Wales. Before the Cave of Belarius.
 Enter, from the cave, BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, ARVIRAGUS, and INNOGEN.

Belarius	[To INNOGEN.] You are not well. Remain here in the cave;
	We'll come to you after hunting.

Arviragus								[To INNOGEN.] Brother, stay here.
	Are we not brothers?

Innogen								So man and man should be;
	But clay and clay differs in dignity,
	Whose dust is both alike. I am very sick.

Guiderius	Go you to hunting, I'll abide with him.

Innogen	So sick I am not, yet I am not well;
	But not so citizen a wanton as
	To seem to die ere sick. So please you, leave me,
	Stick to your journal course. The breach of custom
	Is breach of all. I am ill, but your being by me
	Cannot amend me. Society is no comfort
	To one not sociable. I am not very sick,
	Since I can reason of it. Pray you, trust me here;
	I'll rob none but myself; and let me die,
	Stealing so poorly.

Guiderius								I love thee; I have spoke it
	How much the quantity, the weight as much
	As I do love my father.

Belarius										What? How, how?

Arviragus	If it be sin to say so, sir, I yoke me
	In my good brother's fault. I know not why
	I love this youth, and I have heard you say
	Love's reason's without reason. The bier at door,
	And a demand who is't shall die, I'd say
	'My father, not this youth'.

Belarius								[Aside.] O noble strain!
	O worthiness of nature! Breed of greatness!
	Cowards father cowards and base things sire base.
	Nature hath meal and bran, contempt and grace.
	I'm not their father, yet who this should be
	Doth miracle itself, loved before me.
	[To ALL.] 'Tis the ninth hour o' the morn.

Arviragus											Brother, farewell.

Innogen	I wish ye sport.

Arviragus					You health. [To BELARIUS.] So please you, sir.
													[ARVIRAGUS, GUIDERIUS, and
													BELARIUS talk apart.
Innogen	[Aside.]
	These are kind creatures. Gods, what lies I have heard!
	Our courtiers say all's savage but at court.
	Experience, O thou disprov'st report!
	Th' imperious seas breed monsters; for the dish,
	Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish.
	I am sick still, heart-sick. Pisanio,
	I'll now taste of thy drug.
													[Swallowing the drug.

Guiderius										I could not stir him.
	He said he was gentle, but unfortunate;
	Dishonestly afflicted, but yet honest.

Arviragus	Thus did he answer me; yet said hereafter
	I might know more.

Belarius							To th' field, to th' field!
	[To INNOGEN.]
	We'll leave you for this time. Go in and rest.

Arviragus	We'll not be long away.

Belarius									Pray be not sick,
	For you must be our housewife.

Innogen											Well or ill,
	I am bound to you.

Belarius								And shalt be ever.
											[Exit INNOGEN into the cave.
	This youth, howe'er distressed, appears he hath had
	Good ancestors.

Arviragus						How angel-like he sings!

Guiderius	But his neat cookery! He cut our roots in characters,
	And sauced our broths, as Juno had been sick
	And he her dieter.

Arviragus								Nobly he yokes
	A smiling with a sigh, as if the sigh
	Was that it was for not being such a smile;
	The smile mocking the sigh that it would fly
	From so divine a temple to commix
	With winds that sailors rail at.

Guiderius											I do note
	That grief and patience, rooted in him both,
	Mingle their spurs together.

Arviragus										Grow patience,
	And let the stinking-elder, grief, untwine
	His perishing root with the increasing vine.

Belarius	It is great morning. Come, away! - Who's there?

            Enter CLOTEN, dressed in the clothes of Posthumus.

Cloten	I cannot find those runagates; that villain
	Hath mocked me. I am faint.

Belarius									'Those runagates?'
	Means he not us? I partly know him; 'tis
	Cloten, the son o'th' queen. I fear some ambush.
	I saw him not these many years, and yet.
	I know 'tis he. We are held as outlaws. Hence!

Guiderius	He is but one. You and my brother search
	What companies are near. Pray you, away;
	Let me alone with him.
										[Exeunt BELARIUS and ARVIRAGUS.

Cloten								Soft, what are you
	That fly me thus? Some villain mountaineers?
	I have heard of such. What slave art thou?

Guiderius											A thing
	More slavish did I ne'er than answering
	A slave without a knock.

Cloten									Thou art a robber,
	A law-breaker, a villain. Yield thee, thief!

Guiderius	To who? To thee? What art thou? Have not I
	An arm as big as thine, a heart as big?
	Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear not
	My dagger in my mouth. Say what thou art,
	Why I should yield to thee.

Cloten											Thou villain base,
	Know'st me not by my clothes?

Guiderius										No, nor thy tailor, rascal,
	Who is thy grandfather; he made those clothes,
	Which, as it seems, make thee.

Cloten											Thou precious varlet,
	My tailor made them not.

Guiderius									Hence then, and thank
	The man that gave them thee. Thou art some fool;
	I am loath to beat thee.

Cloten									Thou injurious thief,
	Hear but my name and tremble.

Guiderius											What's thy name?

Cloten	Cloten, thou villain.

Guiderius	Cloten, thou double villain, be thy name,
	I cannot tremble at it were it Toad, or Adder, Spider,
	'Twould move me sooner.

Cloten									To thy further fear,
	Nay, to thy mere confusion, thou shalt know
	I am son to th' queen.

Guiderius								I am sorry for't; not seeming
	So worthy as thy birth.

Cloten									Art not afeard?

Guiderius	Those that I reverence, those I fear - the wise;
	At fools I laugh, not fear them.

Cloten											Die the death.
	When I have slain thee with my proper hand
	I'll follow those that even now fled hence,
	And on the gates of Lud's Town set your heads.
	Yield, rustic mountaineer!
													[Exeunt fighting.

                     Re-enter BELARIUS and ARVIRAGUS.

Belarius	No companies abroad?

Arviragus	None in the world. You did mistake him, sure.

Belarius	I cannot tell. Long is it since I saw him,
	But time hath nothing blurred those lines of favour
	Which then he wore. The snatches in his voice
	And burst of speaking, were as his. I am absolute
	'Twas very Cloten.

Arviragus							In this place we left them.
	I wish my brother make good time with him,
	You say he is so fell.

Belarius									Being scarce made up,
	I mean to man, he had not apprehension
	Of roaring terrors; for defect of judgement
	Is oft the cause of fear.

                  Re-enter GUIDERIUS with CLOTEN's head.

											But see, thy brother.

Guiderius	This Cloten was a fool, an empty purse,
	There was no money in't. Not Hercules
	Could have knocked out his brains, for he had none.
	Yet I not doing this, the fool had borne
	My head as I do his.

Belarius								What hast thou done?

Guiderius	I am perfect what: cut off one Cloten's head,
	Son to the queen, after his own report,
	Who called me traitor, mountaineer, and swore
	With his own single hand he'd take us in,
	Displace our heads where - thank the gods! - they grow,
	And set them on Lud's Town.

Belarius											We are all undone.

Guiderius	Why, worthy father, what have we to lose
	But that he swore to take, our lives? The law
	Protects not us; then why should we be tender
	To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us,
	Play judge and executioner all himself,
	For we do fear the law? What company
	Discover you abroad?

Belarius									No single soul
	Can we set eye on; but in all safe reason
	He must have some attendants. Though his honour
	Was nothing but mutation, ay, and that
	From one bad thing to worse, not frenzy, not
	Absolute madness, could so far have raved
	To bring him here alone. Although perhaps
	It may be heard at court that such as we
	Cave here, hunt here, are outlaws, and in time
	May make some stronger head, the which he hearing-
	As it is like him - might break out and swear
	He'd fetch us in; yet is't not probable
	To come alone, either he so undertaking,
	Or they so suffering. Then on good ground we fear,
	If we do fear this body hath a tail
	More perilous than the head.

Arviragus											Let ordinance
	Come as the gods foresay it. Howsoe'er,
	My brother hath done well.

Belarius										I had no mind
	To hunt this day; the boy Fidele's sickness
	Did make my way long forth.

Guiderius											With his own sword,
	Which he did wave against my throat, I have ta'en
	His head from him. I'll throw't into the creek
	Behind our rock, and let it to the sea
	And tell the fishes he's the queen's son, Cloten.
	That's all I reck.
													[Exit.
Belarius								I fear 'twill be revenged.
	Would, Polydore, thou hadst not done't! Though valour
	Becomes thee well enough.

Arviragus										Would I had done't,
	So the revenge alone pursued me. Polydore,
	I love thee brotherly, but envy much
	Thou hast robbed me of this deed. I would revenges,
	That possible strength might meet, would seek us through
	And put us to our answer.

Belarius									Well, 'tis done.
	We'll hunt no more today, nor seek for danger
	Where there's no profit. I prithee, to our rock.
	You and Fidele play the cooks; I'll stay
	Till hasty Polydore return, and bring him
	To dinner presently.

Arviragus								Poor sick Fidele!
	I'll willingly to him. To gain his colour
	I'd let a parish of such Clotens' blood,
	And praise myself for charity.
													[Exit.
Belarius											O thou goddess,
	Thou divine Nature, thou thyself thou blazon'st
	In these two princely boys! They are as gentle
	As zephyrs blowing below the violet,
	Not wagging his sweet head; and yet as rough,
	Their royal blood enchafed, as the rud'st wind
	That by the top doth take the mountain pine
	And make him stoop to th' vale. 'Tis wonder
	That an invisible instinct should frame them
	To royalty unlearned, honour untaught,
	Civility not seen from other, valour
	That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop
	As if it had been sowed. Yet still it's strange
	What Cloten's being here to us portends,
	Or what his death will bring us.

                           Re-enter GUIDERIUS.

Guiderius											Where's my brother?
	I have sent Cloten's clotpoll down the stream,
	In embassy to his mother; his body's hostage
	For his return.
													[Solemn music.
Belarius							My ingenious instrument;
	Hark, Polydore, it sounds! But what occasion
	Hath Cadwal now to give it motion? Hark!

Guiderius	Is he at home?

Belarius							He went hence even now.

Guiderius	What does he mean? Since death of my dear'st mother
	It did not speak before. All solemn things
	Should answer solemn accidents. The matter?
	Triumphs for nothing and lamenting toys
	Is jollity for apes and grief for boys.
	Is Cadwal mad?

    Re-enter ARVIRAGUS, with INNOGEN as dead, bearing her in his arms.

Belarius								Look, here he comes,
	And brings the dire occasion in his arms
	Of what we blame him for.

Arviragus										The bird is dead
	That we have made so much on. I had rather
	Have skipped from sixteen years of age to sixty,
	To have turned my leaping-time into a crutch,
	Than have seen this.

Guiderius								O sweetest, fairest lily!
	My brother wears thee not one half so well
	As when thou grew'st thyself.

Belarius											O melancholy,
	Who ever yet could sound thy bottom, find
	The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare
	Mightst easiliest harbour in? Thou blessd thing!
	Jove knows what man thou mightst have made; but I,
	Thou died'st a most rare boy, of melancholy.
	How found you him?

Arviragus								Stark, as you see;
	Thus smiling, as some fly had tickled slumber,
	Not as death's dart being laughed at; his right cheek
	Reposing on a cushion.

Guiderius								Where?

Arviragus											O'th' floor,
	His arms thus leagued. I thought he slept, and put
	My clouted brogues from off my feet, whose rudeness
	Answered my steps too loud.

Guiderius										Why, he but sleeps.
	If he be gone, he'll make his grave a bed;
	With female fairies will his tomb be haunted,
	And worms will not come to thee.

Arviragus											With fairest flowers,
	Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
	I'll sweeten thy sad grave. Thou shalt not lack
	The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
	The azured harebell, like thy veins; no, nor
	The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
	Outsweetened not thy breath. The ruddock would
	With charitable bill - O bill, sore shaming
	Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie
	Without a monument! - bring thee all this,
	Yea, and furred moss besides. When flowers are none,
	To winter-ground thy corse-

Guiderius										Prithee, have done,
	And do not play in wench-like words with that
	Which is so serious. Let us bury him,
	And not protract with admiration what
	Is now due debt. To th' grave.

Arviragus										Say, where shall's lay him?

Guiderius	By good Euriphile, our mother.

Arviragus											Be't so;
	And let us, Polydore, though now our voices
	Have got the mannish crack, sing him to th' ground,
	As once our mother; use like note and words,
	Save that Euriphile must be Fidele.

Guiderius	Cadwal,
	I cannot sing. I'll weep, and word it with thee;
	For notes of sorrow, out of tune, are worse
	Than priests and fanes that lie.

Arviragus											We'll speak it then.

Belarius	Great griefs, I see, med'cine the less; for Cloten
	Is quite forgot. He was a queen's son, boys,
	And though he came our enemy, remember
	He was paid for that. Though mean and mighty rotting
	Together have one dust, yet reverence,
	That angel of the world, doth make distinction
	Of place 'tween high and low. Our foe was princely,
	And though you took his life as being our foe,
	Yet bury him as a prince.

Guiderius									Pray you, fetch him hither;
	Thersites' body is as good as Ajax',
	When neither are alive.

Arviragus									If you'll go fetch him,
	We'll say our song the whilst. Brother, begin.
													[Exit BELARIUS.

Guiderius	Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to th' east;
	My father hath a reason for't.

Arviragus										'Tis true.

Guiderius	Come on then, and remove him.

Arviragus											So. Begin.

                                   SONG

Guiderius			Fear no more the heat o'th' sun,
				Nor the furious winter's rages;
			Thou thy worldly task hast done,
				Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.
			Golden lads and girls all must,
			As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Arviragus			Fear no more the frown o'th' great,
				Thou art past the tyrant's stroke;
			Care no more to clothe and eat,
				To thee the reed is as the oak.
			The sceptre, learning, physic, must
			All follow this and come to dust.

Guiderius			Fear no more the lightning-flash,

Arviragus				Nor th' all-dreaded thunder-stone;

Guiderius			Fear not slander, censure rash,

Arviragus				Thou hast finished joy and moan.

Both			All lovers young, all lovers must
			Consign to thee and come to dust.

Guiderius			No exorciser harm thee!

Arviragus			Nor no witchcraft charm thee!

Guiderius			Ghost unlaid forbear thee!

Arviragus			Nothing ill come near thee!

Both			Quiet consummation have,
			And renownd be thy grave!

           Re-enter BELARIUS with the headless body of Cloten.

Guiderius	We have done our obsequies. Come, lay him down.

Belarius	Here's a few flowers, but 'bout midnight more.
	The herbs that have on them cold dew o'th' night
	Are strewings fitt'st for graves. Upon their faces.
	You were as flowers, now withered; even so
	These herblets shall, which we upon you strew.
	Come on, away, apart upon our knees.
	The ground that gave them first has them again;
	Their pleasures here are past, so is their pain.
						  [Exeunt BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS.

Innogen	[Awaking.] Yes, sir, to Milford Haven, which is the way?
	I thank you. By yond bush? Pray, how far thither?
	'Ods-pittikins, can it be six mile yet?
	I have gone all night; faith, I'll lie down and sleep.
	But soft, no bedfellow! O gods and goddesses!
												[Seeing the body of Cloten.
	These flowers are like the pleasures of the world;
	This bloody man the care on't. I hope I dream;
	For so I thought I was a cave-keeper,
	And cook to honest creatures. But 'tis not so;
	'Twas but a bolt of nothing shot at nothing,
	Which the brain makes of fumes. Our very eyes
	Are sometimes like our judgements, blind. Good faith,
	I tremble still with fear; but if there be
	Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity
	As a wren's eye, feared gods, a part of it!
	The dream's here still. Even when I wake, it is
	Without me as within me; not imagined, felt.
	A headless man? The garments of Posthumus?
	I know the shape of's leg; this is his hand;
	His foot Mercurial; his Martial thigh,
	The brawns of Hercules; but his Jovial face-
	Murder in heaven! How? 'Tis gone. Pisanio,
	All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks,
	And mine to boot, be darted on thee! Thou,
	Conspired with that irregulous devil, Cloten,
	Hast here cut off my lord. To write and read
	Be henceforth treacherous! Damned Pisanio
	Hath with his forgd letters - damned Pisanio-
	From this most bravest vessel of the world
	Struck the main-top. O Posthumus, alas,
	Where is thy head? Where's that? Ay me, where's that?
	Pisanio might have killed thee at the heart,
	And left this head on. How should this be, Pisanio?
	'Tis he and Cloten. Malice and lucre in them
	Have laid this woe here. O 'tis pregnant, pregnant!
	The drug he gave me, which he said was precious
	And cordial to me, have I not found it
	Murd'rous to th' senses? That confirms it home.
	This is Pisanio's deed, and Cloten. O,
	Give colour to my pale cheek with thy blood
	That we the horrider may seem to those
	Which chance to find us. O, my lord, my lord!
													[Faints across the body.

              Enter LUCIUS, A ROMAN CAPTAIN, other OFFICERS,
                        and A SOOTHSAYER, to them.

Captain	The legions garrisoned in Gallia,
	After your will, have crossed the sea, attending
	You here at Milford Haven with your ships.
	They are here in readiness.

Lucius										But what from Rome?

Captain	The senate hath stirred up the confiners
	And gentlemen of Italy, most willing spirits
	That promise noble service; and they come
	Under the conduct of bold Iachimo,
	Sienna's brother.

Lucius						When expect you them?

Captain	With the next benefit o'th' wind.

Lucius											This forwardness
	Makes our hopes fair. Command our present numbers
	Be mustered. Bid the captains look to't. Now, sir,
	What have you dreamed of late of this war's purpose?

Soothsayer	Last night the very gods showed me a vision-
	I fast and prayed for their intelligence - thus:
	I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, winged
	From the spongy south to this part of the west,
	There vanished in the sunbeams, which portends-
	Unless my sins abuse my divination-
	Success to th' Roman host.

Lucius										Dream often so,
	And never false.
													[Seeing the bodies.
							Soft, ho! What trunk is here
	Without his top? The ruin speaks that sometime
	It was a worthy building. How? A page,
	Or dead or sleeping on him? But dead rather;
	For nature doth abhor to make his bed
	With the defunct, or sleep upon the dead.
	Let's see the boy's face.

Captain										He's alive, my lord.

Lucius	He'll then instruct us of this body. Young one,
	Inform 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 altered that good picture? What's thy interest
	In this sad wreck? How came't? Who is't?
	What art thou?

Innogen						I am nothing; or if not,
	Nothing to be were better. This was my master,
	A very valiant Briton and a good,
	That here by mountaineers lies slain. Alas,
	There is no more such masters. I may wander
	From east to occident, cry out for service,
	Try many, all good; serve truly; never
	Find such another master.

Lucius										'Lack, good youth!
	Thou mov'st no less with thy complaining than
	Thy master in bleeding. Say his name, good friend.

Innogen	Richard du Champ. [Aside.] If I do lie and do
	No harm by it, though the gods hear, I hope
	They'll pardon it.
			[To LUCIUS.] Say you, sir?

Lucius										Thy name?

Innogen												Fidele, sir.

Lucius	Thou dost approve thyself the very same;
	Thy name well fits thy faith, thy faith thy name.
	Wilt take thy chance with me? I will not say
	Thou shalt be so well mastered, but, be sure,
	No less beloved. The Roman emperor's letters
	Sent by a consul to me should not sooner
	Than thine own worth prefer thee. Go with me.

Innogen	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 ha' strewed 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.

Lucius										Ay, good youth;
	And rather father thee than master thee.
	My friends,
	The boy hath taught us manly duties; let us
	Find out the prettiest daisied plot we can,
	And make him with our pikes and partisans
	A grave. Come, arm him. Boy, he is preferred
	By thee to us, and he shall be interred
	As soldiers can. Be cheerful, wipe thine eyes;
	Some falls are means the happier to arise.
													[Exeunt.
