He hath against himself.

Iach.

With all my heart.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. The Same. Another Room in PHILARIO's House.

Enter POSTHUMUS.

Post. Is there no way for men to be, but women

Must be half-workers? We are bastards all;

And that most venerable man which I

Did call my father was I know not where
When I was stamp'd; some coiner with his tools
Made me a counterfeit : yet my mother seem'd
The Dian of that time; so doth my wife
The nonpareil of this. O, vengeance, vengeance!
Me of my lawful pleasure she restrain'd,
And pray'd me oft forbearance; did it with
A pudency so rosy, the sweet view on't

Might well have warm'd old Saturn; that I thought her
As chaste as unsunn'd snow. O, all the devils !

This yellow Iachimo, in an hour, was't not?

Or less, at first; - perchance he spoke not, but,
Like a full-acorn'd boar, a German one,

Cried O and mounted; found no opposition
But what he look'd for should oppose, and she
Should from encounter guard. Could I find out
The woman's part in me! For there's no motion
That tends to vice in man, but I affirm

It is the woman's part: be't lying, note it
The woman's; flattering, hers; deceiving, hers;
Lust and rank thoughts, hers, hers; revenges, hers;
Ambitions, covetings, change of prides, disdain,

away from its appointed end or purpose; the per having merely an intensive force.

Nice longing, slanders, mutability,

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
One vice, but of a minute old, for one

Not half so old as that. I'll write against them,

Detest them, curse them: yet 'tis greater skill
In a true hate, to pray they have their will;
The very devils cannot plague them better.

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-Britain. A Room of State in CYMBELINE'S Palace. Enter, from one side, CYMBELINE, the Queen, CLOTEN, and Lords; from the other, CAIUS LUCIUS and Attendants.

Cym. Now say, what would Augustus Cæsar with us? Luc. When Julius Cæsar - whose remembrance yet Lives in men's eyes, and will to ears and tongues

was in this Britain

Be theme and hearing ever-
And conquer'd it, Cassibelan, thine uncle, -
Famous in Cæsar's praises, no whit less

Than in his feats deserving it,

for him

And his succession granted Rome a tribute,

Yearly three thousand pounds; which by thee lately
Is left untender'd.

Queen.

Shall be so ever.

Clo.

And, to kill the marvel,

There be many Cæsars,

Ere such another Julius. Britain is

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
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, ribbèd and palèd in 1
With rocks unscaleable and roaring waters;

With sands that will not bear your enemies' boats,

But suck them up to th' topmast. 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 moved upon their surges, crack'd
As easily 'gainst our rocks: for joy whereof
The famed Cassibelan, who was once at point-
O giglot 2 Fortune !—to master Cæsar'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.3

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

1 Ribbed is enclosed or fenced-in, as paled is surrounded with palings. 2 Giglot, adjective, is false, or inconstant. The word was also used substantively, in a similar sense. See vol. vi. page 235, note 30.

3 The pith and shrewdness of this ungeared and loose-screwed genius here go right to the mark, although they go off out of time. Of course, to owe means to own, as usual.

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: Caesar's ambition, -
Which swell'd so much, that it did almost stretch
The sides o' the world, against all colour, here
Did put the yoke upon's; which to shake off
Becomes a warlike people, whom we reckon
Ourselves to be.

Clo.
Cym.

We do.

Say, then, to Cæsar,

Our ancestor was that Mulmutius which

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.5

That I am to pronounce Augustus Cæsar
Cæsar, that hath more kings his servants than

4 Against all colour or appearance of right.

5 Here Holinshed was the Poet's authority: "Mulmutius, the son of Cloten, got the upper hand of the other dukes or rulers; and, after his father's decease, began to reign over the whole monarchy of Britain, in the year of the world 3529. He made many good laws, which were long after used, called Mulmutius' laws. After he had established his land, he ordained him, by the advice of his lords, a crown of gold, and caused himself with great solemnity to be crowned. And because he was the first that bore a crown here in Britain, after the opinion of some writers, he is named the first king of Britain, and all the other before rehearsed are named rulers, dukes, or governors."

Thyself domestic officers

thine enemy.

Receive it from me, then: War and confusion

In Cæsar's name pronounce I 'gainst thee: look
For fury not to be resisted. Thus defied,

I thank thee for myself.

Cym.
Thou'rt welcome, Caius.
Thy Cæsar knighted me; my youth I spent
Much under him; of him I gather'd honour;
Which he to seek of me again, perforce,
Behoves me keep at utterance.6 I am perfect
That the Pannonians and Dalmatians for
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, 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; All the remain is, Welcome.

[Exeunt.

6 A very elliptical passage. The meaning appears to be, "Of him I gather'd honour; which, he being now about to force it away from me, I am bound to maintain to the last extremity." At utterance is to the uttermost of defiance. So in Helyas Knight of the Swan: “Here is my gage to sustain it to the utterance, and befight it to the death." See vol. xvii. page 60, note 13.

Perfect is repeatedly used by Shakespeare for well informed or assured. See vol. vii. page 196, note I.