Here is the line-by-line paraphrase of Posthumus’s monologue from Cymbeline:

Original: Is there no way for men to be, but women
Modern: Is there no way for men to exist without women

Original: Must be half-workers? We are all bastards; all,
Modern: Having to be involved? We’re all illegitimate children, all of us,

Original: And that most venerable man which I
Modern: And that respected man whom I

Original: Did call my father was I know not where
Modern: Called my father was nowhere to be found

Original: When I was stamp’d; some coiner with his tools
Modern: When I was conceived; some faker with his equipment

Original: Made me a counterfeit; yet my mother seem’d
Modern: Made me a fraud; yet my mother seemed

Original: The Dian of that time; so doth my wife
Modern: Like the goddess Diana back then; just as my wife does

Original: The nonpareil of this. O! vengeance, vengeance;
Modern: The perfect example now. Oh! Revenge, revenge;

Original: Me of my lawful pleasure she restrain’d
Modern: She denied me my rightful pleasure as her husband

Original: And pray’d me oft forbearance; did it with
Modern: And often begged me to wait; she did it with

Original: A pudency so rosy the sweet view on ‘t
Modern: Such blushing modesty that the sweet sight of it

Original: Might well have warm’d old Saturn; that I thought her
Modern: Could have warmed up even cold old Saturn; so I thought she was

Original: As chaste as unsunn’d snow. O! all the devils!
Modern: As pure as snow that’s never seen sunlight. Oh! All the devils!

Original: This yellow Iachimo, in an hour,’was ‘t not?
Modern: This cowardly Iachimo, in just an hour, wasn’t it?

Original: Or less’at first?’perchance he spoke not, but
Modern: Or less at first? Maybe he didn’t even speak, but

Original: Like a full-acorn’d boar, a German one,
Modern: Like a well-fed boar, a German one,

Original: Cried ‘O!’ and mounted; found no opposition
Modern: Grunted and had sex with her; found no resistance

Original: But what he look’d for should oppose and she
Modern: Except what he expected would resist him and what she

Original: Should from encounter guard. Could I find out
Modern: Should have protected herself from. If only I could discover

Original: The woman’s part in me! For there’s no motion
Modern: The feminine part in me! Because there’s no impulse

Original: That tends to vice in man but I affirm
Modern: That leads men toward sin that I don’t declare

Original: It is the woman’s part; be it lying, note it,
Modern: Comes from the feminine side; whether it’s lying, mark this,

Original: The woman’s; flattering, hers; deceiving, hers;
Modern: That’s woman’s nature; flattery, that’s hers; deception, hers;

Original: Lust and rank thoughts, hers, hers; revenges, hers;
Modern: Sexual desire and dirty thoughts, hers, hers; revenge, hers;

Original: Ambitions, covetings, change of prides, disdain,
Modern: Ambition, greed, shifting vanities, scorn,

Original: Nice longing, slanders, mutability,
Modern: Delicate cravings, gossip, changeability,

Original: All faults that man may name, nay, that hell knows,
Modern: All sins that men can name, no, that hell itself knows,

Original: Why, hers, in part, or all; but rather, all;
Modern: Well, they’re hers, partly or completely; but really, completely;

Original: For even to vice
Modern: Because even when it comes to sin

Original: They are not constant, but are changing still
Modern: They’re not consistent, but are constantly changing

Original: One vice but of a minute old for one
Modern: Trading one sin that’s only a minute old for one

Original: Not half so old as that. I’ll write against them,
Modern: That’s not even half as old. I’ll write attacks against them,

Original: Detest them, curse them. Yet ‘tis greater skill
Modern: Hate them, curse them. But it shows greater cleverness

Original: In a true hate to pray they have their will:
Modern: In true hatred to pray that they get what they want:

Original: The very devils cannot plague them better.
Modern: Even the devils themselves couldn’t punish them more effectively.

In Act II, Scene 4 of Cymbeline, Posthumus meets with Iachimo in Rome, where Iachimo claims to have successfully seduced Imogen. As proof of his conquest, Iachimo presents Posthumus with Imogen’s bracelet, which he says she gave him willingly. When Posthumus expresses doubt, Iachimo provides further “evidence” by describing intimate details of Imogen’s bedchamber, including a mole on her breast that he claims to have observed during their supposed encounter.

Convinced by this fabricated evidence, Posthumus flies into a rage and believes Iachimo’s lies about his wife’s infidelity. He pays Iachimo the agreed-upon wager and vows revenge against Imogen for her perceived betrayal. Posthumus writes two letters: one to Pisanio instructing him to kill Imogen for her adultery, and another to Imogen herself, asking her to meet him at Milford Haven in Wales. The scene ends with Posthumus consumed by jealousy and determined to have his innocent wife murdered based on Iachimo’s deception.

Cymbeline tells the story of King Cymbeline of Britain, whose daughter Imogen secretly marries Posthumus Leonatus against her father’s wishes. Cymbeline banishes Posthumus to Rome, where he boasts of Imogen’s virtue and fidelity. The cunning Iachimo wagers that he can seduce Imogen and prove her unfaithful. When his direct attempts fail, Iachimo hides in a trunk in Imogen’s bedchamber, emerges while she sleeps, and steals her bracelet while noting intimate details of her body and room.

Returning to Rome with his false evidence, Iachimo convinces Posthumus that Imogen has been unfaithful. Enraged, Posthumus orders his servant Pisanio to kill Imogen. Instead, Pisanio reveals the plot to Imogen and helps her escape by disguising her as a young man named Fidele. She flees to the Welsh mountains, where she unknowingly encounters her long-lost brothers, Guiderius and Arviragus, who were kidnapped as infants and raised by the banished lord Belarius.

Meanwhile, Cymbeline’s evil Queen (Imogen’s stepmother) plots to poison Imogen and place her own son Cloten on the throne. Cloten pursues Imogen to Wales, where Guiderius kills him in combat. The Queen’s physician Cornelius has secretly given her a sleeping potion instead of poison, but when Imogen takes it believing it to be medicine, she falls into a death-like sleep beside Cloten’s headless corpse, whom she mistakes for Posthumus upon awakening.

The play culminates when Roman forces invade Britain. During the battle, the disguised Imogen serves the Romans while her unknown brothers and Belarius fight for Britain. After Britain’s victory, all deceptions are revealed: Iachimo confesses his lies, the Queen dies after admitting her evil plots, Imogen’s true identity and virtue are established, the royal brothers are restored to their father, and Posthumus and Imogen are reunited. Cymbeline makes peace with Rome and pardons all offenders.