Back to main page
Cymbeline - Act 2, scene 1
Cite
Download Cymbeline
Last updated: Fri, Jul 31, 2015
- PDF Download as PDF
- DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) without line numbers Download as DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) without line numbers
- DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) with line numbers Download as DOC (for MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, etc.) with line numbers
- HTML Download as HTML
- TXT Download as TXT
- XML Download as XML
- TEISimple XML (annotated with MorphAdorner for part-of-speech analysis) Download as TEISimple XML (annotated with MorphAdorner for part-of-speech analysis)
Navigate this work
Cymbeline - Act 2, scene 1Act 2, scene 1
Scene 1
Synopsis:
Cloten and two lords discuss the arrival of Iachimo. The Second Lord, in soliloquy, expresses the hope that Imogen will remain safe and that she and Posthumus will one day rule in Britain.
Enter Cloten and the two Lords.CLOTEN 0837 Was there ever man had such luck? When I
0838 kissed the jack, upon an upcast to be hit away? I
0839 had a hundred pound on ’t. And then a whoreson
0840 jackanapes must take me up for swearing, as if I
0841 5 borrowed mine oaths of him and might not spend
0842 them at my pleasure.
FIRST LORD 0843 What got he by that? You have broke his
0844 pate with your bowl.
SECOND LORD, ⌜aside⌝ 0845 If his wit had been like him that
0846 10 broke it, it would have run all out.
CLOTEN 0847 When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is
0848 not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths, ha?
SECOND LORD 0849 No, my lord, (⌜aside⌝) nor crop the ears
0850 of them.
CLOTEN 0851 15Whoreson dog! I gave him satisfaction. Would
0852 he had been one of my rank.
SECOND LORD, ⌜aside⌝ 0853 To have smelled like a fool.
CLOTEN 0854 I am not vexed more at anything in th’ Earth.
0855 A pox on ’t! I had rather not be so noble as I am.
0856 20 They dare not fight with me because of the Queen
0857 my mother. Every jack-slave hath his bellyful of
0858 fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock
0859 that nobody can match.
p.
65
SECOND LORD, ⌜aside⌝
0860
You are cock and capon too, and0861 25 you crow cock with your comb on.
CLOTEN 0862 Sayest thou?
SECOND LORD 0863 It is not fit ⌜your⌝ Lordship should undertake
0864 every companion that you give offense to.
CLOTEN 0865 No, I know that, but it is fit I should commit
0866 30 offense to my inferiors.
SECOND LORD 0867 Ay, it is fit for your Lordship only.
CLOTEN 0868 Why, so I say.
FIRST LORD 0869 Did you hear of a stranger that’s come to
0870 court ⌜tonight⌝?
CLOTEN 0871 35A stranger, and I not know on ’t?
SECOND LORD, ⌜aside⌝ 0872 He’s a strange fellow himself and
0873 knows it not.
FIRST LORD 0874 There’s an Italian come, and ’tis thought
0875 one of Leonatus’ friends.
CLOTEN 0876 40Leonatus? A banished rascal; and he’s another,
0877 whatsoever he be. Who told you of this stranger?
FIRST LORD 0878 One of your Lordship’s pages.
CLOTEN 0879 Is it fit I went to look upon him? Is there no
0880 derogation in ’t?
SECOND LORD 0881 45You cannot derogate, my lord.
CLOTEN 0882 Not easily, I think.
SECOND LORD, ⌜aside⌝ 0883 You are a fool granted; therefore
0884 your issues, being foolish, do not derogate.
CLOTEN 0885 Come, I’ll go see this Italian. What I have lost
0886 50 today at bowls I’ll win tonight of him. Come, go.
SECOND LORD 0887 I’ll attend your Lordship.
⌜Cloten and First Lord⌝ exit.
0888 That such a crafty devil as is his mother
0889 Should yield the world this ass! A woman that
0890 Bears all down with her brain, and this her son
0891 55 Cannot take two from twenty, for his heart,
0892 And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
0893 Thou divine Imogen, what thou endur’st,
0894 Betwixt a father by thy stepdame governed,
p.
67
0895
A mother hourly coining plots, a wooer0896 60 More hateful than the foul expulsion is
0897 Of thy dear husband, than that horrid act
0898 Of the divorce he’d make! The heavens hold firm
0899 The walls of thy dear honor, keep unshaked
0900 That temple, thy fair mind, that thou mayst stand
0901 65 T’ enjoy thy banished lord and this great land.
He exits.