Original: Consider, sir, the chance of war: the day
Modern: Think about it, sir - war is unpredictable: today’s victory

Original: Was yours by accident; had it gone with us,
Modern: Was yours by luck; if we had won instead,

Original: We should not, when the blood was cool, have threaten’d
Modern: We would not have threatened, once our anger had cooled,

Original: Our prisoners with the sword. But since the gods
Modern: Our prisoners with death. But since the gods

Original: Will have it thus, that nothing but our lives
Modern: Want it this way, that only our lives

Original: May be call’d ransom, let it come: sufficeth
Modern: Can be called payment for our freedom, so be it: it’s enough

Original: A Roman with a Roman’s heart can suffer:
Modern: That a Roman with a Roman’s courage can endure this:

Original: Augustus lives to think on’t: and so much
Modern: Augustus will live to remember this: and that’s all

Original: For my peculiar care. This one thing only
Modern: I care about for myself. Only this one thing

Original: I will entreat; my boy, a Briton born,
Modern: I will beg of you; my servant boy, born in Britain,

Original: Let him be ransom’d: never master had
Modern: Let him be freed: no master ever had

Original: A page so kind, so duteous, diligent,
Modern: A page so kind, so obedient, so hardworking,

Original: So tender over his occasions, true,
Modern: So gentle in his duties, so faithful,

Original: So feat, so nurse-like: let his virtue join
Modern: So skillful, so caring: let his goodness combine

Original: With my request, which I make bold your highness
Modern: With my plea, which I dare hope your highness

Original: Cannot deny; he hath done no Briton harm,
Modern: Cannot refuse; he has done no harm to any Briton,

Original: Though he have served a Roman: save him, sir,
Modern: Even though he has served a Roman: spare him, sir,

Original: And spare no blood beside.
Modern: And don’t spare anyone else’s life.

Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 5: Summary

This final scene of Cymbeline brings together all the play’s scattered characters at the British court, where Cymbeline has captured the Roman prisoners following Britain’s victory. The scene opens with Cymbeline knighting Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus for their bravery in battle, though he does not yet know their true identities. Cornelius enters with news that the Queen has died, confessing on her deathbed that she never loved Cymbeline, planned to poison him, and only wanted to advance Cloten’s position. Cymbeline then questions the Roman prisoners, including Lucius and the disguised Imogen (still dressed as Fidele). When Imogen sees Iachimo wearing the ring Posthumus gave her, she demands to know how he obtained it, prompting Iachimo’s full confession of his deception and wager with Posthumus.

The revelations cascade rapidly as identities are disclosed and misunderstandings resolved. Posthumus reveals himself and strikes Imogen when she approaches him, not recognizing her in her disguise, but Pisanio identifies her as the Princess. Imogen and Posthumus reconcile, and she learns that the medicine she took was not poison but a sleeping potion, explaining her apparent death. Belarius then reveals that Guiderius and Arviragus are actually Cymbeline’s long-lost sons, stolen as infants, which explains Guiderius’s earlier killing of Cloten. The soothsayer Philharmonus interprets his earlier vision, connecting it to the reunited family and the peace between Britain and Rome. Despite Britain’s military victory, Cymbeline agrees to resume paying tribute to Rome as a gesture of peace, and he pardons all the prisoners. The play concludes with Cymbeline calling for a celebration of the peace and the miraculous reunions.

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.