be said to be beyond. 6 i. e. speak quick.'

7 That is 'in consequence of our going hence and returning back.' So in Coriolanus, Act ii. Sc. 1:'He cannot temperately support his honours From where he should begin and end.'

8 i. e. before the act is done for which excuse will be necessary.

10 It may be necessary to apprize the reader that the sand of an hour-glass used to measure time is meant. The figurative meaning is, swifter than the flight of time 11 A franklin is a yeoman.

12 That is you'd best consider.'

13 'I see neither on this side nor on that, nor behind me; but find a fog in each of those quarters that my eye cannot pierce. The way to Milford is alone clear and open: Let us therefore instantly set forward.' By | what ensues,' Imogen means what will be the conse quence of the step I am going to take.

14 Strut, walk proudly. So in Twelfth Night, How he jets under his advanced plumes.' The idea of a giant was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of those times, always confounded with that of 2 Saracen

15 In any service done, the advantage rises not from
the act, but from the allowance (i. e. approval) of it.'
16 i. e. scaly-winged beetle. See Antony and Cleo.
patra, Act iii. Sc. 2. The epithet ful-winged, applied
to the eagle, sufficiently marks the contrast of the poet's
imagery; for whilst the bird can soar beyond the reach
of human eye, the insect can but just rise above the
surface of the earth, and that at the close of day.
17 The old copy reads babe; the uncommon word

9 This practice was, perhaps, not much less preva- brabe not being familiar to the compositor. Arabe is lent in Shakspeare's time than it is at present. Fynes a contemptuous or proud book, word, or gesturMoryson, speaking of his brother's putting out money | a braze.

vasi

Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for silk: Such the gain of him, that makes him fine, cap Yet keeps his book uncross'd; no life to ours.1 Gui. Out of your proof you speak: we, poor unfledg'd,

Have never wing'd from view o' the nest; nor know

not

What air's from home. Haply, this life is best,
If quiet life be best; sweeter to you,
That have a sharper known: well corresponding
With your stiff age; but, unto us, it is
A cell of ignorance; travelling a-bed;
A prison for a debtor, that not dares
To stride a limit.2
Arv.
What should we speak of,3
When we are old as you? when we shall hear
The rain and wind beat dark December, how,
In this our pinching cave, shall we discourse
The freezing hours away? We have seen nothing:
We are beastly; subtle as the fox, for prey;
Like warlike as the wolf, for what we eat:
Our valour is, to chase what flies; our cage
We make a quire, as doth the prison bird,
And sing our bondage freely.

Bel.

How you speak !4
Did you but know the city's usuries,
And felt them knowingly: the art o' the court,
As hard to leave, as keep; whose top to climb
Is certain falling, or so slippery, that

The fear's as bad as falling: the toil of the war,
A pain than only seems to seek out danger
I' the name of fame, and honour; which dies i' the
search;

And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph,
As record of fair act; nay, many times,
Doth ill deserve by doing well; what's worse,
Must court'sy at the censure:-0, boys, this story
The world may read in me: My body's mark'd
With Roman swords: and my report was once
First with the best of note: Cymbeline lov'd me;
And when a soldier was the theme, my name
Was not far off: Then was I as a tree,
Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but in
night,

one

A storm, or robbery, call it what you will,
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves,
And left me bare to weather.5
Gur.

Uncertain favour!

Bel. My fault being nothing, (as I have told you oft,)

But that two villains, whose false oaths prevail'd
Before my perfect honour, swore to Cymbeline,
I was confederate with the Romans: so,
Follow'd my banishment; and, this twenty years,
This rock, and these demesnes, have been my
world:

Where I have liv'd at honest freedom; paid
More pious debts to heaven, than in all

The fore-end of my time.-But, up to the mountains;
This is not hunters' language :-He, that strikes
The venison first, shall be the lord o' the feast;
To him the other two shall minister ;
And we will fear no poison, which attends

1 i. e. compared to ours.

2. To stride a limit is to overpass his bound.

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3 This dread of an old age unsupplied with matter for discourse and meditation, is a sentiment natural and noble. No state can be more destitute than that of him, who, when the delights of sense forsake him, has no pleasures of the mind.'-Johnson.

4 Otway seems to have taken many hints for the conversation which passes between Acasto and his sons from the scene before us.

5 Thus in Timon of Athens :

"That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves
Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush
Fallen from their boughs, and left me, open, i ure,
For every storm that blows."

:

nulla aconita, bibuntur Fictilibus; tunc illa time, cum pocula sumes Gemmata, et lato Setinum ardebit in auro.' · Juv. Shakspeare seems to intend Belarius for a good character vet he makes him forget the injury which he

In place of greater state." I'll meet you in the valleys. [Exeurt Gui. and ARV. How hard it is, to hide the sparks of nature! These boys know little, they are sons to the king; Nor Cymbeline dreams that they are alive. They think, they are mine: and, though train'd thus meanly

up

I' the cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hi
The roofs of palaces; and nature prompts them,
In simple and low things, to prince it, much
Beyond the trick of others. This Polydore,
The heir of Cymbeline and Britain, whom
The king his father call'd Guiderius,—Jove!
When on my three-foot stool I sit, and tell
The warlike feats I have done, his spirits fly out
Into my story: say,―Thus mine enemy fell;
And thus I set my foot on his neck; even then
The princely blood flows in his cheek, he sweats,
Strains his young nerves, and puts himself in posture
That acts my words. The younger brother, Cadwal,
(Once Arviragus,) in as like a figure,

Strikes life into my speech, and shows much more
His own conceiving. Hark! the game is rous'd !—
O, Cymbeline! heaven, and my conscience, knows,
Thou didst unjustly banish me: whereon,
At three, and two years old, I stole these babe:;"
Thinking to bar thee of succession, as
Thou reft'st me of my lands. Euriphile,
Thou wast their nurse; they took thee for the
mother,

8

And every day do honour to her grave:
Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan call'd,
They take for natural father. The game is up.
[Exit.

SCENE IV. Near Milford Haven. Enter PISA
N10 and IMOGEN.

Imo. Thou told'st me, when we came from horse, the place

Was near at hand: Ne'er long'd my mother so
To see me first, as I have now :-Pisanio! Man'
Where is Posthumus ?9 What is in thy mind,
That makes thee stare thus? Wherefore breaks that

sigh

From the inward of thee? One, but painted thus, Would be interpreted a thing perplex'd Beyond self-explication: Put thyself Into a haviour of less fear, ere wildness Vanquish my staider senses. What's the matter" Why tender'st thou that to paper with A look untender? If it be summer news, Smile to't before if winterly, thou need'st But keep that countenance still.-My husband's hand!

me,

That drug-damn'd Italy hath out-craftied him,
And he's at some hard point.-Speak, man; thy
tongue

May take off some extremity, which to read
Would be even mortal to me.

Pis.
Please you, read:
And you
shall find me, wretched man, a thing
The most disdain'd of fortune.

Imo. [Reads.] Thy mistress, Pisanio, hath playe the strumpet in my bed; the testimonies whereof lis bleeding in me. I speak not out of weak surmises ;

has done to the young princes, whom he has robbed o a kingdom, only to rob their father of heirs. The latte: part of this soliloquy is very inartificial, there being ro particular reason why Belarius should now tell to him self what he could not know better by telling it.'---Joltre

8 i. e. to the grave of Euriphile; or to the grave of 'their mother,' as they supposed it to be. The grammati cal construction requires that the poet should have writ ten to thy grave; but we have frequent instances of this change of persons, not only in Shakspeare, but in all the writings of his age.

9 The true pronunciation of Greek and Latin names was not much regarded by the writers of Shakspeare's age. The poet has, however, differed on himself. and given the true pronunciation when the name first occurs, and in one other place :-

'To his protection; call him Posthumus.'
Struck the maistop! O Pasthamus! alas'

from proof as strong as my grief, and as certain as I expect my revenge. Thut part, thou, Pisanio, must a for me, if thy faith be not tainted with the breach of hers. Let thine own hands take away her life: shall give thee opportunities at Milford Haven: she hath my letter for the purpose; Where, if thou fear to strike, and to make me certain it is done, thou art the pander to her dishonour, and equally to me disloyal.

Pis. What shall I need to draw my sword? the

paper

Hath cut her throat already.-No, 'tis slander;
Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose
tongue

Ontvenoms all the worms' of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,2
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enters.-What cheer, madam?
Imo. False to his bed! What is it, to be false?
To lie in watch there, and to think on him?
To 'twixt clock and clock? if sleep charge

weep

nature,

To break it with a fearful dream of him,

And cry myself awake? that's false to his bed?
Is it?

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Poor I am stale, a garment out of fashion ;
And, for I am richer than to hang by the walls,+
I must be ripp'd :—to pieces with me!-0,
Men's vows are women's traitors! All good seeming,
By thy revolt, O, husband, shall be thought
Put on for villany; not born, where't grows;
But worn, a bait for ladies.

Pis.
Good madam, hear me.
Imo. True honest men being heard, like false
Æneas,

Were, in his time, thought false: and Sinon's
weeping

Did scandal many a holy tear: took pity From most true wretchedness: So, thou, humus,

5

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tray'd

Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor
Stands in worse case of wo.

And thou, Posthumus, thou that didst set up
My disobedience 'gainst the king my father,
And make me put into contempt the suits
Of princely fellows, shalt hereafter find
It is no act of common passage, but
A strain of rareness: and I grieve myself,
To think, when thou shalt be disedg'd by her
That now thou tir'st on, how thy memory
Will then be pang'd by me.-Pr'ythee, despatch:
The lamb entreats the butcher: Where's thy knife
Thou art too slow to do thy master's bidding,
Pis.
O, gracious lady,
Since I receiv'd command to do this business,
I have not slept one wink.
Imo.

When I desire it too.

Do't, and to bed then.
Pis. I'll wake mine eyeballs blind first.10
Imo.
Wherefore then

Didst undertake it? Why hast thou abus'd
So many miles with a pretence? this place?
Post-Mine action, and thine own? our horses' labour?
The time inviting thee? the perturb'd court,
For my being absent; whereunto I never
Purpose return? Why hast thou gone so far,
To be unbent, when thou hast ta'en thy stand,
The elected deer before thee?

Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men:
Goodly, and gallant, shall be false and perjur'd,
From thy great fail.-Come, fellow, be thou honest:
Do thou thy master's bidding: when thou seest
him,

1 It has already been observed that worm was the general name for all the serpent kind. See Antony and Cleopatra, Act v. Sc. 2

2 i. e. persons of the highest rank.

Steevens

above three thousand dresses behind her.
once saw one of these repositories at an ancient mansion
in Suffolk, which (thanks to a succession of old maids!)
had been preserved with superstitious reverence for al
most a century and a half.

5

6, 7, 8. Thy failure, Posthumus, will lay falsehood to the charge of men without guile : make all suspected. 6 That makes me afraid to put an end to my own Hamlet exclaims :

'Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men.' 3 Putta, in Italian, signifies both a jay and a whore. The leaven is, in Scripture phraseology, 'the whole We have the word again in The Merry Wives of Wind-wickedness of our sinful nature.' See 1 Corinthians, v sor-Teach him to know turtles from jays. Some jay of Italy, whose mother was her painting, i. c. made by art; the creature not of nature, but of painting, In this sense painting may be said to be her mother. Steevens met with a similar phrase in some old play :-'A parcel of conceited feather-eaps, whose fathers were their garments.'

4 That is, to be hung up as useless among the neglect ed contents of a wardrobe. So in Measure for Mea

sure:

life.'

'O, that the everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.'

7 Shakspeare here means Leo..atus's letters, but there
is an opposition intended between scripture, in its com
mon signification, and heresy.
8 Fellows for equals; those of the same princely rank
with myself.
when thou shalt be disedg'd by her
That now thou tir'st on.'

9

'That have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall. Clothes were not formerly, as at present, made of slight materials, were not kept in drawers, or given away as soon as lapse of time or change of fashion had impaired | It is probable that the first, as well as the last, of these their value. On the contrary, they were hung up on metaphorical expressions is from falconry. A bird of wooden pegs, in a room appropriated to the sole purpose prey may be said to be disedged when the keenness of of receiving them; and though such cast off things as its appetite is taken away by tiring, or feeding, upon were composed of rich substances were occasionally some object given to it for that purpose. Thus in Hamripped for domestic uses, articles of inferior quality were let:-suffered to hang by the walls till age and moths had destroyed what pride would not permit to be worn by servants or poor relations :

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No, on my life

I'll give but notice you are dead, and send him
Some bloody sign of it; for 'tis commanded
I should do so: You shall be miss'd at court,
And that will well confirm it.
Imo.

Why, good fellow,
What shall I do the while? Where bide? How live?
Or in life what comfort, when I am
my
Dead to my husband?

Pis.
If you'll back to the court,
Imo. No court, 1 father; nor no more ado
With that harsh, noble, simple, nothing:1
That Cloten, whose love-suit hath been to me
As fearful as a siege.
Pis.
If not at court,
Then not in Britain must you bide.
Imo.

Where then?
Hath Britain all the sun that shines ?2 Day, night,
Are they not but in Britain? I' the world's volume
Our Britain seems as of it, but not in it;
In a great pool, a swan's nest; Pr'ythee, think
There's livers out of Britain.

Pis.
I am most glad
You think of other place. The embassador
Lucius the Roman, comes to Milford Haven
To-morrow: Now, if you could wear a mind
Dark as your fortune is ;3 and but disguise
That, which, to appear itself, must not yet be,
But by self-danger; you should tread a course
Pretty, and full of view:4 yea, haply, near
The residence of Posthumus: so nigh, at least,
That though his actions were not visible, yet
Report should render him hourly to your ear,
As truly as he moves.

Imo.

O, for such means! Though peril to my modesty, not death on't, I would adventure.

Pis. Well, then, here's the point.
You must forget to be a woman; change
Command into obedience; fear and niceness,
The handmaids of all women, or, more truly,
Woman its pretty self,) into a waggish courage,
Ready in gibes, quick-answer'd, saucy, and
As quarrellous as the weasel: nay, you must
Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek,
Exposing it, (but, O, the harder heart!
Alack no remedy!) to the greedy touch
Of common-kissing Titan! and forget
Your laboursome and dainty trims, wherein
You made great Juno angry.

Imo.

Nay, be brief.

I see into thy end, and am almost
A man already.

Pis.

First, make yourself but like one,
Fore-thinking this, I have already fit

('Tis in my cloak-bag) doublet, hat, hose, all
That answer to them: Would you, in their serving,
And with what imitation you can borrow

From youth of such a season, 'fore noble Lucius
Present yourself, desire his service, tell him
Wherein you are happy,' (which you'll make him
know,

If that his head have ear in music,) doubtless,
With joy he will embrace you; for he's honourable,
And, doubting that, most holy. Your means abroad
You have me, rich; and I will never fail
Beginning, nor supplyment.

8

Imo.
Thou art all the comfort
The gods will diet me with." Pr'ythee, away:
There's more to be consider'd; but we'll even1o
All that good time will give us: This attempt
I am soldier to,11 and will abide it with
A prince's courage. Away, I pr'ythee.

Pis. Well, madam, we must take a short farewel
Lest, being miss'd, I be suspected of
Your carriage from the court. My noble mistress,
Here is a box; I had it from the queen
What's in't is precious; if you are sick at sea,
it
Or stomach-qualm'd at land, a dram of this
Will drive away distemper.-To some shade,
And fit you to your manhood:-May the gods
Direct you to the best!
Imo.

Amen: I thank thee.
[Exeun
SCENE V. A Room in Cymbeline's Palace.—
Enter CYMBELINE, Queen, CLOTEN, LUCIUS,
and Lords.

Cym. Thus far; and so farewell.
Luc.

Thanks, royal sir.

My emperor hath wrote; I must from hence;
And am right sorry, that I must report ye
My master's enemy.

houses instead of cats, for the purpose of killing vermin.

in one of Shakspeare's poems in The Passionate Pil- Phædrus notices this their feline office in the first and grim, 1599:

"When as thine eye hath chose the dame

And stall'd the deer that thou shouldst strike. 1 This line requires some word of two syllables to complete the measure. Steevens proposed to read ;'With that harsh, noble, simple, nothing, Cloten; That Cloten,' &c.

2 The poet may have had in his mind a passage in Lyly's Euphues, which he has imitated in King Richard yly's

X. To wear a dark mind is to carry a mind impenetrable to the search of others. Darkness, applied to the mind, is secrecy; applied to the fortune, is obscurity. The next lines are obscure. You must (says Pisanio) disguise that greatness which, to appear hereafter in its proper form, cannot yet appear without great danger to itself.

4 Full of view appears to mean of ample prospect, affording a complete view of circumstances which it is your interest to know. Thus in Pericles, Full of face' appears to signity amply beautiful:' and Duncan assuies Banquo that he will labour to make him full of growing,' i. e. of ample growth

5 So in King Henry IV. Part 1

' A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen
As you are toss'd with.

This character of the weasel is not mentioned by natu ralists Weast's were formerly, it appears, kept in

fourth fables of his fourth book. The poet, no doubt, speaks from observation; while a youth he would have frequent opportunities to ascertain their disposition. Perhaps this note requires the apology which Steevens has affixed to it:-Rrivola hæc fortassis cuipiam et nimis levia esse videantur sed curiositas nihil recusat * Vopiscus in Vita Aureliani, c. x. 6 Thus in Othello :-

The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets.' So in Sidney's Arcadia, lib. iii. And beautiful might have been if they had not suffered greedy Phœbus over often and hard to kisse them.’

7 i. e. wherein you are accomplished.

9 As for your subsistence abroad, you may rely on me.'

9 Steevens has a note on this passage no less disgust ing than absurd, making the pure Imogen allude to the spare regimen prescribed in some diseases. The interpretation was at once gross and erroneous. When Iago talks of dieting his revenge, he certainly does not mean putting it on a spare diet. This, and a note on a former passage of this play by Mr. Whalley, which could only have been the offspring of impure imagina tions, were justly stigmatized and degraded by the late Mr. Boswell, at the suggestion of Mr. Douce.

10 We'll make our work even with our time; we'l do what time will allow.

11 i. e equal to, or have ability for it.

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