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Cymbeline (Modern)

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Jennifer Forsyth
Peer Reviewed

[4.2]

Enter Belarius [as Morgan], Guiderius [as Polydore], Arviragus [as Cadwal], and 2245Imogen [as Fidele] from the cave
Belarius You are not well. Remain here in the cave;
We'll come to you after hunting.
Arviragus
[To Imogen] Brother, stay here.
Are we not brothers?
2250Imogen
So man and man should be. --
[Aside]
But clay and clay differs in dignity
Whose dust is both alike. -- I am very sick.
Guiderius [To Belarius and Arviragus] Go you to hunting; I'll abide with him.
Imogen So sick I am not, yet I am not well,
2255But not so citizen a wanton as
To seem to die ere sick. So please you, leave me.
Stick to your journal course: the breach of custom
Is breach of all. I am ill, but your being by me
Cannot amend me. Society is no comfort
2260To one not sociable. I am not very sick
Since I can reason of it. Pray you, trust me here;
I'll rob none but myself, and let me die,
Stealing so poorly.
Guiderius
I love thee. I have spoke it;
2265How much the quantity, the weight as much,
As I do love my father.
Belarius
What? How, how?
Arviragus If it be sin to say so, sir, I yoke me
In my good brother's fault. I know not why
2270I love this youth, and I have heard you say
Love's reason's without reason. The bier at door
And a demand who is't shall die, I'd say
My father, not this youth.
Belarius
[Aside] Oh, noble strain!
2275O worthiness of Nature, breed of greatness!
"Cowards father cowards, and base things sire base;
Nature hath meal and bran, contempt and grace."
I'm not their father, yet who this should be
Doth miracle itself, loved before me. --
2280'Tis the ninth hour o'th' morn.
Arviragus
Brother, farewell.
Imogen
I wish ye sport.
Arviragus
You, health. -- [To Belarius]
So please you, sir.
Imogen [Aside] These are kind creatures. 2285Gods, what lies I have heard:
Our courtiers say all's savage but at court;
Experience, oh, thou disprov'st report.
Th'imperious seas breeds monsters; for the dish,
Poor tributary rivers, as sweet fish.
2290I am sick still, heart-sick; Pisanio,
I'll now taste of thy drug.
Guiderius
[To Belarius and Arviragus] I could not stir him.
He said he was gentle but unfortunate,
Dishonestly afflicted but yet honest.
2295Arviragus Thus did he answer me, yet said hereafter
I might know more.
Belarius
To th' field, to th' field. -- [To Imogen]
We'll leave you for this time; go in and rest.
Arviragus
We'll not be long away.
2300Belarius
Pray be not sick,
For you must be our housewife.
Imogen
Well or ill,
I am bound to you.
Exit [to the cave]
Belarius
And shalt be ever.
2305This youth, howe'er distressed, appears he hath had
Good ancestors.
Arviragus
How angel-like he sings!
Guiderius But his neat cookery! He cut our roots in characters
2310And sauc'd our broths as Juno had been sick
And he her dieter.
Arviragus
Nobly he yokes
A smiling with a sigh, as if the sigh
Was that it was for not being such a smile;
2315The smile mocking the sigh that it would fly
From so divine a temple to commix
With winds that sailors rail at.
Guiderius
I do note
That grief and patience rooted in them both
2320Mingle their spurs together.
Arviragus
Grow patient,
And let the stinking elder, grief, untwine
His perishing root with the increasing vine.
Belarius It is great morning. Come away. -- Who's there?
2325
Enter Clotten [without seeing them]
Clotten [To himself] I cannot find those runagates; that villain
Hath mocked me. I am faint.
Belarius
[To Guiderius and Arviragus] Those runagates?
Means he not us? I partly know him; 'tis
2330Clotten, the son o'th' Queen. I fear some ambush.
I saw him not these many years, and yet
I know 'tis he. We are held as outlaws. Hence!
Guiderius He is but one. You and my brother search
What companies are near. Pray you, away;
2335Let me alone with him.
[Exeunt Belarius and Arviragus]
Clotten
[Clotten notices them] Soft; what are you
That fly me thus? Some villain mountaineers?
I have heard of such. What slave art thou?
Guiderius
A thing
2340More slavish did I ne'er than answering
A slave without a knock.
Clotten
Thou art a robber,
A law-breaker, a villain; yield thee, thief.
Guiderius To who? To thee? What art thou? Have not I
2345An arm as big as thine? A heart as big?
Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear not
My dagger in my mouth. Say what thou art,
Why I should yield to thee.
Clotten
Thou villain base,
2350Knowst me not by my clothes?
Guiderius
No, nor thy tailor, rascal,
Who is thy grandfather. He made those clothes,
Which, as it seems, make thee.
Clotten
Thou precious varlet,
2355My tailor made them not.
Guiderius
Hence then, and thank
The man that gave them thee. Thou art some fool;
I am loath to beat thee.
Clotten
Thou injurious thief,
2360Hear but my name and tremble.
Guiderius
What's thy name?
Clotten Clotten, thou villain.
Guiderius "Clotten thou double villain" be thy name,
I cannot tremble at it. Were it toad or adder, spider,
2365'Twould move me sooner.
Clotten
To thy further fear,
Nay, to thy mere confusion, thou shalt know
I am son to th' Queen.
Guiderius
I am sorry for't, not seeming
2370So worthy as thy birth.
Clotten
Art not afeard?
Guiderius Those that I reverence, those I fear: the wise;
At fools I laugh, not fear them.
Clotten
Die the death!
2375When I have slain thee with my proper hand,
I'll follow those that even now fled hence
And on the gates of Luds-Town set your heads.
Yield, rustic mountaineer!
Fight and exeunt
Enter Belarius and Arviragus
2380Belarius No company's abroad?
Arviragus None in the world. You did mistake him sure.
Belarius I cannot tell. Long is it since I saw him,
But time hath nothing blurred those lines of favor
Which then he wore. The snatches in his voice
2385And burst of speaking were as his: I am absolute
'Twas very Clotten.
Arviragus
In this place we left them.
I wish my brother make good time with him
You say he is so fell.
2390Belarius
Being scarce made up,
I mean to man, he had not apprehension
Of roaring terrors, for defect of judgment
Is oft the cause of fear. Enter Guiderius [with Clotten's head]
2395But see thy brother.
Guiderius This Clotten was a fool, an empty purse;
There was no money in't. Not Hercules
Could have knocked out his brains, for he had none;
Yet I not doing this, the fool had borne
2400My head as I do his.
Belarius
What hast thou done?
Guiderius I am perfect what: cut off one Clotten's head,
Son to the Queen after his own report,
Who called me traitor, mountaineer, and swore
2405With his own single hand he'd take us in,
Displace our heads where, thanks the gods, they grow
And set them on Luds-Town.
Belarius
We are all undone.
Guiderius Why, worthy father, what have we to lose
2410But that he swore to take, our lives? The law
Protects not us; then why should we be tender
To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us,
Play judge and executioner all himself
For we do fear the law? What company
2415Discover you abroad?
Belarius
No single soul
Can we set eye on, but in all safe reason
He must have some attendants. Though his honor
Was nothing but mutation, aye, and that
2420From one bad thing to worse, not frenzy,
Not absolute madness could so far have raved
To bring him here alone -- although perhaps
It may be heard at court that such as we
Cave here, hunt here, are outlaws, and in time
2425May make some stronger head; the which, he hearing,
As it is like him, might break out and swear
He'd fetch us in -- yet is't not probable
To come alone, either he so undertaking,
Or they so suffering. Then on good ground we fear
2430If we do fear this body hath a tail
More perilous than the head.
Arviragus
Let ord'nance
Come as the gods fore-say it; howsoe'er,
My brother hath done well.
2435Belarius
I had no mind
To hunt this day; the boy Fidele's sickness
Did make my way long forth.
Guiderius
With his own sword
Which he did wave against my throat I have ta'en
2440His head from him. I'll throw't into the creek
Behind our rock and let it to the sea
And tell the fishes he's the Queen's son, Clotten;
That's all I reck.
Exit
Belarius
I fear 'twill be revenged.
2445Would, Polydore, thou hadst not done't, though valor
Becomes thee well enough.
Arviragus
Would I had done't,
So the revenge alone pursued me. Polydore,
I love thee brotherly, but envy much
2450Thou hast robbed me of this deed. I would revenges
That possible strength might meet would seek us through
And put us to our answer.
Belarius
Well, 'tis done.
We'll hunt no more today, nor seek for danger
2455Where there's no profit. I prithee to our rock:
You and Fidele play the cooks; I'll stay
Till hasty Polydore return, and bring him
To dinner presently.
Arviragus
Poor, sick Fidele.
2460I'll willingly to him. To gain his color,
I'd let a parish of such Clotten's blood
And praise myself for charity.
Exit
Belarius
O thou goddess,
Thou divine Nature, thou thyself thou blazonst
2465In these two princely boys: they are as gentle
As zephyrs blowing below the violet,
Not wagging his sweet head; and yet as rough,
Their royal blood enchafed, as the rudest wind
That by the top doth take the mountain pine
2470And make him stoop to th' vale. 'Tis wonder
That an invisible instinct should frame them
To royalty unlearned, honor untaught,
Civility not seen from other, valor
That wildly grows in them but yields a crop
2475As if it had been sowed. Yet still it's strange
What Clotten's being here to us portends
Or what his death will bring us.
Enter Guiderius
Guiderius
Where's my brother?
2480I have sent Clotten's clot-pole down the stream
In embassy to his mother; his body's hostage
For his return.
Solemn music
Belarius
My ingenious instrument:
Hark, Polydore, it sounds; but what occasion
2485Hath Cadwal now to give it motion? Hark!
Guiderius
Is he at home?
Belarius
He went hence even now.
Guiderius What does he mean? Since death of my dear'st mother
2490It did not speak before. All solemn things
Should answer solemn accidents. The matter?
Triumphs for nothing and lamenting toys
Is jollity for apes and grief for boys.
Is Cadwal mad?
2495
Enter Arviragus with Imogen dead, bearing her in his arms
Belarius Look, here he comes,
And brings the dire occasion in his arms
Of what we blame him for.
2500Arviragus
The bird is dead
That we have made so much on. I had rather
Have skipped from sixteen years of age to sixty,
To have turned my leaping time into a crutch
Than have seen this.
2505Guiderius
O sweetest, fairest lily,
My brother wears thee not the one half so well
As when thou grewst thyself.
Belarius
O melancholy,
Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? Find
2510The ooze to show what coast thy sluggish care
Might easil'est harbor in. Thou blessèd thing,
Jove knows what man thou mightst have made; but I,
Thou diedst a most rare boy, of melancholy.
How found you him?
2515Arviragus Stark, as you see;
Thus smiling as some fly had tickled slumber,
Not as death's dart being laughed at, his right cheek
Reposing on a cushion.
His arms thus leagued; I thought he slept and put
My clouted brogues from off my feet, whose rudeness
Answered my steps too loud.
Guiderius
Why, he but sleeps.
2525If he be gone, he'll make his grave a bed;
With female fairies will his tomb be haunted,
And worms will not come to thee.
Arviragus
With fairest flowers
Whilst summer lasts and I live here, Fidele,
2530I'll sweeten thy sad grave; thou shalt not lack
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor
The azured harebell like thy veins; no, nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
Outsweetened not thy breath. The ruddock would
2535With charitable bill (o bill, sore shaming
Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie
Without a monument) bring thee all this,
Yea, and furred moss besides. When flowers are none
To winter-ground thy corpse --
2540Guiderius
Prithee have done,
And do not play in wench-like words with that
Which is so serious. Let us bury him
And not protract with admiration what
Is now due debt. To th' grave.
2545Arviragus
Say, where shall's lay him?
Guiderius
By good Euriphile, our mother.
Arviragus
Be't so,
And let us, Polydore, though now our voices
Have got the mannish crack, sing him to th' ground
2550As once to our mother, use like note and words,
Save that "Euriphile" must be "Fidele."
Guiderius
Cadwal,
I cannot sing; I'll weep and word it with thee,
For notes of sorrow out of tune are worse
2555Than priests and fanes that lie.
Arviragus
We'll speak it, then.
Belarius Great griefs, I see, med'cine the less, for Clotten
Is quite forgot. He was a queen's son, boys,
And though he came our enemy, remember
2560He was paid for that. Though mean and mighty rotting
Together have one dust, yet reverence,
That angel of the world, doth make distinction
Of place 'tween high and low. Our foe was princely,
And though you took his life as being our foe,
2565Yet bury him as a prince.
Guiderius
Pray you, fetch him hither;
Thersites' body is as good as Ajax'
When neither are alive.
Arviragus
If you'll go fetch him,
2570We'll say our song the whilst. [Exit Belarius]
Brother, begin.
Guiderius Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to th'east;
My father hath a reason for't.
Arviragus
'Tis true.
Guiderius
Come on, then, and remove him.
2575Arviragus
So, begin.
SONG
Guiderius Fear no more the heat o'th' sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
2580Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Arviragus Fear no more the frown o'th' great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke.
2585Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The scepter, learning, physic must
All follow this and come to dust.
Guiderius Fear no more the lightning-flash,
2590Arviragus Nor th'all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Guiderius Fear not slander, censure rash;
Arviragus Thou hast finished joy and moan.
BOTH All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee and come to dust.
2595Guiderius No exorciser harm thee,
Arviragus Nor no witchcraft charm thee;
Guiderius Ghost unlaid forbear thee;
Arviragus Nothing ill come near thee;
BOTH Quiet consummation have,
2600And renowned be thy grave.
Enter Belarius with the body of Clotten
Guiderius We have done our obsequies; come, lay him down.
Belarius Here's a few flowers, but 'bout midnight more;
2605The herbs that have on them cold dew o'th' night
Are strewings fitt'st for graves: upon their faces. --
You were as flowers, now withered; even so
These herblets shall, which we upon you strew. --
Come on, away, apart upon our knees;
2610The ground that gave them first has them again.
Their pleasures here are past, so are their pain.
Exeunt
[Imogen awakes]
Imogen Yes, sir, to Milford Haven, which is the way?
I thank you. By yond bush? Pray, how far thither?
2615'Ods-pittikins, can it be six mile yet?
I have gone all night. Faith, I'll lie down and sleep.
[Discovers the body]
But soft; no bedfellow! Oh, gods and goddesses!
These flowers are like the pleasures of the world;
This bloody man, the care on't. I hope I dream,
2620For so I thought I was a cave-keeper
And cook to honest creatures. But 'tis not so:
'Twas but a bolt of nothing, shot at nothing,
Which the brain makes of fumes. Our very eyes
Are sometimes like our judgments, blind. Good faith,
2625I tremble still with fear, but if there be
Yet left in Heaven as small a drop of pity
As a wren's eye, feared gods, a part of it.
The dream's here still. Even when I wake it is
Without me as within me; not imagined, felt.
2630A headless man? The garments of Posthumus?
I know the shape of's leg; this is his hand,
His foot Mercurial, his Martial thigh,
The brawns of Hercules, but his Jovial face --
Murder in heaven? How? 'Tis gone. Pisanio,
2635All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks
And mine to boot be darted on thee! Thou
Conspired with that irregulous devil Clotten,
Hast here cut off my lord. To write and read
Be henceforth treacherous. Damned Pisanio
2640Hath with his forgèd letters (damned Pisanio!)
From this most bravest vessel of the world
Struck the main-top! O Posthumus, alas,
Where is thy head? Where's that? Ay me! Where's that?
Pisanio might have killed thee at the heart
2645And left this head on. How should this be, Pisanio?
'Tis he and Clotten; malice and lucre in them
Have laid this woe here. Oh, 'tis pregnant, pregnant!
The drug he gave me, which he said was precious
And cordial to me, have I not found it
2650Murderous to th' senses? That confirms it home:
This is Pisanio's deed, and Clotten. Oh!
Give color to my pale cheek with thy blood
That we the horrider may seem to those
Which chance to find us. Oh, my lord! My lord!
Falls on the body
2655
Enter Lucius, [Roman] Captains, and a Soothsayer
Captain To them the legions garrisoned in Gallia,
After your will, have crossed the sea, attending
You here at Milford Haven with your ships;
They are here in readiness.
2660Lucius
But what from Rome?
Captain The senate hath stirred up the confiners
And gentlemen of Italy, most willing spirits
That promise noble service, and they come
Under the conduct of bold Iachimo,
2665Sienna's brother.
Lucius
When expect you them?
Captain
With the next benefit o'th' wind.
Lucius
This forwardness
Makes our hopes fair. Command our present numbers
2670Be mustered; bid the captains look to't. Now, sir,
What have you dreamed of late of this war's purpose?
Soothsayer Last night, the very gods showed me a vision
(I fast and prayed for their intelligence) thus:
I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, winged
2675From the spongy south to this part of the west,
There vanished in the sunbeams, which portends,
Unless my sins abuse my divination,
Success to th' Roman host.
Lucius
Dream often so,
2680And never false. -- [Sees the body] Soft ho, what trunk is here,
Without his top? The ruin speaks that sometime
It was a worthy building. How, a page?
Or dead, or sleeping on him? But dead, rather,
For Nature doth abhor to make his bed
2685With the defunct or sleep upon the dead.
Let's see the boy's face.
Captain
He's alive, my Lord.
Lucius He'll then instruct us of this body. Young one,
Inform us of thy fortunes, for it seems
2690They crave to be demanded. Who is this
Thou mak'st thy bloody pillow? Or who was he
That, otherwise than noble Nature did,
Hath altered that good picture? What's thy interest
In this sad wrack? How came't? Who is't?
2695What art thou?
Imogen
I am nothing; or, if not,
Nothing to be were better. This was my master,
A very valiant Briton and a good,
That here by mountaineers lies slain. Alas,
2700There is no more such masters. I may wander
From east to occident; cry out for service;
Try many, all good; serve truly; never
Find such another master.
Lucius
'Lack, good youth,
2705Thou mov'st no less with thy complaining than
Thy master in bleeding. Say his name, good friend.
Imogen Richard du Champ. -- [Aside] If I do lie and do
No harm by it, though the gods hear, I hope
They'll pardon it. -- Say you, sir?
Lucius Thou dost approve thyself the very same:
Thy name well fits thy faith; thy faith, thy name.
Wilt take thy chance with me? I will not say
2715Thou shalt be so well mastered, but be sure
No less beloved. The Roman emperor's letters,
Sent by a consul to me, should not sooner
Than thine own worth prefer thee. Go with me.
Imogen I'll follow, sir. But first, an't please the gods,
2720I'll hide my master from the flies as deep
As these poor pickaxes can dig, and when
With wildwood-leaves and weeds I ha' strewed his grave
And on it said a century of prayers,
Such as I can, twice o'er, I'll weep and sigh,
2725And leaving so his service, follow you,
So please you entertain me.
Lucius
Aye, good youth,
And rather father thee than master thee. My friends,
The boy hath taught us manly duties: let us
2730Find out the prettiest daisied plot we can
And make him with our pikes and partisans
A grave. -- [To Captains]
Come, arm him. --
Boy, he's preferred
By thee to us, and he shall be interred
As soldiers can. Be cheerful; wipe thine eyes:
2735Some falls are means the happier to arise.
Exeunt