That have a sharper known; well corresponding Arv. What should we speak of, When we are old as you? when we shall hear Bel. How you speak! And felt them knowingly: the art o' the court, The fear 's as bad as falling: the toil of the war, A pain that only seems to seek out danger I' the name of fame, and honour; which dies i' the search; And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph, As record of fair act; nay, many times, Doth ill deserve by doing well; what's worse, 7 To stride a limit.] To overpass his bound. Johnson. In the preceding line the old copy reads-A prison, or a debtor, &c. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. Malone. 8 What should we speak of.] This dread of an old age, unsupplied with matter for discourse and meditation, is a sentiment natural and noble. No state can be more destitute than that of him, who, when the delights of sense forsake him, has no pleasures of the mind. Johnson. How you speak!] Otway seems to have taken many hints for the conversation that passes between Acasto and his sons, from the scene before us. Steevens. Was not far off: Then was I as a tree, Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but, in one night, Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves, Gui. Uncertain favour! Bel. My fault being nothing (as I have told you oft) But that two villains, whose false oaths prevail'd Before my perfect honour, swore to Cymbeline, I was confederate with the Romans: so, Follow'd my banishment; and, this twenty years, This rock, and these demesnes, have been my Where I have liv'd at honest freedom; paid More pious debts to heaven, than in all 'world: The fore-end of my time.-But, up to the mountains; And we will fear no poison, which attends In place of greater state.1 I'll meet you in the valleys. [Exeunt GUI. and ARV. How hard it is, to hide the sparks of nature! These boys know little, they are sons to the king; They think, they are mine: and, though train'd up thus meanly I' the cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hit 1 And we will fear no poison, which attends In place of greater state.] The comparative-greater, which violates the measure, is surely an absurd interpolation; the lowbrow'd cave in which the princes are meanly educated, being a · place of no state at all. Steevens. "Fictilibus; tunc illa time, cum pocula sumes though train'd up thus meanly Malone. I' the cave, wherein they bow,] The old editions read: I' the cave, whereon the bowe; which, though very corrupt, will direct us to the true reading, [as it stands in the text.]-In this very cave, which is so low that they must bow or bend in entering it, yet are their thoughts so exalted, &c. This is the antithesis. Belarius had spoken before of the lowness of this cave: "A goodly day! not to keep house, with such The roofs of palaces; and nature prompts them, 3 "Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This gate "Instructs you how to adore the heavens: and bows you "To morning's holy office." Warburton This Polydore,] The old copy of the play (except here, where it may be only a blunder of the printer,) calls the eldest son of Cymbeline, Polidore, as often as the name occurs; and yet there are some who may ask whether it is not more likely that the printer should have blundered in the other places, than that he should have hit upon such an uncommon name as Paladour in this first instance Paladour was the ancient name for Shaftsbury. So, in A Meeting Dialogue-wise between Nature, the Phenix, and the Turtle-dove, by R. Chester, 1601: "This noble king builded fair Caerguent, Steevens. I believe, however, Polydore is the true reading. In the pages of Holinshed, which contain an account of Cymbeline, Polydore [i. e. Polydore Virgil] is often quoted in the margin; and this probably suggested the name to Shakspeare. Malone. Otway (see p. 87, n. 9,) was evidently of the same opinion, as he has so denomiated one of the sons of Acasto in The Orphan. The translations, however, of both Homer and Virgil, would have afforded Shakspeare the name of Polydore. Steevens. The younger brother, Cadwal,] This name is found in an ancient poem, entitled King Arthur, which is printed in the same collection with the Meeting Dialogue-wise, &c. quoted in the preceding note: Augisell, king of stout Albania, "And Caduall, king of Vinedocia In this collection one of our author's own poems was originally printed. Malone. See Mr. Malone's edition of our author's works, Vol. X, p. 341, n. 9. Steevens. Strikes life into my speech, and shows much more At three, and two years old, I stole these babes;5 Thou reft'st me of my lands. Euriphile, Thou wast their nurse; they took thee for their mother, They take for natural father. The game is up. [Exit. SCENE IV. Near Milford-Haven. Enter PISANIO and IMOGEN. Imo. Thou told'st me, when we came from horse, the place Was near at hand:-Ne'er long'd my mother so 5 I stole these babes;] Shakspeare seems to intend Belarius for a good character, yet he makes him forget the injury which he has done to the young princes, whom he has robbed of a kingdom only to rob their father of heirs --The latter part of this soliloquy is very inartificial, there being no particular reason why Belarius should now tell to himself what he could not know better by telling it. Johnson. 6 to her grave:] i. e. to the grave of Euriphile; or, to the grave of their mother, as they suppose it to be. The poet ought rather to have written-to thy grave Malone. Perhaps he did write so, and the present reading is only a corruption introduced by his printers or publishers. Steevens. 7 Where is Posthumus?] Shakspeare's apparent ignorance of quantity is not the least among many proofs of his want of learning. Almost throughout this play he calls Posthumus, Posthumus, and Arvirăgus, always Arvirāgus. It may be said that quantity in the age of our author did not appear to have been much regarded. In the tragedy of Darius, by William Alexander of Menstrie, (lord Sterline) 1603, Darīus is always called Darius, and Euphrates, Euphrates. Steevens. Beyond self-explication: Put thyself But keep that countenance still.-My husband's hand! And he's at some hard point.-Speak, man; thy tongue Pis. Please you, read; And you shall find me, wretched man, a thing The most disdain'd of fortune. Imo. [reads] Thy mistress, Pisanio, hath played the strumpet in my bed; the testimonies whereof lie bleeding in me. I speak not out of weak surmises; but from proof as strong as my grief, and as certain as I expect my revenge. That part, thou, Pisanio, must act for me, if thy faith be not tainted with the breach of hers. Let thine own hands take away her life: I shall give thee opportunities at Milford-Haven: she hath my letter for the purpose: Where, if thou fear to strike, and to make me certain it is done, thou art the pandar to her dishonour, and equally to me disloyal. Pis. What shall I need to draw my sword? the paper Hath cut her throat already. 3-No, 'tis slander; 8 haviour] This word, as often as it occurs in Shakspeare, should not be printed as an abbreviation of behaviour, Haviour was a word commonly used in his time. See Spenser, Æglogue, IX: "Their ill haviour garres men missay." Steevens. Smile to 't before:] So, in our author's 98th Sonnet: }1 Malone. - drug-damn'd —] This is another allusion to Italian poisons. Johnson. 2 -- - out-craftied him,] Thus the old copy, and so Shakspeare certainly wrote. So, in Coriolanus: "That's curdied by the frost from purest snow." Mr. Pope and all the subsequent editors read-out-crafted here, and curdled in Coriolanus. Malone. |