CYMBALINE – King of Britain
CLOTEN – Son to the Queen by a former husband
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS – a gentleman, husband to IMOGEN
BELARIUS – a banished lord, disguised under the name of MORGAN
GUIDERIUS, ARVIRAGUS – sons to CYMBELINE disguised under the names of POLYDORE and CADWEL, supposed sons to BELARIUS
PHILARIO – Italian friend to POSTHUMUS
IACHIMO – Italian friend to PHILARIO
A French gentleman, friend to PHILARIO
CAIUS LUCIUS – general of the Roman forces
A Roman captain
Two British captains
PISARIO – servant to POSTHUMUS
CORNELIUS – a physian
Two lords of CYMBELINE’S court
Two gentlemen of the same
Two gaolers
QUEEN – wife to CYMBELINE
IMOGEN – daughter to CYMBELINE by a former Queen
HELEN – woman to IMOGEN
Lords, ladies, Roman senators, tribunes, apparitions, a soothsayer, a Dutch gentleman, a Spanish gentleman, musicians, officers, captains, soldiers, messangers, and other attendants
PLAY
Sometimes in Britain; sometimes in Italy.
ACT I
Scene i: Britain. The garden behnd Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene ii: Britain. A public place.
Scene iii: Britain. A room in Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene iv: Rome. An apartment in Philario’s house.
Scene v: Britain. A room in Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene vi: Britain. Another room in the palace.
ACT II
Scene i: Britain. Court before Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene ii: Britain. Imogen’s bedchamber.
Scene iii: Britain. An ante-chamber adjoining Imogen’s apartment.
Scene iv: Rome. An apartment in Philario’s house.
Scene v: Rome. Another room in Philario’s house.
ACT III
Scene i: Britain. A room of state in Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene ii: Britain. Another room in the palace.
Scene iii: Wales. A mountainous country with a cave.
Scene iv: Wales. Near Milford-Haven.
Scene v: Britain. A room in Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene vi: Wales. Before the Cave of Belarius.
Scene vii: Rome. A public place
ACT IV
Scene i: Wales. The forest near the Cave of Belarius.
Scene ii: Wales. Before the cave.
Scene iii: Britain. A room in Cymbeline’s palace.
Scene iv: Wales. Before the cave.
ACT V
Scene i: Britain. A field between the British and Roman camps.
Scene ii: Britain. A field between the camps.
Scene iii: Britain. Another part of the field.
Scene iv: Britain. A prison.
Scene v: Britain. Cymbeline’s tent.
Act IV: Scene ii
BELARIUS: O thou goddess,
Thou divine nature, how 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 enchaf’d, as the rud’st wind
That by the top doth take the mountain pine,
And make him stoop to the vale. ‘Tis wonder
That an invisible instinct should frame them
To royalty unlearn’d; honour untaught;
Civility not seen from other; valour
That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop
As if it had been sow’d. Yet still it’s strange
What Cloten’s being here to us portends,
Or what his death will bring us.
