Lives in men's eyes; and will to ears, and tongues,
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
And, to kill the marvel,

Is left untender'd.

Queen.

Shall be so ever.

Clo.

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.
Which then they had to take from us, to resume
That opportunity,
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 saw, 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,
As easily 'gainst our rocks: for joy whereof,
crack'd
The fam'd Cassibelan, who was once at point,
(0, giglot' fortune!) to master Caesar's sword,
Made Lud's town with rejoicing fires bright,
And Britons strut with courage.

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 Cæsars: 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 hard 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.

Cym. You must know,

Till the injurious Romans did extort

This tribute from us, we were free: Cæsar's ambition

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

IO, false and inconstant fortune! strumpet. So in Measure for Measure:Away with A giglot was a 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. died, within 15 daies after the battel, of the hurt received But Nennius at Caesar'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..

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

2 Q

821

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

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

Luc.

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

Cym.
Thy Cæsar knighted me; my youth I spent
Thou art welcome, Caius.
Much under him ;3 of him I gather'd honour;
Which he, to seek of me again, perforce,
Behoves me keep at utterance; 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.

Let proof speak.

Make

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

Luc. So, sir.

Cym. I know your master's pleasure, and he mine: All the remain is, welcome.

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

What monster's her accuser?-Leonatus!
Pis. How! of adultery? Wherefore write you not
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:
More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults
As would take in some virtue.-O, my master!
She's punish'd for her truth; and undergoes,
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,
So much as this fact comes to? Do't: The letter
That I should seem to lack humanity,
[Reading.

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

death."
gage to sustain it to the utterance, and befight it to the
5 Well informed.

6 To take in is to conquer. So in Antony and Cleo

patra :

cut the Ionian seas And take in Toryne.'

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

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

Art thou a feodary' for this act, and look'st
So virgin-like without? Lo, here she comes.
Enter IMOGEN.

I am ignorant in what I am commanded.2
Imo. How now, Pisanio?

Pis. Madam, here 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 your father's wrath, should he take
me in his dominion, 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 Cam-
bria, 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'st--
O, let me 'bate,--but not like me ;--yet long'st,
But in a fainter kind :—O, not like me;

For mine's beyond beyond) say, and speak thick ;
(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 much too.
Imo. Why, one that rode to his execution, man,
Could never go so slow: I have heard of riding
wagers,9

Where horses have been nimbler than the sands
That run i' the clock's behalf:1o-But this is
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.

13

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

Bel. A goodly day not to keep house, with such
Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This
gate
Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows
you
To a morning's holy office: The gates of monarchs
Are arch'd so high, that giants may jet14 through
And keep their impious turbans on, without
We house i' the rock, yet use thee not so hardly
Good morrow to the sun-Hail, thou fair heaven!
As prouder livers do.'

Gui.
Arv.

Hail, heaven!

Hail, heaven! Bel. Now, for our mountain sport: Up to yon hill, Your legs are young; I'll tread these flats. Consider,

When

That it is place which lessens, and sets off.
you above perceive me like a crow,
And you may then revolve what tales I have told

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 ;'*

to be paid with interest on his return from Jerusalem (or, as we should now speak, travelling thither for a 1 i. e. a subordinate agent, as a vassal to his chief.ager,) defends it as an honest means of gaining the A feodary, however, meant also a prime agent, or charges of his journey, especially when no meane steward, who received aids, reliefs, suits of service, &c. lords, and lords' sonnes, and gentlemen in our court, due to any lord.'-Glossographia Anglicana Nova, put out money upon a horse-race under themselves, 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 accom plice, 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.'

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 3 As is here used for that. See Julius Cæsar, Act i.what ensues,' Imogen means what will be the conseSc. 2. The word not in the next line, being accidentally omitted in the old copy, was supplied by Malone.

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 ij. Sc. 1:-1 'He cannot temperately support his honours From where he should begin and end."

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 a 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 full-winged, applied to the cagle, 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 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. A brabe is lent in Shakspeare's time than it is at present. Fynes a contemptuous or proud look, word, or gesture; quasi, Moryson, speaking of his brother's putting out money | a brave.

8 i. e. before the act is done for which excuse will surface of the earth, and that at the close of day. be necessary.

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

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

from proof as strong as my grief, and as certain as I| expect my revenge. That part, thou, Pisanio, must act for me, if thy faith be not tainted with the breach hers. Let thine own hands take away her life: I 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

Outvenoms 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 weep 'twixt clock and clock? if sleep charge

nature,

To break it with a fearful dream of him,
And cry myself awake? that's false to his bed?
Is it?

Pis. Alas, good lady!

Imo. I false? Thy conscience witness:-Iachimo,
Thou didst accuse him of incontinency;
Thou then look'dst like a villain; now, methinks,
Thy favour's good enough.-Some jay of Italy,
Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd

him:

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.

Why, I must die;

And if I do not by thy hand, thou art
No servant of thy master's: Against self-slaughter
There is a prohibition so divine,
That cravens my weak hand. Come, here's my
heart;

Something's afore't: Soft, soft; we'll no defence;
Obedient as the scabbard.-What is here ?
The scriptures" of the loyal Leonatus,
All turn'd to heresy? Away, away,
Corrupters of my faith! you shall no more
Believe false teachers: Though those that are be-
Be stomachers to my heart! Thus may poor fools

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,
When I desire it too.
Pis.
O, gracious lady,
Since I receiv'd command to do this business,

I have not slept one wink.
Good madam, hear me.
Imo. True honest men being heard, like false

Eneas,

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,

Imo.
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,11 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.

Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men.' 3 Putia, in Italian, signifies both a jay and a whore. The learen 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-caps, 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:

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 their value. On the contrary, they were hung up on wooden pegs, in a room appropriated to the sole purpose of receiving them; and though such cast off things as were composed of rich substances were occasionally ripped for domestic uses, articles of inferior quality were 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 :

'Comitem horridulum trita donare lacerna,' seems not to have been customary among our ancestors. When Queen Elizabeth died, she was found to have left

6

life.'

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

7 Shakspeare here means Leonatus's letters, but there is an opposition intended between scripture, in its common signification, and heresy.

8 Fellows for equals; those of the same princely rank with myself.

9

when thou shalt be disedg'd by her That now thou tir'st on.'

It is probable that the first, as well as the last, of these metaphorical expressions is from falconry. A bird of prey may be said to be disedged when the keenness of its appetite is taken away by tiring, or feeding, upon some object given to it for that purpose. Thus in Hamlet:-

Oph. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. Ham. It would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge.'

10 Blind, which is not in the old copy, was supplied by Hanmer.

11 To have thy bow unbent, alluding to a hunter. Bo

CYMBELINE

have heard, I am a strumpet: and mine ear,
Talk thy tongue weary; speak:
Therein false struck, can take no greater wound,
Nor tent to bottom that. But speak.

Pis.

I thought you would not back again.

Imo.

Bringing me here to kill me.

Pis.

Then, madam,

Most like;

Not so, neither:

But if I were as wise as honest, then

My purpose would prove well. It cannot be,
But that my master is abus'd:

Some villain, ay, and singular in his art
Hath done you both this cursed injury.

Imo. Some Roman courtezan.
Pis.

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.

What shall I do the while? Where bide? How live?
Why, good fellow,
Or in my life what comfort, when I am
Dead to my husband?
Pis.
If you'll back to the court,
Imo. No court, no 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.
Hath Britain all the sun that shines?2 Day, night,
Where then?
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.

You think of other place. The embassador
I am most glad
Lucius the Roman, comes to Milford Haven
To-morrow: Now, if you could wear a mind
Dark as your fortune is ; 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.

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,
Woman its pretty self,) into a waggish courage;
(The handmaids of all women, or, more truly,
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.

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.

Imo.

The gods will diet me with."
Thou art all the comfort
There's more to be consider'd; but we'll even1o
Pr'ythee, away:
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.

Lest, being miss'd, I be suspected of
Pis. Well, madam, we must take a short farewell:
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,
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!

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

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

3 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. disguise that greatness which, to appear hereafter in its 'You must (says Pisanio) proper form, cannot yet appear without great danger to itself.

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 signify amply beautiful and Duncan assures Banquo that he will labour to make him full of growing,' i. e. of 'ample growth.'

5 So in King Henry IV. Part I.

'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. Weasels 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
Perhaps this note requires the apology which Steevens
frequent opportunities to ascertain their disposition.
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 :-

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

7 i. e. wherein you are accomplished.
9As for your subsistence abroad, you may rely on

me.'

9 Steevens has a note on this passage no less disgust-
spare regimen prescribed in some diseases. The in-
terpretation was at once gross and erroneous. When
ing than absurd, making the pure Imogen allude to the
lago talks of dieting his revenge, he certainly does not
former passage of this play by Mr. Whalley, which
mean putting it on a spare diet. This, and a note on a
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.

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

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