Made Lud's town with rejoicing fires bright, 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 crooked 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, Ordain'd our laws; (whose use the sword of Cæsar 4 The fam'd Cassibelan, who was once at point to master Cæsar's sword,] Shakspeare has here transferred to Cassibelan an adventure which happened to his brother Nennius. "The same historie (says Holinshed) also maketh mention of Nennius, brother to Cassibellane, 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 dayes after the battel, of the hurt received at Cæsar's hand, although after he was hurt he slew Labienus one of the Roman tribunes." Book III, ch. xiii. Nennius, we are told by Geffrey of Monmouth, was buried with great funeral pomp, and Cæsar's sword placed in his tomb. Malone. 5 This tribute from us,] The unnecessary words from us, only derange the metre, and are certainly an interpolation. Steevens. against all colour,] Without any pretence of right. 6 So, in King Henry IV, P. I: Johnson. "For, of no right, nor colour like to right, Steevens Who was the first of Britain, which did put Luc. 8 I am sorry, Cymbeline, That I am to pronounce Augustus Cæsar 7 Mulmutius,] Here the old copy in contempt of metre, and regardless of the preceding words 66 Mulmutius, which "Ordain'd our laws;") most absurdly adds: -made our laws, I have not scrupled to drop these words; nor can suppose our readers will discover that the omission of them has created the smallest chasm in our author's sense or measure. The length of the parenthetical words (which were not then considered as such, or enclosed, as at present, in a parenthesis,) was the source of this interpolation. Read the passage without them, and the whole is clear: Mulmutius, which ordained our laws; Mulmutius, who was the first of Britain, &c. Steevens. Who was the first of Britain, which did put His brows within a golden crown, and call'd Himself a king.] The title of the first chapter of Holinshed's third book of the History of England is-" Of Mulmucius, the first king of Britaine who was crowned with a golden crown, his laws, his foundations, &c. "Mulmucius,-the sonne of Cloten, got the upper hand of the other dukes or rulers; and after his father's decease began his reigne over the whole monarchie of Britaine in the yeare of the world-3529.-He made manie good lawes, which were long after used, called Mulmucius lawes, turned out of the British speech into Latin by Gildas Priscus, and long time after translated out of Latin into English, by Alfred king of England, and mingled with his statutes. After he had established his land,-he ordeined him, by the advice of his lords, a crowne of golde, and caused himself with great solemnity to be crowned;-and be cause he was the first that bare a crowne here in Britaine, after the opinion of some writers, he is named the first king of Britaine, and all the other before-rehearsed are named rulers, dukes, or governours. "Among other of his ordinances, he appointed weights and measures, with the which men should buy and sell. And further he caused sore and streight orders for the punishment of theft.” Holinshed, ubi supra. Malone. 999 For fury not to be resisted:-Thus defy'd, Cym. 9 Thou art welcome, Caius. Thy Cæsar knighted me; my youth I spent Much under him;] Some few hints for this part of the play are taken from Holinshed: “Kymbeline, says he, (as some write,) was brought up at Rome, and there was made knight by Augustus Cæsar, under whom he served in the wars, and was in such favour with him, that he was at liberty to pay his tribute or not." Yet we find in the Roman writers, that after Julius Cæsar's death, when Augustus had taken upon him the rule of the empire, the Britons refused to pay that tribute." " — But whether the controversy, which appeared to fall forth betwixt the Britons and Augustus, was occasioned by Kymbeline, I have not a vouch." 66 Kymbeline reigned thirty-five years, leaving behind him two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus." Steevens. 1 keep at utterance:] means to keep at the extremity of defiance Combat à outrance is a desperate fight, that must conclude with the life of one of the combatants. So, in The History of Helyas Knight of the Swanne, b. 1. no date: " Here is my gage to sustaine it to the utteraunce, and befight it to the death." Steevens. So, in Macbeth: "Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, "And champion, me to the utterance." Again, in Troilus and Cressida: "So be it, either to the uttermost, "Or else a breath " See Vol. VII, p 126, n. 3. 2 Malone. I am perfect,] I am well informed. So, in Macbeth: in your state of honour I am perfect." Johnson. See Vol. VII, p. 187, n. 1. Steevens. 3 the Pannonians and Dalmatians, for Their liberties, are now in arms;] The insurrection of the Pannonians and Dalmatians for the purpose of throwing off the Roman yoke, happened not in the reign of Cymbeline, but in that of his father, Tenantius. Malone. So Cæsar shall not find them. Luc. Let proof speak. Clo. His majesty bids you welcome. Make pastime with us a day, or two, or longer: If you seek us afterwards in other terms, you shall find 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; Ali the remain is, welcome. SCENE II. Another Room in the same. Enter PISANIO. [Exeunt. Pis. How! of adultery? Wherefore write you not What monster 's her accuser?4-Leonatus! O, master! what a strange infection Is fallen into thy ear? What faise Italian (As poisonous tongu❜d, as handed,5) hath prevail'd Thy fortunes. How! that I should murder her? 4 What monster's her accuser?] The old copy has -What monsters her accuse? The correction was suggested by Mr. Steevens. The order of the words, as well as the single person named by Pisanio, fully support the emendation. What monsters her accuse, for What monsters accuse her, could never have been written by Shakspeare in a soliloquy like the present. Mr. Pope and the three subsequent editors read-What monsters have accus'd her? Malone. 5 What faise Italian (As poisonous tongu'd, as handed,)] About Shakspeare's time the practice of poisoning was very common in Italy, and the sus picion of Italian poisons yet more common. Johnson. 6 take in some virtue.] To take in a town, is to conquer it. Johnson. 7 Thy mind to her is now as low.] That is, thy mind compared to hers is now as low, as thy condition was, compared to hers. Our author should rather have written-thy mind to hers; but the text, I believe, is as he gave it. Malone. Upon the love, and truth, and vows, which I 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. Shall give thee opportunity:8-O damn'd paper! That I have sent her, by her own command, Shall give thee opportunity:] Here we have another proof of what I have observed in the Dissertation at the end of King Henry V1, that our poet from negligence sometimes make words change their form under the eye of the speaker; who in different parts of the same play recites them differently, though he has a paper or letter in his hand, and actually reads from it. A former instance of this kind has occurred in All's Well that Ends Well. See Vol. V, p. 237, n. 3. The words here read by Pisanio from his master's letter (which is afterwards given at length, and in prose,) are not found there, though the substance of them is contained in it. This is one of many proofs that Shakspeare had no view to the publication of his pieces. There was little danger that such an inaccuracy should be detected by the ear of the spectator, though it could hardly escape an attentive reader. Malone. 9 Art thou a feodary for this act,] A feodary is one who holds his estate under the tenure of suit and service to a superior lord. Hanmer. How a letter could be considered as a feudal vassal, according to Hanmer's interpretation, I am at a loss to know. Feodary means, here, a confederate, or accomplice. So, Leontes says of Hermione, in The Winter's Tale: "More, she's a traitor, and Camillo is I also think that the word fendary has the same signification in Art thou a feodary for this act,] Art thou too combined, art thou a confederate, in this act?-- A feodary did not signify a feudal vassal, as Sir Thomas Hanmer and the subsequent editors have supposed, (though if the word had borne that signification, it certainly could not bear it here,) but was an officer appointed by the Court of Wards, by virtue of the Statute 32 Henry VIII, c. 46, to be present with, and assistant to the Escheators in every county at the finding of offices, and to give in evidence for the king. |