SOURCE: Wickham, Glynne. “Riddle and Emblem: A Study in the Dramatic Structure of Cymbeline.” In English Renaissance Studies: Presented to Dame Helen Gardner in Honour of Her Seventieth Birthday, pp. 95-113. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.

In the following essay, Wickham relates images of the imperial eagle, Jupiter, the cedar tree, and military reparations in Cymbeline to the accession of James I to the English throne in 1603.

I know not by what fortune the dicton of Pacificus was added to my title at my coming to England, that of lion, expressing true fortitude, having been my dicton before. But I am not ashamed of this addition. For King Solomon was a figure of Christ in that he was a king of peace. The greatest gift that our Saviour gave his apostles immediately before His ascension was that he left His peace with them.¹

It will be my contention in...