A room in Cymbeline’s palace.
[Enter CYMBELINE, QUEEN, CLOTEN,
LUCIUS, Lords, and Attendants]
CYMBELINE Thus far; and so farewell.
CAIUS LUCIUS Thanks, royal sir.
My emperor hath wrote, I must from hence;
And am right sorry that I must report ye
My master’s enemy.
CYMBELINE Our subjects, sir,
Will not endure his yoke; and for ourself
To show less sovereignty than they, must needs
Appear unkinglike.
CAIUS LUCIUS So, sir: I desire of you
A conduct over-land to Milford-Haven.
Madam, all joy befal your grace!
QUEEN And you!
CYMBELINE My lords, you are appointed for that office;
The due of honour in no point omit.
So farewell, noble Lucius.
CAIUS LUCIUS Your hand, my lord.
CLOTEN Receive it friendly; but from this time forth
I wear it as your enemy.
CAIUS LUCIUS Sir, the event
Is yet to name the winner: fare you well.
CYMBELINE Leave not the worthy Lucius, good my lords,
Till he have cross’d the Severn. Happiness!
[Exeunt LUCIUS and Lords]
QUEEN He goes hence frowning: but it honours us
That we have given him cause.
CLOTEN ‘ Tis all the better;
Your valiant Britons have their wishes in it.
CYMBELINE Lucius hath wrote already to the emperor
How it goes here. It fits us therefore ripely
Our chariots and our horsemen be in readiness:
The powers that he already hath in Gallia
Will soon be drawn to head, from whence he moves
His war for Britain.
QUEEN ‘Tis not sleepy business;
But must be look’d to speedily and strongly.
CYMBELINE Our expectation that it would be thus
Hath made us forward. But, my gentle queen,
Where is our daughter? She hath not appear’d
Before the Roman, nor to us hath tender’d
The duty of the day: she looks us like
A thing more made of malice than of duty:
We have noted it. Call her before us; for
We have been too slight in sufferance.
[Exit an Attendant]
QUEEN Royal sir,
Since the exile of Posthumus, most retired
Hath her life been; the cure whereof, my lord,
‘Tis time must do. Beseech your majesty,
Forbear sharp speeches to her: she’s a lady
So tender of rebukes that words are strokes
And strokes death to her.
[Re-enter Attendant]
CYMBELINE Where is she, sir? How
Can her contempt be answer’d?
Attendant Please you, sir,
Her chambers are all lock’d; and there’s no answer
That will be given to the loudest noise we make.
QUEEN My lord, when last I went to visit her,
She pray’d me to excuse her keeping close,
Whereto constrain’d by her infirmity,
She should that duty leave unpaid to you,
Which daily she was bound to proffer: this
She wish’d me to make known; but our great court
Made me to blame in memory.
CYMBELINE Her doors lock’d?
Not seen of late? Grant, heavens, that which I fear
Prove false!
[Exit]
QUEEN Son, I say, follow the king.
CLOTEN That man of hers, Pisanio, her old servant,
have not seen these two days.
QUEEN Go, look after.
[Exit CLOTEN]
Pisanio, thou that stand’st so for Posthumus!
He hath a drug of mine; I pray his absence
Proceed by swallowing that, for he believes
It is a thing most precious. But for her,
Where is she gone? Haply, despair hath seized her,
Or, wing’d with fervor of her love, she’s flown
To her desired Posthumus: gone she is
To death or to dishonour; and my end
Can make good use of either: she being down,
I have the placing of the British crown.
[Re-enter CLOTEN]
How now, my son!
CLOTEN ‘Tis certain she is fled.
Go in and cheer the king: he rages; none
Dare come about him.
QUEEN [Aside] All the better: may
This night forestall him of the coming day!
[Exit]
CLOTEN I love and hate her: for she’s fair and royal,
And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite
Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one
The best she hath, and she, of all compounded,
Outsells them all; I love her therefore: but
Disdaining me and throwing favours on
The low Posthumus slanders so her judgment
That what’s else rare is choked; and in that point
I will conclude to hate her, nay, indeed,
To be revenged upon her. For when fools Shall–
[Enter PISANIO]
Who is here? What, are you packing, sirrah?
Come hither: ah, you precious pander! Villain,
Where is thy lady? In a word; or else
Thou art straightway with the fiends.
PISANIO O, good my lord!
CLOTEN Where is thy lady? Is she with Posthumus?
From whose so many weights of baseness cannot
A dram of worth be drawn.
PISANIO O, my all-worthy lord!
CLOTEN All-worthy villain!
Discover where thy mistress is at once,
At the next word: no more of ‘worthy lord!’
Speak, or thy silence on the instant is
Thy condemnation and thy death.
PISANIO Then, sir,
This paper is the history of my knowledge
Touching her flight.
[Presenting a letter]
CLOTEN Let’s see’t. I will pursue her
Even to Augustus’ throne.
PISANIO [Aside] I’ll write to my lord she’s dead.
O Imogen,
Safe mayst thou wander, safe return again!
CLOTEN Sirrah, is this letter true?
PISANIO Sir, as I think.
CLOTEN It is Posthumus’ hand;
I know’t. Sirrah, if thou wouldst not be a villain,
but do me true service, undergo those employments
wherein I should have cause to use thee with a serious
industry, that is, what villany soe’er I bid thee do,
to perform it directly and truly, I would think thee
an honest man: thou shouldst neither want my means
for thy relief nor my voice for thy preferment.
PISANIO Well, my good lord.
CLOTEN Wilt thou serve me? for since patiently and
constantly thou hast stuck to the bare fortune of
that beggar Posthumus, thou canst not, in the
course of gratitude, but be a diligent follower of
mine: wilt thou serve me?
PISANIO Sir, I will.
CLOTEN Give me thy hand; here’s my purse.
Hast any of thy late master’s garments in thy possession?
PISANIO I have, my lord, at my lodging, the same suit he
wore when he took leave of my lady and mistress.
CLOTEN The first service thou dost me, fetch that suit
hither: let it be thy lint service; go.
PISANIO I shall, my lord.
[Exit]
CLOTEN Meet thee at Milford-Haven!
–I forgot to ask him one thing; I’ll remember’t anon:
–even there, thou villain Posthumus, will I kill thee.
I would these garments were come. She said upon a time
–the bitterness of it I now belch from my heart–that she
held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect
than my noble and natural person together with the
adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my
back, will I ravish her:
[Re-enter PISANIO, with the clothes]
Be those the garments?
PISANIO Ay, my noble lord.
CLOTEN How long is’t since
she went to Milford-Haven?
PISANIO She can scarce be there yet.
CLOTEN Bring this apparel to my chamber;
that is the second thing that I have commanded thee:
the third is, that thou wilt be a voluntary mute
to my design.
[Exit]
PISANIO Thou bid’st me to my loss: for true to thee
Were to prove false, which I will never be,
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