Music.

Enter the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.

PER. See where she comes, apparel'd like the spring,

Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Her face the book of praiess, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever ras'd, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.

You gods that made me man, and sway in love,
That have inflam'd desire in my breast
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,
Or die in the adventure, be my helps,
As I am son and servant to your will,
To compass such a boundless happiness!
ANT. Prince Pericles-

*

PER. That would be son to great Antiochus.
ANT. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd,
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard:
Her face, like heav'n, enticeth thee to view
Her countless glory, which desert must gain:
And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
Yon sometime famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,
Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance
pale,

That, without covering, save yon field of stars,(1)
Here they stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist
For going on death's net, whom none resist.

PER. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught My frail mortality to know itself,

And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must:
For death remember'd should be like a mirror,
Who tells us, life's but breath, to trust it, error.
I'll make my will then; and, as sick men do,
Who know the world, see heaven," but feeling woe,
Gripe not at earthly joys, as erst they did;
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as every prince should do;
My riches to the earth from whence they came ;-
But my unspotted fire of love to you.

[To the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.

HE READS THE RIDDLE.

"I am no viper, yet I feed

On mother's flesh which did me breed :
I sought a husband, in which labour
I found that kindness in a father:
He's father, son, and husband mild,
I mother, wife, and yet his child.
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live, resolve it you."

Sharp physic is the last: but O, you powers!
That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,
If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?
Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still,
[Takes the hand of the Princess.
Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill:
But I must tell you,-now, my thoughts revolt,
For he's no man on whom perfections wait,
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You're a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heav'n down, and all the gods to
hearken;

But being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime:
Good sooth, I care not for you.

ANT. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life, For that 's an article within our law,

As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expir'd; Either expound now, or receive your sentence.

PER. Great king,

Few love to hear the sins they love to act;
'T would 'braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He's more secure to keep it shut, than shown:
For vice repeated 's like the wandering wind,
Blows dust in others' eyes, to spread itself;

Read the conclusion then;] In the old copies these lines are thus arranged:

"I wayt the sharpest blow (Antiochus),

Scorning advice: read the conclusion then:
Which read," &c.

d Of all 'say'd yet, &c.] That is, Of all who have yet assay'd.

e How they may be,-] In Wilkins' novel, "How this may be," which is probably the genuine reading.

And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear
To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole
casts

Copp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng'da

By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth die for't.

Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's their will,

And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill? It is enough you know; and it is fit,

What being more known grows worse, to smother it.

All love the womb that their first being bred, Then give my tongue like leave to love my head. ANT. [Aside.] Heaven, that I had thy head! he has found the meaning!

a To tell the earth is throng'd-] That is, oppressed, or shrunk. So in Act II. Sc. 1:-"A man throng'd up."

But I will gloze with him. Young prince of
Tyre,

Though by the tenour of our* strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,

As

We might proceed to cancel† of your days;
Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
your fair self, doth tune us otherwise :
Forty days longer we do respite you,
If by which time our secret be undone,
This mercy shows we'll joy in such a son:
And until then your entertain shall be,
As doth befit our honour, and your worth.

[Exeunt all but PERICLES.
PER. How courtesy would seem to cover sin,
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight!
If it be true that I interpret false,

Then were it certain you were not so bad,

As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
Where now you're both a father and a son,
By your untimely claspings with your child,
(Which pleasure fits an husband, not a father,)
And she an eater of her mother's flesh,
By the defiling of her parent's bed;

And both like serpents are, who though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night,

Will shun* no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, another doth provoke ;
Murder's as near to lust, as flame to smoke.
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame :
Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear,
By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. [Exit.
Re-enter ANTIOCHUS.

ANT. He hath found the meaning, for which

b Partakes-] Imparts.

Enter Pericles.] The first quarto has here, "Enter Pericles and his Lords;" and after Pericles' speech, which certainly reads like a soliloquy, it has another stage-direction, "Enter all the Lords to Pericles." The other old copies have only the first direction; but we must not infer from that, the lords entered at the same time as the Prince. Nothing is more common in early plays than to have the entrance of all the characters who are to take part in a scene indicated at the beginning of it.

PER. [To those without.] Let none disturb us. Why should this change of thoughts? The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy, By me so us'd a guest, as not an hour, In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night, (The tomb where grief should sleep,) can breed me quiet.

Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them,

And danger, which I feared, is at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here;
Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.
Then it is thus; the passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by mis-dread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done,
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.
And so with me;-the great Antiochus,—
'Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he's so great, can make his will his act,-
Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence;
Nor boots it me to say I honour him,*

If he suspect I may dishonour him:
And what may make him blush in being known,
He'll stop the course by which it might be known;
With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land,
And with th' ostent of war will look so huge,
Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
Our men be vanquish'd ere they do resist,
And subjects punish'd, that ne'er thought offence:

2 LORD. And keep your mind till you return to Peaceful and comfortable!

HEL. Peace, peace, and give experience tongue: They do abuse the king that flatter him, For flattery is the bellows blows up sin; 'The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;

Whereas reproof, obedient, and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.
When signior Sooth here doth proclaim at peace,
He flatters you, makes war upon your life.
Prince, pardon me, or strike me if you please;
I cannot be much lower than my knees.
PER. All leave us else; but let
your cares o'erlook
What shipping and what lading's in our haven,
And then return to us. [Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus,
thou

Hast moved us; what seest thou in our looks?

HEL. An angry brow, dread lord.

PER. If there be such a dart in princes' frowns, How durst thy tongue move anger to our face? HEL. How dare the plants look up to heaven, from whence They have their nourishment? PER. To take thy life from thee.

HEL.

Thou know'st I have power

I have ground the axe myself;

Do you but strike the blow.
PER.
Rise, pr'ythee, rise :
Sit down, thou art no flatterer;
I thank thee for it; and heaven forbid,
That kings should let their ears hear their faults
hid! b

Fit counsellor, and servant for a prince,
Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant,

(*) Old copies, once; corrected by Farmer.
(†) Old editions omit, a.

a To which that blast gives heat, &c.] The old copies have "that sparke," a word caught by the compositor from the preceding line. Blast, a judicious emendation, was proposed by Mason.

b That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid!] Thus the old editions; the meaning appearing to be, as Holt White explained it, "Forbid it, heaven, that kings should suffer their ears to hear their failings palliated." Mr. Dyce, however, whose excellent edition of the poet's works has been published while the sheets of this play are preparing for press, conceives that let bears here its old signification to hinder, and reads,―

To bear with patience

What wouldst thou have me do?
HEL.
Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself.
PER. Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus;
That minister'st a potion unto me,

That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me then; I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death,
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an issue I might propagate,
Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;
The rest (hark in thine ear) as black as incest;
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father,
Seem'd not to strike, but smooth: but thou know'st
this,

'Tis time to fear, when tyrants seem to kiss.
Which fear so grew in me, I hither fled,
Under the covering of a careful night,
Who seem'd my good protector: and, being here,
Bethought me what was past, what might succeed;
I knew him tyrannous, and tyrants' fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years:
And should he doubt it, (as no doubt he doth,)
That I should open to the listening air,
How many worthy princes' bloods were shed,
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,-
To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms,
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call't,† offence,
Must feel war's blow, who spares not inuocence:
Which love to all-of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov'st me for it-

HEL.

Alas, sir!

PER. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks,

Musings into my mind, with thousand doubts
How I might stop this tempest ere it came;
And finding little comfort to relieve them,
I thought it princely charity to grieve them.
HEL. Well, my lord, since you have given me
leave to speak,

Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,
And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by public war, or private treason,
Will take away your life.

Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot;

Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life: Your rule direct to any; if to me,

Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be.
PER. I do not doubt thy faith;

But should he wrong my liberties in my absenceHEL. We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth,

From whence we had our being and our birth.
PER. Tyre, I now look from thee, then, and to
Tharsus

Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee;
And by whose letters I'll dispose myself.
The care I had and have of subjects' good,
On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it.
I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath;
Who shuns not to break one, will sure crack both:
But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe,
That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince,
Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The same. An Ante-chamber in the Palace.

Enter THALIARD.

THAL. So, this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I kill king Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be hanged at home: 't is dangerous. - Well, I perceive, he was a wise fellow, and had good discretion, that, being bid to ask what he would of the king, desired he might know none of his secrets.(3) Now do I see he had some reason for it: for if a king bid a man be a villain, he is bound by the indenture of his oath to be one. Hush! here come the lords of Tyre.

Enter HELICANUS, ESCANES, and other Lords.
HEL. You shall not need, my fellow-peers of
Tyre,

Further to question me of your king's departure:
His seal'd commision, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently, he's gone to travel.
THAL. [Aside.] How! the king gone!
HEL. If further yet you will be satisfied,
Why, as it were unlicens'd of your loves,
He would depart, I'll give some light unto you.
Being at Antioch-

(*) Quarto 1609, will; that of 1619, we.

a But since he's gone, the king it sure must please-] More corruption! Of the text of this play, Malone well observes: "There is, I believe, no play of our author's, perhaps I might say, in the English language, so incorrect as this. The most corrupt of Shakespeare's other dramas, compared with Pericles, is purity itself." In the old copies, the line above reads:

"But since he's gone, the king's seas must please,"

THAL. [Aside.] What from Antioch?
HEL. Royal Antiochus (on what cause I know
not)

Took some displeasure at him; at least he judg'd so:
And doubting lest he had err'd or sinned,
To show his sorrow, he'd correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.
THAL. [Aside.] Well, I perceive

I shall not be hang'd now, although I would;
But since he's gone, the king it sure must please
He 'scap'd the land, to perish at the sea.-
I'll present myself. Peace to the lords of Tyre!
HEL. Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
THAL. From him I come

With message unto princely Pericles;

b

But since my landing I have understood,
Your lord hath betook himself to unknown travels,
My message must return from whence it came.
HEL. We have no reason to desire it,
Commended to our master, not to us:
Yet ere you shall depart, this we desire,—
As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.
[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-Tharsus. A Room in the
Governor's House.

Enter CLEON, DIONYZA, and Attendants.

CLE. My Dionyza, shall we rest us here,
And by relating tales of others' griefs,
See if 't will teach us to forget our own?

Dro. That were to blow at fire in hope to quench it;

For who digs hills because they do aspire,
Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher.
O my distressed lord, even such our griefs are;
Here they're but felt, unseen* with mischief's eyes,
But like to groves, being topp'd, they higher rise.
CLE. O Dionyza,

Who wanteth food, and will not say he wants it,
Or can conceal his hunger till he famish?
Our tongues and sorrows do sound deep
Our woes into the air; our eyes do weep,
Till lungs fetch breath that may proclaim them
louder ;

That if heaven slumber while their creatures want,
They may awake their helps to comfort them.

(*) Old editions, and seen.

(t) Old copies, tongues; corrected by Steevens. (1) Old copies, helpers.

which Malone interprets,

"Must do their pleasure!"

We adopt, as a make-sense, the emendation of Percy, though with little confidence.

b But since my landing-] That is, "But as since my landing,"

&c.