22 run … base play the rural children’s game of “prisoner’s base,” where players run between two opposing camps or bases and try to capture players on the other team
24 masks worn by women to protect their delicate complexions from the sun (preservation), or for modesty’s sake (shame)
26 Made good defended
27 harts male deer, plays on “hearts”
28 To … backwards to hell, damnation with those swift (fleet) souls who flee
29 that i.e. a fight
30 Like beasts with beastlike ferocity
30 beastly cowardly
31 frown i.e. anger, resolved to fight
32 Three … many as confident as if they were three thousand, and having the effect in their actions as if they were
33 file entire force (from front file to rear)
35 Accommodated aided
35 charming spellbinding
37 distaff spindle used in spinning wool, i.e. a housewife would have turned soldier at their example
37 gilded pale looks restored color to pale, cowardly faces
38 Part it was partly through
39 But by example only by imitating the first beginners (those who first began to flee)
40 ’gan … did began to turn and face the way they (Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus) did
41 grin i.e. bare their teeth, snarl
41 lions … o’th’hunters cornered lions, kept at bay with (rather than skewered by) the hunters’ spears
43 stop i’th’chaser halt on the part of the pursuer
43 retire retreat
43 anon at once
45 they … eagles they flee like chickens along the same path they swooped down (stooped) as eagles
45 slaves … made like slaves along the same path they strode as victors
47 Like … need like scraps of food, gathered up as a last resort on tough voyages at sea, which become the source of life in a time of desperate need
48 having … hearts i.e. the Romans had dropped their guard, making it easy for the British cowards to attack them (possibly literally means stab them in the heart through their backs) as they ran away
50 Some … twenty i.e. Britons who earlier were cut down, dying, trampled, cowardly (ten being chased by one Roman), are now all the killers of twenty Romans each
50 some … wave some of their friends knocked down in the previous attack/some who their friends knocked down in the previous retreat
53 or ere resist before they would fight back
53 are grown have now become
54 mortal bugs deadly terrors
54 o’th’field of the battlefield
57 wonder at it be amazed by it
59 work any perform any (wondrous deeds)
59 upon’t upon the subject, about it
60 vent utter, proclaim
60 for a mock’ry as a joke
61 twice a boy proverbial, “old men are twice children”
62 bane ruin
64 ’Lack … end? Alas, why should I get angry?
65 stand stand up to, face
66 made naturally inclined
67 fly my friendship run from my friendship (so I won’t have to put up with him anymore)
70 going running away
70 O noble misery what a miserable specimen of a noble/what a miserable state for one who is supposedly noble
72 honours reputations/titles
73 Took … do’t ran away to do it
74 too anyway
74 in … charmed protected, kept safe (as if by a magical spell) by my own misery
78 ministers agents
80 For … Briton Because he (death) now favors the Britons, I’ll no longer be a Briton
82 part role/side
83 veriest hind merest timid creature
83 hind female deer
84 touch my shoulder i.e. arrest me
85 made committed
85 Roman Romans
85 answer retribution, retaliation
85 be will be
87 either side i.e. dying for either the Britons or the Romans
87 spend use up/waste
88 keep preserve
88 bear again bear away again
92 silly habit simple rustic clothes (referring to Posthumus)
93 th’affront attack
97 seconds reinforcements
98 answered him supported him/acted as he did
100 A … return i.e. not even the smallest part of Rome shall return there
102 note high rank
103 You … pasture pastured animals had weights tied to one leg to prevent them escaping or being stolen
105 stomach appetite
109 Groan … perpetuity i.e. put up with the pain forever
111 T’unbar to unlock
112 shanks legs
113 The … bolt the means of penitence to release my conscience
114 Then … ever then (I shall be) free forever, i.e. in death
115 temporal worldly, as opposed to “heavenly”
116 Must I if I must
117 gyves fetters, chains
118 constrained forced (on me)
118 satisfy atone for my sins
119 If … part if it (atonement) is the most important element in freeing my conscience
120 render repayment
121 clement merciful
121 vile men general humanity, specifically, usurers, moneylenders
122 of from
122 broken debtors bankrupts, those who can no longer repay their debts
124 their abatement i.e. the little that’s left over by the creditors for the debtors to go on living
126 coined created, stamping it like a new coin
127 stamp coin
128 light underweight/morally deficient
128 pieces coins
128 figure’s sake the symbolic sake of the figure stamped on the coin
129 You … yours i.e. you should accept mine since yours is the image stamped onto it
130 audit account
131 bonds legal/mortal/literal, i.e. his fetters
133 thou thunder-master Jupiter, king of the gods, believed to have thunder and lightning at his command
134 flies i.e. people, whom the gods squash like flies
136 That who
137 rates scolds, berates/reckons
138 aught anything
141 Attending nature’s law i.e. staying the full nine months in the womb, according to nature
145 earth-vexing smart suffering that afflicts earthly, mortal men
146 Lucina Roman goddess of childbirth
147 took i.e. to death
147 in my throes while I was in labor
148 That so that
148 ripped i.e. born by cesarean section
152 stuff substance
155 When once when the time came that
155 mature for man i.e. grown to manhood
158 fruitful gifted, promising/producing love’s fruits
160 deem his dignity judge his worth
161 wherefore why
163 Leonati seat ancestral home of the Leonati (Britain)/family seat of the Leonati (family honor)
166 suffer allow
167 Slight worthless, contemptible
168 taint infect
170 geck dupe
172 stiller seats quieter resting places, i.e. the fields of Elysium (in classical mythology, a paradise inhabited by the good after death)
176 fealty loyalty (to a lord)
176 Tenantius’ right duty owed to Tenantius, Cymbeline’s father
178 Like hardiment similar deeds of valor
181 adjourned deferred, delayed
182 graces rewards
183 dolours sorrows
184 crystal transparent, like crystal
184 ope open
186 race breed/family
190 marble mansion i.e. the heavens
192 synod … rest assembly of the other gods
194 appeal i.e. to the other assembled gods, as in a tribunal
196 region low Elysium, which was below Jupiter’s palace on Mount Olympus
199 Sky-planted rooted in the heavens
200 Elysium classical equivalent of heaven
202 mortal accidents human events
205 delighted (the more) delighted (in)
207 well are spent are very nearly over/have been undergone to good effect
208 jovial star the planet Jupiter, supposed to bring good fortune, which was in the ascendant when Posthumus was born
212 tablet a single sheet, richly bound
213 confine enclose, contain
218 sulphurous it is very likely that small fireworks were used to create lightning effects which would have left a sulphurous smell
219 Stooped … us swooped down as if to seize us in its talons
220 sweet calm/sweet-smelling
221 Prunes preens, uses his beak to trim his feathers
221 claws his beak scratches his beak with his talons
222 As when because/whenever
224 marble pavement the floor of the heavens
226 behest command
229 O scorn what a bitter joke
230 so as
232 greatness’ favour the favor of powerful men at court
233 swerve digress/go astray
234 dream … deserve don’t dream of finding anything, and neither do they deserve to
237 A book i.e. the tablet
237 rare exceptional
238 fangled foppish, novelty-obsessed
239 effects contents
241 As … promise i.e. as good as they promise to be
242 Whenas when
242 whelp cub
243 piece creature, individual
243 tender air a false etymology for Latin mulier, meaning “woman”
245 jointed grafted
246 stock trunk
249 stuff nonsense
250 Tongue … not speak without comprehending the meaning
250 both i.e. a dream and madness
253 which i.e. the tablet
259 dish … shot the meal justifies its price
260 shot tavern bill
261 reckoning settlement
266 paid punished
267 heavier … light duller/sleepier as a result of being drunk (light-headed)
268 drawn of heaviness emptied of that which made it heavy i.e. money
268 Of from
269 contradiction being light and heavy i.e. drunk
269 you … quit you shall from now on be acquitted, freed
270 penny cord i.e. very cheap hangman’s rope
270 sums up pays the reckoning for/disposes of
270 in a trice instantly
271 debitor and creditor account book (referring to the headings of the two columns in a ledger)
272 discharge payment
272 counters tokens used for accounting
273 acquittance receipt
277 officer i.e. the hangman
280 death death’s-head—a skull
281 pictured depicted; death’s-heads usually have empty eyesockets
282 take upon them profess, claim
283 jump the after-inquiry hazard the final judgment
284 speed fare
285 on of
286 want lack
287 wink shut their eyes
289 mock jest
291 winking i.e. closing the eyes permanently
297 bolts manacles
300 prone eager (to go to the gallows)
301 verier truer
301 for all even though
304 there were desolation that would be the end of
305 profit source of income
306 preferment promotion, either because a world that didn’t need jailers and executions would afford better jobs, or there would be a reward in the afterlife
Act 5 Scene 4
3 richly nobly, profitably
4 naked unprotected (by armor)
5 Stepped before stood at the front of (the British)/stood in opposition to (the Romans)
5 targes of proof shields of proven strength
7 grace favor
13 searched sought
16 heir … reward inheritor of the reward I should have given to him
17 liver … brain believed to control passion, affection, and judgment respectively
18 grant acknowledge, affirm
19 of … are where you are from
21 Cambria Wales
21 are were
25 knights o’th’battle knights created on the battlefield (an especial honor)
26 fit supply
27 estates i.e. new rank as knights
28 business serious concern
42 trip me correct me/catch me out
46 Affected desired, longed for
46 by through
50 but if it weren’t for the fact that
51 opening revealing, disclosing
52 bore in hand pretended, professed
55 had Ta’en off would have destroyed
57 delicate beautiful/crafty, skillful
60 mortal mineral fatal poison
61 by the minute minute by minute
62 By … you consume you little by little
62 purposed intended
63 watching i.e. at your bedside by night
63 tendance attention
64 show pretense
65 fitted molded, shaped
66 th’adoption … crown i.e. becoming adopted heir to the crown
67 end purpose, design
68 opened revealed
76 Mine ears nor were mine ears
77 seeming appearance
77 had been vicious would have been reprehensible
80 feeling emotions/experience
82 razed out erased
83 made suit appealed
84 their i.e. those killed in battle
86 estate spiritual state
88 had … us had we been the victors
92 called named as/taken for
92 sufficeth it is enough that
94 think on’t i.e. consider a strategy (with the unspoken implication “and then revenge it”)
95 peculiar care personal concerns
99 tender … occasions sensitive to his master’s needs
100 feat deft, graceful
104 And even if you
106 favour face, countenance
107 looked … grace won my favor by your looks
109 Ne’er … master i.e. because I don’t even know why I’m sparing you myself, but it’s not due to his pleading on your behalf
111 state rank
120 shuffle shift, look out
122 briefly quickly
123 truth loyalty, fidelity
124 perplexed distressed
130 vassal subject
131 Am something nearer i.e. I am more closely connected to you by being a British subject
132 Wherefore … so? Why do you stare at him in that way?
145 eyes sees
145 forbear have patience
148 But … dead but we see him whom we know to be dead
158 Winnow separate, like grain from chaff
159 render declare, state
164 Thou’lt torture me i.e. if you had any idea what I have to say, you’d torture me
173 All … this everything relating to this matter
178 while nature will for as long as nature will have it/for the remainder of your natural life
179 ere before
183 viands food
184 heaved to head raised to my mouth
187 rar’st most exceptional
187 sadly soberly, reservedly
189 made barren rendered impotent
190 feature shape/comeliness/form of
face
190 laming crippling by comparison
191 shrine veneration, idolizing
191 Venus Roman goddess of love
191 straight-pight straight pitched, i.e. erect, upright in bearing
191 Minerva Roman goddess of arts and war
192 beyond surpassing
192 brief nature the brevity of mortal life
192 condition character, personality
193 shop storehouse
194 hook of wiving i.e. beauty which is bait for marriage
196 I … fire i.e. I am burning with impatience
197 matter point
201 hint cue/opportunity
205 mind put in’t described her character
206 cracked of boastfully uttered about
206 kitchen-trulls kitchen maids
206 trull wench/trollop
207 unspeaking sots fools/drunkards, incapable of articulate speech
208 to th’purpose get to the point
210 as Dian as though Diana (Roman goddess of chastity)
210 hot erotic, lustful
211 she i.e. Innogen
211 cold chaste
212 scruple doubt
215 In suit by courtship
219 carbuncle precious stone, mythical gem said to emit light in the dark
220 Of Phoebus’ wheel from the chariot wheel of Phoebus Apollo, the sun god
220 might so might have done so
221 of’s car of his chariot
222 Post hurry
224 Of by
227 duller Britain refers to the idea that cold, northern countries produced slower-witted people than those from the hot south
228 vantage profit, gain
230 simular simulated, specious
232 renown reputation
233 thus, and thus of this and that kind
233 averring affirming
237 cracked broken
238 forfeit that which is due when a contract is breached
242 anything any name, title
243 in being present
244 cord rope
245 justicer judge
246 ingenious masterly, skillful
247 th’abhorrèd the detested
247 amend make seem better
251 sacrilegious thief because he sacked the
251 temple that was Innogen
252 she herself i.e. virtue
254 bay bark at
256 Be … ’twas i.e. by comparing it with what I have done
260 Shall’s have shall we make
261 There … part play your part by lying on the ground
267 staggers giddiness, dizziness; a disease in animals which causes them to walk unsteadily
270 mortal earthly, human/deadly, fatal
275 tune voice
276 stones of sulphur thunderbolts
283 approve prove
284 confection mixture (drug)
285 for cordial as a restorative
289 temper mix, concoct