How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #10
CYMBELINE
Stand by my side, you whom the gods have made
Preservers of my throne. Woe is my heart
That the poor soldier that so richly fought,
Whose rags shamed gilded arms, whose naked breast
Stepped before larges of proof, cannot be found (5.5.1-5)
We've come full circle by the end of the play: Cymbeline is now thankful to a peasant (Posthumus) for saving the throne. Isn't it funny how the fate of the kingdom was in the hands of a bunch of poor guys? Of course, we know Guiderius and Arviragus are actually princes (as is Posthumus, if you think about it), but Cymbeline doesn't know that. In the end, inner worth seems to triumph over social class.