III.iii.101 (223,2) I stole these babes] Shakespeare seems to intend Belarius for a good character, yet he makes him forget the injury which he has done to the young princes, whom he has robbed of a kingdom only to rob their father of heirs. — The latter part of this soliloquy is very inartificial, there being no particular reason why Belarius should now tell to himself what he could not know better by telling it.
III.iv.15 (224,2) drug-damn’d Italy] This is another allusion to Italian poisons.
III.iv.39 (225,4) Kings, queens, and states] Persons of highest rank.
III.iv.52 (225,6) Some jay of Italy,/Whose mother was her painting] Some jay of Italy, made by art the creature, not of nature, but of painting. In this sense painting may be not improperly termed her mother. (see 1765, VII, 325, 9)
III.iv.63 (226,7) So thou, Posthumus,/Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men] HANMER reads,
— lay the level —
without any necessity.
III.iv.97 (228,1) That now thou tir’st on] A hawk is said to tire upon that which he pecks; from tirer, French.
III.iv.104 (228,2)
I’ll wake mine eye-balls blind first.
Imo. Wherefore then]
This is the old reading. The modern editions for wake read break, and supply the deficient syllable by ah, wherefore. I read, I’ll wake mine eye-balls out first, or, blind, first.
III.iv.111 (228,3) To be unbent] To have thy bow unbent, alluding to a hunter.
III.iv.146 (229,4)
Now, if you could wear a mind
Dark as your fortune is, and but disguise
That, which, to appear itself, must not yet be,
But by self-danger]
To wear a dark mind, is to carry a mind impenetrable to the search of others. Darkness applied to the mind is secrecy, applied to the fortune is obscurity. The next lines are obscure. You must, says Pisanio, disguise that greatness, which, to appear hereafter in its proper form, cannot yet appear without great danger to itself. (see 1765, VII, 329, 6)
III.iv.149 (230,5) full of view] With opportunities of examining your affairs with your own eyes.
III.iv.155 (230,6) Though peril to my modesty, not death on’t,/I would adventure] I read,
Through peril —
I would for such means adventure through peril of my modesty; I would risque every thing but real dishonour.
III.iv.162 (230,7)
nay, you must
Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek;
Exposing it (but, oh, the harder heart!
Alack, no remedy)]
I think it very natural to reflect in this distress on the cruelty of Posthumus. Dr. WARBURTON proposes to read,
— the harder hap! —
III.iv.177 (231,8) which you’ll make him know] This is HANMER’s reading. The common books have it,
— which will make him know.
Mr. THEOBALD, in one of bit long notes, endeavours to prove, that it should be,
— which will make him so.
He is followed by Dr. WARBURTON.
III.iv.184 (231,9) we’ll even/All that good time will give us] We’ll make our work even with our time; we’ll do what time will allow.
III.v.71 (235,2)
And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite
Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one
The best she hath]
[The second line is intolerable nonsense. It should be read and pointed thus,
Than lady ladies; winning from each one.
WARBURTON.]
I cannot perceive the second line to be intolerable, or to be nonsense. The speaker only rises in his ideas. She has all courtly parts, says he, more exquisite than any lady, than all ladies, than all womankind. Is this nonsense?
III.v.101 (236,3) Pia. Or this, or perish] These words, I think, belong to Cloten, who, requiring the paper, says,
Let’s see’t: I will pursue her
Even to Augustus’ throne. Or this, or perish.
Then Pisanio giving the paper, says to himself,
She’s far enough, &c.
III.vi.12 (239,1) To lapse in fullness/Is sorer, than to lye for need] Is a greater, or heavier crime.
III.vi.23 (239,3) If any thing that’s civil, speak; if savage,/Take, or lend] [W: Take ‘or ‘t end.] I suppose the emendation proposed will not easily be received; it is strained and obscure, and the objection against Hanmer’s reading is likewise very strong. I question whether, after the words, if savage, a line be not lost. I can offer nothing better than to read,
— Ho! who’s here?
If any thing that’s civil, take or lend,
If savage, speak.
If you are civilised and peaceable, take a price for what I want, or lend it for a future recompence; if you are rough inhospitable inhabitants of the mountain, speak, that I may know my state.
III.vi.77 (242,4) then had my prize/Been less; and so more equal ballasting] HANMER reads plausibly, but without necessity, price, for prize, and balancing, for ballasting. He is followed by Dr. WARBURTON. The meaning is, Had I been a less prize, I should not have been too heavy for Posthumus.
III.vi.86 (243,5) That nothing-gift of differing multitudes] [T: deferring] He is followed by Sir T. HANMER and Dr. WARBURTON; but I do not see why differing may not be a general epithet, and the expression equivalent to the many-headed rabble.
III.vii.8 (244,2)
and to you, the tribunes,
For this immediate levy, he commands
His absolute commission]
The plain meaning is, he commands the commission to be given to you. So we say, I ordered the materials to the workmen.
IV.ii.10 (245,1) Stick to your journal course: the breach of custom/ Is breach of all] Keep your daily course uninterrupted; if the stated plan of life is once broken, nothing follows but confusion.
IV.ii.17 (246,2) How much the quantity] I read, As much the quantity. —
IV.ii.38 (247,3) I could not stir him] Not move him to tell his story.
IV.ii.39 (247,4) gentle, but unfortunate] Gentle, is well born, of birth above the vulgar.
IV.ii.59 (248,6) And let the stinking elder, Grief, untwine/ His perishing root, with the encreasing vine!] Shakespeare had only seen English vines which grow against walls, and therefore may be sometimes entangled with the elder. Perhaps we should read untwine from the vine.
IV.ii.105 (251,9) the snatches in his vice,/And burst of speaking] This is one of our author’s strokes of observation. An abrupt and tumultuous utterance very frequently accompanies a confused and cloudy understanding.
IV.ii.111 (251,1) for the effect of judgment/Is oft the cause of fear] HANMER reads, with equal justness of sentiment,
— for defect of judgment
Is oft the cure of fear. —
But, I think, the play of effect and cause more resembling the manner of our author.
IV.ii.118 (252,2) I am perfect, what] I am well informed, what. So in this play,
I’m perfect, the Pannonians are in arms.
IV.ii.121 (252,3) take us in] To take in, was the phrase in use for to apprehend an out-law, or to make him amenable to public justice.
IV.ii.148 (253,5) the boy Fidele’s sickness/Did make my way long forth] Fidele’s sickness made my walk forth from the cave tedious.
IV.ii.159 (254,6) revenges/That possible strength might meet] Such pursuit of vengeance as fell within any possibility of opposition.
IV.ii.168 (254,7) I’d let a parish of such Clotens blood] [W: marish] The learned commentator has dealt the raproach of nonsense very liberally through this play. Why this is nonsense, I cannot discover. I would, says the young prince, to recover Fidele, kill as many Clotens as would fill a parish.
IV.ii.246 (258,1) He was paid for that] HANMER reads,
He has paid for that: —
rather plausibly than rightly. Paid is for punished. So JONSON,
“Twenty things more, my friend, which you know due,
For
which, or pay me quickly, or I’ll pay you.”
(see 1765, VII, 356, 3)
IV.ii.247 (258,2) reverence,/(That angel of the world)] Reverence, or due regard to subordination, is the power that keeps peace and order in the world.
IV.ii.268 (259,4) The scepter, learning, physic, must/ All follow this, and come to dust] The poet’s sentiment seems to have been this. All human excellence is equally the subject to the stroke of death: neither the power of kings, nor the science of scholars, nor the art of those whose immediate study is the prolongation of life, can protect then from the final destiny of man. (1773)
IV.ii.272 (260,5) Fear not slander, censure rash] Perhaps, Fear not slander’s censure rash.
IV.ii.275 (260,6) Consign to thee] Perhaps, Consign to this. And in the former stanza, for all follow this, we might read, all follow thee.
IV.ii.280 (260,7) Both. Quiet consummation have;/ And renowned be thy grave!] For the obsequies of Fidele, a song was written by my unhappy friend, Mr. William Collins of Chichester, a man of uncommon learning and abilities. I shall give it a place at the end in honour of his memory.
IV.ii.315 (262,1) Conspired with] The old copy reads thus,
— thou
Conspir’d with that irregulous divel, Cloten.
I suppose it should be,
Conspir’d with th’ irreligious devil, Cloten.
IV.ii.346 (263,2) Last night the very gods shew’d me a vision] [W: warey] Of this meaning I know not any example, nor do I see any need of alteration. It was no common dream, but sent from the very gods, or the gods themselves.
IV.ii.363 (264,3)
who was he,
That, otherwise than noble nature did,
Hath alter’d that good figure?]
Here are many words upon a very slight debate. The sense is not much cleared by either critic [Theobald and Warburton]. The question is asked, not about a body, but a picture, which is not very apt to grow shorter or longer. 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.
IV.ii.389 (266,5) these poor pickaxes] Meaning her fingers.
IV.iii (266,1) 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.
IV.iii.22 (267,3) our jealousy/Does yet depend] My suspicion is yet undetermined; if I do not condemn you, I likewise have not acquitted you. We now say, the cause is depending.
IV.iii.29 (267,4) Your preparation can affront no less/Than what you hear of] Your forces are able to face such an army as we hear the enemy will bring against us.
IV.iii.44 (268,6) to the note o’ the king] I will so distinguish myself, the king shall remark my valour.
IV.iv.11 (269,1) a render/Where we have liv’d] An account of our place of abode. This dialogue is a just representation of the superfluous caution of an old man.
IV.iv.13 (269,2) That which we have done, whose answer would be death] The retaliation of the death of Cloten would be death, &c.
IV.iv.18 (269,3) their quarter’d fires] Their fires regularly disposed.
V.i (271,1) Enter Posthumus, with a bloody handkerchief] The bloody token of Imogen’s death, which Pisanio in the foregoing act determined to send.
V.i.1-33 (271,2) Yea, bloody cloth, I’ll keep thee] This is a soliloquy of nature, uttered when the effervescence of a mind agitated and perturbed spontaneously and inadvertently discharges itself in words. The speech, throughout all its tenor, if the last conceit be excepted, seems to issue warm from the heart. He first condemns his own violence; then tries to disburden himself, by imputing part of the crime to Pisanio; he next sooths his mind to an artificial and momentary tranquility, by trying to think that he has been only an instrument of the gods for the happiness of Imogen. He is now grown reasonable enough to determine, that having done so much evil he will do no more; that he will not fight against the country which he has already injured; but as life is not longer supportable, he will die in a just cause, and die with the obscurity of a man who does not think himself worthy to be remembered.
V.i.9 (271,3) to put on] Is to incite, to instigate.
V.i.14 (272,4) To second ills with ills, each elder worse] For this reading all the later editors have contentedly taken,
— each worse than other,
without enquiries whence they have received it. Yet they know, or might know, that it has no authority. The original copy reads,
— each elder worse,
The last deed is certainly not the oldest, but Shakespeare calls the deed of an elder man an elder deed.
V.i.15 (272,5) And make them dread it, to the doers’ thrift] [T: dreaded, to] This emendation ia followed by HANMER. Dr. WARBURTON reads, I know not whether by the printer’s negligence,
And make them dread, to the doers’ thrift.
There seems to be no very satisfactory sense yet offered. I read, but with hesitation,
And make them deeded, to the doers’ thrift.
The word deeded I know not indeed where to find; but Shakespeare has, in another sense undeeded, in Macbeth:
“ — my sword
“I sheath again undeeded.” —
I will try again, and read thus,
— others you permit
To second ills with ills, each other worse,
And make them trade it, to the doers’ thrift.
Trade and thrift correspond. Our author plays with trade, as it signifies a lucrative vocation, or a frequent practice. So Isabella says,
“Thy sins, not accidental, but a trade.”
V.i.16 (273,9) Do your best wills,/And make me blest to obey!] So the copies. It was more in the manner of our author to have written,
— Do your blest wills,
And make me blest t’ obey. —
V.iii.41 (276,3) A rout, confusion thick] [W: confusion-thick] I do not see what great addition is made to fine diction by this compound. Is it not as natural to enforce the principal event in a story by repetition, as to enlarge the principal figure in a figure?
V.iii.51 (276,4) bugs] Terrors.
V.iii.53 (277,5) Nay, do not wonder at it] [T: do but] There is no need of alteration. Posthumus first bids him not wonder, then tells him in another mode of reproach, that wonder is all that he was made for.
V.iii.79 (278,8) great the answer be] Answer, as once in this play before, is retaliation.
V.iii.87 (278,9) That gave the affront with them] That is, that turned their faces to the enemy.
V.iv.1 (279,1) You shall not now be stolen, you have locks upon you;/So, graze, as you find pasture] This wit of the gaoler alludes to the custom of putting a lock on a horse’s leg, when he is turned to pasture.
V.iv.27 (280,3) If you will take this audit, take this life,/And cancel those cold bonds] This equivocal use of bonds is another instance of our author’s infelicity in pathetic speeches.
V.iv.45 (281,5) That from me my Posthumus ript] The old copy reads,
That from me was Posthumus ript.
Perhaps we should read,
That from my womb Posthumus ript,
Came crying ‘mongst his foes.
V.iv.146 (284,7)
’Tis still a dream; or else such stuff, as madmen
Tongue, and brain not: either both or nothing:
Or senseless speaking, or a speaking such
As sense cannot untie. Be what it is,
The action of my life is like it]
The meaning, which is too thin to be easily caught, I take to be this: This is a dream or madness, or both — or nothing — but whether it be a speech without consciousness, as in a dream, or a speech unintelligible, as in madness, be it as it is, it is like my course of life. We might perhaps read,
Whether both, or nothing —
V.iv,164 (285,8) sorry that you have paid too much, and sorry that you are paid too much] Tavern bill
s, says the gaoler, are the sadness of parting, as the procuring of mirth — you depart reeling with too much drink; sorry that you have paid too much, and — what? sorry that you are paid too much. Where is the opposition? I read, And merry that you are paid so much. I take the second paid to be paid, for appaid, filled, satiated.
V.iv.171 (286,9) debtor and creditor] For an accounting book.
V.iv.188 (286,1) jump the after-enquiry] That is, venture at it without thought. So Macbeth,
“We’d jump the life to come.” (see 1765, VII, 382, 7)
V.v.9 (288,1) one that promis’d nought/But beggary and poor looks] To promise nothing but poor looks, may be, to give no promise of courageous behaviour.
V.v.88 (291,2) So feat] So ready; so dextrous in waiting.
V.v.93 (291,3) His favour is familiar to me] I am acquainted with his countenance.
V.v.120 (292,4) One sand another/Not more resembles. That sweet rosy lad] [W: resembles, than be th’ sweet] There was no great difficulty in the line, which, when properly pointed, needs no alteration.
V.v.203 (296,8) averring notes/Of chamber-hanging, pictures] Such marks of the chamber and pictures, as averred or confirmed my report.
V.v.220 (297,9) the temple/Of virtue was she; yea, and she herself] That is, She was not only the temple of virtue, but virtue herself.
V.v.233 (297,1) these staggers] This wild and delirious perturbation. Staggers is the horse’s apoplexy.
V.v.262 (298,2) Think, that you are upon a rock; and now/Throw me again] In this speech, or in the answer, there is little meaning. I suppose, she would say, Consider such another act as equally fatal to me with precipitation from a rock, and now let me see whether you will repeat it.
V.v.308 (300,3) By tasting of our wrath] [W: hasting] There is no need of change; the consequence is taken for the whole action; by tasting is by forcing us to make thee taste.
V.v.334 (301,5) Your pleasure was my near offence, my punishment,/ Itself, and all my treason] I think this passage may better be read thus,
Your pleasure was my dear offence, my punishment
Itself was all my treason; that I suffer’d,
Was all the harm I did. —
The offence which cost me so dear was only your caprice. My sufferings have been all my crime.
V.v.352 (302,6)
Complete Works of Samuel Johnson Page 564
