Cymbeline (11 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
Exit
PHILARIO
Quite
besides
189
The
government
190
of patience. You have won:
Let’s follow him and
pervert
191
the present wrath
He hath against himself.
IACHIMO
With all my heart.
Exeunt
Enter Posthumus
POSTHUMUS
Is there no way for men to be, but women
Must be
half-workers?
We are all bastards
195
,
And that most
venerable
196
man, which I
Did call my father, was I know not where
When I was
stamped.
Some
coiner
198
with his tools
Made me a counterfeit: yet my mother seemed
The Dian of that time: so doth my wife
The
nonpareil
201
of this. O, vengeance, vengeance!
Me of my
lawful pleasure
202
she restrained,
And
prayed me oft forbearance
203
: did it with
A
pudency
so
rosy
, the sweet
view on’t
204
Might well have warmed old
Saturn
205
, that I thought her
As chaste as unsunned snow. O, all the devils!
This
yellow
207
Iachimo in an hour — wast not? —
Or less —
at first?
208
Perchance he spoke not, but
Like a
full-acorned boar
, a
German
209
one,
Cried ‘O!’ and mounted; found no opposition
But what he
looked for
211
should oppose, and she
Should from
encounter
212
guard. Could I find out
The
woman’s part
in me — for there’s no
motion
213
That tends to vice in man, but I affirm
It is the woman’s part: be it lying, note it,
The woman’s: flattering, hers: deceiving, hers:
Lust and
rank
217
thoughts, hers, hers: revenges, hers:
Ambitions,
covetings
,
change of prides
218
, disdain,
Nice longing
, slanders,
mutability
219
,
All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows,
Why, hers, in part or all: but rather all,
For even to vice
They are not constant, but are changing
still
223
One vice,
but of
224
a minute old, for one
Not half
so
225
old as that. I’ll write against them,
Detest them, curse them: yet ’tis greater
skill
226
In a true hate, to pray they
have their will
227
:
The very devils cannot plague them better.
Exit
running scene 7
Enter in state Cymbeline, Queen, Cloten and Lords at one door, and at
another, Caius Lucius and Attendants
CYMBELINE
Now say, what would Augustus Caesar with us?
LUCIUS
When Julius Caesar — whose
remembrance
yet
2
Lives in men’s eyes and will to ears and tongues
Be
theme
4
and hearing ever — was in this Britain
And conquered it, Cassibelan, thine uncle —
Famous in Caesar’s praises no whit less
6
Than in his feats deserving it —
for him
7
,
And his succession, granted Rome a tribute,
Yearly three thousand
pounds
9
, which by thee lately
Is left
untendered.
10
QUEEN
And to
kill the marvel
11
,
Shall be so ever.
CLOTEN
There
be
13
many Caesars
Ere such another Julius: Britain’s
A world by itself, and we will nothing pay
For wearing our own noses.
QUEEN
That opportunity
Which then they had to take
from’s
, to
resume
18
We have again. Remember, sir, my
liege
19
,
The kings your ancestors, together with
The natural
bravery of your isle
21
, which stands
As
Neptune’s
park
, ribbed and
paled in
22
With oaks unscalable and roaring waters,
With sands that will not
bear
24
your enemies’ boats,
But
suck them up to th’topmast.
25
A kind of conquest
Caesar made here, but made not here his brag
Of
‘came, and saw, and overcame’
27
: with shame —
The first that ever touched him — he was carried
From off our coast, twice beaten: and his shipping —
Poor
ignorant baubles
30
— on our terrible seas
Like eggshells moved upon their surges, cracked
As easily gainst our rocks. For joy whereof
The famed Cassibelan, who was once
at point
33
—
O
giglot
fortune! — to
master
34
Caesar’s sword,
Made
Lud’s town
35
with rejoicing fires bright,
And Britons strut with courage.
CLOTEN
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 Caesars. Other of them may have
crooked
noses, but to
owe
such
straight
40
arms, none.
CYMBELINE
Son, let your mother end.
CLOTEN
We have yet many among us can
grip
42
as hard as
Cassibelan: I do not say I am one, but I have a hand. Why
tribute? Why should we pay tribute? If Caesar can hide the
sun from us with a blanket, or put the moon in his pocket, we
will pay him tribute for light:
else
46
, sir, no more tribute, pray
you now.
To Lucius
CYMBELINE
You must know,
Till the
injurious
49
Romans did extort
This tribute from us, we were free. Caesar’s ambition,
Which swelled so much that it did almost stretch
The sides o’th’world,
against all colour
52
here
Did put the yoke upon’s; which to shake off
Becomes
54
a warlike people, whom we reckon
Ourselves to be. We do say then to Caesar,
Our ancestor was that
Mulmutius
which
56
Ordained our laws, whose
use
57
the sword of Caesar
Hath too much mangled, whose
repair
and
franchise
58
Shall, by the power we hold, be our good deed,
Though Rome be therefore angry. Mulmutius made our laws
Who was the first of Britain which did put
His brows within a golden crown and called
Himself a king.
LUCIUS
I am sorry, Cymbeline,
That I am to pronounce Augustus Caesar —
Caesar, that hath more kings his servants than
Thyself domestic officers — thine enemy:
Receive it from me, then. War and
confusion
68
In Caesar’s name
pronounce
69
I gainst thee: look
For fury not to be resisted.
Thus defied
70
,
I thank thee for myself.
CYMBELINE
Thou art welcome, Caius.
Thy Caesar knighted me; my youth I spent
Much under him: of him I gathered honour,
Which he to seek of me again,
perforce
75
,
Behoves me keep at utterance.
I am
perfect
76
That the
Pannonians and Dalmatians
77
for
Their liberties are now in arms, a
precedent
78
Which not to
read
would show the Britons
cold
79
:
So Caesar shall not find them.
LUCIUS
Let proof speak.
81
CLOTEN
His majesty bids you welcome.
Make pastime
82
with
us a day or two, or longer: if you seek us afterwards in other
terms, you shall find us in our
saltwater girdle
84
: if you beat us
out of it, it is yours: if you fall in the
adventure
, our
crows
85
shall fare the better for you: and there’s an end.
LUCIUS
So
87
, sir.
CYMBELINE
I know your master’s
pleasure
88
, and he mine:
All
the remain
89
is ‘Welcome’.
Exeunt
running scene 7 continues
Enter Pisanio, reading of a letter
PISANIO
How?
Of adultery?
Wherefore
1
write you not
What monster’s her accuser? Leonatus,
O master, what a strange infection
Is fall’n into thy ear! What false Italian,
As poisonous-tongued as handed
5
, hath prevailed
On thy too ready hearing? Disloyal? No.
She’s punished for her
truth
, and
undergoes
7
,
More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults
As would
take in
some virtue.
9
O my master,
Thy mind to her is now as low as were
Thy fortunes. How? That I should murder her,
Upon
12
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
Reads
So much as this
fact
17
comes to? ‘Do’t: the letter
That I have sent her, by her own command
Shall give thee opportunity.’ O damned paper,
Black as the ink that’s on thee!
Senseless bauble
20
,
Art thou a
fedary
21
for this act, and look’st
So virgin-like without? Lo, here she comes.
Enter Innogen
I am
ignorant in
23
what I am commanded.
INNOGEN
How now, Pisanio?
PISANIO
Madam, here is a letter from my lord.
INNOGEN
Who, thy lord? That is my lord, Leonatus!
O, learned indeed were that
astronomer
27
That knew the stars as I his
characters
28
—
He’d lay the future open. You good gods,
Let what is here contained
relish
30
of love,
Of my lord’s health, of his content: yet
not
31
That we two are asunder, let that grieve him;
Some griefs are
med’cinable
33
, that is one of them,
For it doth
physic love
34
: of his content,
All but in that. Good
wax
,
thy leave
35
: blest be
Opens the seal
You bees that make these
locks of counsel!
36
Lovers
And men in dangerous bonds pray not alike:
Though
forfeiters
38
you cast in prison, yet
Reads
‘Justice and your father’s wrath, should he take me in his
dominion, could not be so cruel to me, as you, O the dearest
of creatures, would
even renew
42
me with your eyes. Take
notice that I am in
Cambria
, at
Milford Haven
43
: 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, 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
49
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
53
— but not like me: yet long’st
But in a
fainter kind.
54
O, not like me,
For
mine
’s beyond, beyond: say, and speak
thick
55
—
Love’s counsellor should fill the
bores of hearing
56
,
To th’
smothering
57
of the sense — how far it is
To this same blessèd Milford. And
by th’way
58
Tell me how Wales was made so happy as
T’inherit such a haven. But first of all,
How we may
steal
61
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.
63
Why should excuse be born or e’er begot?
64
We’ll talk of that hereafter. Prithee, speak,
How many
score
of miles may we
well
66
ride
PISANIO
One score
’twixt sun and sun
68
,
Madam, ’s enough for you: and too much too.
INNOGEN
Why, one that rode to’s execution, man,
Could never go so slow: I have heard of
riding wagers
71
,
Where horses have been nimbler than the sands
That run
i’th’clock’s behalf.
73
But this is foolery:
Go, bid my woman
feign
74
a sickness, say
She’ll
home
to her father; and provide me
presently
75
A riding-suit, no costlier than would
fit
76
A
franklin
77
’s housewife.
PISANIO
Madam,
you’re best
78
consider.
INNOGEN
I see
before me
, man:
nor
79
here, nor here,
Nor
what ensues
,
but
80
have a fog in them
That I cannot look through. Away, I prithee,
Do as I bid thee: there’s no more to say:
Accessible is
none
83
but Milford way.