These boys know little they are sons to the king;
Nor Cymbeline dreams that they are alive.

They think they are mine; and, though trained up thus meanly

I'the cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hit
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, called 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 roused!-
O Cymbeline! Heaven and my conscience knows,
Thou didst unjustly banish me; whereon,

At three, and two years old, I stole these babes;
Thinking to bar thee of succession, as

Thou reft'st me of my lands. Euriphile,

Thou wast their nurse; they took thee for their mother, And every day do honor to her grave.1

Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan called,

They take for natural father. The game is up.

SCENE IV. Near Milford-Haven.

Enter PISANIO and IMOGEN.

[Exit.

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

Was near at hand. Ne'er longed my mother so

1 i. e. to the grave of Euriphile; or to the grave of "their mother," as they supposed it to be.

To see me first, as I have now.-Pisanio! Man!
Where is Posthumus? 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 perplexed

Beyond self-explication. Put thyself
Into a 'havior of less fear, ere wildness
Vanquish my staider senses. What's the matter?
Why tender'st thou that paper to me, 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!
That drug-damned 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 disdained of fortune.

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

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

"To his protection; call him Posthumus."

"Struck the maintop! O Posthumus! alas."

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,
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 favor's good enough.-Some jay of Italy,
Whose mother was her painting,3 hath betrayed him.
Poor I am stale, a garment out of fashion;
And, for I am richer than to hang by the walls,*
I must be ripped:-to pieces with me!-O,

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

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.

3 Putta, in Italian, signifies both a jay and a whore. Some jay of Italy, whose mother was her painting, i. e. made by art; the creature not of nature, but of painting. In this sense, painting may be said to be her mother.

4 That is, to be hung up as useless among the neglected contents of a wardrobe. 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.

Did scandal many a holy tear; took pity
From most true wretchedness.

So, thou, Posthumus,

Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men ;1

Goodly, and gallant, shall be false and perjured,
From thy great fail.-Come, fellow, be thou honest:
Do thou thy master's bidding: when thou seest him,
A little witness my obedience. Look!

I draw the sword myself: take it; and hit
The innocent mansion of my love, my heart.
Fear not; 'tis empty of all things but grief:
Thy master is not there; who was, indeed,
The riches of it. Do his bidding; strike.
Thou mayst be valiant in a better cause;
But now thou seem'st a coward.

Pis.

Thou shalt not damn my hand.
Imo.

Hence, vile instrument!

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.2 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 turned to heresy? Away, away,

Corrupters of my faith! you shall no more

Be stomachers to my heart! Thus may poor fools
Believe false teachers: though those that are betrayed
Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor
Stands in worse case of woe.

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

1 The leaven is, in Scripture phraseology, "The whole wickedness of our sinful nature."

2 "That makes me afraid to put an end to my own life."

3 Shakspeare here means Leonatus's letters; but there is an opposition intended between Scripture, in its common signification, and heresy. 4 Fellows for equals.

A strain of rareness; and I grieve myself,
To think, when thou shalt be disedged by her
That now thou tirest1 on, how thy memory
Will then be panged 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 received command to do this business,
I have not slept one wink.

Imo.

Do't, and to bed then.

Wherefore then

Pis. I'll wake mine eyeballs blind first.
Imo.
Didst undertake it? Why hast thou abused
So many miles with a pretence? this place?
Mine action, and thine own? our horses' labor?
The time inviting thee? the perturbed 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?

Pis.

3

To lose so bad employment; in
I have considered of a course.
Hear me with patience.
Imo.

But to win time
the which
Good lady,

Talk thy tongue weary; speak.

I have heard, I am a strumpet; and mine ear,
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

1 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.

2 Blind, which is not in the old copy, was supplied by Hanmer. 3 To have thy bow unbent; alluding to a hunter.