Act 3, Scene 5

A room in Cymbeline's palace.

[Enter CYMBELINE, QUEEN, CLOTEN, LUCIUS, Lords, and Attendants]
Cymbeline
1849 Thus far; and so farewell.
Caius Lucius
1850 Thanks, royal sir.
1851 My emperor hath wrote, I must from hence;
1852 And am right sorry that I must report ye
1853 My master's enemy.
Cymbeline
1854 Our subjects, sir,
1855 Will not endure his yoke; and for ourself
1856 To show less sovereignty than they, must needs
1857 Appear unkinglike.
Caius Lucius
1858 So, sir: I desire of you
1859 A conduct over-land to Milford-Haven.
1860 Madam, all joy befal your grace!
Queen
1861 And you!
Cymbeline
1862 My lords, you are appointed for that office;
1863 The due of honour in no point omit.
1864 So farewell, noble Lucius.
Caius Lucius
1865 Your hand, my lord.
Cloten
1866 Receive it friendly; but from this time forth
1867 I wear it as your enemy.
Caius Lucius
1868 Sir, the event
1869 Is yet to name the winner: fare you well.
Cymbeline
1870 Leave not the worthy Lucius, good my lords,
1871 Till he have cross'd the Severn. Happiness!
[Exeunt LUCIUS and Lords]
Queen
1872 He goes hence frowning: but it honours us
1873 That we have given him cause.
Cloten
1874 'Tis all the better;
1875 Your valiant Britons have their wishes in it.
Cymbeline
1876 Lucius hath wrote already to the emperor
1877 How it goes here. It fits us therefore ripely
1878 Our chariots and our horsemen be in readiness:
1879 The powers that he already hath in Gallia
1880 Will soon be drawn to head, from whence he moves
1881 His war for Britain.
Queen
1882 'Tis not sleepy business;
1883 But must be look'd to speedily and strongly.
Cymbeline
1884 Our expectation that it would be thus
1885 Hath made us forward. But, my gentle queen,
1886 Where is our daughter? She hath not appear'd
1887 Before the Roman, nor to us hath tender'd
1888 The duty of the day: she looks us like
1889 A thing more made of malice than of duty:
1890 We have noted it. Call her before us; for
1891 We have been too slight in sufferance.
[Exit an Attendant]
Queen
1892 Royal sir,
1893 Since the exile of Posthumus, most retired
1894 Hath her life been; the cure whereof, my lord,
1895 'Tis time must do. Beseech your majesty,
1896 Forbear sharp speeches to her: she's a lady
1897 So tender of rebukes that words are strokes
1898 And strokes death to her.
[Re-enter Attendant]
Cymbeline
1899 Where is she, sir? How
1900 Can her contempt be answer'd?
Attendant
1901 Please you, sir,
1902 Her chambers are all lock'd; and there's no answer
1903 That will be given to the loudest noise we make.
Queen
1904 My lord, when last I went to visit her,
1905 She pray'd me to excuse her keeping close,
1906 Whereto constrain'd by her infirmity,
1907 She should that duty leave unpaid to you,
1908 Which daily she was bound to proffer: this
1909 She wish'd me to make known; but our great court
1910 Made me to blame in memory.
Cymbeline
1911 Her doors lock'd?
1912 Not seen of late? Grant, heavens, that which I fear
1913 Prove false!
[Exit]
Queen
1914 Son, I say, follow the king.
Cloten
1915 That man of hers, Pisanio, her old servant,
1916 have not seen these two days.
Queen
1917 Go, look after.
[Exit CLOTEN]
Queen
1918 Pisanio, thou that stand'st so for Posthumus!
1919 He hath a drug of mine; I pray his absence
1920 Proceed by swallowing that, for he believes
1921 It is a thing most precious. But for her,
1922 Where is she gone? Haply, despair hath seized her,
1923 Or, wing'd with fervor of her love, she's flown
1924 To her desired Posthumus: gone she is
1925 To death or to dishonour; and my end
1926 Can make good use of either: she being down,
1927 I have the placing of the British crown.
[Re-enter CLOTEN]
Queen
1928 How now, my son!
Cloten
1929 'Tis certain she is fled.
1930 Go in and cheer the king: he rages; none
1931 Dare come about him.
[Aside]
Queen
1932 All the better: may
1933 This night forestall him of the coming day!
[Exit]
Cloten
1934 I love and hate her: for she's fair and royal,
1935 And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite
1936 Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one
1937 The best she hath, and she, of all compounded,
1938 Outsells them all; I love her therefore: but
1939 Disdaining me and throwing favours on
1940 The low Posthumus slanders so her judgment
1941 That what's else rare is choked; and in that point
1942 I will conclude to hate her, nay, indeed,
1943 To be revenged upon her. For when fools Shall—
[Enter PISANIO]
Cloten
1944 Who is here? What, are you packing, sirrah?
1945 Come hither: ah, you precious pander! Villain,
1946 Where is thy lady? In a word; or else
1947 Thou art straightway with the fiends.
Pisanio
1948 O, good my lord!
Cloten
1949 Where is thy lady? Or, by Jupiter,—
1950 I will not ask again. Close villain,
1951 I'll have this secret from thy heart, or rip
1952 Thy heart to find it. Is she with Posthumus?
1953 From whose so many weights of baseness cannot
1954 A dram of worth be drawn.
Pisanio
1955 Alas, my lord,
1956 How can she be with him? When was she missed?
1957 He is in Rome.
Cloten
1958 Where is she, sir? Come nearer;
1959 No further halting: satisfy me home
1960 What is become of her.
Pisanio
1961 O, my all-worthy lord!
Cloten
1962 All-worthy villain!
1963 Discover where thy mistress is at once,
1964 At the next word: no more of 'worthy lord!'
1965 Speak, or thy silence on the instant is
1966 Thy condemnation and thy death.
Pisanio
1967 Then, sir,
1968 This paper is the history of my knowledge
1969 Touching her flight.
[Presenting a letter]
Cloten
1970 Let's see't. I will pursue her
1971 Even to Augustus' throne.
[Aside]
Pisanio
1972 Or this, or perish.
1973 She's far enough; and what he learns by this
1974 May prove his travel, not her danger.
Cloten
1975 Hum!
[Aside]
Pisanio
1976 I'll write to my lord she's dead. O Imogen,
1977 Safe mayst thou wander, safe return again!
Cloten
1978 Sirrah, is this letter true?
Pisanio
1979 Sir, as I think.
Cloten
1980 It is Posthumus' hand; I know't. Sirrah, if thou
1981 wouldst not be a villain, but do me true service,
1982 undergo those employments wherein I should have
1983 cause to use thee with a serious industry, that is,
1984 what villany soe'er I bid thee do, to perform it
1985 directly and truly, I would think thee an honest
1986 man: thou shouldst neither want my means for thy
1987 relief nor my voice for thy preferment.
Pisanio
1988 Well, my good lord.
Cloten
1989 Wilt thou serve me? for since patiently and
1990 constantly thou hast stuck to the bare fortune of
1991 that beggar Posthumus, thou canst not, in the
1992 course of gratitude, but be a diligent follower of
1993 mine: wilt thou serve me?
Pisanio
1994 Sir, I will.
Cloten
1995 Give me thy hand; here's my purse. Hast any of thy
1996 late master's garments in thy possession?
Pisanio
1997 I have, my lord, at my lodging, the same suit he
1998 wore when he took leave of my lady and mistress.
Cloten
1999 The first service thou dost me, fetch that suit
2000 hither: let it be thy lint service; go.
Pisanio
2001 I shall, my lord.
[Exit]
Cloten
2002 Meet thee at Milford-Haven!—I forgot to ask him one
2003 thing; I'll remember't anon:—even there, thou
2004 villain Posthumus, will I kill thee. I would these
2005 garments were come. She said upon a time—the
2006 bitterness of it I now belch from my heart—that she
2007 held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect
2008 than my noble and natural person together with the
2009 adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my
2010 back, will I ravish her: first kill him, and in her
2011 eyes; there shall she see my valour, which will then
2012 be a torment to her contempt. He on the ground, my
2013 speech of insultment ended on his dead body, and
2014 when my lust hath dined,—which, as I say, to vex
2015 her I will execute in the clothes that she so
2016 praised,—to the court I'll knock her back, foot
2017 her home again. She hath despised me rejoicingly,
2018 and I'll be merry in my revenge.
[Re-enter PISANIO, with the clothes]
Cloten
2019 Be those the garments?
Pisanio
2020 Ay, my noble lord.
Cloten
2021 How long is't since she went to Milford-Haven?
Pisanio
2022 She can scarce be there yet.
Cloten
2023 Bring this apparel to my chamber; that is the second
2024 thing that I have commanded thee: the third is,
2025 that thou wilt be a voluntary mute to my design. Be
2026 but duteous, and true preferment shall tender itself
2027 to thee. My revenge is now at Milford: would I had
2028 wings to follow it! Come, and be true.
[Exit]
Pisanio
2029 Thou bid'st me to my loss: for true to thee
2030 Were to prove false, which I will never be,
2031 To him that is most true. To Milford go,
2032 And find not her whom thou pursuest. Flow, flow,
2033 You heavenly blessings, on her! This fool's speed
2034 Be cross'd with slowness; labour be his meed!
[Exit]

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Notes

TLN 1851archaic vocab
“My emperor hath wrote, I must from hence”
'Hath wrote' is the Elizabethan past tense for 'has written.' The modern form would be 'has written.' In Shakespeare's grammar, the past participle of 'write' could still be 'wrote' rather than 'written,' an older form that survived into the seventeenth century.
TLN 1855historical topical
“Will not endure his yoke; and for ourself”
The 'yoke' Cymbeline refuses is the annual tribute owed to Rome since Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 55-54 BC. His phrase 'for ourself / To show less sovereignty than they' means: if his own subjects will not bend to Rome, he as king cannot appear less resolute than they are. The tribute dispute is the play's political engine.
historical Ancient Britain and the Roman tribute
TLN 1859historical topical
“A conduct over-land to Milford-Haven”
A 'conduct' is a safe escort — an armed guard to travel with. Lucius asks for protection on his overland journey to Milford Haven, the great harbour in west Wales, where he will sail back to Rome. Milford Haven is the destination nearly every character in this play converges on, and its name carried a resonance for Jacobean audiences as the landing-place of Henry Tudor in 1485.
historical Milford Haven
TLN 1866syntax grammar
“Receive it friendly; but from this time forth”
Cloten is shaking hands with Lucius ('Receive it friendly') while simultaneously declaring war: 'but from this time forth / I wear it as your enemy.' The antithesis is pointed — the handshake is performed with one meaning and instantly redefined. 'It' refers to his hand; 'wear it' means 'carry or bear it,' extending the metaphor of the hand-as-weapon to be carried against Rome.
TLN 1877archaic vocab
“It fits us therefore ripely”
'Fits us ripely' means 'suits us at exactly the right moment' — 'ripely' in the sense of 'opportunely' or 'at a mature point.' Cymbeline is saying that the war preparations should be made now, because events have reached a natural crisis-point, like fruit that is ripe and ready.
TLN 1880archaic vocab
“Will soon be drawn to head, from whence he moves”
'Drawn to head' means 'gathered together into a fighting force' — 'head' is a military term for a body of troops mustered for action. Cymbeline says the Roman forces currently in Gaul (France) will soon be concentrated into an army from which Lucius will launch the invasion of Britain.
TLN 1886archaic vocab
“hath not appear'd / Before the Roman, nor to us hath tender'd / The duty of the day”
'Tender'd' means 'offered' or 'presented' — it is a formal word for presenting something due (as in 'tendering a payment'). 'The duty of the day' is her daily formal attendance on the king, a court obligation. Cymbeline is angered that Imogen has not appeared before the Roman ambassador and has not performed the standard morning greeting owed by a royal daughter to her father.
TLN 1891archaic vocab
“We have been too slight in sufferance”
'Sufferance' here means 'tolerance' or 'forbearance' — allowing something to continue without punishment. Cymbeline says he has been too lenient ('too slight') in permitting Imogen's defiance. The phrase is a self-criticism: he should have acted sooner.
TLN 1896rhetorical device
“she's a lady / So tender of rebukes that words are strokes / And strokes death to her”
The Queen is using a graduated series — words, then strokes, then death — to argue that Imogen is so sensitive that harsh speech would itself be violence. The rhetorical figure is a climax (a chain in which each term is more extreme than the last), here used hypocritically: the Queen is protecting her stepdaughter from Cymbeline's wrath not out of care but to buy time while Imogen is absent.
TLN 1905archaic vocab
“She pray'd me to excuse her keeping close, / Whereto constrain'd by her infirmity”
'Keeping close' means staying confined to her rooms, not coming out in public. 'Constrain'd by her infirmity' means forced to do so by her illness. The Queen claims Imogen asked her to pass on an excuse for staying in her chamber, citing illness — a cover story the audience knows is false.
TLN 1919cultural context
“He hath a drug of mine; I pray his absence / Proceed by swallowing that, for he believes / It is a thing most precious”
The Queen gave Pisanio a drug she claimed was a valuable medicine — but which she believes is poison. She is hoping he has taken it and died, so that his absence from court is permanent. The drug is actually the soporific that Cornelius secretly substituted for her poison, and it will later counterfeit death in Imogen who drinks it in 4.2.
TLN 1925cultural context
“To death or to dishonour; and my end / Can make good use of either: she being down, / I have the placing of the British crown”
In this aside the Queen reveals her plan openly: if Imogen is dead, or publicly disgraced, then the Queen's son Cloten can be married to whoever holds the crown, and the Queen can control who becomes the next ruler of Britain. 'She being down' means Imogen being removed from the succession — either killed or dishonoured. 'The placing of the British crown' is pure usurpation-by-proxy.
TLN 1934rhetorical device
“I love and hate her: for she's fair and royal, / And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite / Than lady, ladies, woman”
Cloten's soliloquy is built around an oxymoron — 'I love and hate her' — then elaborates both halves. His description of Imogen as possessing 'all courtly parts more exquisite / Than lady, ladies, woman' is a compacted triple: she surpasses a single lady, the class of ladies generally, and womankind as a whole. The syntax escalates from individual to category to universal.
TLN 1944archaic vocab
“What, are you packing, sirrah? / Come hither: ah, you precious pander”
'Packing' means scheming or plotting — acting in conspiracy with others. Cloten suspects Pisanio of being complicit in Imogen's disappearance. 'Sirrah' is an address to a social inferior, sharper than 'sir' and often contemptuous or threatening. 'Pander' means a go-between or pimp — someone who arranges secret meetings between lovers. Cloten is accusing Pisanio of having facilitated Imogen's flight to Posthumus.
TLN 1949classical allusion
“Where is thy lady? Or, by Jupiter,— / I will not ask again”
Cloten swears 'by Jupiter,' the king of the Roman gods, to threaten Pisanio. Jupiter was the supreme Roman deity — god of sky, thunder, and oaths — and swearing by his name was the most solemn oath in the Roman world. The oath is particularly apt for a play whose British-Roman war will eventually be resolved by the god Jupiter descending in person in Act 5.
classical Jupiter, king of the gods
TLN 2009cultural context
“With that suit upon my / back, will I ravish her: first kill him, and in her / eyes”
Cloten plans to murder Posthumus in front of Imogen, then rape her while wearing Posthumus's own clothes — which Imogen once said she valued more than Cloten himself. The plan enacts both murder and sexual violence as a revenge for the insult to his pride. 'Ravish' means rape. The scheme underscores why Cloten is more than a comic villain: his cruelty is as systematic as the Queen's.
TLN 2029rhetorical device
“Thou bid'st me to my loss: for true to thee / Were to prove false, which I will never be, / To him that is most true”
Pisanio closes the scene with a paradox: being 'true' (loyal) to Cloten would make him 'false' (a traitor) to Posthumus, 'him that is most true.' The wordplay on 'true' / 'false' is deliberate — Pisanio's allegiance to genuine worth is itself the definition of truth. The speech also works as an ironic commentary: he has just agreed to serve Cloten while planning to do no such thing.