Arv. 7 What should we speak of When we are as old as you? when we shall hear Bel. How you speak! Did you but know the city's ufuries, And felt them knowingly; the art o' the court, The fear's as bad as falling: the toil of the war, I' the name of fame and honour; which dies i' the fearch, And hath as oft a flanderous epitaph, As record of fair act; nay, many times What should we speak of] This dread of an old age, unfupplied with matter for difcourfe and meditation, is a fentiment natural and noble. No ftate can be more deftitute than that of him who, when the delights of fenfe forfake him, has no pleafures of the mind. JOHNSON. How you speak!] Otway feems to have taken many hints for the converfation that paffes between Acafto and his fons, from the fcene before us. STEEVENS. Shook Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves, And left me bare to weather. Guid. Uncertain favour! Bel. My fault being nothing (as I have told The fore-end of my time.-But, up to the mountain! And we will fear no poison, which attends In place of greater ftate. I'll meet you in the valleys. [Exeunt Guid. and Arv. How hard it is to hide the fparks of nature! These boys know little they are fons to the king; They think they are mine: and tho' train'd up thus meanly I' the cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hit The roof of palaces; and nature prompts them, I the cave, &c.] Mr. POPE reads, Here in the cave, wherein their thoughts do hit In but the fentence breaks off imperfectly. The old editions read, I' the cave, whereon the bow their thoughts do hit, &c. Mr. Rowe faw this likewife was faulty; and therefore amended it thus: I' the cave, where, on the bow, their thoughts do hit, &c. I think it should be only with the alteration of one letter, and the addition of another; I' the cave, there, on the brow,And fo the grammar and fyntax of the fentence is complete. We call the arching of a cavern, or everhanging of a bill, metaphorically, In fimple and low things, to prince it much metaphorically, the brow; and in like manner the Greeks and Latins ufed op, and fupercilium. THEOBALD. tho' train'd up thus meanly, I' the cave, THERE ON THE BROW, editions read, I' the cave whereon the brow ; -] The old which, though very corrupt, will direct us to the true reading; which, when rightly pointed, is thus, though train'd up thus meanly I' the cave wherein they bow i. e. Thus meanly brought up. Yet in this very cave, which is fo low that they must bow or bend in entering it, yet are their thoughts fo exalted, &c. This is the antithefis. Belarius had fpoken before of the lowness of this cave: A goodly day! not to keep house with fuch Whofe roof's as low as ours. See, boys! this gate HANMER reads, I' the cave, here in this brow. I think the reading is this: I' the cave, wherein the Bow, &c. That is, they are trained up in the cave, where their thoughts in hitting the bow, or arch of their habitation, hit the roofs of palaces. In other words, though their condition is low, their thoughts are high. The fentence is at last, as THEOBALD remarks, abrupt, but perhaps no lefs fuitable to Shakespeare. I know not whether Dr. WARBURTON'S conjecture be not better than mine. JOHNSON. This Polydore,] The old copy of this play (except in this first inftance, where it can be only a blunder of the printer) calls this eldest fon of Cymbeline, Polidore, as often as the name occurs. I have therefore replaced it. STEEVENS. Strains Strains his young nerves, and puts himself in pofture That acts my words. The younger brother Cadwal, (Once Arviragus) in as like a figure, Strikes life into my fpeech, and fhews much more At three and two years old 2 I ftole these babes; Thou reft'ft me of lands. Euriphile, my Thou waft their nurfe; they took thee for their mother, And every day do honour to her grave: Imo. Thou told'ft me, when we came from horse, the place Was near at hand. Ne'er long'd my mother fo To fee me first, as I have now. Pifanio! man! • Where is Pofthumus? What is in thy mind, 2 I ftole thefe babes ;] Shakespeare feems 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 fliloquy is very inartificial, there being no particular reafon why Belarius fhould now tell to himself what he could not know better by telling it. JOHNSON. I Where is Pofthumus?] Shakespeare's apparent ignorance of quantity is not the leaft, among many, proofs of his want of learning. Throughout this, play he calls Pofthumus, Pofthumus; and Arviragus, Arviragus. STEEVENS. That That makes thee ftare thus ? wherefore breaks that figh Into a 'haviour of lefs fear, ere wildness tongue My husband's hand! out-crafted him, -Speak, man; thy May take off fome extremity, which to read Pif. Please you, read; And you fhall find me, wretched man, a thing Imogen reads. THY miftrefs, Pifanio, hath play'd the ftrumpet in my bed, the teftimonies whereof lie bleeding in me. I speak not out of weak furmises; but from proof as strong as my grief, and as certain as I expect my revenge. That part thou, Pifanio, must act for me. If thy faith be not tainted with the breach of hers, let thine hands take away her life: I shall give thee opportunity at MilfordHaven. She bath my letter for the purpose; where, if thou fear to ftrike, and to make me certain it is done, thou art the pander to her difhonour, and equally t me difloyal. Pif. What fhall I need to draw my fword? the paper Hath cut her throat already.No, 'tis flander; drug-damn'd-] This is another allufion to Italian. poifons. JOHNSON. Whofe |