Act 5, Scene 2

A field between the two Camps.

[Alarum within. Enter, with drum and colours, Lear, Cordelia, and their Forces, and exeunt.]
[Enter Edgar and Gloster.]
Edgar
2983 Here, father, take the shadow of this tree
2984 For your good host; pray that the right may thrive:
2985 If ever I return to you again,
2986 I'll bring you comfort.
Gloucester
2987 Grace go with you, sir!
[Exit Edgar]
Gloucester
2988 .
[Alarum and retreat within. R-enter Edgar.]
Edgar
2989 Away, old man,—give me thy hand,—away!
2990 King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta'en:
2991 Give me thy hand; come on!
Gloucester
2992 No further, sir; a man may rot even here.
Edgar
2993 What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure
2994 Their going hence, even as their coming hither;
2995 Ripeness is all:—come on.
Gloucester
2996 And that's true too.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2983archaic vocab
“take the shadow of this tree For your good host”
"Host" here means lodging or shelter, not a person. Edgar tells the blind Gloucester to rest in the shade of the tree as if it were a safe house while the battle is fought nearby. The phrase 'good host' is concise: a decent sheltering place, nothing more.
TLN 2990historical topical
“King Lear hath lost, he and his daughter ta'en”
The battle fought offstage between Cordelia's French forces and the British army of Edmund, Goneril, and Regan has ended in defeat. Lear and Cordelia are both captured ('ta'en'). This is the play's military turning point: the French invasion — which arrived to rescue the old king — has failed, and the two characters whose reunion the second half of the play has worked toward are now prisoners.
historical King Leir and legendary Britain
TLN 2992cultural context
“a man may rot even here”
Gloucester is refusing to move, choosing passivity and death over continued survival. He tried to kill himself at Dover (4.6) and still has no desire to live. 'Rot' is bluntly physical: he means to stay until he dies and decays, caring nothing whether he endures. The line is comprehension-critical because it sets up Edgar's response and the 'Ripeness is all' speech.
historical Dover and the cliff
TLN 2993rhetorical device
“Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither; Ripeness is all”
Edgar's three-line argument: we have no choice about being born ('coming hither'), so we have no right to force the timing of death ('going hence') either — we must wait until we are ripe, meaning ready when the moment comes naturally. 'Ripeness' is a harvest image: fruit falls when it is ready, not before. The compressed logic answers Gloucester's death-wish by saying that enduring — simply continuing to live — is the only moral course when you cannot choose the hour of death.