One fin, I know, another doth provoke;
Murder's as near to luft, as flame to smoke.
Poifon and treason are the hands of fin,
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,3 for the which

we mean

To have his head.

He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,

Nor tell the world, Antiochus doth fin

In fuch a loathed manner:

And therefore instantly this prince must die;

For by his fall my honour must keep high.

Who attends on us there?

was suggested by these lines in a subsequent scene, which appear to me strongly to support this emendation :

"And what may make him blush in being known, "He'll stop the course by which it might be known." We might read Schew for eschew, if there were any instance of fuch an abbreviation being used.

The expreffion is here, as in many places in this play, elliptical: for wisdom fees, that those who do not blush to commit actions blacker than the night, will not Shun any course in order to preserve them from being made publick. MALONE.

2-to keep you clear,] To prevent any fufpicion from falling on you. So, in Macbeth:

- always thought, that I
"Require a clearness." MALONE.

3 He hath found the meaning,] So, in Twine's book : "Apollonius prince of Tyre hath found out the solution of my question; wherefore take shipping" &c. STEEVENS.

THAL.

Enter THALIARD.4

Doth your highness call?

ANT. Thaliard, you're of our chamber,5 and our

mind

Partakes her private actions to your fecrefy:
And for your faithfulness we will advance you.
Thaliard, behold, here's poison, and here's gold;
We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill

him;

It fits thee not to ask the reason why,
Because we bid it. Say, is it done ??

THAL.

Tis done.

My lord,

Enter a Messenger.

ANT. Enough;

Left your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.

4

- Thaliard.) This name is somewhat corrupted from Thaliarch, i. e. Thaliarchus, as it stands in Twine's tranflation. STEEVENS.

5 Thaliard, you're of our chamber, &c.] So, in Twine's tranflation: "Thaliarchus, the only faithfull and trustie minister of my fecrets" &c. The rest of the scene is formed on the fame original. STEEVENS.

• Partakes her private actions -) Our author in The Winter's Tale uses the word partake in an active sense, for participate:

your exultation

" Partake to every one." MALONE.

7 Say, is it done?] We might point differently:

It fits thee not to ask the reason why :

Because we bid it, fay is it done? MALONE.

8 Left your breath &c.] Old copy :

Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste. This paffage is little better than nonsense, as it stands, and

MESS. My lord, prince Pericles is fled.

ANT.

[Exit Messenger.

As thou

Wilt live, fly after: and, as an arrow, shot
From a well-experienc'd archer, hits the mark
His eye doth level at, so ne'er return,
Unless thou say, Prince Pericles is dead.

THAL. My lord, if I

Can get him once within my pistol's length,
I'll make him fure: so farewell to your highness.

[Exit.

ANT. Thaliard, adieu! till Pericles be dead, My heart can lend no fuccour to my head.1 [Exit.

evidently requires amendment. - The words are addressed, not to the Meffenger, but to Thaliard, who has told the King that he may confider Pericles as already dead; to which the King replies

Enough;

Left your breath cool yourself, telling you hafte.

That is, "Say no more of it, left your breath, in describing your alacrity, should cool your ardour." The words let and left might easily have been confounded. M. MASON.

See for instances of the fame typographical error,) p. 132, n. 4. STEEVENS.

9

- and, as - Thus the folio. The quarto reads-and like an arrow. MALONE.

I

My heart can lend no fuccour to my head.] So, the King in

Hamlet:

٢٠

till I know 'tis done,

"How ere my haps, my joys were ne'er begun."

MALONE.

SCENE II.

Tyre. A Room in the Palace.

Enter PERICLES, HELICANUS, and other Lords.

PER. Let none disturb us: Why this charge of thoughts?2

The fad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,3

2

Why this charge of thoughts?] [Old copy-why Should &c.] The quarto, 1609, reads-chage. The emendation was suggested by Mr. Steevens. The folio 1664, for chāge substituted change. Change is substituted for charge in As you like it, 1623, Act I. fc. iii and in Coriolanus, Act V. fc. iii.

Thought was formerly used in the sense of melancholy. See Vol. XVII. p. 179, n. 1. MALONE.

In what respect are the thoughts of Pericles changed? I would read, "-charge of thoughts," i. e. weight of them, burthen, preffure of thought. So afterwards in this play:

Patience, good fir, even for this charge."

The first copy reads chage.

Although-thought, in the fingular number, often means melancholy, in the plural, I believe, it is never employed with that fignification. STEEVENS.

Change of thoughts, it seems was the old reading, which I think preferable to the amendment. By change of thoughts, Pericles means, that change in the difpofition of his mind that unusual propensity to melancholy and cares, which he afterwards describes, and which made his body pine, and his foul to languish. There appears, however, to be an error in the passage; we should leave out the word should, which injures both the sense and the metre, and read :

Let none disturb us: why this change of thoughts?

M. MASON.

3 The Sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,] So, in The Comedy of Errors :

By me so us'd a guest is, not an hour,

In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night,

(The tomb where grief should fleep,) can breed me

quiet!

Here p'safures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun

them,

And danger, which I feared, is at Antioch,
Whose arm feems 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 paffions of the mind,
That have their firft conception by mif-dread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done,4
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.5
And fo with me; --the great Antiochus
('Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he's fo great, can make his will his act,)
Will think me speaking, though I fwear to filence;
Nor boots it me to say, I honour him,7

"Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth enfue
"But moody and dull Melancholy,
"Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair ?"

MALONE.

-dull-ey'd melancholy,] The fame compound epithet occurs in The Merchant of Venice :

4

"I'll not be made a foft and dull-ey'd fool."

STEEVENS.

- but fear what might be done,] But fear of what might happen. MALONE.

5

- and cares it be not done,] And makes provision that it may not be done. MALONE.

Since he's so great,] Perhaps we should read :
Since he, fo great, &c.

otherwise the latter part of the line will be elliptical.

7

STEEVENS.

to say, I honour him,] Him was supplied by Mr. Rowe for the sake of the metre. MALONE.