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There lie thy part. [Striking her: she falls. O, gentlemen, help!

Pis.

229

Mine and your mistress! O, my lord Posthumus!
You ne'er kill'd Imogen till now. Help, help!
Mine honour'd lady!
Cym.
Does the world go round?
Post. How come these staggers on me?
Pis.
Wake, my mistress!
Cym. If this be so, the gods do mean to
strike me

To death with mortal joy.
Pis.

How fares my mistress?
Imo. O, get thee from my sight:
Thou gavest me poison: dangerous fellow, hence!
Breathe not where princes are.
The tune of Imogen!

Cym.

Pis. Lady, The gods throw stones of sulphur on me, if That box I gave you was not thought by me A precious thing: I had it from the queen. Cym. New matter still? Imo.

Cor.

It poison'd me.

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240

O gods! I left out one thing which the queen confess'd, Which must approve thee honest: If Pisanio' Have' said she 'given his mistress that confection Which I gave him for cordial, she is served As I would serve a rat.'

250

Cym.
What's this, Cornelius?
Cor. The queen, sir, very oft importuned me
To temper poisons for her, still pretending
The satisfaction of her knowledge only
In killing creatures vile, as cats and dogs,
Of no esteem: I, dreading that her purpose
Was of more danger, did compound for her
A certain stuff, which, being ta'en, would cease
The present power of life, but in short time
All offices of nature should again

Do their due functions. Have you ta'en of it?
Imo. Most like I did, for I was dead.
Bel.

There was our error.

My boys,

This is, sure, Fidele.

260

Gui.
Imo. Why did you throw your wedded lady

from you?

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Upon my lady's missing, came to me
With his sword drawn; foam'd at the mouth, and

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Marry, the gods forfend! I would not thy good deeds should from my lips Pluck a hard sentence: prithee, valiant youth, Deny't again.

Gui. I have spoke it, and I did it. 200 Cym. He was a prince.

Gui. A most incivil one: the wrongs he did me Were nothing prince-like; for he did provoke za With language that would make me spurn the sea, If it could so roar to me: I cut off's head; And am right glad he is not standing here To tell this tale of mine.

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In that he spake too far. Cym. And thou shalt die for 't.

Bel. We will die all three: 310 But I will prove that two on's are as good As I have given out him. My sons, I must, For mine own part, unfold a dangerous speech, Though, haply, well for you. Your danger's ours.

Thou hadst, great king, a subject who Was call'd Belarius.

Arv.

Gui.

And our good his.

Bel.

Have at it then, by leave.

What of him? he is

He it is that hath

Сут.

A banish'd traitor.

Bel.

Assumed this age; indeed a banish'd man ; I know not how a traitor.

Cym.

Take him hence: The whole world shall not save him. Bel.

320 Not too hot:

First pay me for the nursing of thy sons;
And let it be confiscate all, so soon
As I have received it.

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Itself, and all my treason; that I suffer'd
Was all the harm I did. These gentle princes-
For such and so they are-these twenty years
Have I train'd up: those arts they have as I
Could put into them; my breeding was, sir, as 339
Your highness knows. Their nurse, Euriphile,
Whom for the theft I wedded, stole these children
Upon my banishment: I moved her to 't,
Having received the punishinent before,
For that which I did then: beaten for loyalty
Excited me to treason: their dear loss,
The more of you 'twas felt, the more it shaped
Unto my end of stealing them. But, gracious sir,
Here are your sons again; and I must lose
Two of the sweet'st companions in the world.
The benediction of these covering heavens 350
Fall on their heads like dew! for they are worthy
To inlay heaven with stars.
Cym.
Thou weep'st, and speak'st.
The service that you three have done is more
Unlike than this thou tell'st. I lost my children:
If these be they, I know not how to wish
A pair of worthier sons.
Bel.

359

Be pleased awhile. This gentleman, whom I call Polydore, Most worthy prince, as yours, is true Guiderius: This gentleman, my Cadwal, Arviragus, Your younger princely son; he, sir, was lapp'd In a most curious mantle, wrought by the hand Of his queen mother, which for more probation I can with ease produce.

Cym.

Guiderius had Upon his neck a mole, a sanguine star;

It was a mark of wonder.

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O, what, am I

Cym. A mother to the birth of three? Ne'er mother 369

Rejoiced deliverance more. Blest pray you be,

That, after this strange starting from your orbs,
You may reign in them now! O Imogen,
Thou hast lost by this a kingdom.
Imo.

No, my lord:
I have got two worlds by 't. O my gentle brothers,
Have we thus met? O, never say hereafter
But I am truest speaker: you call'd me brother,
When I was but your sister; I you brothers,
When ye were so indeed.

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Will serve our long inter'gatories.
Posthumus anchors upon Imogen,
And she, like harmless lightning, throws her eye
On him, her brothers, me, her master, hitting
Each object with a joy: the counterchange
Is severally in all. Let's quit this ground,
And smoke the temple with our sacrifices.
[To Belarius] Thou art my brother; so we'll
hold thee ever.

Imo. You are my father too, and did relieve

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Call forth your soothsayer: as I slept, methought
Great Jupiter, upon his eagle back'd,

Appear'd to me, with other spritely shows
Of mine own kindred: when I waked, I found
This label on my bosom; whose containing 430

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Sooth. Here, my good lord. Luc.

Read, and declare the meaning. Sooth. [Reads] When as a lion's whelp shall, to himself unknown, without seeking find, and be embraced by a piece of tender air; and when from a stately cedar shall be lopped branches, which, being dead many years, shall after revive, be jointed to the old stock, and freshly grow; then shall Posthumus end his miseries, Britain be fortunate and flourish in peace and plenty.' Thou, Leonatus, art the lion's whelp; The fit and apt construction of thy name, Being Leo-natus, doth import so much.

[To Cymbeline] The piece of tender air,

virtuous daughter,

thy

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Before the palace of Antioch.
To sing a song that old was sung,
From ashes ancient Gower is come;
Assuming man's infirmities,

To glad your ear, and please your eyes.
It hath been sung at festivals,

On ember-eves and holy-ales;
And lords and ladies in their lives
Have read it for restoratives:
The purchase is to make men glorious;
Et bonum quo antiquius, eo melius.
If you, born in these latter times,
When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes,
And that to hear an old man sing
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I life would wish, and that I might
Waste it for you, like taper-light.
This Antioch, then, Antiochus the Great
Built up, this city, for his chiefest seat:
The fairest in all Syria,

I tell you what mine authors say:
This king unto him took a fere,
Who died and left a female heir,
So buxom, blithe, and full of face,
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke:

Bad child; worse father! to entice his own
To evil should be done by none:
But custom what they did begin
Was with long use account no sin.
The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,
To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures play-fellow:
Which to prevent he made a law,
To keep her still, and men in awe,
That whoso ask'd her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:

10

The Daughter of Antiochus.
DIONYZA, wife to Cleon.
THAISA, daughter to Simonides.
MARINA, daughter to Pericles and Thaisa.
LYCHORIDA, nurse to Marina.

A Bawd.

Lords, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers.

DIANA.

GOWER, as Chorus.

SCENE: Dispersedly in various countries.

So for her many a wight did die, As yon grim looks do testify.

40

What now ensues, to the judgement of your eye I give, my cause who best can justify. [Exit. SCENE I. Antioch. A room in the palace. Enter ANTIOCHUS, PRINCE PERICLES, and followers.

Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large

received

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Music. Enter the Daughter of Antiochus. 20 Per. See where she comes, apparell'd like the spring,

Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king Of every virtue gives renown to men! Her face the book of praises, where is read Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence Sorrow were ever razed, and testy wrath Could never be her mild companion. You gods that made me man, and sway in love, That have inflamed desire in my breast 30 To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree, Or die in the adventure, be my helps, As I am son and servant to your will, To compass such a boundless happiness! Ant. Prince Pericles,

20

Per. That would be son to great Antiochus. Ant. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd; For death-like dragons here affright thee hard:

30

Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view
Her countless glory, which desert must gain;
And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,
Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance
pale,

That without covering, save yon field of stars,
Here they stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist
For going on death's net, whom none resist.

40

Per. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught My frail mortality to know itself, And by those fearful objects to prepare This body, like to them, to what I must; For death remember'd should be like a mirror, Who tells us life 's but breath, to trust it error. I'll make my will then, and, as sick men do Who know the world, see heaven, but, feeling woe, Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did; So I bequeath a happy peace to you And all good men, as every prince should do; My riches to the earth from whence they came; But my unspotted fire of love to you.

50

[To the daughter of Antiochus. Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus. Ant. Scorning advice, read the conclusion,

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Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,
If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?
Fair glass of light, I loved you, and could still,

[Takes hold of the hand of the Princess.
Were not this glorious casket stored with ill:
But I must tell you, now my thoughts revolt;
For he's no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate. 80
You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods, to
hearken:

But being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.

Ant. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that's an article within our law,
As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expired:
Either expound now, or receive your sentence. 90

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Copp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng'd

By man's oppression; and the poor worm duth die for't.

Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's ther will;

And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth il? It is enough you know; and it is fit,

What being more known grows worse, to smo ther it.

All love the womb that their first being bred, Then give my tongue like leave to love my head Ant. [Aside] Heaven, that I had thy head. he has found the meaning:

II:

But I will gloze with him.-Young prince of Tyre.
Though by the tenour of our strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,
We might proceed to cancel of your days;
Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise:
Forty days longer we do respite you:
If by which time our secret be undone,
This mercy shows we'll joy in such a son:
And until then your entertain shall be
As doth befit our honour and your worth.
[Exeunt all but Perices
Per. How courtesy would seem to cover sin,
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight!
If it be true that I interpret false,

120

13

Then were it certain you were not so bad
As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
Where now you're both a father and a son,
By your untimely claspings with your child,
Which pleasure fits an husband, not a father;
And she an eater of her mother's flesh,
By the defiling of her parent's bed;
And both like serpents are, who though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night,
Will shun no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, another doth provoke;
Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke:
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame :
Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear,
By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. [Exit.

Re-enter ANTIOCHUS.

140

Ant. He hath found the meaning, for which

we mean To have his head.

He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathed manner;

And therefore instantly this prince must die;

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