Act 2, Scene 3

An ante-chamber adjoining Imogen's apartments.

[Enter CLOTEN and Lords]
First Lord
924 Your lordship is the most patient man in loss, the
925 most coldest that ever turned up ace.
Cloten
926 It would make any man cold to lose.
First Lord
927 But not every man patient after the noble temper of
928 your lordship. You are most hot and furious when you win.
Cloten
929 Winning will put any man into courage. If I could
930 get this foolish Imogen, I should have gold enough.
931 It's almost morning, is't not?
First Lord
932 Day, my lord.
Cloten
933 I would this music would come: I am advised to give
934 her music o' mornings; they say it will penetrate.
[Enter Musicians]
Cloten
935 Come on; tune: if you can penetrate her with your
936 fingering, so; we'll try with tongue too: if none
937 will do, let her remain; but I'll never give o'er.
938 First, a very excellent good-conceited thing;
939 after, a wonderful sweet air, with admirable rich
940 words to it: and then let her consider.
[SONG]
Cloten
941 Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,
942 And Phoebus 'gins arise,
943 His steeds to water at those springs
944 On chaliced flowers that lies;
945 And winking Mary-buds begin
946 To ope their golden eyes:
947 With every thing that pretty is,
948 My lady sweet, arise:
949 Arise, arise.
Cloten
950 So, get you gone. If this penetrate, I will
951 consider your music the better: if it do not, it is
952 a vice in her ears, which horse-hairs and
953 calves'-guts, nor the voice of unpaved eunuch to
954 boot, can never amend.
[Exeunt Musicians]
Second Lord
955 Here comes the king.
Cloten
956 I am glad I was up so late; for that's the reason I
957 was up so early: he cannot choose but take this
958 service I have done fatherly.
[Enter CYMBELINE and QUEEN]
Cloten
959 Good morrow to your majesty and to my gracious mother.
Cymbeline
960 Attend you here the door of our stern daughter?
961 Will she not forth?
Cloten
962 I have assailed her with music, but she vouchsafes no notice.
Cymbeline
963 The exile of her minion is too new;
964 She hath not yet forgot him: some more time
965 Must wear the print of his remembrance out,
966 And then she's yours.
Queen
967 You are most bound to the king,
968 Who lets go by no vantages that may
969 Prefer you to his daughter. Frame yourself
970 To orderly soliciting, and be friended
971 With aptness of the season; make denials
972 Increase your services; so seem as if
973 You were inspired to do those duties which
974 You tender to her; that you in all obey her,
975 Save when command to your dismission tends,
976 And therein you are senseless.
Cloten
977 Senseless! not so.
[Enter a Messenger]
Messenger
978 So like you, sir, ambassadors from Rome;
979 The one is Caius Lucius.
Cymbeline
980 A worthy fellow,
981 Albeit he comes on angry purpose now;
982 But that's no fault of his: we must receive him
983 According to the honour of his sender;
984 And towards himself, his goodness forespent on us,
985 We must extend our notice. Our dear son,
986 When you have given good morning to your mistress,
987 Attend the queen and us; we shall have need
988 To employ you towards this Roman. Come, our queen.
[Exeunt all but CLOTEN]
Cloten
989 If she be up, I'll speak with her; if not,
990 Let her lie still and dream.
[Knocks]
Cloten
991 By your leave, ho!
992 I Know her women are about her: what
993 If I do line one of their hands? 'Tis gold
994 Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and makes
995 Diana's rangers false themselves, yield up
996 Their deer to the stand o' the stealer; and 'tis gold
997 Which makes the true man kill'd and saves the thief;
998 Nay, sometime hangs both thief and true man: what
999 Can it not do and undo? I will make
1000 One of her women lawyer to me, for
1001 I yet not understand the case myself.
[Knocks]
Cloten
1002 By your leave.
[Enter a Lady]
Lady
1003 Who's there that knocks?
Cloten
1004 A gentleman.
Lady
1005 No more?
Cloten
1006 Yes, and a gentlewoman's son.
Lady
1007 That's more
1008 Than some, whose tailors are as dear as yours,
1009 Can justly boast of. What's your lordship's pleasure?
Cloten
1010 Your lady's person: is she ready?
Lady
1011 Ay,
1012 To keep her chamber.
Cloten
1013 There is gold for you;
1014 Sell me your good report.
Lady
1015 How! my good name? or to report of you
1016 What I shall think is good?—The princess!
[Enter IMOGEN]
Cloten
1017 Good morrow, fairest: sister, your sweet hand.
[Exit Lady]
Imogen
1018 Good morrow, sir. You lay out too much pains
1019 For purchasing but trouble; the thanks I give
1020 Is telling you that I am poor of thanks
1021 And scarce can spare them.
Cloten
1022 Still, I swear I love you.
Imogen
1023 If you but said so, 'twere as deep with me:
1024 If you swear still, your recompense is still
1025 That I regard it not.
Cloten
1026 This is no answer.
Imogen
1027 But that you shall not say I yield being silent,
1028 I would not speak. I pray you, spare me: 'faith,
1029 I shall unfold equal discourtesy
1030 To your best kindness: one of your great knowing
1031 Should learn, being taught, forbearance.
Cloten
1032 To leave you in your madness, 'twere my sin:
1033 I will not.
Imogen
1034 Fools are not mad folks.
Cloten
1035 Do you call me fool?
Imogen
1036 As I am mad, I do:
1037 If you'll be patient, I'll no more be mad;
1038 That cures us both. I am much sorry, sir,
1039 You put me to forget a lady's manners,
1040 By being so verbal: and learn now, for all,
1041 That I, which know my heart, do here pronounce,
1042 By the very truth of it, I care not for you,
1043 And am so near the lack of charity—
1044 To accuse myself—I hate you; which I had rather
1045 You felt than make't my boast.
Cloten
1046 You sin against
1047 Obedience, which you owe your father. For
1048 The contract you pretend with that base wretch,
1049 One bred of alms and foster'd with cold dishes,
1050 With scraps o' the court, it is no contract, none:
1051 And though it be allow'd in meaner parties—
1052 Yet who than he more mean?—to knit their souls,
1053 On whom there is no more dependency
1054 But brats and beggary, in self-figured knot;
1055 Yet you are curb'd from that enlargement by
1056 The consequence o' the crown, and must not soil
1057 The precious note of it with a base slave.
1058 A hilding for a livery, a squire's cloth,
1059 A pantler, not so eminent.
Imogen
1060 Profane fellow
1061 Wert thou the son of Jupiter and no more
1062 But what thou art besides, thou wert too base
1063 To be his groom: thou wert dignified enough,
1064 Even to the point of envy, if 'twere made
1065 Comparative for your virtues, to be styled
1066 The under-hangman of his kingdom, and hated
1067 For being preferred so well.
Cloten
1068 The south-fog rot him!
Imogen
1069 He never can meet more mischance than come
1070 To be but named of thee. His meanest garment,
1071 That ever hath but clipp'd his body, is dearer
1072 In my respect than all the hairs above thee,
1073 Were they all made such men. How now, Pisanio!
[Enter PISANIO]
Cloten
1074 'His garment!' Now the devil—
Imogen
1075 To Dorothy my woman hie thee presently—
Cloten
1076 'His garment!'
Imogen
1077 I am sprited with a fool.
1078 Frighted, and anger'd worse: go bid my woman
1079 Search for a jewel that too casually
1080 Hath left mine arm: it was thy master's: 'shrew me,
1081 If I would lose it for a revenue
1082 Of any king's in Europe. I do think
1083 I saw't this morning: confident I am
1084 Last night 'twas on mine arm; I kiss'd it:
1085 I hope it be not gone to tell my lord
1086 That I kiss aught but he.
Pisanio
1087 'Twill not be lost.
Imogen
1088 I hope so: go and search.
[Exit PISANIO]
Cloten
1089 You have abused me:
1090 'His meanest garment!'
Imogen
1091 Ay, I said so, sir:
1092 If you will make't an action, call witness to't.
Cloten
1093 I will inform your father.
Imogen
1094 Your mother too:
1095 She's my good lady, and will conceive, I hope,
1096 But the worst of me. So, I leave you, sir,
1097 To the worst of discontent.
[Exit]
Cloten
1098 I'll be revenged:
1099 'His meanest garment!' Well.
[Exit]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 941classical allusion
“the lark at heaven's gate sings, And Phoebus 'gins arise”
Phoebus (also called Apollo) was the Greek and Roman sun-god, who was said to drive a chariot of fire across the sky each day, watering his horses at celestial springs. 'Gins arise' means 'begins to rise.' The song imagines the sun-god's daily journey commencing at dawn, with horses drinking from the dew ('chaliced flowers') before the day's run.
TLN 945archaic vocab
“winking Mary-buds begin To ope their golden eyes”
'Mary-buds' are marigolds — named for the Virgin Mary, whose flower they were. 'Winking' means shut or closed (eyelids not yet open), not slyly watching. The song describes marigolds that close at night and open their yellow-orange faces at sunrise, as if waking like the woman addressed.
TLN 952archaic vocab
“horse-hairs and calves'-guts, nor the voice of unpaved eunuch to boot”
'Horse-hairs' are the strings of the bow used on a viol or fiddle; 'calves'-guts' are the gut strings of a lute or viol. An 'eunuch' here means a castrated male singer — boys or men who were castrated before puberty to preserve a high soprano voice. 'Unpaved' means literally 'without paving-stones,' that is, lacking testicles. Cloten is saying that if even the finest music and singing cannot move Imogen, it is a flaw in her ears, not the musicians.
TLN 963archaic vocab
“The exile of her minion is too new”
'Minion' here means a favourite or darling — specifically Posthumus, whom Imogen loves and who has just been banished. The word could be affectionate or slightly contemptuous; Cymbeline uses it dismissively. 'Too new' means the banishment has just happened and Imogen has not yet had time to forget him.
TLN 968archaic vocab
“Who lets go by no vantages that may Prefer you to his daughter”
'Vantages' means opportunities or advantageous moments. 'Prefer' means to advance or promote — the Queen is telling Cloten that Cymbeline uses every opening to forward Cloten's suit with Imogen. The whole speech is the Queen coaching her son in patient, strategic courtship: take every chance, appear devoted, and above all don't give up when she says no.
TLN 978historical topical
“ambassadors from Rome; The one is Caius Lucius”
Caius Lucius is the Roman general and ambassador sent by Caesar Augustus to demand the tribute that Cymbeline has stopped paying. His arrival is the political mainspring of the play's second half: Cymbeline will refuse the tribute, and a Roman invasion will follow. The play's British-Roman war is loosely based on Holinshed's account of the historical king Cunobeline (Cymbeline) and the tribute Britain owed since Julius Caesar's expeditions of 55-54 BC.
historical Ancient Britain and the Roman tribute
TLN 984archaic vocab
“his goodness forespent on us”
'Forespent' means spent or used up in advance, exhausted beforehand. Cymbeline is saying that Lucius has already shown goodwill toward Britain in previous dealings, and that they owe him courtesy in return — regardless of the unwelcome message he brings now.
TLN 995classical allusion
“Diana's rangers false themselves, yield up Their deer to the stand o' the stealer”
Diana was the goddess of the hunt, and her 'rangers' are her foresters or game-keepers — guardians of chastity as well as of wild animals. Cloten boasts that gold can bribe even Diana's own protectors to betray their charge, letting a poacher ('the stealer') take his 'deer' from their hunting-stand. The pun on 'deer' and 'dear' (a woman) is deliberate: Cloten means he will bribe Imogen's women to help him reach her.
classical Diana, virgin goddess of the moon
TLN 1008rhetorical device
“some, whose tailors are as dear as yours, Can justly boast of”
The Lady scores a neat point: some men who spend as much on their clothes as Cloten does (whose tailors are equally expensive, i.e. 'dear') cannot honestly claim to be gentlemen. She is saying that expensive clothing does not make a man noble — a pointed glance at Cloten, who has the rank without the manners. The remark is typical of the scene's satirical treatment of Cloten as a man of mere surface.
TLN 1030syntax grammar
“one of your great knowing Should learn, being taught, forbearance”
The sentence is compressed and ironic: 'one of your great knowing' means 'a person of your vast learning and experience' — Imogen says it sarcastically. The full sense is: 'A man of your supposed wisdom, when instructed [in proper behavior by being rebuffed], ought to learn restraint.' The irony is that Cloten has no great knowing and will not learn forbearance.
TLN 1039archaic vocab
“You put me to forget a lady's manners, By being so verbal”
'Verbal' here means wordy, full of talk, repetitively insistent with words — the opposite of courtly restraint. Imogen is telling Cloten that his non-stop speeches are forcing her to lose her own lady-like politeness by making her respond at length. The word is used disapprovingly: too much talk, too little dignity.
TLN 1049archaic vocab
“One bred of alms and foster'd with cold dishes, With scraps o' the court”
Cloten attacks Posthumus's low birth with a string of food metaphors. 'Bred of alms' means raised on charity — supported by the court's handouts rather than his own inheritance. 'Foster'd with cold dishes' extends the image: he was fed on leftovers, scraps from the royal table rather than a proper place at it. This is historically accurate to Posthumus's situation: he was a ward of the court after his family died, raised on royal generosity.
TLN 1058archaic vocab
“A hilding for a livery, a squire's cloth, A pantler, not so eminent”
Three archaic terms, all denoting low social rank. A 'hilding' is a base or worthless person, a contemptible wretch. A 'livery' is the uniform issued to a household servant. A 'squire's cloth' is the livery of a minor gentleman-servant, lower than a knight. A 'pantler' is a servant who has charge of the pantry and the bread — barely a step above a kitchen-hand. Cloten is heaping up synonyms for 'low-class servant' to express his contempt for Posthumus.
TLN 1061classical allusion
“Wert thou the son of Jupiter and no more But what thou art besides, thou wert too base To be his groom”
Imogen invokes Jupiter, king of the gods, as the highest possible standard of divine parentage. She is saying: even if Cloten were literally the son of the supreme god of the universe, everything else about him would still make him too low to serve as Posthumus's stable-hand. The speech measures Posthumus's worth in the highest terms precisely through Cloten's attempted insult about low birth.
classical Jupiter, king of the gods
TLN 1064rhetorical device
“if 'twere made Comparative for your virtues, to be styled The under-hangman of his kingdom”
An 'under-hangman' is the assistant to the public executioner — among the lowest and most despised posts imaginable. Imogen's insult works by progression: Cloten is not even worthy to be a hangman, only to be the assistant to a hangman, and even at that rank he would be hated for being promoted above his deserts. The device of being envied for a degrading office makes the contempt recursive.
TLN 1068cultural context
“The south-fog rot him”
Cloten curses Posthumus with the 'south-fog.' In Elizabethan medicine, warm southern winds and the damp vapours rising from marshy ground in the south were believed to carry pestilence and cause disease — in contrast to the healthy, cold north wind. Wishing the south-fog on someone was wishing them illness and rot. The belief belongs to the classical and medieval theory of miasma, which held that bad air from warm, damp directions caused plague and physical corruption.
TLN 1077archaic vocab
“I am sprited with a fool”
'Sprited' (or 'spirited') here means haunted — as if possessed or tormented by a spirit or ghost. Imogen is saying she is being harassed by a fool as if he were an unwanted supernatural presence that won't leave her alone. The word carries both 'spirited away' (troubled, disturbed) and the sense of a ghostly haunting.
TLN 1079stage direction note
“Search for a jewel that too casually Hath left mine arm”
'Too casually' means 'by too great an accident, too carelessly.' Imogen does not yet know how the bracelet left her arm — she thinks she dropped it or it slipped off in her sleep. The audience knows from the previous scene (2.2) that Iachimo crept from a trunk hidden in her room and stole the bracelet from her wrist as she slept. Her worried anxiety over it ('I kiss'd it') adds painful dramatic irony: the bracelet will shortly become Iachimo's false proof to Posthumus that she was unfaithful.
TLN 1092archaic vocab
“If you will make't an action, call witness to't”
To 'make it an action' is a legal term: to bring it as a legal case or lawsuit. Imogen is telling Cloten that if he considers her remark ('His meanest garment is dearer to me than all the hairs on your head') to be an actionable insult, he is welcome to take her to court over it. She is calling his bluff — she has no fear of a lawsuit and invites him to call witnesses if he dares.