Cymbeline

1 Enter Imogen alone.
2 IMOGEN.
3 A father cruel and a step-dame false;
4 A foolish suitor to a wedded lady
5 That hath her husband banish’d. O, that husband!
6 My supreme crown of grief! and those repeated
7 Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stol’n,
8 As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable
9 Is the desire that’s glorious. Blessed be those,
10 How mean soe’er, that have their honest wills,
11 Which seasons comfort. Who may this be? Fie!
12 Enter Pisanio and Iachimo.
13 PISANIO.
14 Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome
15 Comes from my lord with letters.
16 IACHIMO.
17 Change you, madam?
18 The worthy Leonatus is in safety,
19 And greets your Highness dearly.
20 [_Presents a letter._]
21 IMOGEN.
22 Thanks, good sir.
23 You’re kindly welcome.
24 IACHIMO.
25 [_Aside._] All of her that is out of door most rich!
26 If she be furnish’d with a mind so rare,
27 She is alone th’ Arabian bird, and I
28 Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend!
29 Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!
30 Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;
31 Rather, directly fly.
32 IMOGEN.
33 [_Reads._] _He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am
34 most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your
35 trust.
36 LEONATUS._
37 So far I read aloud;
38 But even the very middle of my heart
39 Is warm’d by th’ rest and takes it thankfully.
40 You are as welcome, worthy sir, as I
41 Have words to bid you; and shall find it so
42 In all that I can do.
43 IACHIMO.
44 Thanks, fairest lady.
45 What, are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes
46 To see this vaulted arch and the rich crop
47 Of sea and land, which can distinguish ’twixt
48 The fiery orbs above and the twinn’d stones
49 Upon the number’d beach, and can we not
50 Partition make with spectacles so precious
51 ’Twixt fair and foul?
52 IMOGEN.
53 What makes your admiration?
54 IACHIMO.
55 It cannot be i’ th’ eye, for apes and monkeys,
56 ’Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way and
57 Contemn with mows the other; nor i’ th’ judgement,
58 For idiots in this case of favour would
59 Be wisely definite; nor i’ th’ appetite;
60 Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos’d,
61 Should make desire vomit emptiness,
62 Not so allur’d to feed.
63 IMOGEN.
64 What is the matter, trow?
65 IACHIMO.
66 The cloyed will—
67 That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, that tub
68 Both fill’d and running—ravening first the lamb,
69 Longs after for the garbage.
70 IMOGEN.
71 What, dear sir,
72 Thus raps you? Are you well?
73 IACHIMO.
74 Thanks, madam; well. Beseech you, sir,
75 Desire my man’s abode where I did leave him.
76 He’s strange and peevish.
77 PISANIO.
78 I was going, sir,
79 To give him welcome.
80 [_Exit._]
81 IMOGEN.
82 Continues well my lord? His health beseech you?
83 IACHIMO.
84 Well, madam.
85 IMOGEN.
86 Is he dispos’d to mirth? I hope he is.
87 IACHIMO.
88 Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger there
89 So merry and so gamesome. He is call’d
90 The Briton reveller.
91 IMOGEN.
92 When he was here
93 He did incline to sadness, and oft-times
94 Not knowing why.
95 IACHIMO.
96 I never saw him sad.
97 There is a Frenchman his companion, one
98 An eminent monsieur that, it seems, much loves
99 A Gallian girl at home. He furnaces
100 The thick sighs from him; whiles the jolly Briton
101 (Your lord, I mean) laughs from’s free lungs, cries “O,
102 Can my sides hold, to think that man, who knows
103 By history, report, or his own proof,
104 What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose
105 But must be, will’s free hours languish for
106 Assured bondage?”
107 IMOGEN.
108 Will my lord say so?
109 IACHIMO.
110 Ay, madam, with his eyes in flood with laughter.
111 It is a recreation to be by
112 And hear him mock the Frenchman. But heavens know
113 Some men are much to blame.
114 IMOGEN.
115 Not he, I hope.
116 IACHIMO.
117 Not he; but yet heaven’s bounty towards him might
118 Be us’d more thankfully. In himself, ’tis much;
119 In you, which I account his, beyond all talents.
120 Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound
121 To pity too.
122 IMOGEN.
123 What do you pity, sir?
124 IACHIMO.
125 Two creatures heartily.
126 IMOGEN.
127 Am I one, sir?
128 You look on me: what wreck discern you in me
129 Deserves your pity?
130 IACHIMO.
131 Lamentable! What,
132 To hide me from the radiant sun and solace
133 I’ th’ dungeon by a snuff?
134 IMOGEN.
135 I pray you, sir,
136 Deliver with more openness your answers
137 To my demands. Why do you pity me?
138 IACHIMO.
139 That others do,
140 I was about to say, enjoy your—But
141 It is an office of the gods to venge it,
142 Not mine to speak on’t.
143 IMOGEN.
144 You do seem to know
145 Something of me, or what concerns me; pray you,
146 Since doubting things go ill often hurts more
147 Than to be sure they do; for certainties
148 Either are past remedies, or, timely knowing,
149 The remedy then born—discover to me
150 What both you spur and stop.
151 IACHIMO.
152 Had I this cheek
153 To bathe my lips upon; this hand, whose touch,
154 Whose every touch, would force the feeler’s soul
155 To th’ oath of loyalty; this object, which
156 Takes prisoner the wild motion of mine eye,
157 Fixing it only here; should I, damn’d then,
158 Slaver with lips as common as the stairs
159 That mount the Capitol; join gripes with hands
160 Made hard with hourly falsehood (falsehood as
161 With labour): then by-peeping in an eye
162 Base and illustrious as the smoky light
163 That’s fed with stinking tallow: it were fit
164 That all the plagues of hell should at one time
165 Encounter such revolt.
166 IMOGEN.
167 My lord, I fear,
168 Has forgot Britain.
169 IACHIMO.
170 And himself. Not I
171 Inclin’d to this intelligence pronounce
172 The beggary of his change; but ’tis your graces
173 That from my mutest conscience to my tongue
174 Charms this report out.
175 IMOGEN.
176 Let me hear no more.
177 IACHIMO.
178 O dearest soul, your cause doth strike my heart
179 With pity that doth make me sick! A lady
180 So fair, and fasten’d to an empery,
181 Would make the great’st king double, to be partner’d
182 With tomboys hir’d with that self exhibition
183 Which your own coffers yield! with diseas’d ventures
184 That play with all infirmities for gold
185 Which rottenness can lend nature! Such boil’d stuff
186 As well might poison poison! Be reveng’d;
187 Or she that bore you was no queen, and you
188 Recoil from your great stock.
189 IMOGEN.
190 Reveng’d?
191 How should I be reveng’d? If this be true,
192 (As I have such a heart that both mine ears
193 Must not in haste abuse) if it be true,
194 How should I be reveng’d?
195 IACHIMO.
196 Should he make me
197 Live like Diana’s priest betwixt cold sheets,
198 Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,
199 In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it.
200 I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure,
201 More noble than that runagate to your bed,
202 And will continue fast to your affection,
203 Still close as sure.
204 IMOGEN.
205 What ho, Pisanio!
206 IACHIMO.
207 Let me my service tender on your lips.
208 IMOGEN.
209 Away! I do condemn mine ears that have
210 So long attended thee. If thou wert honourable,
211 Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue, not
212 For such an end thou seek’st, as base as strange.
213 Thou wrong’st a gentleman who is as far
214 From thy report as thou from honour; and
215 Solicits here a lady that disdains
216 Thee and the devil alike. What ho, Pisanio!
217 The King my father shall be made acquainted
218 Of thy assault. If he shall think it fit
219 A saucy stranger in his court to mart
220 As in a Romish stew, and to expound
221 His beastly mind to us, he hath a court
222 He little cares for, and a daughter who
223 He not respects at all. What ho, Pisanio!
224 IACHIMO.
225 O happy Leonatus! I may say
226 The credit that thy lady hath of thee
227 Deserves thy trust, and thy most perfect goodness
228 Her assur’d credit. Blessed live you long,
229 A lady to the worthiest sir that ever
230 Country call’d his! and you his mistress, only
231 For the most worthiest fit! Give me your pardon.
232 I have spoke this to know if your affiance
233 Were deeply rooted, and shall make your lord
234 That which he is new o’er; and he is one
235 The truest manner’d, such a holy witch
236 That he enchants societies into him,
237 Half all men’s hearts are his.
238 IMOGEN.
239 You make amends.
240 IACHIMO.
241 He sits ’mongst men like a descended god:
242 He hath a kind of honour sets him off
243 More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry,
244 Most mighty Princess, that I have adventur’d
245 To try your taking of a false report, which hath
246 Honour’d with confirmation your great judgement
247 In the election of a sir so rare,
248 Which you know cannot err. The love I bear him
249 Made me to fan you thus; but the gods made you,
250 Unlike all others, chaffless. Pray your pardon.
251 IMOGEN.
252 All’s well, sir; take my pow’r i’ th’ court for yours.
253 IACHIMO.
254 My humble thanks. I had almost forgot
255 T’ entreat your Grace but in a small request,
256 And yet of moment too, for it concerns
257 Your lord; myself and other noble friends
258 Are partners in the business.
259 IMOGEN.
260 Pray what is’t?
261 IACHIMO.
262 Some dozen Romans of us, and your lord
263 (The best feather of our wing) have mingled sums
264 To buy a present for the Emperor;
265 Which I, the factor for the rest, have done
266 In France. ’Tis plate of rare device, and jewels
267 Of rich and exquisite form, their values great;
268 And I am something curious, being strange,
269 To have them in safe stowage. May it please you
270 To take them in protection?
271 IMOGEN.
272 Willingly;
273 And pawn mine honour for their safety. Since
274 My lord hath interest in them, I will keep them
275 In my bedchamber.
276 IACHIMO.
277 They are in a trunk,
278 Attended by my men. I will make bold
279 To send them to you only for this night;
280 I must aboard tomorrow.
281 IMOGEN.
282 O, no, no.
283 IACHIMO.
284 Yes, I beseech; or I shall short my word
285 By length’ning my return. From Gallia
286 I cross’d the seas on purpose and on promise
287 To see your Grace.
288 IMOGEN.
289 I thank you for your pains.
290 But not away tomorrow!
291 IACHIMO.
292 O, I must, madam.
293 Therefore I shall beseech you, if you please
294 To greet your lord with writing, do’t tonight.
295 I have outstood my time, which is material
296 To th’ tender of our present.
297 IMOGEN.
298 I will write.
299 Send your trunk to me; it shall safe be kept
300 And truly yielded you. You’re very welcome.
301 [_Exeunt._]