SCENE II. The same. A public place. Cymbeline  Shakespeare homepage  |  Cymbeline  | Act 1, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE II. The same. A public place. 

 Enter CLOTEN and two Lords  First Lord  Sir, I would advise you to shift a shirt; the 

 violence of action hath made you reek as a 

 sacrifice: where air comes out, air comes in: 

 there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent. 

 CLOTEN  If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it. Have I hurt him? 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  No, 'faith; not so much as his patience. 

 First Lord  Hurt him! his body's a passable carcass, if he be 

 not hurt: it is a thoroughfare for steel, if it be not hurt. 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  His steel was in debt; it went o' the 

 backside the town. 

 CLOTEN  The villain would not stand me. 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  No; but he fled forward still, toward your face. 

 First Lord  Stand you! You have land enough of your own: but 

 he added to your having; gave you some ground. 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  As many inches as you have oceans. Puppies! 

 CLOTEN  I would they had not come between us. 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  So would I, till you had measured how long 

 a fool you were upon the ground. 

 CLOTEN  And that she should love this fellow and refuse me! 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  If it be a sin to make a true election, she 

 is damned. 

 First Lord  Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her brain 

 go not together: she's a good sign, but I have seen 

 small reflection of her wit. 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  She shines not upon fools, lest the 

 reflection should hurt her. 

 CLOTEN  Come, I'll to my chamber. Would there had been some 

 hurt done! 

 Second Lord  [Aside]  I wish not so; unless it had been the fall 

 of an ass, which is no great hurt. 

 CLOTEN  You'll go with us? 

 First Lord  I'll attend your lordship. 

 CLOTEN  Nay, come, let's go together. 

 Second Lord  Well, my lord. 



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