Act 1, Scene 4

Rome. Philario's house.

[Enter PHILARIO, IACHIMO, a Frenchman, a Dutchman, and a Spaniard]
Iachimo
301 Believe it, sir, I have seen him in Britain: he was
302 then of a crescent note, expected to prove so worthy
303 as since he hath been allowed the name of; but I
304 could then have looked on him without the help of
305 admiration, though the catalogue of his endowments
306 had been tabled by his side and I to peruse him by items.
Philario
307 You speak of him when he was less furnished than now
308 he is with that which makes him both without and within.
Frenchman
309 I have seen him in France: we had very many there
310 could behold the sun with as firm eyes as he.
Iachimo
311 This matter of marrying his king's daughter, wherein
312 he must be weighed rather by her value than his own,
313 words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter.
Frenchman
314 And then his banishment.
Iachimo
315 Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this
316 lamentable divorce under her colours are wonderfully
317 to extend him; be it but to fortify her judgment,
318 which else an easy battery might lay flat, for
319 taking a beggar without less quality. But how comes
320 it he is to sojourn with you? How creeps
321 acquaintance?
Philario
322 His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I
323 have been often bound for no less than my life.
324 Here comes the Briton: let him be so entertained
325 amongst you as suits, with gentlemen of your
326 knowing, to a stranger of his quality.
[Enter POSTHUMUS LEONATUS]
Philario
327 I beseech you all, be better known to this
328 gentleman; whom I commend to you as a noble friend
329 of mine: how worthy he is I will leave to appear
330 hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.
Frenchman
331 Sir, we have known together in Orleans.
Posthumus
332 Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies,
333 which I will be ever to pay and yet pay still.
Frenchman
334 Sir, you o'er-rate my poor kindness: I was glad I
335 did atone my countryman and you; it had been pity
336 you should have been put together with so mortal a
337 purpose as then each bore, upon importance of so
338 slight and trivial a nature.
Posthumus
339 By your pardon, sir, I was then a young traveller;
340 rather shunned to go even with what I heard than in
341 my every action to be guided by others' experiences:
342 but upon my mended judgment—if I offend not to say
343 it is mended—my quarrel was not altogether slight.
Frenchman
344 'Faith, yes, to be put to the arbitrement of swords,
345 and by such two that would by all likelihood have
346 confounded one the other, or have fallen both.
Iachimo
347 Can we, with manners, ask what was the difference?
Frenchman
348 Safely, I think: 'twas a contention in public,
349 which may, without contradiction, suffer the report.
350 It was much like an argument that fell out last
351 night, where each of us fell in praise of our
352 country mistresses; this gentleman at that time
353 vouching—and upon warrant of bloody
354 affirmation—his to be more fair, virtuous, wise,
355 chaste, constant-qualified and less attemptable
356 than any the rarest of our ladies in France.
Iachimo
357 That lady is not now living, or this gentleman's
358 opinion by this worn out.
Posthumus
359 She holds her virtue still and I my mind.
Iachimo
360 You must not so far prefer her 'fore ours of Italy.
Posthumus
361 Being so far provoked as I was in France, I would
362 abate her nothing, though I profess myself her
363 adorer, not her friend.
Iachimo
364 As fair and as good—a kind of hand-in-hand
365 comparison—had been something too fair and too good
366 for any lady in Britain. If she went before others
367 I have seen, as that diamond of yours outlustres
368 many I have beheld. I could not but believe she
369 excelled many: but I have not seen the most
370 precious diamond that is, nor you the lady.
Posthumus
371 I praised her as I rated her: so do I my stone.
Iachimo
372 What do you esteem it at?
Posthumus
373 More than the world enjoys.
Iachimo
374 Either your unparagoned mistress is dead, or she's
375 outprized by a trifle.
Posthumus
376 You are mistaken: the one may be sold, or given, if
377 there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit
378 for the gift: the other is not a thing for sale,
379 and only the gift of the gods.
Iachimo
380 Which the gods have given you?
Posthumus
381 Which, by their graces, I will keep.
Iachimo
382 You may wear her in title yours: but, you know,
383 strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds. Your
384 ring may be stolen too: so your brace of unprizable
385 estimations; the one is but frail and the other
386 casual; a cunning thief, or a that way accomplished
387 courtier, would hazard the winning both of first and last.
Posthumus
388 Your Italy contains none so accomplished a courtier
389 to convince the honour of my mistress, if, in the
390 holding or loss of that, you term her frail. I do
391 nothing doubt you have store of thieves;
392 notwithstanding, I fear not my ring.
Philario
393 Let us leave here, gentlemen.
Posthumus
394 Sir, with all my heart. This worthy signior, I
395 thank him, makes no stranger of me; we are familiar at first.
Iachimo
396 With five times so much conversation, I should get
397 ground of your fair mistress, make her go back, even
398 to the yielding, had I admittance and opportunity to friend.
Posthumus
399 No, no.
Iachimo
400 I dare thereupon pawn the moiety of my estate to
401 your ring; which, in my opinion, o'ervalues it
402 something: but I make my wager rather against your
403 confidence than her reputation: and, to bar your
404 offence herein too, I durst attempt it against any
405 lady in the world.
Posthumus
406 You are a great deal abused in too bold a
407 persuasion; and I doubt not you sustain what you're
408 worthy of by your attempt.
Iachimo
409 What's that?
Posthumus
410 A repulse: though your attempt, as you call it,
411 deserve more; a punishment too.
Philario
412 Gentlemen, enough of this: it came in too suddenly;
413 let it die as it was born, and, I pray you, be
414 better acquainted.
Iachimo
415 Would I had put my estate and my neighbour's on the
416 approbation of what I have spoke!
Posthumus
417 What lady would you choose to assail?
Iachimo
418 Yours; whom in constancy you think stands so safe.
419 I will lay you ten thousand ducats to your ring,
420 that, commend me to the court where your lady is,
421 with no more advantage than the opportunity of a
422 second conference, and I will bring from thence
423 that honour of hers which you imagine so reserved.
Posthumus
424 I will wage against your gold, gold to it: my ring
425 I hold dear as my finger; 'tis part of it.
Iachimo
426 You are afraid, and therein the wiser. If you buy
427 ladies' flesh at a million a dram, you cannot
428 preserve it from tainting: but I see you have some
429 religion in you, that you fear.
Posthumus
430 This is but a custom in your tongue; you bear a
431 graver purpose, I hope.
Iachimo
432 I am the master of my speeches, and would undergo
433 what's spoken, I swear.
Posthumus
434 Will you? I shall but lend my diamond till your
435 return: let there be covenants drawn between's: my
436 mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your
437 unworthy thinking: I dare you to this match: here's my ring.
Philario
438 I will have it no lay.
Iachimo
439 By the gods, it is one. If I bring you no
440 sufficient testimony that I have enjoyed the dearest
441 bodily part of your mistress, my ten thousand ducats
442 are yours; so is your diamond too: if I come off,
443 and leave her in such honour as you have trust in,
444 she your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are
445 yours: provided I have your commendation for my more
446 free entertainment.
Posthumus
447 I embrace these conditions; let us have articles
448 betwixt us. Only, thus far you shall answer: if
449 you make your voyage upon her and give me directly
450 to understand you have prevailed, I am no further
451 your enemy; she is not worth our debate: if she
452 remain unseduced, you not making it appear
453 otherwise, for your ill opinion and the assault you
454 have made to her chastity you shall answer me with
455 your sword.
Iachimo
456 Your hand; a covenant: we will have these things set
457 down by lawful counsel, and straight away for
458 Britain, lest the bargain should catch cold and
459 starve: I will fetch my gold and have our two
460 wagers recorded.
Posthumus
461 Agreed.
[Exeunt POSTHUMUS LEONATUS and IACHIMO]
Frenchman
462 Will this hold, think you?
Philario
463 Signior Iachimo will not from it.
464 Pray, let us follow 'em.
[Exeunt]

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Notes

TLN 302archaic vocab
“crescent note, expected to prove so worthy”
'Crescent note' means growing reputation: 'crescent' here is an adjective meaning increasing or waxing (as the crescent moon grows), and 'note' means distinction or fame. Iachimo is saying that when he saw Posthumus in Britain, the young man's reputation was still on the rise.
TLN 305archaic vocab
“catalogue of his endowments had been tabled by his side”
'Endowments' are natural gifts or qualities. 'Tabled' means written out in a table or list — posted beside him like an inventory. Iachimo claims that even if Posthumus's virtues had been itemized in a written list at his elbow, he could have sized him up without admiration — that is, without being impressed.
TLN 313syntax grammar
“words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter”
The verb 'words him' means 'gives him a reputation, speaks of him' in a way that inflates his standing beyond the reality ('from the matter' = away from the truth). Iachimo is arguing that the royal match requires Posthumus to be assessed by his wife's superiority rather than his own, and that flattering talk has pushed his reputation well beyond what he actually deserves.
TLN 315archaic vocab
“approbation of those that weep this lamentable divorce under her colours”
'Under her colours' is a military metaphor: soldiers fight 'under the colours' (the flag or banner) of their commander. To weep under Imogen's colours means to weep as her partisans — those loyal to her side. Iachimo is saying that sympathizers who back Imogen are inclined to extend (exaggerate) Posthumus's reputation to justify her judgment in choosing him.
TLN 318archaic vocab
“easy battery might lay flat, for taking a beggar without less quality”
'Battery' is a military term for an artillery assault on a fortification; to 'lay flat' means to demolish. Iachimo says Imogen's judgment (her decision to choose Posthumus) could easily be torn down by attack — unless propped up by her friends' flattery of him. 'Without less quality' is a double negative meaning 'without any quality at all': Iachimo calls Posthumus a penniless beggar with nothing to recommend him.
TLN 335archaic vocab
“did atone my countryman and you”
'Atone' here is a transitive verb meaning 'to reconcile' — the Frenchman is glad he managed to bring the two quarreling men back into agreement. This older sense ('to make at one') is the word's original meaning, from which the modern religious sense ('to make amends for sin') is derived.
TLN 344archaic vocab
“put to the arbitrement of swords, and by such two that would by all likelihood have confounded one the other”
'Arbitrement' (also spelled 'arbitrament') means the settlement of a dispute by a decision or test — here, by a duel. The Frenchman is saying that Posthumus had been on the verge of settling his quarrel over Imogen's honor by fighting a sword-duel with a man so evenly matched that they would likely have killed each other.
TLN 354archaic vocab
“more fair, virtuous, wise, chaste, constant-qualified and less attemptable than any the rarest of our ladies in France”
'Constant-qualified' means 'endowed with constancy' — faithfulness as a natural quality. 'Attemptable' means 'able to be attempted, open to seduction or assault.' To say Imogen is 'less attemptable' is to say she is less susceptible to any man's advances than even the most exceptional French ladies. The whole clause sums up Posthumus's original boast: his mistress is superior in every virtue and cannot be seduced.
TLN 361archaic vocab
“I would abate her nothing, though I profess myself her adorer, not her friend”
'Friend' here carries the Elizabethan sense of 'lover' (a sexual partner or intimate). Posthumus is distinguishing between being Imogen's worshipper ('adorer') and her 'friend' in the physical sense — he declares he praises her virtue honestly, not as an infatuated lover who exaggerates because of desire. The distinction is meant to establish his objectivity.
TLN 383rhetorical device
“strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds. Your ring may be stolen too”
Iachimo uses a predatory-bird proverb to argue that a wife, like a pond, attracts strange birds who will settle on her: 'strange fowl' means foreign or unfamiliar birds (here, other men). He then pivots to Posthumus's ring, saying both the woman and the gem can be stolen. The proverb frames infidelity as a natural, almost inevitable intrusion rather than a moral failing.
TLN 384archaic vocab
“brace of unprizable estimations; the one is but frail and the other casual”
'Brace' means a pair. 'Unprizable' means beyond price, invaluable — not worthless, but too precious to assign a value to. Iachimo calls this pair of priceless things (Imogen's honor and the ring) frail and 'casual,' meaning subject to accident or chance. His point is that the most valued things are also the most insecure.
TLN 389archaic vocab
“to convince the honour of my mistress, if, in the holding or loss of that, you term her frail”
'Convince' here does not mean 'persuade someone of a truth' but its older sense: 'to overcome, defeat, overpower.' Posthumus is saying that no Italian courtier could overcome or subdue the honor of Imogen — could not conquer her virtue. The modern meaning developed from this sense of overcoming resistance.
TLN 400archaic vocab
“pawn the moiety of my estate to your ring”
'Moiety' means a half: Iachimo offers to wager half his estate against Posthumus's ring. The word comes from Old French 'moitié' (half) and was in common legal and commercial use in Elizabethan England for any share, but especially an equal half.
TLN 435archaic vocab
“let there be covenants drawn between's: my mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking”
'Covenants drawn' means a formal written legal agreement drawn up between them — a contract specifying the terms of the wager. 'Between's' is a contraction of 'between us.' The sentence pairs the cool legal formality of a signed covenant with Posthumus's passionate assertion that Imogen's goodness exceeds even the scale of Iachimo's belittling imagination.