Authors: William Shakespeare
Calls
INNOGEN
What ho, Pisanio!
IACHIMO
Let me my service tender on your lips.
162
INNOGEN
Away, I do condemn mine ears that have
So long
attended
thee.
164
If thou wert honourable
Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue, not
For such an end thou seek’st, as base as strange.
Thou wrong’st a gentleman who is as far
From thy report as thou from honour, and
Solicit’st here a lady that disdains
Thee and the devil alike.— What ho, Pisanio!
The king my father shall be made acquainted
Of thy assault: if he shall think it fit,
A
saucy
stranger in his court to
mart
173
As in a
Romish stew
174
, and to expound
His beastly mind to
us
175
, he hath a court
He little cares for, and a daughter who
He not respects at all.— What ho, Pisanio!
IACHIMO
O happy Leonatus I may say,
The
credit
179
that thy lady hath of thee
Deserves thy trust, and thy most perfect goodness
Her assured credit. Blessèd live you long,
A lady to the worthiest sir that ever
Country called his; and you his mistress, only
For the most worthiest fit. Give me your pardon.
I have spoke this to know if your
affiance
185
Were deeply rooted, and shall make your lord
That which he is
new o’er
187
: and he is one
The
truest mannered
, such a
holy witch
188
That he enchants societies into him:
Half all men’s hearts are his.
INNOGEN
You make amends.
IACHIMO
He sits ’mongst men like a descended god;
He hath a kind of honour sets him off
More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry,
Most mighty princess, that I have adventured
To
try your taking
196
of a false report, which hath
Honoured with confirmation your great judgement
In the election of a sir so rare
198
,
Which you know cannot err. The love I bear him
Made me to
fan
200
you thus, but the gods made you,
Unlike all others,
chaffless.
201
Pray your pardon.
INNOGEN
All’s well, sir: take my power i’th’court for yours.
IACHIMO
My humble thanks. I had almost forgot
T’entreat your grace
but
204
in a small request,
And yet of
moment
205
too, for it concerns
Your lord: myself and other noble friends
Are partners in the business.
INNOGEN
Pray what is’t?
IACHIMO
Some dozen Romans of us and your lord —
The
best feather of our wing
— have
mingled sums
210
To buy a present for the emperor:
Which I, the
factor
212
for the rest, have done
In France: ’tis
plate
of
rare device
213
, and jewels
Of rich and exquisite form, their value’s great,
And I am
something curious
, being
strange
215
,
To have them in safe stowage: may it please you
To take them in protection?
INNOGEN
Willingly:
And
pawn
219
mine honour for their safety, since
My lord hath
interest
220
in them. I will keep them
In my bedchamber.
IACHIMO
They are in a trunk
Attended by my men: I will make bold
To send them to you, only for this night:
I must aboard tomorrow.
INNOGEN
O, no, no.
IACHIMO
Yes, I beseech: or I shall
short
227
my word
By length’ning my return. From
Gallia
228
I crossed the seas on purpose and on promise
To see your grace.
INNOGEN
I thank you for your pains:
But not away tomorrow.
IACHIMO
O, I must, madam.
Therefore I shall beseech you, if you please
To greet your lord with writing, do’t tonight.
I have
outstood
my time, which is
material
236
To th’
tender
237
of our present.
INNOGEN
I will write:
Send your trunk to me, it shall safe be kept,
And truly yielded you. You’re very welcome.
Exeunt
running scene 4
Enter Cloten and the two Lords
CLOTEN
Was there ever man had such luck? When I
kissed
1
the jack
upon an upcast
2
, to be hit away! I had a hundred
pound on’t: and then a whoreson
jackanapes
must
take me
3
up for swearing, as if I borrowed mine
oaths
of
4
him, and
might not
spend them at my pleasure.
5
FIRST LORD
What got he by that? You have broke his
pate
6
with
your bowl.
Aside
SECOND LORD
If his wit had been like him that broke it, it
8
would have run all out.
CLOTEN
When a
gentleman
10
is disposed to swear, it is not for
any standers-by to
curtail
11
his oaths. Ha?
Aside
SECOND LORD
No my lord.—
Nor crop the ears of them.
CLOTEN
Whoreson dog! I give him satisfaction? Would he
had been one of my
rank.
15
Aside
SECOND LORD
To have smelled like a fool.
CLOTEN
I am not vexed more at anything in th’earth:
a
pox
17
on’t! I had rather not be
so
18
noble as I am: they dare not fight
with me, because of the queen my mother: every
jack-slave
19
hath his bellyful of fighting, and I must go up and down like
a
cock
21
that nobody can match.
Aside
SECOND LORD
You are cock and
capon
22
too, and you crow,
cock, with your
comb
23
on.
CLOTEN
Sayest thou?
24
SECOND LORD
It is not fit your lordship should
undertake
25
every
companion
26
that you give offence to.
CLOTEN
No, I know that: but it is fit I should
commit offence
27
to my inferiors.
SECOND LORD
Ay, it is
fit for your lordship only.
29
CLOTEN
Why, so I say.
FIRST LORD
Did you hear of a stranger that’s come to court
tonight?
CLOTEN
A stranger, and I not know on’t?
Aside
SECOND LORD
He’s a strange fellow himself, and knows
it not.
FIRST LORD
There’s an Italian come, and ’tis thought one of
Leonatus’ friends.
CLOTEN
Leonatus? A banished rascal; and he’s another,
whatsoever
39
he be. Who told you of this stranger?
FIRST LORD
One of your lordship’s pages.
CLOTEN
Is it fit I went to look upon him? Is there no
derogation
42
in’t?
SECOND LORD
You cannot derogate
43
, my lord.
CLOTEN
Not easily, I think.
Aside
SECOND LORD
You are a fool granted, therefore your
issues
45
,
being foolish, do not derogate.
CLOTEN
Come, I’ll go see this Italian: what I have lost today
at bowls I’ll win tonight of him. Come, go.
SECOND LORD
I’ll attend your lordship.—
Exeunt
[
Cloten and First Lord
]
That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass: a woman that
Bears all down
52
with her brain, and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty,
for his heart
53
,
And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
Thou divine Innogen, what thou endur’st,
Betwixt
56
a father by thy stepdame governed,
A
mother
hourly
coining
57
plots, a wooer
More hateful than the foul
expulsion
58
is
Of thy dear husband, than that horrid act
Of the divorce
he’d make!
60
The heavens hold firm
The walls of thy dear honour, keep unshaked
That temple, thy fair mind, that thou mayst stand,
T’enjoy thy banished lord and this great land.
Exit
running scene 5
Enter Innogen in her bed, and a Lady
A trunk is brought in
INNOGEN
Who’s there? My woman Helen?
LADY
Please you, madam.
INNOGEN
What hour is it?
LADY
Almost midnight, madam.
INNOGEN
I have read three hours then: mine eyes are
weak.
5
Gives her the book
Fold down the
leaf
where I have
left
6
: to bed.
Take not away the
taper
7
, leave it burning:
And if thou canst awake by four o’th’clock,
I prithee call me.— Sleep hath seized me wholly.
[Exit Lady]
To your protection I commend me, gods,
From
fairies
and the
tempters of the night.
11
Guard me, beseech ye.
Sleeps
Iachimo from the trunk
IACHIMO
The
crickets sing
, and man’s
o’er-laboured sense
13
Repairs itself by rest.
Our Tarquin
14
thus
Did softly press the
rushes
,
ere
15
he wakened
The chastity he wounded.
Cytherea
16
,
How
bravely thou becom’st
thy bed; fresh
lily
17
,
And whiter than the sheets: that I might touch,
But kiss, one kiss!
Rubies
unparagoned
19
,
How
dearly
they
do’t!
20
’Tis her breathing that
Perfumes the chamber thus: the flame o’th’taper
Bows toward her, and would
underpeep her lids
22
To see th’enclosèd
lights
, now
canopied
23
Under these
windows
, white and
azure
laced
24
With blue of heaven’s own
tinct.
But my design
25
:
To note the chamber. I will write all down.
Writes
Such and such pictures, there the window, such
Th’adornment
of her bed; the
arras
,
figures
28
,
Why, such and such: and the
contents
29
o’th’story.
Ah, but some natural
notes
about
30
her body,
Above
ten thousand
meaner
movables
31
Would
testify t’enrich mine inventory.
32
O sleep, thou
ape
of death, lie
dull
33
upon her,
And be her
sense
but as a
monument
34
Thus in a chapel lying. Come off, come off;