2 Cap. There was a fourth man, in a silly habit, That gave the affront with them.

1 Cap.

So 'tis reported:

But none of them can be found.-Stand! who is

there?

Post. A Roman;

Who had not now been drooping here, if seconds Had answer'd him.

2 Cap.

Lay hands on him; a dog! A leg of Rome shall not return to tell

What crows have peck'd them here. He brags his

service

As if he were of note: bring him to the king.

Enter CYMBELINE, attended: BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, ARVIRAGUS, PISANIO, and Roman Captives. The Captains present POSTHUMUS to CYMBELINE, who delivers him over to a Gaoler: after which, all go out9.

SCENE IV. A Prison.

Enter POSTHUMUS, and Two Gaolers. 1 Gaol. You shall not now be stolen, you have locks upon you1;

So graze, as you find pasture.

2 Gaol.

Ay, or a stomach. [Exeunt Gaolers.

7 Silly is simple or rustick. Thus in the novel of Boccaccio, on which this play is formed: The servant, who had no great good will to kill her, very easily grew pitifull, took off her upper garment, and gave her a poore ragged doublet, a silly chapperone.'

8 i. e. the encounter. See vol. iv. p. 109, note 5.

9 This stage direction for 'inexplicable dumb show' is probably an interpolation by the players. Shakspeare has expressed his contempt for such mummery in Hamlet.

1 The wit of the Gaoler alludes to the custom of putting a lock on a horse's leg when he is turned out to pasture,

Post. Most welcome, bondage! for thou art a way, I think, to liberty: Yet am I better

Than one that's sick o' the gout: since he had rather Groan so in perpetuity, than be cur'd

By the sure physician, death; who is the key To unbar these locks. My conscience! thou art fetter'd

More than my shanks, and wrists: You good gods, give me

The penitent instrument, to pick that bolt,
Then, free for ever! Is't enough, I am sorry?
So children temporal fathers do appease;
Gods are more full of mercy.

Must I repent?
I cannot do it better than in gyves,
Desir'd, more than constrain'd: to satisfy,
If of my freedom 'tis the main part, take
No stricter render of me, than my all2.
I know, you are more clement than vile men,
Who of their broken debtors take a third,
A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again
On their abatement; that's not my desire:
For Imogen's dear life, take mine; and though
'Tis not so dear, yet 'tis a life; you coin'd it:
"Tween man and man, they weigh not every stamp;
Though light, take pieces for the figure's sake:
You rather mine, being yours: and so, great powers,
If you will take this audit, take this life,

2 This passage is very obscure, and I must say with Malone that I think it is so rendered either by the omission of a line, or some other corruption of the text. I have no faith in Malone's explanation: that which Steevens offers is not much more satisfactory; but I have nothing better to offer. • Posthumus questions whether contrition be sufficient atonement for guilt. Then, to satisfy the offended gods, he desires them to take no more than his present all, that is, his life, if it is the main part, the chief point, or principal condition of his freedom, i. e. of his freedom from future punishment.'

And cancel these cold bonds3. O Imogen!
I'll speak to thee in silence.

[He sleeps.

Solemn Musick. Enter, as an Apparition, SICI

LIUS LEONATUS, Father to POSTHUMUS, an old Man, attired like a Warrior; leading in his hand an ancient Matron, his Wife, and Mother to POSTHUMUS, with Musick before them. Then, after other Musick, follow the Two young Leonati, Brothers to PoSTHUMUS, with wounds, as they died in the Wars. They circle POSTHUMUS round, as he lies sleeping.

Sici. No more, thou thunder master, show
Thy spite on mortal flies:

With Mars fall out, with Juno chide,

That thy adulteries

Rates and revenges.

Hath my poor boy done aught but well,
Whose face I never saw?

I died, whilst in the womb he stay'd
Attending Nature's law.

3 So in Macbeth :

Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
That keeps me pale.'

There is an equivoque between the legal instrument and bonds of steel; a little out of its place in a passage of pathetic exclamation.

This Scene is supposed not to be Shakspeare's, but foisted in by the players for mere show. The great poet, who has conducted his fifth Act with such matchless skill, could never have designed the vision to be twice described by Posthumus, had this contemptible nonsense been previously delivered on the stage. It appears that the players indulged themselves sometimes in unwarrantable liberties of the same kind. Nashe, in his Lenten Stuffe, 1599, assures us that in a play of his, called the Isle of Dogs, four acts, without his consent, or the least guess of his drift or scope, were supplied by the players. See the Prolegomena to Malone's Shakspeare, vol. ii.; article Shakspeare, Ford, and Jonson.

Whose father then (as men report,

Thou orphans' father art),

Thou should'st have been, and shielded him
From this earth-vexing smart.
Moth. Lucina lent not me her aid,
But took me in my throes;
That from me was Posthumus ript,
Came crying 'mongst his foes,
A thing of pity!

Sici. Great nature, like his ancestry,
Moulded the stuff so fair,

That he deserv'd the praise o'the world,
As great Sicilius' heir.

1 Bro. When once he was mature for man,
In Britain where was he
That could stand up his parallel;

Or fruitful object be

In eye of Imogen, that best

Could deem his dignity?

Moth. With marriage wherefore was he mock'd,

To be exil'd and thrown
From Leonati' seat, and cast
From her his dearest one,
Sweet Imogen?

Sici. Why did you suffer Iachimo,
Slight thing of Italy,

To taint his nobler heart and brain
With needless jealousy:

And to become the geck5 and scorn
O'the other's villany?

2 Bro. For this, from stiller seats we came,
Our parents, and us twain,
That, striking in our country's cause,

Fell bravely, and were slain;

Our fealty, and Tenantius' right,

With honour to maintain..

5 The fool.

1 Bro. Like hardiment Posthumus hath
To Cymbeline perform'd:
Then Jupiter, thou king of gods,
Why hast thou thus adjourn'd

The graces for his merits due;

Being all to dolours turn'd?

Sici. Thy crystal window ope; look out;
No longer exercise,

Upon a valiant race, thy harsh

And potent injuries:

Moth. Since, Jupiter, our son is good,
Take off his miseries.

Sici. Peep through thy marble mansion; help! Or we poor ghosts will cry

To the shining synod of the rest,

Against thy deity.

2 Bro. Help, Jupiter; or we appeal, And from thy justice fly.

JUPITER descends in Thunder and Lightning, sitting upon an Eagle: he throws a Thunder-bolt. The Ghosts fall on their knees.

Jup. No more, you petty spirits of region low,
Offend our hearing; hush!-How dare you,ghosts,
Accuse the thunderer, whose bolt, you know,
Sky-planted, batters all rebelling coasts?
Poor shadows of Elysium, hence; and rest
Upon your never withering banks of flowers:
Be not with mortal accidents opprest;

No care of yours it is, you know, 'tis ours.
Whom best I love, I cross; to make my gift,
The more delay'd, delighted. Be content;
Your low-laid son our god-head will uplift:
His comforts thrive, his trials well are spent.

6 Delighted for delightful, or causing delight. See vol. ii. p. 54,

note 22.