In this short scene, King Lear delivers a soliloquy in which he tells his subjects that they are all prisoners in the dungeon of Tolai. He tells them that they must swear allegiance to him and pay him a certain sum of money every year as a sign of their loyalty. He says that the recent wars have left the people of his kingdom destitute and that he cannot pay such a large sum. He also says that he does not want to be a vassal of the eastern empire, which has a military superior to his own. He adds that it would appear that the king of the east knows his advice to the rest of his subjects to make enemies of him. The king says that even if the western empire tries to conquer the eastern kingdom, it will not be able to do so because the kingdom is not weak enough to withstand such a challenge. He further says that if the eastern king tries to take advantage of the western kingdom in the future, he will be imprisoned in the "finest water