THE ROMAN CAMP

Enter POSTHUMUS, with a bloody handkerchief

EA, BLOODY CLOTH, I'LL

keep thee; for I wish'd

Thou shouldst be colour'd thus.
You married ones,

If each of you should take this
course, how many

Must murder wives much better
than themselves

For wrying but a little! O
Pisanio!

Every good servant does not all
commands:

No bond but to do just ones.
Gods! if you

Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I never
Had lived to put on this: so had you saved
The noble Imogen to repent, and struck

1 I wish'd] Pope's correction of the original reading I am wisht.

5 wrying] going awry, swerving. The verb is commonly used transitively.

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Me, wretch more worth your vengeance. But, alack,
You snatch some hence for little faults; that's love,
To have them fall no more: you some permit
To second ills with ills, each elder worse,
And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift.
But Imogen is your own: do your best wills,
And make me blest to obey! I am brought hither
Among the Italian gentry, and to fight

Against my lady's kingdom: 't is enough
That, Britain, I have kill'd thy mistress; peace!

I'll give no wound to thee. Therefore, good heavens,
Hear patiently my purpose: I'll disrobe me
Of these Italian weeds, and suit myself
As does a Briton peasant: so I'll fight
Against the part I come with; so I'll die
For thee, O Imogen, even for whom my life
Is, every breath, a death: and thus, unknown,
Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril

Myself I'll dedicate. Let me make men know

Cf. Daniel's Cleopatra (1599): "In her sinking down she wryes
The diadem."

9 put on] Cf. Macb., IV, iii, 239: "the powers above Put on [i. e., instigate] their instruments."

14 each elder worse] each later crime worse than its forerunner.

One

would expect "younger" instead of "elder." But "elder" is suggested by the implied reflection that the older the man grows, the worse is his conduct.

15 to the doers' thrift] Thus the Folios. The reading is generally held to be corrupt. No entirely satisfactory change has been suggested. The meaning seems to be that the sense of dread of their crimes, which the evil-doers experience, is to their ultimate advantage.

20

More valour in me than my habits show.
Gods, put the strength o' the Leonati in me!
To shame the guise o' the world, I will begin
The fashion, less without and more within.

[Exit.

SCENE II-FIELD OF BATTLE BETWEEN THE
BRITISH AND ROMAN CAMPS

Enter, from one side, LUCIUS, IACHIMO, IMOGEN, and the Roman Army; from the other side, the British Army; LEONATUS POSTHUMUS following, like a poor soldier. They march over and go out. Then enter again, in skirmish, IACHIMO and POSTHUMUS: he vanquisheth and disarmeth IACHIMO, and then leaves him

IACH. The heaviness and guilt within my bosom
Takes off my manhood: I have belied a lady,
The princess of this country, and the air on 't
Revengingly enfeebles me; or could this carl,
A very drudge of nature's, have subdued me
In my profession? Knighthoods and honours, borne
As I wear mine, are titles but of scorn.
If that thy gentry, Britain, go before

This lout as he exceeds our lords, the odds

Is that we scarce are men and you are gods.

[Exit. 10

32-33 To shame .. within] To put to shame worldly convention, in which outside show is valued more than what lies within: I will begin the new vogue of making the inner reality greater than the outer appearance.

4 carl] a variant form of " churl," "clown."

The battle continues; the Britons fly; CYMBELINE is taken: then enter, to his rescue, BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS

BEL. Stand, stand! We have the advantage of the ground;

The lane is guarded: nothing routs us but

The villany of our fears.

GUI. ARV.

Stand, stand, and fight!

Re-enter POSTHUMUS, and seconds the Britons: they rescue CYмBELINE and exeunt. Then re-enter LUCIUS, IACHIMO, and IMOGEN

Luc. Away, boy, from the troops, and save thyself; For friends kill friends, and the disorder 's such As war were hoodwink'd.

IACH.

'Tis their fresh supplies.

[Exeunt.

Luc. It is a day turn'd strangely: or betimes Let's re-inforce, or fly.

SCENE III — ANOTHER PART OF THE FIELD

Enter POSTHUMUS and a British Lord

LORD. Camest thou from where they made the stand? POST.

Though you, it seems, come from the fliers.

LORD.

I did:

I did.

POST. No blame be to you, sir; for all was lost, But that the heavens fought: the king himself

Of his wings destitute, the army broken,
And but the backs of Britons seen, all flying
Through a strait lane; the enemy full-hearted,
Lolling the tongue with slaughtering, having work
More plentiful than tools to do 't, struck down
Some mortally, some slightly touch'd, some falling
Merely through fear; that the strait pass was damm'd
With dead men hurt behind, and cowards living
To die with lengthen'd shame.

LORD.

Where was this lane?

POST. Close by the battle, ditch'd, and wall'd with turf; Which gave advantage to an ancient soldier, An honest one, I warrant; who deserved So long a breeding as his white beard came to, In doing this for 's country. Athwart the lane, He, with two striplings — lads more like to run The country base than to commit such slaughter; With faces fit for masks, or rather fairer Than those for preservation cased, or shame

5 Of his wings destitute] Holinshed, in his History of Scotland, p. 155, describes a similar episode in a battle between King Kenneth of Scotland and the Danes in 976, and applies to the imperilled Scottish king the words now destitute of the wings.

8 Lolling the tongue] Hanging out the tongue like dogs after hard exercise. 16-17 who deserved. . . beard came to] who showed the worth of the many years' training, which his white beard indicated.

20 The country base] The boyish game of "prisoner's base." Cf. Venus and Adonis, 303: "To bid the wind a base,” i. e., to challenge the wind to a race, as in the game of prisoner's base.

22 those for preservation cased, or shame] faces covered either for the purpose of protecting the complexion or because the sense of modesty compelled concealment.

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