Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
Act 3 - Scene 2
Another room in the palace.
Pisanio : How? of adultery? Wherefore write you not
[p]What monster's her
accuser? Leonatus,
[p]O master! what a strange infection
[p]Is fall'n
into thy ear! What false Italian,
[p]As poisonous-tongued as handed,
hath prevail'd
[p]On thy too ready hearing? Disloyal! No:
[p]She's
punish'd for her truth, and undergoes,
[p]More goddess-like than
wife-like, such assaults
[p]As would take in some virtue. O my
master!
[p]Thy mind to her is now as low as were
[p]Thy fortunes. How!
that I should murder her?
[p]Upon the love and truth and vows which
I
[p]Have made to thy command? I, her? her blood?
[p]If it be so to do
good service, never
[p]Let me be counted serviceable. How look
I,
[p]That I should seem to lack humanity
[p]so much as this fact
comes to?
[p][Reading]
[p]'Do't: the letter
[p]that I have sent her,
by her own command
[p]Shall give thee opportunity.' O damn'd
paper!
[p]Black as the ink that's on thee! Senseless bauble,
[p]Art
thou a feodary for this act, and look'st
[p]So virgin-like without?
Lo, here she comes.
[p]I am ignorant in what I am commanded.
Imogen : How now, Pisanio!
Pisanio : Madam, here is a letter from my lord.
Imogen : Who? thy lord? that is my lord, Leonatus!
[p]O, learn'd indeed were
that astronomer
[p]That knew the stars as I his characters;
[p]He'ld
lay the future open. You good gods,
[p]Let what is here contain'd
relish of love,
[p]Of my lord's health, of his content, yet
not
[p]That we two are asunder; let that grieve him:
[p]Some griefs
are med'cinable; that is one of them,
[p]For it doth physic love: of
his content,
[p]All but in that! Good wax, thy leave. Blest be
[p]You
bees that make these locks of counsel! Lovers
[p]And men in dangerous
bonds pray not alike:
[p]Though forfeiters you cast in prison,
yet
[p]You clasp young Cupid's tables. Good news,
gods!
[p][Reads]
[p]'Justice, and your father's wrath, should he take
me
[p]in his dominion, could not be so cruel to me, as
[p]you, O the
dearest of creatures, would even renew me
[p]with your eyes. Take
notice that I am in Cambria,
[p]at Milford-Haven: what your own love
will out of
[p]this advise you, follow. So he wishes you
all
[p]happiness, that remains loyal to his vow, and
your,
[p]increasing in love,
[p]LEONATUS POSTHUMUS.'
[p]O, for a horse
with wings! Hear'st thou, Pisanio?
[p]He is at Milford-Haven: read,
and tell me
[p]How far 'tis thither. If one of mean affairs
[p]May
plod it in a week, why may not I
[p]Glide thither in a day? Then, true
Pisanio,--
[p]Who long'st, like me, to see thy lord; who
long'st,--
[p]let me bate,-but not like me--yet long'st,
[p]But in a
fainter kind:--O, not like me;
[p]For mine's beyond beyond--say, and
speak thick;
[p]Love's counsellor should fill the bores of
hearing,
[p]To the smothering of the sense--how far it is
[p]To this
same blessed Milford: and by the way
[p]Tell me how Wales was made so
happy as
[p]To inherit such a haven: but first of all,
[p]How we may
steal from hence, and for the gap
[p]That we shall make in time, from
our hence-going
[p]And our return, to excuse: but first, how get
hence:
[p]Why should excuse be born or e'er begot?
[p]We'll talk of
that hereafter. Prithee, speak,
[p]How many score of miles may we well
ride
[p]'Twixt hour and hour?
Pisanio : One score 'twixt sun and sun,
[p]Madam, 's enough for
you:
[p][Aside]
[p]and too much too.
Imogen : Why, one that rode to's execution, man,
[p]Could never go so slow: I
have heard of
[p]riding wagers,
[p]Where horses have been nimbler than
the sands
[p]That run i' the clock's behalf. But this is
foolery:
[p]Go bid my woman feign a sickness; say
[p]She'll home to
her father: and provide me presently
[p]A riding-suit, no costlier
than would fit
[p]A franklin's housewife.
Pisanio : Madam, you're best consider.
Imogen : I see before me, man: nor here, nor here,
[p]Nor what ensues, but have
a fog in them,
[p]That I cannot look through. Away, I prithee;
[p]Do
as I bid thee: there's no more to say,
[p]Accessible is none but
Milford way.
Previous: Act 3 - Scene 1
Next: Act 3 - Scene 3
