Enter LUCIUS, a Captain, and other Officers, and a Soothsayer. Cap. To them the legions garrison'd in Gallia. After your will, have cross'd the sea; attending You here at Milford-Haven, with your ships: They are here in readiness. Luc. But what from Rome? Cap. The senate hath stirr'd up the confiners, Luc. When expect you them? Cap. With the next benefit o' the wind. Luc. This forwardness Makes our hopes fair. Command, our present numbers Be muster'd; bid the captain look to 't.-Now sir, What have you dream'd, of late, of this war's purpose? Sooth. Last night the very gods show'd me a vision : 5 (I fast, and pray'd, for their intelligence,) Thus :I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, wing'd From the spongy south to this part of the west, There vanish'd in the sunbeams: which portends, (Unless my sins abuse my divination) Success to the Roman host. Dream often so, Luc. Sienna's brother] i. e. (as I suppose Shakspeare to have meant) brother to the Prince of Sienna: but, unluckily, Sienna was a republick. See W. Thomas's Historye of Italye, 4to. bl. l. 1561, p. 7, b. Steevens. 5 Last night the very gods show'd me a vision:] It was no common dream, but sent from the very gods, or the gods themselves. Johnson. 6 I fast and pray'd,] Fast is here very licentiously used for fasted. So, in the novel subjoined to this play, we find-lift for lifted. Malone. 7 the spongy south-] Milton has availed himself of this epithet, in his Masque at Ludlow Castle: 66 Thus I hurl My dazzling spells into the spungy air." Steevens. For nature doth abhor to make his bed Cap. He is alive, my lord. Luc. He'll then instruct us of this body.-Young one, nform us of thy fortunes; for, it seems, They crave to be demanded: Who is this, Thou mak'st thy bloody pillow? Or who was he, That, otherwise than noble nature did, Hath alter'd that good picture? What's thy interest Imo. I am nothing: or if not, That here by mountaineers lies slain:-Alas! Try many, all good, serve truly, never9 Find such another master. Luc. 'Lack, good youth! Thou mov'st no less with thy complaining, than That, otherwise than noble nature did, Hath alter'd that good picture?] To do a picture, and a picture is well done, are standing phrases; the question therefore is,Who has altered this picture, so as to make it otherwise than nature did it? Johnson. Olivia, speaking of her own beauty as of a picture, asks Viola if it "is not well done?" Again, in Chapman's version of the Iliad: Steevens. The golden scourge most elegantly done "He tooke, and mounted to his seate―. Fecit was, till lately, the technical term universally annexed to pictures and engravings. Henley. 9 Try many, all good, serve truly, never-] We may be certain that this line was originally complete. I would, therefore, for the sake of metre, read: Try many, and all good; serve truly, never &c. Steevens. 1 Richard du Champ,] Shakspeare was indebted for his modern names (which sometimes are mixed with ancient ones) as well as his anachronisms, to the fashionable novels of his time. In a col. lection of stories, entitled A Petite Palace of Pettie his Pleasure, -No harm by it, though the gods hear, I hope [Aside. They 'll pardon it. Say you, sir? Luc. Imo. Thy name? Fidele.2 Luc. Thou dost approve thyself the very same: Thy name well fits thy faith;3 thy faith, thy name. Wilt take thy chance with me? I will not say, Thou shalt be so well master'd; but, be sure, No less belov'd. The Roman emperor's letters, Sent by a consul to me, should not sooner Than thine own worth prefer thee: Go with me. Imo. I'll follow, sir. But, first, an 't please the gods, I'll hide my master from the flies, as deep As these poor pickaxes can dig: and when With wild wood-leaves and weeds I have strew'd his grave, And on it said a century of prayers, Such as I can, twice o'er, I 'll weep, and sigh; And, leaving so his service, follow you, So please you entertain me. Luc. Ay, good youth; 1576, I find the following circumstances of ignorance and absur dity. In the story of the Horatii and the Curiatii, the roaring of cannons is mentioned. Cephalus and Procris are said to be of the court of Venice; and "that her father wrought so with the duke, that this Cephatus was sent post in ambassage to the Turke.-Eriphile, after the death of her husband Amphiaraus, (the Theban prophet) calling to mind the affection wherein Don Infortunio was drowned towards her," &c. &c. Cannon-shot is found in Golding's version of Ovid's Metamorphoses, B. III. Steevens. This absurdity was not confined to novels. In Lodge's Wounds of Ciuill War, 1594, one of the directions is, "Enter Lucius Fauorinus, Pausanias, with Pedro a Frenchman," who speaks broken English; the earliest dramatick specimen of this sort of jargon now extant. Ritson. 2 Fidele.] Old copy-Fidele, sir; but for the sake of metre I have omitted this useless word of address, which has already occurred in the same line. Steevens. 3 Thy name well fits thy faith;] A similar thought has been already met with in King Henry V, where Pistol having announced his name, the King replies: "It sorts well with your fierceness." Steevens. 4 these poor pickaxes -] Meaning her fingers. Johnson. 5 So please you entertain me.] i. e. hire me; receive me unto your service. See Vol. III, p. 34, n. 6. Malone. And rather father thee, than master thee.- The boy hath taught us manly duties: Let us And make him with our pikes and partisans A grave: Come, arm him.7-Boy, he is preferr'd As soldiers can. Be cheerful; wipe thine eyes: SCENE III. A Room in Cymbeline's Palace. [Exeunt. Enter CYMBELINE, Lords, and PISANIO. Cym. Again; and bring me word, how 'tis with her. A fever with the absence of her son; A madness of which her life 's in danger:-Heavens, When fearful wars point at me; her son gone, 6 And make him with our pikes and partisans A grave] Surely the Roman troops had no pioneers among them; and how a grave could be made with such instruments as are here specified, our poet has not informed us. After all, a grave is not made; but Cloten is found lying on the surface of the earth, with the supposed remains of Imogen. Steevens. 7 arm him,] That is, Take him up in your arms. Hanmer. So, in Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen: Arm your prize, "I know you will not lose her." The prize was Emilia. Steevens. 8 Cymbeline's Palace.] This scene is omitted against all authority by Sir T. Hanmer. It is indeed of no great use in the progress of the fable, yet it makes a regular preparation for the next Act. Johnson. The fact is, that Sir Thomas Hanmer has inserted this supposed omission as the eighth scene of Act III. The scene which in Dr. Johnson's first edition is the eighth of Act III, is printed in a small letter under it in Sir T. Hanmer's, on a supposition that it was spurious. In this impression it is the third scene of Act IV, and that which in Dr. Johnson is the eighth scene of Act IV, is in this the seventh scene. Steevens. Who needs must know of her departure, and Pis. Sir, my life is yours, I humbly set it at your will: But, for my mistress, Good my liege, 1 Lord. For Cloten, There wants no diligence in seeking him, Cym. The time 's troublesome; We'll slip you for a season; but our jealousy [To Pis. 1 Lord. Of Roman gentlemen, by the senate sent. Cym. Now for the counsel of my son, and queen!-- 9 And will,] I think it should be read-And he'll. Steevens. There are several other instances of the personal pronoun be. ing omitted in these plays, beside the present, particularly in King Henry VIII, nor is Shakspeare the only writer of that age that takes this liberty. So, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 793, edit. 1631:"- after that he tooke boat at Queen Hith, and so came to his house; where missing the afore named counsellors, fortified his house with full purpose to die in his own defence." Again, in the Continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle, 1543: "Then when they heard that Henry was safe returned into Britagne, rejoyced not a little." Again, in Anthony Wood's Diary, ad. ann. 1652: “One of these, a most handsome virgin,-kneel'd down to Thomas Wood, with tears and prayers to save her life and being strucken with a deep remorse, tooke her under his arme, went with her out of the church," &c. See also King Lear, Act II, sc. iv, note on-"Having more man than wit about me, drew." Malone. 1. our jealousy Does yet depend] My suspicion is yet undetermined; if I da not condemn you, I likewise have not acquitted you. We now say, the cause is depending. Johnson. |