William Shakespeare
-
Tragedies
- Antony and Cleopatra
- Coriolanus
- Hamlet
- Julius Caesar
- King Lear
- Macbeth
- Othello
- Romeo and Juliet
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
-
Histories
- King Henry IV Part 1
- King Henry IV Part 2
- King Henry V
- King Henry VI Part 1
- King Henry VI Part 2
- King Henry VI Part 3
- King Henry VIII
- King John
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- Richard III
-
Comedies
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- All's Well That Ends Well
- As You Like It
- Cymbeline
- Love's Labour's Lost
- Measure for Measure
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Pericles, Prince of Tyre
- The Comedy of Errors
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Winter's Tale
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
-
Poetry
- A Lover's Complaint
- Sonnets 1 to 50
- Sonnets 50 to 100
- Sonnets 100 to 154
- The Passionate Pilgrim
- The Phoenix and the Turtle
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Venus and Adonis
Cymbeline (date unknown)
ACT ONE
John Faed, Postumus and Imogen, Date unknown" style="width: 120px; height: 173px; float: right;" class="PopBoxImageSmall" title="Click to magnify/shrink" onclick="Pop(this,50,'/');"/>SCENE 1. Britain. The garden of Cymbeline's palace.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- You do not meet a man but frowns. Our bloods
- No more obey the heavens than our courtiers
- Still seem as does the King.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- But what's the matter?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- His daughter, and the heir of's kingdom, whom
- He purpos'd to his wife's sole son—a widow
- That late he married—hath referr'd herself
- Unto a poor but worthy gentleman. She's wedded,
- Her husband banish'd, she imprison'd; all
- Is outward sorrow; though I think the King
- Be touch'd at very heart.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- None but the King?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- He that hath lost her too; so is the Queen,
- That most desir'd the match: but not a courtier,
- Although they wear their faces to the bent
- Of the King's looks, hath a heart that is not
- Glad at the thing they scowl at.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- And why so?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- He that hath miss'd the Princess is a thing
- Too bad for bad report; and he that hath her—
- I mean, that married her, alack, good man!
- And therefore banish'd—is a creature such
- As, to seek through the regions of the earth
- For one his like, there would be something failing
- In him that should compare. I do not think
- So fair an outward and such stuff within
- Endows a man but he.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- You speak him far.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- I do extend him, sir, within himself;
- Crush him together rather than unfold
- His measure duly.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- What's his name and birth?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- I cannot delve him to the root. His father
- Was call'd Sicilius, who did join his honour
- Against the Romans with Cassibelan,
- But had his titles by Tenantius whom
- He serv'd with glory and admir'd success,
- So gain'd the sur-addition Leonatus;
- And had, besides this gentleman in question,
- Two other sons, who in the wars o' the time,
- Died with their swords in hand; for which their father,
- Then old and fond of issue, took such sorrow
- That he quit being, and his gentle lady,
- Big of this gentleman our theme, deceas'd
- As he was born. The King he takes the babe
- To his protection, calls him Posthumus Leonatus,
- Breeds him and makes him of his bed-chamber,
- Puts to him all the learnings that his time
- Could make him the receiver of; which he took,
- As we do air, fast as 'twas minist'red,
- And in's spring became a harvest; liv'd in court—
- Which rare it is to do—most prais'd, most lov'd,
- A sample to the youngest, to the more mature
- A glass that feated them, and to the graver
- A child that guided dotards; to his mistress,
- For whom he now is banish'd—her own price
- Proclaims how she esteem'd him and his virtue;
- By her election may be truly read
- What kind of man he is.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- I honour him
- Even out of your report. But, pray you, tell me,
- Is she sole child to the King?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- His only child.
- He had two sons,—if this be worth your hearing,
- Mark it—the eldest of them at three years old,
- I' the swathing-clothes the other, from their nursery
- Were stolen, and to this hour no guess in knowledge
- Which way they went.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- How long is this ago?
FIRST GENTLEMAN. Some twenty years.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- That a king's children should be so convey'd,
- So slackly guarded, and the search so slow,
- That could not trace them!
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- Howsoe'er 'tis strange,
- Or that the negligence may well be laugh'd at,
- Yet is it true, sir.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
- I do well believe you.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
- We must forbear; here comes the gentleman,
- The Queen, and Princess.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter the QUEEN, POSTHUMUS, and IMOGEN.]
QUEEN.
- No, be assur'd you shall not find me, daughter,
- After the slander of most stepmothers,
- Evil-ey'd unto you. You're my prisoner, but
- Your gaoler shall deliver you the keys
- That lock up your restraint. For you, Posthumus,
- So soon as I can win the offended King,
- I will be known your advocate. Marry, yet
- The fire of rage is in him, and 'twere good
- You lean'd unto his sentence with what patience
- Your wisdom may inform you.
POSTHUMUS.
- Please your Highness,
- I will from hence to-day.
QUEEN.
- You know the peril.
- I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying
- The pangs of barr'd affections, though the King
- Hath charg'd you should not speak together.
[Exit.]
IMOGEN.
- O dissembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant
- Can tickle where she wounds! My dearest husband,
- I something fear my father's wrath; but nothing—
- Always reserv'd my holy duty—what
- His rage can do on me. You must be gone;
- And I shall here abide the hourly shot
- Of angry eyes, not comforted to live,
- But that there is this jewel in the world
- That I may see again.
POSTHUMUS.
- My queen! my mistress!
- O lady, weep no more, lest I give cause
- To be suspected of more tenderness
- Than doth become a man. I will remain
- The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth.
- My residence in Rome at one Philario's,
- Who to my father was a friend, to me
- Known but by letter; thither write, my queen,
- And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send,
- Though ink be made of gall.
[Re-enter QUEEN.]
QUEEN.
- Be brief, I pray you.
- If the King come, I shall incur I know not
- How much of his displeasure.
[Aside.]
Yet I'll move him
- To walk this way. I never do him wrong
- But he does buy my injuries, to be friends;
- Pays dear for my offences.
[Exit.]
POSTHUMUS.
- Should we be taking leave
- As long a term as yet we have to live,
- The loathness to depart would grow. Adieu!
IMOGEN.
- Nay, stay a little.
- Were you but riding forth to air yourself,
- Such parting were too petty. Look here, love;
- This diamond was my mother's. Take it, heart;
- But keep it till you woo another wife,
- When Imogen is dead.
POSTHUMUS.
- How, how! another?
- You gentle gods, give me but this I have,
- And cere up my embracements from a next
- With bonds of death! Remain, remain thou here
[Putting on the ring.]
While sense can keep it on. And, sweetest, fairest,
- As I my poor self did exchange for you,
- To your so infinite loss, so in our trifles
- I still win of you; for my sake wear this.
- It is a manacle of love; I'll place it
- Upon this fairest prisoner.
[Putting a bracelet upon her arm.]
IMOGEN.
- O the gods!
- When shall we see again?
[Enter CYMBELINE and LORDS.]
POSTHUMUS.
- Alack, the King!
CYMBELINE.
- Thou basest thing, avoid! Hence, from my sight!
- If after this command thou fraught the court
- With thy unworthiness, thou diest. Away!
- Thou'rt poison to my blood.
POSTHUMUS.
- The gods protect you!
- And bless the good remainders of the court!
- I am gone.
[Exit.]
IMOGEN.
- There cannot be a pinch in death
- More sharp than this is.
CYMBELINE.
- O disloyal thing,
- That shouldst repair my youth, thou heap'st
- A year's age on me!
IMOGEN.
- I beseech you, sir,
- Harm not yourself with your vexation.
- I am senseless of your wrath; a touch more rare
- Subdues all pangs, all fears.
CYMBELINE.
- Past grace? obedience?
IMOGEN.
- Past hope, and in despair; that way, past grace.
CYMBELINE.
- That mightst have had the sole son of my queen!
IMOGEN.
- O blest, that I might not! I chose an eagle,
- And did avoid a puttock.
CYMBELINE.
- Thou took'st a beggar; wouldst have made my throne
- A seat for baseness.
IMOGEN.
- No; I rather added
- A lustre to it.
CYMBELINE.
- O thou vile one!
IMOGEN.
- Sir, It is your fault that I have lov'd Posthumus.
- You bred him as my playfellow, and he is
- A man worth any woman; overbuys me
- Almost the sum he pays.
CYMBELINE.
- What, art thou mad?
IMOGEN.
- Almost, sir; heaven restore me! Would I were
- A neat-herd's daughter, and my Leonatus
- Our neighbour shepherd's son!
[Re-enter QUEEN.]
CYMBELINE. Thou foolish thing!
- —They were again together; you have done
- Not after our command. Away with her,
- And pen her up.
QUEEN.
- Beseech your patience. Peace,
- Dear lady daughter, peace! Sweet sovereign,
- Leave us to ourselves, and make yourself some comfort
- Out of your best advice.
CYMBELINE.
- Nay, let her languish
- A drop of blood a day; and, being aged,
- Die of this folly!
[Exeunt CYMBELINE and LORDS.]
[Enter PISANIO.]
QUEEN.
- Fie! you must give way.
- Here is your servant. How now, sir! What news?
PISANIO.
- My lord your son drew on my master.
QUEEN.
- Ha! No harm, I trust, is done?
PISANIO.
- There might have been,
- But that my master rather play'd than fought
- And had no help of anger. They were parted
- By gentlemen at hand.
QUEEN.
- I am very glad on't.
IMOGEN.
- Your son's my father's friend; he takes his part
- To draw upon an exile. O brave sir!
- I would they were in Afric both together;
- Myself by with a needle, that I might prick
- The goer-back. Why came you from your master?
PISANIO.
- On his command. He would not suffer me
- To bring him to the haven; left these notes
- Of what commands I should be subject to,
- When't pleas'd you to employ me.
QUEEN.
- This hath been
- Your faithful servant. I dare lay mine honour
- He will remain so.
PISANIO.
- I humbly thank your Highness.
QUEEN.
- Pray, walk a while.
IMOGEN.
- About some half-hour hence,
- I Pray you, speak with me; you shall at least
- Go see my lord aboard. For this time leave me.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 2. The same. A public place.
[Enter CLOTEN and two LORDS.]
FIRST LORD.
- Sir, I would advise you to shift a shirt; the violence of action
- hath made you reek as a sacrifice. Where air comes out, air
- comes in; there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent.
CLOTEN.
- If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it. Have I hurt him?
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
No, faith; not so much as his patience.
FIRST LORD.
- Hurt him! His body's a passable carcass, if he be not
- hurt; it is a throughfare for steel, if it be not hurt.
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
His steel was in debt; it went o' the backside the town.
CLOTEN.
- The villain would not stand me.
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
No; but he fled forward still, toward your face.
FIRST LORD.
- Stand you! You have land enough of your own; but he
- added to your having, gave you some ground.
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
As many inches as you have oceans. Puppies!
CLOTEN.
- I would they had not come between us.
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
So would I, till you had measur'd how long a fool you
- were upon the ground.
CLOTEN.
- And that she should love this fellow and refuse me!
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
If it be a sin to make a true election, she is damn'd.
FIRST LORD.
- Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her brain go
- not together. She's a good sign, but I have seen small
- reflection
- of her wit.
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
She shines not upon fools, lest the reflection should hurt her.
CLOTEN.
- Come, I'll to my chamber. Would there had been some hurt
- done!
SECOND LORD.
[Aside.]
I wish not so; unless it had been the fall of an ass, which is no
- great hurt.
CLOTEN.
- You'll go with us?
FIRST LORD.
- I'll attend your lordship.
CLOTEN.
- Nay, come, let's go together.
SECOND LORD.
- Well, my lord.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 3. A room in CYMBELINE'S palace.
[Enter IMOGEN and PISANIO.]
IMOGEN.
- I would thou grew'st unto the shores o' the haven,
- And question'dst every sail. If he should write
- And I not have it, 'twere a paper lost,
- As offer'd mercy is. What was the last
- That he spake to thee?
PISANIO.
- It was his queen, his queen!
IMOGEN.
- Then wav'd his handkerchief?
PISANIO.
- And kiss'd it, madam.
IMOGEN.
- Senseless linen! happier therein than I!
- And that was all?
PISANIO.
- No, madam; for so long
- As he could make me with this eye or ear
- Distinguish him from others, he did keep
- The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief,
- Still waving, as the fits and stirs of's mind
- Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on,
- How swift his ship.
IMOGEN.
- Thou shouldst have made him
- As little as a crow, or less, ere left
- To after-eye him.
PISANIO.
- Madam, so I did.
IMOGEN.
- I would have broke mine eye-strings; crack'd them, but
- To look upon him, till the diminution
- Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle;
- Nay, follow'd him, till he had melted from
- The smallness of a gnat to air, and then
- Have turn'd mine eye and wept. But, good Pisanio,
- When shall we hear from him?
PISANIO.
- Be assured, madam,
- With his next vantage.
IMOGEN.
- I did not take my leave of him, but had
- Most pretty things to say. Ere I could tell him
- How I would think on him at certain hours
- Such thoughts and such, or I could make him swear
- The shes of Italy should not betray
- Mine interest and his honour, or have charg'd him,
- At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight,
- To encounter me with orisons, for then
- I am in heaven for him; or ere I could
- Give him that parting kiss which I had set
- Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father
- And like the tyrannous breathing of the north
- Shakes all our buds from growing.
[Enter a LADY.]
LADY.
- The Queen, madam,
- Desires your Highness' company.
IMOGEN.
- Those things I bid you do, get them dispatch'd.
- I will attend the Queen.
PISANIO.
- Madam, I shall.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 4. Rome. PHILARIO'S house.
[Enter PHILARIO, IACHIMO, a FRENCHMAN, a DUTCHMAN, and a SPANIARD.]
IACHIMO.
- Believe it, sir, I have seen him in Britain. He was then of a
- crescent note, expected to prove so worthy as since he hath
- been allowed the name of; but I could then have look'd on him
- without the help of admiration, though the catalogue of his
- endowments had been tabled by his side and I to peruse him by
- items.
PHILARIO.
- You speak of him when he was less furnish'd than now he
- is with that which makes him both without and within.
FRENCHMAN.
- I have seen him in France. We had very many there could
- behold the sun with as firm eyes as he.
IACHIMO.
- This matter of marrying his king's daughter, wherein he
- must be weighed rather by her value than his own, words him, I
- doubt not, a great deal from the matter.
FRENCHMAN.
- And then his banishment.
IACHIMO.
- Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this lamentable
- divorce under her colours are wonderfully to extend him; be it
- but to fortify her judgement, which else an easy battery might
- lay flat, for taking a beggar without less quality. But how
- comes it he is to sojourn with you? How creeps acquaintance?
PHILARIO.
- His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I have been
- often bound for no less than my life.
[Enter POSTHUMUS.]
Here comes the Briton. Let him be so entertained amongst you as
- suits with gentlemen of your knowing to a stranger of his
- quality.—I beseech you all, be better known to this gentleman,
- whom I commend to you as a noble friend of mine. How worthy he
- is I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in
- his own hearing.
FRENCHMAN.
- Sir, we have known together in Orleans.
POSTHUMUS.
- Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies,
- which I will be ever to pay and yet pay still.
FRENCHMAN.
- Sir, you o'er-rate my poor kindness. I was glad I did atone my
- countryman and you. It had been pity you should have been put
- together with so mortal a purpose as then each bore, upon
- importance of so slight and trivial a nature.
POSTHUMUS.
- By your pardon, sir, I was then a young traveller; rather shunn'd
- to go even with what I heard than in my every action to be guided
- by others' experiences: but upon my mended judgement—if I offend
- [not] to say it is mended—my quarrel was not altogether slight.
FRENCHMAN.
- Faith, yes, to be put to the arbitrement of swords, and by such
- two that would by all likelihood have confounded one the other, or
- have fallen both.
IACHIMO.
- Can we, with manners, ask what was the difference?
FRENCHMAN.
- Safely, I think; 'twas a contention in public, which may, without
- contradiction, suffer the report. It was much like an argument
- that fell out last night, where each of us fell in praise of our
- country-mistresses; this gentleman at that time vouching—and
- upon warrant of bloody affirmation—his to be more fair, virtuous,
- wise, chaste, constant, qualified, and less attemptable than any
- the rarest of our ladies in France.
IACHIMO.
- That lady is not now living, or this gentleman's opinion by this
- worn out.
POSTHUMUS.
- She holds her virtue still, and I my mind.
IACHIMO.
- You must not so far prefer her 'fore ours of Italy.
POSTHUMUS.
- Being so far provok'd as I was in France, I would abate her
- nothing, though I profess myself her adorer, not her friend.
IACHIMO.
- As fair and as good—a kind of hand-in-hand comparison—had been
- something too fair and too good for any lady in Britain. If she
- went before others I have seen, as that diamond of yours outlustres
- many I have beheld, I could not [but] believe she excelled many.
- But I have not seen the most precious diamond that is, nor you the
- lady.
POSTHUMUS.
- I prais'd her as I rated her; so do I my stone.
IACHIMO.
- What do you esteem it at?
POSTHUMUS.
- More than the world enjoys.
IACHIMO.
- Either your unparagon'd mistress is dead, or she's outpriz'd by a
- trifle.
POSTHUMUS.
- You are mistaken. The one may be sold, or given, if there were
- wealth enough for the purchase, or merit for the gift; the other is
- not a thing for sale, and only the gift of the gods.
IACHIMO.
- Which the gods have given you?
POSTHUMUS.
- Which, by their graces, I will keep.
IACHIMO.
- You may wear her in title yours; but, you know, strange fowl
- light upon neighbouring ponds. Your ring may be stolen too;
- so your brace of unprizable estimations, the one is but frail
- and the other casual. A cunning thief, or a that-way-
- accomplish'd courtier, would hazard the winning both of first
- and last.
POSTHUMUS.
- Your Italy contains none so accomplish'd a courtier to convince
- the honour of my mistress, if, in the holding or loss of that,
- you term her frail. I do nothing doubt you have store of thieves;
- notwithstanding, I fear not my ring.
PHILARIO.
- Let us leave here, gentlemen.
POSTHUMUS.
- Sir, with all my heart. This worthy signior, I thank him, makes
- no stranger of me; we are familiar at first.
IACHIMO.
- With five times so much conversation, I should get ground of your
- fair mistress, make her go back, even to the yielding, had I
- admittance, and opportunity to friend.
POSTHUMUS.
- No, no.
IACHIMO.
- I dare thereupon pawn the moiety of my estate to your ring;
- which, in my opinion, o'ervalues it something. But I make my
- wager rather against your confidence than her reputation; and,
- to bar your offence herein too, I durst attempt it against any
- lady in the world.
POSTHUMUS.
- You are a great deal abus'd in too bold a persuasion; and I doubt
- not you sustain what you're worthy of by your attempt.
IACHIMO.
- What's that?
POSTHUMUS.
- A repulse; though your attempt, as you call it, deserve more,—a
- punishment too.
PHILARIO.
- Gentlemen, enough of this; it came in too suddenly. Let it die
- as it was born, and, I pray you, be better acquainted.
IACHIMO.
- Would I had put my estate and my neighbour's on the approbation
- of what I have spoke!
POSTHUMUS.
- What lady would you choose to assail?
IACHIMO.
- Yours, whom in constancy you think stands so safe. I will lay you
- ten thousand ducats to your ring, that, commend me to the court
- where your lady is, with no more advantage than the opportunity of
- a second conference, and I will bring from thence that honour of
- hers which you imagine so reserv'd.
POSTHUMUS.
- I will wage against your gold, gold to it. My ring I hold dear as
- my finger; 'tis part of it.
IACHIMO.
- You are afraid, and therein the wiser. If you buy ladies' flesh
- at a million a dram, you cannot preserve it from tainting. But I
- see you have some religion in you, that you fear.
POSTHUMUS.
- This is but a custom in your tongue; you bear a graver purpose, I
- hope.
IACHIMO.
- I am the master of my speeches, and would undergo what's spoken,
- I swear.
POSTHUMUS.
- Will you? I shall but lend my diamond till your return. Let
- there be covenants drawn between's. My mistress exceeds in
- goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking. I dare you to
- this match: here's my ring.
PHILARIO.
- I will have it no lay.
IACHIMO.
- By the gods, it is one. If I bring you no sufficient testimony
- that I have enjoy'd the dearest bodily part of your mistress, my
- ten thousand ducats are yours; so is your diamond too. If I come
- off, and leave her in such honour as you have trust in, she your
- jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are yours; provided I have
- your commendation for my more free entertainment.
POSTHUMUS.
- I embrace these conditions; let us have articles betwixt us.
- Only, thus far you shall answer: if you make your voyage upon her
- and give me directly to understand you have prevail'd, I am no
- further your enemy; she is not worth our debate. If she remain
- unseduc'd, you not making it appear otherwise, for your ill
- opinion and the assault you have made to her chastity you shall
- answer me with your sword.
IACHIMO.
- Your hand; a covenant. We will have these things set down by
- lawful counsel, and straight away for Britain, lest the bargain
- should catch cold and starve. I will fetch my gold and have our
- two wagers recorded.
POSTHUMUS.
- Agreed.
[Exeunt POSTHUMUS and IACHIMO.]
FRENCHMAN.
- Will this hold, think you?
PHILARIO.
- Signior Iachimo will not from it. Pray, let us follow 'em.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 5. Britain. A room in CYMBELINE'S palace.
[Enter QUEEN, LADIES, and CORNELIUS.]
QUEEN.
- Whiles yet the dew's on ground, gather those flowers;
- Make haste. Who has the note of them?
FIRST LADY.
- I, madam.
QUEEN.
- Dispatch.
[Exeunt LADIES.]
Now, master doctor, have you brought those drugs?
CORNELIUS.
- Pleaseth your Highness, ay. Here they are, madam.
[Presenting a small box.]
But I beseech your Grace, without offence,—
- My conscience bids me ask—wherefore you have
- Commanded of me these most poisonous compounds,
- Which are the movers of a languishing death,
- But though slow, deadly?
QUEEN.
- I wonder, doctor,
- Thou ask'st me such a question. Have I not been
- Thy pupil long? Hast thou not learn'd me how
- To make perfumes? distil? preserve? yea, so
- That our great king himself doth woo me oft
- For my confections? Having thus far proceeded,—
- Unless thou think'st me devilish—is't not meet
- That I did amplify my judgement in
- Other conclusions? I will try the forces
- Of these thy compounds on such creatures as
- We count not worth the hanging,—but none human—
- To try the vigour of them and apply
- Allayments to their act, and by them gather
- Their several virtues and effects.
CORNELIUS.
- Your Highness
- Shall from this practice but make hard your heart.
- Besides, the seeing these effects will be
- Both noisome and infectious.
QUEEN. O, content thee.
[Enter PISANIO.]
[Aside.]
Here comes a flattering rascal; upon him
- Will I first work. He's for his master,
- An enemy to my son. How now, Pisanio!
- Doctor, your service for this time is ended;
- Take your own way.
CORNELIUS.
[Aside.]
I do suspect you, madam;
- But you shall do no harm.
QUEEN.
[To PISANIO]
Hark thee, a word.
CORNELIUS.
[Aside.]
I do not like her. She doth think she has
- Strange ling'ring poisons. I do know her spirit,
- And will not trust one of her malice with
- A drug of such damn'd nature. Those she has
- Will stupefy and dull the sense a while,
- Which first, perchance, she'll prove on cats and dogs,
- Then afterward up higher; but there is
- No danger in what show of death it makes,
- More than the locking-up the spirits a time,
- To be more fresh, reviving. She is fool'd
- With a most false effect; and I the truer,
- So to be false with her.
QUEEN.
- No further service, doctor,
- Until I send for thee.
CORNELIUS.
- I humbly take my leave.
[Exit.]
QUEEN.
- Weeps she still, say'st thou? Dost thou think in time
- She will not quench and let instructions enter
- Where folly now possesses? Do thou work.
- When thou shalt bring me word she loves my son,
- I'll tell thee on the instant thou art then
- As great as is thy master,—greater, for
- His fortunes all lie speechless and his name
- Is at last gasp. Return he cannot, nor
- Continue where he is. To shift his being
- Is to exchange one misery with another,
- And every day that comes comes to
- A day's work in him. What shalt thou expect,
- To be depender on a thing that leans,
- Who cannot be new built, nor has no friends
- So much as but to prop him?
[The QUEEN drops the box: PISANIO takes it up.]
Thou tak'st up
- Thou know'st not what; but take it for thy labour.
- It is a thing I made, which hath the King
- Five times redeem'd from death. I do not know
- What is more cordial. Nay, I prithee, take it;
- It is an earnest of a further good
- That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how
- The case stands with her; do't as from thyself.
- Think what a chance thou changest on; but think
- Thou hast thy mistress still; to boot, my son,
- Who shall take notice of thee. I'll move the King
- To any shape of thy preferment such
- As thou'lt desire; and then myself, I chiefly,
- That set thee on to this desert, am bound
- To load thy merit richly. Call my women.
- Think on my words.
[Exit PISANIO.]
A sly and constant knave,
- Not to be shak'd; the agent for his master
- And the remembrancer of her to hold
- The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that
- Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her
- Of liegers for her sweet, and which she after,
- Except she bend her humour, shall be assur'd
- To taste of too.
[Re-enter PISANIO and LADIES.]
So, so; well done, well done.
- The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,
- Bear to my closet. Fare thee well, Pisanio;
- Think on my words.
[Exeunt QUEEN and LADIES.]
PISANIO.
- And shall do;
- But when to my good lord I prove untrue,
- I'll choke myself. There's all I'll do for you.
[Exit.]
SCENE 6. The same. Another room in the palace.
[Enter IMOGEN.]
IMOGEN.
- A father cruel, and a step-dame false;
- A foolish suitor to a wedded lady,
- That hath her husband banish'd;—O, that husband!
- My supreme crown of grief! and those repeated
- Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stolen,
- As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable
- Is the desire that's glorious. Blessed be those,
- How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,
- Which seasons comfort. Who may this be? Fie!
[Enter PISANIO and IACHIMO.]
PISANIO.
- Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome
- Comes from my lord with letters.
IACHIMO.
- Change you, madam?
- The worthy Leonatus is in safety
- And greets your Highness dearly.
[Presents a letter]
IMOGEN.
- Thanks, good sir;
- You're kindly welcome.
IACHIMO.
[Aside.]
All of her that is out of door most rich!
- If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,
- She is alone, the Arabian bird, and I
- Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend!
- Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!
- Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;
- Rather, directly fly.
IMOGEN.
[Reads]
"—He is one of the noblest note, to whose
- kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him
- accordingly, as you value your trust— LEONATUS"
So far I read aloud—
- But even the very middle of my heart
- Is warm'd by the rest—and take it thankfully.
- You are as welcome, worthy sir, as I
- Have words to bid you; and shall find it so
- In all that I can do.
IACHIMO.
- Thanks, fairest lady.
- What, are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes
- To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop
- Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt
- The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones
- Upon the number'd beach, and can we not
- Partition make with spectacles so precious
- 'Twixt fair and foul?
IMOGEN.
- What makes your admiration?
IACHIMO.
- It cannot be i' the eye, for apes and monkeys
- 'Twixt two such shes would chatter this way and
- Contemn with mows the other; nor i' the judgement,
- For idiots in this case of favour would
- Be wisely definite; nor i' the appetite;
- Sluttery to such neat excellence oppos'd
- Should make desire vomit emptiness,
- Not so allur'd to feed.
IMOGEN.
- What is the matter, trow?
IACHIMO.
- The cloyed will,—
- That satiate yet unsatisfi'd desire, that tub
- Both fill'd and running,—ravening first the lamb,
- Longs after for the garbage.
IMOGEN.
- What, dear sir,
- Thus raps you? Are you well?
IACHIMO.
- Thanks, madam; well.
[To PISANIO.]
Beseech you, sir, desire
- My man's abode where I did leave him.
- He is strange and peevish.
PISANIO.
- I was going, sir,
- To give him welcome.
[Exit.]
IMOGEN.
- Continues well my lord? His health, beseech you?
IACHIMO.
- Well, madam.
IMOGEN.
- Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope he is.
IACHIMO.
- Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger there
- So merry and so gamesome. He is call'd
- The Briton reveller.
IMOGEN.
- When he was here,
- He did incline to sadness, and oft-times
- Not knowing why.
IACHIMO.
- I never saw him sad.
- There is a Frenchman his companion, one
- An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves
- A Gallian girl at home. He furnaces
- The thick sighs from him; whiles the jolly Briton—
- Your lord, I mean—laughs from's free lungs, cries "O,
- Can my sides hold, to think that man, who knows
- By history, report, or his own proof,
- What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose
- But must be, will his free hours languish for
- Assured bondage?"
IMOGEN.
- Will my lord say so?
IACHIMO.
- Ay, madam, with his eyes in flood with laughter.
- It is a recreation to be by
- And hear him mock the Frenchman. But, heavens know,
- Some men are much to blame.
IMOGEN.
- Not he, I hope.
IACHIMO.
- Not he; but yet heaven's bounty towards him might
- Be used more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much;
- In you—which I account his—beyond all talents.
- Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound
- To pity too.
IMOGEN.
- What do you pity, sir?
IACHIMO.
- Two creatures heartily.
IMOGEN.
- Am I one, sir?
- You look on me; what wreck discern you in me
- Deserves your pity?
IACHIMO.
- Lamentable! What,
- To hide me from the radiant sun, and solace
- I' the dungeon by a snuff?
IMOGEN.
- I pray you, sir,
- Deliver with more openness your answers
- To my demands. Why do you pity me?
IACHIMO.
- That others do,
- I was about to say, enjoy your—But
- It is an office of the gods to venge it,
- Not mine to speak on't.
IMOGEN.
- You do seem to know
- Something of me, or what concerns me: pray you,—
- Since doubting things go ill often hurts more
- Than to be sure they do; for certainties
- Either are past remedies, or, timely knowing,
- The remedy then born—discover to me
- What both you spur and stop.
IACHIMO.
- Had I this cheek
- To bathe my lips upon; this hand, whose touch,
- Whose every touch, would force the feeler's soul
- To the oath of loyalty; this object, which
- Takes prisoner the wild motion of mine eye,
- Fixing it only here; should I, damn'd then,
- Slaver with lips as common as the stairs
- That mount the Capitol; join gripes with hands
- Made hard with hourly falsehood—falsehood, as
- With labour; then lie peeping in an eye
- Base and illustrious as the smoky light
- That's fed with stinking tallow: it were fit
- That all the plagues of hell should at one time
- Encounter such revolt.
IMOGEN.
- My lord, I fear,
- Has forgot Britain.
IACHIMO.
- And himself. Not I,
- Inclin'd to this intelligence, pronounce
- The beggary of his change; but 'tis your graces
- That from my mutest conscience to my tongue
- Charms this report out.
IMOGEN.
- Let me hear no more.
IACHIMO.
- O dearest soul! your cause doth strike my heart
- With pity, that doth make me sick. A lady
- So fair, and fasten'd to an empery
- Would make the great'st king double,—to be partner'd
- With tomboys hir'd with that self-exhibition
- Which your own coffers yield! with diseas'd ventures
- That play with all infirmities for gold
- Which rottenness can lend nature! such boil'd stuff
- As well might poison poison! Be reveng'd;
- Or she that bore you was no queen, and you
- Recoil from your great stock.
IMOGEN.
- Reveng'd!
- How should I be reveng'd? If this be true,
- As I have such a heart that both mine ears
- Must not in haste abuse—if it be true,
- How should I be reveng'd?
IACHIMO.
- Should he make me
- Live, like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets,
- Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,
- In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it.
- I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure,
- More noble than that runagate to your bed,
- And will continue fast to your affection,
- Still close as sure.
IMOGEN.
- What ho, Pisanio!
IACHIMO.
- Let me my service tender on your lips.
IMOGEN.
- Away! I do condemn mine ears that have
- So long attended thee. If thou wert honourable,
- Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue, not
- For such an end thou seek'st,—as base as strange.
- Thou wrong'st a gentleman, who is as far
- From thy report as thou from honour, and
- Solicit'st here a lady that disdains
- Thee and the devil alike. What, ho, Pisanio!
- The King my father shall be made acquainted
- Of thy assault. If he shall think it fit
- A saucy stranger in his court to mart
- As in a Romish stew, and to expound
- His beastly mind to us, he hath a court
- He little cares for and a daughter who
- He not respects at all. What, ho, Pisanio!
IACHIMO.
- O happy Leonatus! I may say.
- The credit that thy lady hath of thee
- Deserves thy trust, and thy most perfect goodness
- Her assur'd credit. Blessed live you long
- A lady to the worthiest sir that ever
- Country call'd his! and you his mistress, only
- For the most worthiest fit! Give me your pardon.
- I have spoke this, to know if your affiance
- Were deeply rooted, and shall make your lord,
- That which he is, new o'er; and he is one
- The truest manner'd, such a holy witch
- That he enchants societies into him;
- Half all men's hearts are his.
IMOGEN.
- You make amends.
IACHIMO.
- He sits 'mongst men like a descended god:
- He hath a kind of honour sets him off,
- More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry,
- Most mighty princess, that I have adventur'd
- To try your taking of a false report; which hath
- Honour'd with confirmation your great judgement
- In the election of a sir so rare,
- Which you know cannot err. The love I bear him
- Made me to fan you thus; but the gods made you,
- Unlike all others, chaffless. Pray, your pardon.
IMOGEN.
- All's well, sir. Take my power i' the court for yours.
IACHIMO.
- My humble thanks. I had almost forgot
- To entreat your Grace but in a small request,
- And yet of moment too, for it concerns
- Your lord, myself, and other noble friends,
- Are partners in the business.
IMOGEN.
- Pray, what is't?
IACHIMO.
- Some dozen Romans of us and your lord—
- The best feather of our wing—have mingled sums
- To buy a present for the Emperor;
- Which I, the factor for the rest, have done
- In France. 'Tis plate of rare device, and jewels
- Of rich and exquisite form, their values great;
- And I am something curious, being strange,
- To have them in safe stowage. May it please you
- To take them in protection?
IMOGEN.
- Willingly;
- And pawn mine honour for their safety. Since
- My lord hath interest in them, I will keep them
- In my bedchamber.
IACHIMO.
- They are in a trunk,
- Attended by my men. I will make bold
- To send them to you, only for this night;
- I must aboard to-morrow.
IMOGEN.
- O, no, no.
IACHIMO.
- Yes, I beseech; or I shall short my word
- By lengthening my return. From Gallia
- I cross'd the seas on purpose and on promise
- To see your Grace.
IMOGEN.
- I thank you for your pains:
- But not away to-morrow!
IACHIMO.
- O, I must, madam;
- Therefore I shall beseech you, if you please
- To greet your lord with writing; do't to-night.
- I have outstood my time; which is material
- To the tender of our present.
IMOGEN.
- I will write.
- Send your trunk to me; it shall safe be kept,
- And truly yielded you. You're very welcome.
[Exeunt.]