Original: So sure as you your father’s. I, old Morgan,
Modern: As surely as you are your father’s sons, I, old Morgan,

Original: Am that Belarius whom you sometime banish’d:
Modern: Am actually Belarius, the man you once exiled from your kingdom.

Original: Your pleasure was my mere offence, my punishment
Modern: Your whim was my only crime; my punishment

Original: Itself, and all my treason; that I suffer’d
Modern: Was itself my entire act of treason; the suffering I endured

Original: Was all the harm I did. These gentle princes—
Modern: Was all the wrong I ever committed. These noble young princes—

Original: For such and so they are—these twenty years
Modern: For that’s truly what they are—for these past twenty years

Original: Have I train’d up: those arts they have as I
Modern: I have raised and trained them. Whatever skills they possess are what I

Original: Could put into them; my breeding was, sir, as
Modern: Was able to teach them. My own upbringing was, sir, as

Original: Your highness knows. Their nurse, Euriphile,
Modern: Your majesty well knows. Their nursemaid, Euriphile,

Original: Whom for the theft I wedded, stole these children
Modern: Whom I married after the kidnapping, stole these children

Original: Upon my banishment: I moved her to’t,
Modern: When I was banished. I convinced her to do it,

Original: Having received the punishment before,
Modern: Having already been punished before

Original: For that which I did then: beaten for loyalty
Modern: For what I had done back then. Being punished for my loyalty

Original: Excited me to treason: their dear loss,
Modern: Drove me to commit treason. The painful loss of these boys,

Original: The more of you ‘twas felt, the more it shaped
Modern: The more deeply you felt it, the more it fulfilled

Original: Unto my end of stealing them. But, gracious sir,
Modern: My purpose in stealing them. But, merciful king,

Original: Here are your sons again; and I must lose
Modern: Here are your sons returned to you, and now I must give up

Original: Two of the sweet’st companions in the world.
Modern: The two sweetest companions I’ve ever known in this world.

Original: The benediction of these covering heavens
Modern: May the blessing of the heavens above

Original: Fall on their heads like dew! for they are worthy
Modern: Fall gently on them like dew! For they deserve

Original: To inlay heaven with stars.
Modern: To decorate heaven itself with stars.

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.