Foundations fly the wretched: such, I mean, Where they should be reliev'd. Two beggars told me,
I could not miss my way: Will poor folk lye,
That have afflictions on them; knowing 'tis
A punishment, or trial? Yes: no wonder,
Whenrich ones scarce tell true: Tolapse in fullness
Is sorer', than to lye in need; and falsehood
Is worse in kings, than beggars.-My dear lord!
Thou art one of the false ones: Now I think on 10
thee,
My hunger's gone; but even before, I was
At point to sink for food.—But what is this?
Here is a path to it: 'Tis some savage hold:
I were best not call; I dare not call: yet famine,
Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant.
Plenty, and peace, breeds cowards; hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother.-Ho! who's here?
If any thing that's civil', speak; if savage,
Take, or lend'.-Ho!-No answer; then I'll
enter.
Best draw my sword; and if mine enemy
But fear the sword like me, he'll scarcely look on't.
Such a foe, good heavens! [She goes into the cave.
Enter Belarius, Guiderius, and Arciragus.
Bel. You, Polydore, have prov'd best wood-
man, and
Are master of the feast: Cadwal, and I,
Will play the cook, and servant; 'tis our match:
The sweat of industry would dry, and die,
But for the end it works to. Come, our stomachs
Will make what's homely, savoury: Weariness
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth
Finds the down pillow hard.-Now,peace be here,
Poor house, that keeps thyself!
Guid. I am thoroughly weary.
[tite.
Aro. I am weak with toil, yet strong in appeGuid. There is cold meat i' the cave; we'll brouze on that,
Whilst what we have kill'd be cook'd.
As I had made my meal; and parted
With
prayers for the provider.
Guid. Money, youth?
Aro. All gold and silver rather turn to dirt!
5 As 'tis no better reckon'd, but of those
Who worship dirty gods.
meat:
I would have left it on the board, so soon
Imo. I see, you are angry:
Know, if you kill me for my fault, I should
Have dy'd, had I not made it.
Bel. Whither bound?
Imo. To Milford-Haven.
Bel. What's your name?
Imo. Fidele, sir: I have a kinsman, who
Is bound for Italy; he embark'd at Milford;
To whom being going, almost spent with hunger,
I am fallen in this offence.
15
Bel. Pr'ythee, fair youth,
Think us no churls; nor measure our good minds By this rude place we live in. Well encounter'd! 20'Tis almost night: you shall have better cheer Ere you depart; and thanks, to stay and eat it.— Boys, bid him welcome.
40
Bel. Stay; come not in:- [Looking in.
But that it eats our victuals, I should think
Here were a fairy.
Guid. What's the matter, sir?
Bel. By Jupiter, an angel! or, if not, An earthly paragon!-Behold divineness No elder than a boy!
Enter Imogen.
Guid. Were you a woman, youth,
[nesty
I should woo hard, but be your groom.-In ho251 bid for you, as I'd buy.
Arv. I'll make 't my comfort,
He is a man; I'll love him as my brother:
And such a welcome as I'd give to him,
30
After long absence, such is yours: Most wel-
Be sprightly, for you fall 'mongst friends. [come!
Imo. 'Mongst friends!
If brothers? Would it had been so,that
they
[prize
Had been my father's sons! then had my
35 Been less; and so more equal ballasting
To thee, Posthumus.
Bel. He wrings at some distress.
Guid. 'Would, I could free't!
Arv. Or I; whate'er it be,
What pain it cost, what danger! Gods!
Bel. Hark, boys.
[Whispering.
Imo. Great men,
That had a court no bigger than this cave,
That did attend themselves, and had the virtue
45 Which their own conscience seal'd them (laying by
That nothing gift of differing multitudes),
Could not out-peer these twain. Pardon me, gods!
I'd change my sex to be companion with them,
Since Leonatus false.
Bel. It shall be so :
[in!
Imo. Good masters, harm me not:
Before I enter'd here, I call'd; and thought
To have begg'd, or bought, what I have took:
good troth,
[had found
I have stolen nought; nor would not, though I
Gold strew'd o' the floor. Here's money for my
Boys, we'll go dress our hunt.-Fair youth, come
Discourse is heavy, fasting: when we have supp'd,
We'll mannerly demand thee of thy story,
So far as thou wilt speak it.
55
Guid. Pray, draw near. [lark, less welcome. Arv. The night to the owl, and morn to the 3 Dr. Johnson suspects
1i. e. is a greater or heavier crime. 2 Civil, for human creature. that, after the words, if savage, a line is lost, and proposes to read the passage thus.
-Ho! who's here?
If any thing that's civil, take or lend,
If savage, speak.
If you are civilised and peaceable, take a price for what I want, or lend it for a future recompence;
if you are rough inhospitable inhabitants of the mountain, speak, that I may know my state.
fering may here be applied in a sense equivalent to the many-headed rabble.
+ Dif
3 N
Imo.
IV.
Imo. So man and man should be;
But clay and clay differs in dignity,
Whose dust is both alike. I am very sick.
Guid. Go you to hunting, I'll abide with him.
Imo. So sick I am not; yet I am not well:
But not so citizen a wanton, as
Enter Cloten.
I AM near to the place where they should meet, 25|
if Pisanio have mapp'd it truly. How fit his
garments serve me! Why should his mistress, who
was made by him that made the taylor, not be fit
too? the rather (saving reverence of the word)
for, 'tis said, a woman's fitness comes by fits. 30
Therein I must play the workman. I dare speak
it to myself, (forit is not vain-glory for a man and his
glass to confer; in his own chamber, I mean) the
lines of my body are as well drawn as his; no
less young, more strong, not beneath him in for-35
tunes, beyond him in the advantage of the time,
above him in birth, alike conversant in general
services, and more remarkable in single opposi-
tions: yet this imperseverant thing loves him
in my despight. What mortality is! Posthumus,
thy head, which is now growing upon thy shoul-
ders, shall within this hour be off; thy mistress
enforced; thy garments cut to pieces before thy
face and all this done, spurn her home to her
father; who may, haply, be a little
angry for my
so rough usage: but my mother, having power of
his testiness, shall turn all into my commenda-
tion. My horse is ty'd up safe: Out, sword, and
to a sore purpose! Fortune, put them into my
hand! This is the very description of their meet-50
ing-place; and the fellow dares not deceive me.
[Exit.
45
O worthiness of nature! breed of greatness!
Cowards father cowards, and base thingssire base:
Nature hath meal, and bran; contempt, and grace.
am not their father; yet who this should be,
Doth miracle itself! lov'd before
'Tis the ninth hour o' the morn.
Are. Brother, farewell.
I
me.-
Imo. I wish you sport.
Arv. You health.- -So please you, sir.
Imo. [Aside.] These are kind creatures. Gods,
what lies I have heard!
To seem to die, ere sick: So please you, leave me;
Stick to your journal course: the breach of castom
Is breach of all. I am ill; but your being by me
Cannot amend me: Society is no comfort
To 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.
Guid. I love thee; I have spoke it :
How much the quantity, the weight as much,
As I do love my father.
Bel. What? how? how?
40
dre. If it be sin to say so, sir, I yoke me
In my good brother's fault: I know not why,
I 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.
Bel. O noble strain!
55
SCENE II.
The Care.
Enter Belarius,Guiderius, Arviragus, and Imogen.
Bel. You are not well: remain here in the cave;
We'll come to you after hunting...
Our courtiers say, all's savage, but at court;
Experience, O, thou disprov'st report!
Arr. Brother, stay here:
Are we not brothers?
[To Imogen.
The imperious seas breed monsters; for the dish, 60 Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish.
1i. e. he commands the commission to be given to you. Imperseverant means no more than perseverant. That is, keep your daily course uninterrupted: if the stated plan of life is once broken, nothing follows but confusion.
Guid. I do note,
That grief and patience, rooted in him both,
Mingle their spurs' together.
Arv. Grow, patience!
Know'st me not by my clothes?
5
Guid. No, nor thy taylor, rascal,
Who is thy grandfather; he made those clothes,
Which, as it seems, make thee.
Clot. Thou precious varlet,
My taylor made them not.
10
Guid. Hence then, and thank
[fool;
The man that gave them thee. Thou art some
I am loath to beat thee.
And let the stinking elder, grief, untwine
His perishing root, with the increasing vine!
Bel. It is great morning. Come; away.-35
Who's there?
Enter Cloten.
[Exeunt Belarius and Arviragus.
Clot. Soft! What are you
That fly me thus? some villain mountaineers ?
I have heard of such.-What slave art thou?
Guid. A thing
More slavish did I ne'er, than answering
A slave without a knock.
Bel. Those runagates!
Means he not us?-I partly know him; 'tis
Cloten, the son o' the queen. I fear some ambush.
I saw him not these many years, and yet
I know, 'tis he :- -We are held as outlaws:-
Hence.
Guid. He is but one: You and my brother search
What companies are near: pray you, away;
Let me alone with him.
An 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?
Clot. Thou villain base,
20
Clot. To thy further fear,
Nay, to thy mere confusion, thou shalt know
I am son to the queen.
Clot. Thou art a robber,
A law-breaker, a villain: Yield thee, thief.
Guid. To who? to thee? What art thou?
Have not I
Clot. Thou injurious thief,
Hear but my name, and tremble.
Guid. What's thy name?
Clot. Cloten, thou villain.
Guid. Cloten, thou double villain, be thy name,
I cannot tremble at it; were it toad, adder, spider,
Twould move me sooner.
Guid. I am sorry for 't; not seeming
So worthy as thy birth.
Clot. Art not afeard?
30 When I have slain thee with my proper hind,
I'll follow those that even now fled hence,
And on the gates of Lud's town set your heads:
Yield, rustic mountaineer. [Fight, and excunt:
Enter Belarius, and Arviragus.
Bel. No company's abroad.
Arv. None in the world: You did mistake him, sure.
Bel. I cannot tell: Long is it since I saw him, But time hath nothing blurr'd those lines of favour 40 Which then he wore; the snatches in his voice, And burst of speaking, were as his: I am absolute, 'Twas very Cloten.
Aro. In this place we left them:
I wish my brother make good time with him, 45 You say he is so fell.
Bel. Being scarce made up,
50
I mean, to man, he had not apprehension
Of roaring terrors: For the effect of judgement
Is oft the cause of fear.-But see, thy brother.
Re-enter Guiderius, with Cloten's head.
Guid. This Cloten was a fool; an empty purse,
There was no money in 't: not Hercules
Could have knock'dout his brains, for he had none:
Yet I not doing this, the fool had borne
55 My head, as I do his.
Bel. What hast thou done?
Guid. Those that I reverence, those I fear the
wise:
At fools I laugh, not fear them.
Clot. Die the death:
Stir for move. Gentle implies well-born, of birth above the vulgar. word for the fibres of a tree. A Gallicism. Grand-jour. To take in means, here, to conquer, to subdue. 3 N 2
'Spurs, an old i. e. well-informed, what.
Displace
Displace our heads, where (thank the gods!) they
And set them on Lud's town.
[grow,
Bel. We are all undone.
Guid. Why,worthy father, what have we to lose,
But, 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
Discover you abroad?
Bel. No single soul
Can we set eye on, but, in all safe reason,
He must have some attendants. Tho' his honour
Was nothing but mutation; ay, and that
From one bad thing to worse; not frenzy, not
Absolute madness could so far have rav'd,
To bring him here alone: Although, perhaps,
It may be heard at court, that such as we
Cave here, hunt here, are out-laws, and in time
May make some stronger head; the which he 20
hearing,
Come as the gods foresay it: howsoe'er,
My brother hath done well.
Bel. I had no mind
To hunt this day: the boy Fidele's sickness
Did make my way long forth.
Guid. With his own sword,
I'd let a parish of such Cloten's blood,
And praise myself for charity.
Bel. O thou goddess,
[Exit.
Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazon'st
5 In 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 enchaf'd, as the rudest wind,
That by the top doth take the mountain pine,
10 And make him stoop to the vale. 'Tis wonderful,
That an invisible instinct should frame them
To royalty unlearn'd; honour untaught;
Civility not seen from other; valour,
That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop
15 As if it had been sow'd! Yet still it's strange,
What Cloten's being here to us portends;
Or what his death will bring us.
(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,
Bel. My ingenious instrument!
Or they so suffering: then on good ground we fear; 25 Hark, Polydore, it sounds! But what occasion
If we do fear this body hath a tail
Hath Cadwal now to give it motion? Hark!
Guid. Is he at home?
More perilous than the head.
Arv. Let ordinance
We'll hunt no more to-day, nor seek for danger
Where there's no protit. I pr'ythee, to our rock;
You and Fidele play the cooks: I'll stay
'Till hasty Polydore return, and bring him
To dinner presently.
Arv. Poor sick Fidele!
I'll willingly to him: To gain his colour,
Which he did wave against my throat, I have ta'en 35
His head from him: I'll throw it into the creek
Behind our rock; and let it to the sea,
And tell the fishes, he's the queen's son, Cloten:
That's all I reck.
[Exit.
Bel. I fear, 'twill be reveng'd:
'Would, Polydore,thou had'st not done't! though
valour
Becomes thee well enough.
Arv. 'Would I had done't,
So the revenge alone pursu'd me!-Polydore,
I love thee brotherly; but envy much,
Thou hast robb'd me of this deed: I would, re-
venges,
[us through,
That possible strength might meet, would seek
And put us to our answer.
Bel. Well, 'tis done:
Re-enter Guiderius.
Guid. Where's my brother?
I have sent Cloten's clot-pole down the stream,
In enrbassy to his mother; his body's hostage
For his return.
[Solemn musick.
Bel. He went hence even now.
Guid. What does he mean? since death of my dearest mother
30
It 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?
Re-enter Arciragus, with Imogen as dead, bearing
her in his arms.
Bel. Look, here he comes,
And brings the dire occasion in his arms,
40 Of what we blame him for!
Are. The bird is dead,
That we have made so much on. I had rather
Have skipp'd from sixteen years of age to sixty,
And turn'd my leaping time into a crutch,
45 Than have seen this.
Guid. O sweetest, fairest lily!
My brother wears thee not the one half so well,
As when thou grew'st thyself.
Bel. O, melancholy!
50 Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find The ooze, to shew what coast thy sluggish crare Might easiliest harbour in-Thou blessed thing! Jove knows what man thou might'st have made; but 16,
55 Thou dy'dst, a most rare boy, of melancholy!How found you him?
Are. Stark, as you see;
Thus smiling, as some fly had tickled slumber,
For is here used in the sense of because. the fashion, which was perpetually changing. the cave tedious.
4
2 That is, The only notion he had of honour was i. e. Fidele's sickness made my walk forth from i. e. such pursuit of vengeance as fell within any possibility of opposition. A crare is a small trading vessel, called in the Latin of the middle ages crayera. The word often occurs in Holinshed. The ineaning is," Jove knows what inan thou night'st have made, but I know thou dy'dst."
Nor
Not as death's dart, being laugh'd at: his right.
Reposing on a cushion.
[cheek
Guid. Where?
Arv. O'the floor;
His arms thus leagu'd: I thought, he slept; and 5
put
[rudeness
My clouted brogues' from off my feet, whose
Answer'd my steps too loud.
Guid. Why, he but sleeps:
If 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.
Arv. With fairest flowers,
Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
I'll sweeten thy sad grave: Thou shalt not lack 15
The flower, that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor
The azur'd hare-bell, like thy veins; no, nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
Out-sweeten'd not thy breath: the ruddock |
With charitable bill (O bill, sore-shaming [would, 20
Those rich-left heirs, that let their fathers lie
Without a monument!) bring thee all this; [none,|
Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are
To winter-ground thy corse.
Guid. Pry'thee, have done;
And do not pray 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 the grave.
Arv. Say, where shall's lay him?
Guid. By good Euriphele, our mother.
Aro. Be't so;
And let us, Polydore, though now our voices
Have got the mannish crack,sing him totheground,
As once our mother; use like note, and words, 35
Save that Euriphele must be Fidele.
Guid. Cadwal,
I cannot sing: I'll weep, and word it with thee:
For notes of sorrow, out of tune, are worse
Than priests and fanes that lie.
Guid. Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to
the east;
My father hath a reason for't.
Arv. 'Tis true.
Guid. Come on then, and remove him.
Arv. So,―begin.
Aro. If you'll go fetch him, We'll say our song the whilst.—Brother, begin. [Exit Belarius.
SONG.
Guid. Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Both golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Arv. Fear no more the frown o' the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke;
Care no more to cloath, and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The scepter, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.
Guid. Fear no more the lightning flash,
Arv. Nor all the dreaded thunder-stone;
Guid. Fear not slander, censure rash;
Arv. Thou hast finish'd joy and moan:
Both. All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.
Guid. No exorciser harm thee!
Arv. Nor no witch-craft charm thee !
Guid. Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Arv. Nothing ill come near thee!
Both. Quiet consummation have;
And renowned be thy grave!
Re-enter Belarius, with the body of Cloten. Guid. We have done our obsequies: Come, lay him down.
more:
Bel. Here's a few flowers; but about midnight, [night, 40 The herbs that have on them the cold dew o' the Are strewings fitt'st for graves.--Upon their faces :-You were as flowers, now wither'd; even so These herb'lets shall, which we upon you strow.— Come on, away: apart upon our knees.
45
The ground, that gave them first, has them again:
Their pleasure here is past, so is their pain. [Exe.
Imogen, awaking.
Imo. Yes, sir, to Milford-Haven; Which is the
Art. We'll speak it then.
[Cloten
Bel. Great griefs, I see, medicine the less; for
Is quite forgot. He was a queen's son, boys;
And, though he came our enemy, remember,
He 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 'twixt high and low. Our foe was princely;
And though you took his life, as being our foe, 50 I thank you. By yon bush?——Pray, how far
Yet bury him as a prince.
way?
Guid. Pray, fetch him hither. Thersites' body is as good as Ajax, When neither are alive.
thither?
'Ods pittikins!. -can it be six miles yet?
I have gone all night :-'Faith, I'll lie down and
sleep. 55 But, soft! no bedfellow:-O, gods and goddesses! [Seeing the body. These flowers are like the pleasures of the world;
1
Clouted brogues are shoes strengthened with clout or hob-nails. In some parts of England, thin plates of iron called clouts are likewise fixed to the shoes of ploughmen. The ruddock is the red3 Paid is here used for punished. breast, to which bird the office of covering the dead is ascribed.
Meaning, that reverence, or due regard to subordination, is the power which keeps peace and order in the world. To consign to thee, is to seal the same contract with thee, i. e. add their names to thine upon the register of death. This diminutive adjuration is derived from God's my pity.
3 N 3
This
|