Act 5, Scene 1

Britain. The Roman camp.

[Enter POSTHUMUS, with a bloody handkerchief]
Posthumus
2798 Yea, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee, for I wish'd
2799 Thou shouldst be colour'd thus. You married ones,
2800 If each of you should take this course, how many
2801 Must murder wives much better than themselves
2802 For wrying but a little! O Pisanio!
2803 Every good servant does not all commands:
2804 No bond but to do just ones. Gods! if you
2805 Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I never
2806 Had lived to put on this: so had you saved
2807 The noble Imogen to repent, and struck
2808 Me, wretch more worth your vengeance. But, alack,
2809 You snatch some hence for little faults; that's love,
2810 To have them fall no more: you some permit
2811 To second ills with ills, each elder worse,
2812 And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift.
2813 But Imogen is your own: do your best wills,
2814 And make me blest to obey! I am brought hither
2815 Among the Italian gentry, and to fight
2816 Against my lady's kingdom: 'tis enough
2817 That, Britain, I have kill'd thy mistress; peace!
2818 I'll give no wound to thee. Therefore, good heavens,
2819 Hear patiently my purpose: I'll disrobe me
2820 Of these Italian weeds and suit myself
2821 As does a Briton peasant: so I'll fight
2822 Against the part I come with; so I'll die
2823 For thee, O Imogen, even for whom my life
2824 Is every breath a death; and thus, unknown,
2825 Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril
2826 Myself I'll dedicate. Let me make men know
2827 More valour in me than my habits show.
2828 Gods, put the strength o' the Leonati in me!
2829 To shame the guise o' the world, I will begin
2830 The fashion, less without and more within.
[Exit]

Notes

TLN 2802archaic vocab
“For wrying but a little”
'Wrying' means going astray or swerving from the right path. Posthumus is saying that the wives of many husbands would be murdered if each husband ordered their deaths for 'straying but a little' from perfect fidelity — as he wrongly believed Imogen had done.
TLN 2812syntax grammar
“to the doers' thrift”
The passage runs: 'you some permit / To second ills with ills, each elder worse, / And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift.' 'Thrift' here means profit or benefit, and 'to the doers' thrift' is a compressed purpose-clause: the gods allow wrongdoers to compound sin upon sin, growing ever worse, and let them fear the consequences — for those doers' own ultimate good (i.e. so that they will eventually reform). Posthumus is reasoning that the gods have let him commit grievous wrong so he will become terrified of his own sinfulness.
TLN 2819historical topical
“disrobe me / Of these Italian weeds and suit myself / As does a Briton peasant”
'Weeds' is the Elizabethan word for clothes or garments (as in 'widow's weeds,' the mourning dress still used today). Posthumus arrived in Britain with the Roman army as an Italian gentleman; now he strips off that Italian clothing and redresses himself as a British peasant-soldier so he can fight on the British side against the Romans — and against his own gentry identity — in penance for what he believes he has done to Imogen.
historical Ancient Britain and the Roman tribute
TLN 2828cultural context
“the strength o' the Leonati in me”
Posthumus prays to the gods to fill him with the strength of 'the Leonati' — his dead family, whose surname he bears. His father Sicilius Leonatus was a brave British soldier who died in battle before Posthumus was born; his two elder brothers also died fighting for Britain. By invoking his ancestors by name Posthumus claims their martial courage as his birthright and dedicates his coming fight to their memory, preparing to die bravely.
TLN 2830rhetorical device
“The fashion, less without and more within”
Posthumus resolves to 'begin the fashion, less without and more within' — he will start a new custom of having fewer outward shows and more inner worth. 'Without' means outward appearance or external show; 'within' means inward character or virtue. It is an antithesis and the scene's closing moral: in his disguise as a peasant, and in his repentance, Posthumus is stripping away the surface (Italian finery, status, worldly pride) to find genuine courage and honesty underneath.