Enter Posthumus alone, wearing Roman garments and
carrying a bloody cloth. POSTHUMUS
Yea, bloody cloth, I’ll keep thee, for I wished
Thou shouldst be colored thus. You married ones,
If each of you should take this course, how many
Must murder wives much better than themselves
For wrying but a little! O Pisanio, 5
Every good servant does not all commands;
No bond but to do just ones. Gods, if you
Should have ta’en vengeance on my faults, I never
Had lived to put on this; so had you saved
The noble Imogen to repent, and struck 10
Me, wretch more worth your vengeance. But, alack,
You snatch some hence for little faults; that’s love,
To have them fall no more; you some permit
To second ills with ills, each elder worse,
And make them dread it, to the doers’ thrift. 15
But Imogen is your own. Do your best wills,
And make me blest to obey. I am brought hither
Among th’ Italian gentry, and to fight
Against my lady’s kingdom. ’Tis enough
That, Britain, I have killed thy mistress. Peace, 20
I’ll give no wound to thee. Therefore, good heavens,
Hear patiently my purpose. I’ll disrobe me
Of these Italian weeds and suit myself
As does a Briton peasant. So I’ll fight
Against the part I come with; so I’ll die 25
For thee, O Imogen, even for whom my life
Is every breath a death. And thus, unknown,
Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril
Myself I’ll dedicate. Let me make men know
More valor in me than my habits show. 30
Gods, put the strength o’ th’ Leonati in me.
To shame the guise o’ th’ world, I will begin
The fashion: less without and more within. He exits. | At the Roman camp, Posthumus enters and talks to a bloody cloth. We're not kidding, folks: he got it from Pisanio as "proof" of Imogen's death. Posthumus feels really bad about Imogen's death. He wishes his servant wouldn't have obeyed him. Posthumus tells us that he's been roped into fighting against the British because he's a Roman resident. Well, forget that: Posthumus doesn't want to live with any regrets, so he swaps out his Roman uniform for a British one. That way, he won't have to fight against his homeland.
Posthumus hopes he can be strong and valiant on the battlefield. |