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With thy unworthiness, thou diest: away!
Thou 'rt poison to my blood.

POST.

The gods protect you,

And bless the good remainders of the court!

I am gone.

IMO.

There cannot be a pinch in death

More sharp than this is.

CYM.

O disloyal thing,

That shouldst repair my youth, thou heap'st
A year's age on me!

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Harm not yourself with your vexation:

I am senseless of your wrath; a touch more rare
Subdues all pangs, all fears.

CYM.

[Exit.

130

Past grace? obedience? IMO. Past hope, and in despair; that way, past grace. CYм. That mightst have had the sole son of my queen!

IMO. O blessed, that I might not! I chose an eagle, And did avoid a puttock.

CYM. Thou took'st a beggar; wouldst have made my throne

A seat for baseness.

140

IMO.

A lustre to it.

No; I rather added

129 the good remainders of the court] the good people left at court. 135 I am... rare] I am insensible to your wrath; a finer and superior

sensation.

136 Past grace?] The technical use of grace in the calvinistic sense of divine redemption is curiously anachronistic. Cf. I, ii, 26-27, infra, and note.

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It is your fault that I have loved Posthumus:
You bred him as my playfellow, and he is
A man worth any woman, overbuys me
Almost the sum he pays.

CYM.

What, art thou mad!

IMO. Almost, sir: heaven restore me! Would I

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They were again together: you have done
Not after our command. Away with her,
And pen her up.

QUEEN.

Beseech your patience. Peace,

Dear lady daughter, peace! Sweet sovereign,

Leave us to ourselves, and make yourself some

comfort

Out of your best advice.

CYM.

A drop of blood a day; and, being aged,

Die of this folly!
QUEEN.

Nay, let her languish

[Exeunt Cymbeline and Lords.

Fie! you must give way.

146-147 overbuys . . . pays] all that he gives for me is in excess of my worth; compared with him I am worth hardly anything.

156 Out of your best advice] After due consideration of the circumstances.

Enter PISANIO

Here is your servant. How now, sir! What news?
PIs. My lord your son drew on my master.
QUEEN.

No harm, I trust, is done?

PIS.

Ha!

160

There might have been,
But that my master rather play'd than fought,
And had no help of anger: they were parted
By gentlemen at hand.

QUEEN.

I am very glad on 't.

IMO. Your son's my father's friend; he takes his part. To draw upon an exile! O brave sir!

I would they were in Afric both together;

Myself by with a needle, that I might prick

The goer-back. Why came you from your master?
PIs. On his command: he would not suffer me
To bring him to the haven: left these notes
Of what commands I should be subject to
When 't pleased you to employ me.

This hath been

QUEEN.
Your faithful servant: I dare lay mine honour
He will remain so.

PIS.

I humbly thank your highness.

QUEEN. Pray, walk awhile.

163 had no help of anger] did not lose his temper, which would have made him dangerous.

167 Afric] Used for a desert place, where there would be none to part duellists. Cf. Cor., IV, ii, 23-25: "I would my son Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him, His good sword in his hand."

170

IMO.

About some half-hour hence,

I pray you, speak with me: you shall at least

Go see my lord aboard: for this time leave me. [Exeunt.

SCENE II—THE SAME

A PUBLIC PLACE

Enter CLOTEN and two Lords

FIRST LORD. Sir, I would advise you to shift a shirt; the violence of action hath made you reek as a sacrifice: where air comes out, air comes in: there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent.

CLO. If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it. Have I hurt him?

SEC. LORD. [Aside] No, faith; not so much as his patience.

FIRST LORD. Hurt him! his body's a passable carcass, if he be not hurt: it is a throughfare for steel, if it be not hurt.

SCENE II] Here begins the third scene of the Folios. Cf. I, i, 70, supra, and

note.

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1-4 Sir, I would vent] Sir, I would advise you to change your shirt. In your violence of action you have sweated offensively; the good air within you has changed places with the bad air without. There is no air abroad so wholesome as what you exhale.

5 then to shift it] then were need to shift it.

8 a passable carcass] a corpse to be run through and through.

10

SEC. LORD. [4 side] His steel was in debt; it went o' the backside the town.

CLO. The villain would not stand me.

SEC. LORD. [Aside] No; but he fled forward still, toward your face.

FIRST LORD. Stand you! You have land enough of your own: but he added to your having; gave you some ground.

SEC. LORD. [4 side] As many inches as you have oceans. Puppies!

CLO. I would they had not come between us. SEC. LORD. [4side] So would I, till you had measured how long a fool you were upon the ground.

CLO. And that she should love this fellow, and refuse me!

SEC. LORD. [Aside] If it be a sin to make a true election, she is damned.

FIRST LORD. Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her brain go not together: she's a good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit.

SEC. LORD. [Aside] She shines not upon fools, lest the reflection should hurt her.

20

30

11-12 it went . . . town] like a debtor, it skulked in the back streets to avoid arrest.

17-18 gave you some ground] quibble on a common expression for beating a retreat.

26-27 If it . . . damned] These technicalities of Calvinistic theology are curiously anachronistic. Cf. I, i, 137, supra.

29 a good sign] a fair outward symbol. Cf. Much Ado, IV, i, 32: "She's but the sign and semblance of her honour."

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