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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 conquest
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, crack'd
As easily 'gainst our rocks: for joy whereof,
The fam'd Cassibelan, who was once at point
(0, giglot1 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 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

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10 false and inconstant fortune! A giglot was a strumpet. So in Measure for Measure, vol. ii. p. 98: Away with those giglots too.' And in Hamlet :

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The poet has transferred to Cassibelan an adventure which happened to his brother Nennius See Holinshed, book iii. eh. 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. But Nennius died, within 15 daies after the battel, of the hurt received at Cæsar's hand; although after he was hurt he slew Labienus, one of the Roman tribunes.'

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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 colour2, here
Did put the yoke upon us; which to shake off,
Becomes a warlike people, whom we reckon
Ourselves to be. We do say then to Cæsar,
Our ancestor was that Mulmutius, which

Aude. Ordain'd our laws; whose use the sword of Cæsar
Hath too much mangled; whose repair, and franchise,
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 call'd
Himself a king.

Luc.

I am sorry, Cymbeline,
That I am to pronounce Augustus Cæsar
(Cæsar, that hath more kings his servants, than
Thyself domestic officers), thine enemy:

Receive it from me, then :-War, and confusion,
In Cæsar's name pronounce 'gainst thee: look
For fury not to be resisted: Thus defied,

I thank thee for myself.

Cym.
Thou art welcome, Caius.
Thy Caesar knighted me; my youth I spent
Much under him3; of him I gather'd honour;
Which he, to seek of me again, perforce,
Behoves me keep at utterance; I am perfect5,
That the Pannonians and Dalmatians, for

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 gage to sustain it to the utterance, and befight it to the death.”

5 Well informed.

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. Clo. His majesty bids you welcome. Make pastime with us a day, or two, 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: All the remain is, welcome.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Another Room in the same.

Enter PISANIO, uning of

Pis. How! of adultery? Wherefore write you not What monster's her accuser?-Leonatus!

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:
She's punish'd for her truth; and undergoes,
More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults
As would take in some virtue.-, my master!
Thy mind to her is now as low, as were
Thy fortunes2.- 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,

1 To take in is to conquer. So in Antony and Cleopatra:

·

cut the Ionian seas

And take in Toryne.

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

That I should seem to lack humanity,

So much as this fact comes to? Do't: The letter

[Reading.

That I have sent her, by her own command
Shall give thee opportunity3:-0 damn'd paper!
Black as the ink that's on thee! Senseless bauble,
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 commanded5.
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 medicinable;) 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;

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

4 i. e. a subordinate agent, as a vassal to his chief. See vol. ii. p. 43, note 18. A feodary, however, meant also a prime agent, or steward, who received aids, reliefs, suits of service, &c. due to any lord-Glossographia Anglicana Nova, 1719. Yet after all it may be doubted whether Shakspeare does not use it to signify a confederate or accomplice, as he docs federary in The Winter's Tale, Act ii, Sc. 1.:

More, she's a traitor, and Camillo is
A federary with her.'

5 i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. So in King Henry IV. Part 1 :

0,1 am ignorance itself in this."

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 as you, O the dearest of creatures, would [not even renew me with your eyes. Take notice, that I am in Cambria, 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",

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:-0, not like me;
For mine's beyond beyond8) say, and speak thick9;
(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 excuse10:- but first, how get
hence:

6 As is here used for that. See Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc, 2, note 15, p. 264. The word not in the next line, being accidentally omitted in the old copy, was supplied by Malone.

Your is

We should now write yours, increasing in love,' &c. to be joined in construction with Leonatus Posthumus, and not with increasing; the latter is a participle present, and not a noun.

8 i. e. her longing is further than beyond; beyond any thing that desire can be said to be beyond.

9 i. e. speak quick. See vol. iv. p. 209, p. 278, note 2.

10 That is in consequence of our going back. So in Coriolanus, Act ii. Sc. 1:

note 17, and vol. v.

hence and returning

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