ploy'd?

one?

Or else I'll call my brother back again,

So, now bring them in, for I will play the cook, And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.

And see them ready 'rainst their mother comes. Tam. (To her Sons.) What say you, boys? will

(Exeunt, bearing the dead Bodies. you abide with him, Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor,

SCENE III.-A Pavilion, with Tables, &c.
How I have govern'd our determin'd jest?
Yield to his humor, smooth and speak him fair,

Enter LUCIUS, Marcus, und Goths, with AARON, And tarry with him, uil I come again.

Prisoner. Til. I know them all, though they suppose me Luc. Uncle Marcus, since 'tis my father's mind mad;

That I repair to Rome, I am content. And will o'er-reach them in their own devices, I Goth. And ours, with thine, befall what fortune A pair of cursed hell-hounds, and their dam.

will.

[ Aside. Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here.

Moor,
Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;
To lay a complot to betray thy foes.

Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him,

[Exit TAMORA. Till he be brought unto the empress' face, Tit. I know, thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, For testimony of her foul proceedings: farewell.

| And see the ambush of our friends be strong: Chi. Tell us, old man, how shall we be em- I fear, the emperor means no good to us.

Aar. Some devil whisper curses in mine ear, Tit. Tut, I have work enough for you to do.- And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine ! The venomous malice of my swelling heart! Enter PUBLIUS and others.

Luc. A way, inhuman dog, unhallow'd slave!

Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.Pub. What's your will ?

[Exeunt Goths wůh AARON. Flourish. Tit. Know you these two?

The trumpets show the emperor is at hand. Pub.

Th'empress' sons, I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.

Enter SATURNINUS and TAMORA, with Tribunes, Tit. Fye, Publius, fye! thou art too much de

Senators, and others. ceiv'd;

Sat. What! hath the firmament more suns than The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name: And therefore bind them, gentle Publius;

Luc. What boots it3 thee, to call thyself a sun ? Caius and Valentine, lay hands on them.

Marc. Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the on have you heard me wish for such an hour,

parle;
And now I find it; therefore bind them sure; These quarrels must be quietly debated.
And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry. The feast is ready which the careful Titus

[Exit TITUS.—Publius, &c. lay hold on Hath ordain'd to an honorable end,
Chiron and DEMETRIUS.

For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome: Chi. Villains, forbear: we are the empress' sons, Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take your Pub. And therefore do we what we are com

places. manded.

Sat. Marcus, we will. Stop close their mouths, let them not speak a word: [Hautboys sound. The Company sit down Is he sure bound ? look, that you bind them fast.

at Table. Re-enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with LAVINIA ; she Enter Titus, dressed like a Cook, LAVINIA, veiled, bearing a Bason, and he a knife.

yming LUCIUS, and others. Titus places the Tit. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are

Dishes on the Table. bound;

Tit. Welcome, my gracious lord: welcome, dread Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me:

queen; But let them hear what fearful words I utter.- Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius O villains, Chiron and Demetrius!

And welcome all: although the cheer be poor, Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with 'Twill till your stomachs; please you eat of it. mud;

Sat. Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus ? This goodly summer with your winter mix'd. Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well, You kill'd her husband; and, for that vile fault, To entertain your highness, and your empress. Two of her brothers were condemn'd to death : Tam. We are beholden to you, good Andronicus. My hand cut off, and made a merry jest:

Tit. Anifyour highness knew my heart, you were. Both her sweet hands, her tongue, and that, more My lord the emperor, resolve me this; dear

Was it well done ot' rash Virginius, Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity, To slay his daughter with his own right hand, Inhuman traitors, you constrain'd and forced. Because she was enforced, stain'd, and detlour'd? What would you say, if I should let you speak? Sat. It was, Andronicus. Villains, for shame you could not beg for grace. Tit. Your reason, mighty lord ? Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you.

Sat. Because the girl should not survive her This one hand yet is left to cut your throats ;

shame,
Whilst that Lavinia 'tween her stumps doth hold And by her presence still renew his sorrows.
The bason, that receives your guilty blood.

Tit. A reason mighty, strong, and effectual;
You know, your mother means to feast with me, A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant,
And calls herself, Revenge, and thinks me mad, For me, most wretched, to perform the like:-
Hark, villains; I will grind your bones to dust, Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;
And with your blood and it, I'll make a paste;

(He kills LAVINIA. And of the paste a cothin? I will rear,

And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die! And make two pasties of you shameful heads; Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural, and unAnd bid that strumpet, your un 'low'd dam,

kind? Like to the earth, swallow her owli "crease.

Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made This is the feast that I have bid her wu,

me blind. And this the banquet she shall surfeit on,

I am as woeful as Virginius was: For worse than Philomel you used my daughter, And have a thousand times more cause than he And worse than Progne I will be reveng'd: To do this outrage ;-and it is now done. And now prepare your throats,-Lavinia, come, Sat. What, was she ravish'd ? tell, who did the (He cuts their Thrvats.

deed. Receive the blood : and, when that they are dead, Tit. Will't please you eat? will't please your Let me go grind their bones to powder small,

highness feed? And with this hateful liquor temper it;

Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter And in that paste let their vile heads be bak’d.

thus? Come, come, be every one oflicious

Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron and Demetrius: To make this banquet; which I wish may prove They ravish'd her, and cut away her tongue, More stern and bloody than the Centaurs' feast. And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong. 9 Crust of a raised pie.

s of wbat advantage is it?

1

Sat. Go, fetch them hither to us presently. And make a mutual closure of our house.

Til. Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; Spcak, Romans, speak; and, if you say, we shall, Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,

Lo, hand-in-hand, Lucius and I will fall. Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred:

Æmil. Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome, 'Tis true, 'tis true: witness my knite's sharp point. And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,

[Killing TAMORA. Lucius our emperor; for well I know, Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed. The common voice do cry, it shall be so.

[Killing Titis. Rom. (Sereral speak.) Lucius, all hail; Rome's Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed ?

royal emperor!
There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.
(Kills SATURNINUS. A great Tumult. The

LUCIUS, &c. descend.
People in confusion disperse. MARCUS, Marc. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house;
Lucius, and their Partisans, ascend the

[To an Attendant. Steps before Titus's House.

And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, Marc. You sad-faced men, people and sons of To be adjudg’d some direful slaughtering death, Rome,

As punishment for his most wicked life. By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl

Rom. (Several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's Sčatier'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,

gracious governor! 0, let me teach you how to knit again

Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans; may I govern so, This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,

To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her woe! These broken limbs again into one body.

But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,
Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself; For nature puts me to a heavy task ;-
And she, whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,

Stand all aloof:-but, uncle, draw you near,
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,

To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk: Do shameful execution on herself.

O take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips, But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,

[Kisses Titus. Grave witnesses of true experience,

These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face, Cannot induce you to attend my words,

The last true duties of thy noble son! Speak, Rome's dear friend; [To Lucius.] as erst

Marc. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss, our ancestor,

Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips: When with his solemn tongue he did discourse 0, were the sum of these that I should pay To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear,

Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them. The story of that baletul burning night,

Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn When subtle Greeks surpris'd king Priam's Troy.

of us Tell us what Sinon hath' bewitch'd our ears, To melt in showers: Thy grandsire lov'd thee Or who hath brought the fatal engine in,

well: That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound. Many a time he danced thee on his knee, My heart is not compact of tlint, nor steel ;

Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow; Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,

Many a matter hath he told to thee, But floods of tears will drown my oratory,

Meet, and agreeing with thine infancy; And break my very utterance; even i' the time In that respect then, like a loving child, When it should move you to attend me most,

Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring, Lending your kind commiseration:

Because kind nature doth require it so: Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;

Friends should associate friends in grief and woe: Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave; Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you,

Do him that kindness, and take leave of him. That cursed Chiron and Deinetrius

Boy. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;

heart And they it were that ravished our sister:

Would I were dead, so you did live again!
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded;

O lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;
Our father's tears despised; and basely cozen'd My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth.
Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel out,
And sent her enemies unto the grave.

Enter Attendants, with AARON.
Lastly, myself unkindly banished,

1 Rom. You sad Andronici, have done with woes; The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out, Give sentence on this execrable wretch, To beg relief among Rome's enemies,

That hath been breeder of these dire events. Who drown'd their enmily in my true tears,

Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend;

him. And I am the turu'd-forth, be it known to you, There let him stand, and rave and cry for food; That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood; If any one relieves or pities him, And from her bosom took the enemy's point, For the offence he dies. This is our doom: Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous body. Some stay, to see him fastend in the earth. Alas! you know, I am no vaunter, I;

Aar. (), why should wrath be mute, and fury My scars can witness, dumb although they are,

dumb ? That my report is just, and full of truth.

I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers, But, sott; methinkis, I do digress too much,

I should repent the evils I have done; Citing my worthless praise: 0, pardon me;

Ten thousand, worse than ever yet I did,
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves. Would I perform, it I might have my will;

Marc. Nowis my turn to speak: Behold this child. If one good deed in all my life I did,
(Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant. I do repent it from my very soul.
of this was Tamora delivered;

Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor The issue of an irreligious Moor,

hence, Chie: architect and plotter of these woes:

And give him burial in his father's grave: The villain is alive in Titus' house,

My father, and Lavinia, shall forthwith
Damn'd as he is, to witness this is true.

Be closed in our household's monument.
Now judge, what cause had Titus to revenge As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience, No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds,
Or more than any living man could bear.

No mournful beil shall ring her burial; Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Ro-' But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey : mans?

Her lite was beast-like, and devoid of pity; Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein, And, being so, shall have like want of pity. And, from the place where you behold us now, See justice done to Aaron, that damnd Moor, The poor remainder of Andronici

By whom our heavy haps had their beginning: Will, hand-in-hand, all beadlong cast us down, Then, afterwards, to order well the state, And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains, That like events may ne'er it ruinate. (Exeunt.

42

PERICLES,

PRINCE OF TYRE.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ANTIOCHUB, King of Antioch.

A Pandar, and his Wife. PERICLES, Prince of Tyre.

BOULT, their Servant.
HELICANUS, Two Lords of Tyre.

Gower, as Chorus.
ESCANES,
SIMONIDES, King of Penta polis.

The Daughter of Antiochus.
CLEON, Governor of Tharsus.

DIONYZA, Wife to Cleon. LYSIMACHCS, Governor of Mitylene.

THAISA, Daughter to Simonides. CERIMON, a Lord of Ephesus.

MARINA, Duughter to Pericles and Thaisa.

LYCHORIDA, Nurse to Marina.
THALIARD, a Lord of Antioch.

DIANA.
PHILEMON, Servantio Cerimon.
LEONINE, Servant to Dionyza.

Lords, Lailies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pie Marshal.

rates, Fishermen, und Messengers, &C.

SCENE, dispersedly in various countries. That the reader may know through how many regions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessary to observe that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; Tyre, a city of Phænicia, in Asia; Tharsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, an island in the Agean Sea; and Ephesus, the capital of lonia, a country of the Lesser Asia.

ACT I.

(Erit.

Enter Gower.! Before the Palace of Antioch. To seek her as a bed-fellow,
To sing a song of old2 was sung,

In marriage-pleasures play-fellow:
From ashes ancient Gower is come;

Which to prevent, he made a law,

(To keep her still, and men in awe,) Assuming man's infirmities,

That whoso ask'd her for his wife, To glad your ear, and please your eyes.

His riddle told not, lost his life: It hath been sung at festivals,

So for her many a wight did die, On ember-eves, and holy ales ;3

As yon grim looks do testify.6 And lords and ladies of their lives

What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye Have read it for restoratives:

I give, my cause who best can justify.
'Purpose to make men glorious;
Et quo antiquius, eo melius.
If you, born in these latter times,

SCENE I.-Antioch. A Room in the Palace. When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes, Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, and Attendants. And that to hear an old man sing,

Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large May to your wishes pleasure bring,

receivid I lite would wish, and that I might

The danger of the task you undertake. Waste it for you, like taper-light.

Per. I have, Antiochus, and with a soul This city then, Antioch the great

Embolden'd with the glory of her praise, Built up for his chiefest seat:

Think death no hazard, in this enterprise. (Music. The fairest in all Syria;

Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride, (I tell you what mine authors say :)

For the embracements even of Jove himself;
This king unto him took a pheere,
Who died and left a female heir,

At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,)

Nature this dowry gave to glad her presence,
So buxom, blithe, and full of face,
As heaven had lent her all his grace;

The senate-house of planets all did sit,

To knit in her their best perfections.
With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke:

Enter the Daughter of Antiochus.
Bad father! to entice his own
To evil, should be done by none.

Per. See, where she comes, apparelld like the By custom, what they did begin,

spring. Was, with long use, account no sin

Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king The beauty of this sinful dame

Of every virtue gives renown to men! Made many princes thither frame,

Her face, the book of praises, where is read Chorus, in the character of Gover, an ancient English Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence poet, who has related the story of this play in his Com Could never be her mild companion.

Sorrow were ever ras'd, and testy wrath fessin Amantis. 9i, e. That of old. 3 Whitsun-ales, &c. • Wife: the word signifies a mate or companion.

& Pointing to the scene of the palace gate at Antioch, OD • Accounted.

which the heads of those unfortunate wights were fixed. 658

a

Ye gods, that made me man, and sway in love, To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole That have inflam'd desire in my breast,

casts To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,

Cop'd7 hills towards heaven, to tell, the earth is Or die in the adventure, be my helps,

wrong'd As I am son and servant to your will,

By man's oppression, and the poor worm doth To compass such a boundless happiness!

die for't. Ant. Prince Pericles,

Kings are earth's gods: in vice their law's their will; Per. That would be son to great Antiochus. And if Jove stray, who dares say, Jove doth ill ?

Ant. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, It is enough you know; and it is fit, With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd; What being more known grows worse, to smother it. For death-like dragons here affright ihee hard: All love the womb that their first beings bred, Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view Then give my tongue like leave to love iny head. A countless glory, which desert must gain:

Ant. Heaven, that I had thy head! he has found And which, without desert, because thine eye

the meaning Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die. But I will glozes with him. (Aside.] Young prince Yon sometime famous princes, like thyself,

of Tyre, Drawn by report, advent'rous by desire,

Though, by ihe tenor of our strict edict,
Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance Your ex position misinterpreting,
pale,

We might proceed to cancel of your days;,
That, without covering, save yon field of stars, Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars; As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise:
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist, Forty days longer we do respite you;
For going on death's net, whom none resist. If by which time our secret be undone,

Per. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught This mercy shows, we'll joy in such a son:
My frail mortality to know itself,

And until then your entertain shall be,
And by those fearful objects to prepare

As doth befit our honor, and your worth. This body, like to them, to what I must:

(Exeunt ANTIOCHCS, his Daughter, and For death remember'd, should be like a mirror,

Attendants. Who tells us, life's but breath; to trust it, error. Per. How courtesy would seem to cover sin ! I'll make my will then; and as sick men do, When what is done is like a hypocrite, Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling woe, The which is good in nothing but in sight. Gripe not at earthly joys, as erst they did;

If it be true that I interpret false,
So i bequeath a happy peace to you,

Then were it certain, you were not so bad,
And all good men, as every prince should do; As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
My riches to the earth, from whence they came; Where now you're both a father and a son,
But my unspotted fire of love to you.

By your untimely claspings with your child; [To the Daughter of Antiochus. (Which pleasure fits a husband, not a father';) Thus ready for the way of life or death,

And she an eater of her mother's flesh, I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus,

By the detiling of her parent's bed; Scorning advice.

And both like serpents are, who though they feed Ant.

Read the conclusion, then; On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed. Which read, and not expounded, 'tis decreed, Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed. Blush not in actions blacker than the night, Daugh. In all, save that, may'st thou prove pros-Will shun no course to keep them from the light. perous!

One sin, I know, another doth provoke; In all, save that, I wish thee happiness!

Murder's as near to lust, as flame to smoke. Per. Like a bold champion, I assume the lists, Poison and treason are the hands of sin, Nor ask advice of any other thought

Ay, and the targets to put off the shame: But faithfulness and courage.

Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear.

By fight I'll shun the danger which I fear. (Exit. (He reads the Riddle.]

Re-enter ANTIOCHTS.
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother's flesh, which did me breed:

Ant. He hath found the meaning, for the which I sought a husband, in which labor,

To have his head.
I found that kindness in a futher.
Hle's father, son, and husband mili,

He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy, I mother, wife, and yet his child.

Nor tell the world, Antiochus doth sin

In such a loathed manner:
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live, resolve it you.

And therefore instantly this prince must die;

For by his fall my honor must keep high.
Sharp physic is the last: but O you powers! Who attends on us there?
That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts,

Enter THALIARD.
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,

Thal. If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?

Doth your highness call ? Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still, Ant. Thaljard, you're of our chamber, and our (Tukes hold of the Hand of the Princess. Partakes her private actions to your secresy;

mind Were not this glorious casket stord with ill: But I must tell you,-now, my thoughts revolt;

And for your faithfulness we will advance yon. For he's no man on whom perfections wait,

Thaliard, behold, here's poison, and here's gold; That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.

We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill You're a fair viol, and your sense the strings:

him; Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,

It fits thee not to ask the reason why, Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to

Because we bid it. Say, is it done?

Thal. hearken;

My lord, But, being play'd upon before your time,

'Tis done. Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime:

Enter a Messenger. Good sooth, I care not for you.

Ant. Enough; Ant. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life, Lest your breath cool yourself, telling your haste. For that's an article within our law,

Mess. My lord, prince Pericles is filed. [Erit. As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expir'd; Ant.

As thou Either expound now, or receive your sentence. Wilt live, fly after: and, as an arrow, shot Per. Great king,

From well-experienc'd archer, hits the mark Few love to hear the sins they love to act;

His eyé doth level at, so ne'er return, 'Twould 'braid yourself too near for me to tell it. Unless thou say, Prince Pericles is dead. Who has a book of all that monarchs do,

Thal. My lord, if I He's more secure to keep it shut, than shown; Can get him once within my pistol's length, For vice repeated, is like the wand'ring wind, I'll make him sure : so farewell to your highness. Blows dust in others' eyes, to spread itself;

[Exit And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,

• Rising to the top or head. • Flatter, insinuate. The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear: . To the destruction of your life.

we mean

Ant. Thaliard, adieu! till Pericles be dead, Bring arms to princes, and to subjects joys. My heart can lend no succor to my head. [Exit. 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 SCENE II.-Tyre. A Room in the Palace.

Seem'd not to strike, but smooth; but thou know'st Enter PERICLES, HELICANUS, and other Lords.

this, Per. Let none disturb us: Why this change of 'Tis time to fear, when tyrants seem to kiss. thoughts?

Which fear so grew in me, I hither fied, The sad companion, dulley'd melancholy, Under the covering of a careful night, By me so used a guest is, not an hour,

Who seem'd my good protector; and being here, In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night, Bethought me what was past, what might succeed. (The tomb where grief should sleep,) can breed me I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' tears quiet!

Decrease not, but grow faster than their years : Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes

And should he doubt it, (as no doubt he doih,) shun them,

That I should open to the listening air, And danger, which I feared, is at Antioch, How many worthy princes' bloods were shed, Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here: To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits, To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms, Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.

And make pretence of wrong that I have done him; Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,

When all, for mine, if I may call't offence, That have their first conception by mis-dread,

Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence : Have after-nourishment and life by care;

Which love to all

. (of which thyself art one, And what was first but fear what might be done, Who now reprov'st me for it). Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.

Hel.

Alas, sir! And so with me ;-the great Antiochus

Per. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from ('Gainst whom I am too little to contend,

my cheeks,
Since he's so great, can make his will his act) Musings into my mind, a thousand doubts
Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence; How I might stop this tem pest, ere it came;
Nor boots it me to say, I honor him,

And finding little comfort to relieve them,
If he suspect I may dishonor him:

I thought it princely charity to grieve them.
And what may make him blush in being known, Hel. Well, my lord, since you have given me
He'll stop the course by which it might be known:

leave to speak,
With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land, Freely I'll speak. Antiochus you fear,
And with the ostent of war will look so huge, And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Amazement shall drive courage from the state;

Who either by public war, or private treason,
Our men be vanquish'd, ere they do resist,

Will take away your life.
And subjects punish'd that ne'er thought offence : Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Which care of them, not pity of myself,

Till that his rage and anger be forgot, (Who am no more but as the tops of trees,

Or Destinies do cut his thread of life. Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend Your rule direct to any ; it to me, them,)

Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be. Makes both my body pine, and soul to languish,

Per I do not doubt thy faith; And punish that before, that he would punish. But should he wrong my liberties ili absence

1 Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast! llel. We'll mingle bloods together in the earth, 2 Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us,

From whence we had our being and our birth. Peaceful and comfortable !

Per. Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Hel. Peace, peace, my lords, and give experience

Tharsus tongue.

Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee; They do abuse the king, that flatter him:

And by whose letters I'll dispose myself. For pattery is the bellows blows up sin;

The care I had and have of subjects' good, The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it. To which that breath gives heat and stronger glow- l'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath; ing;

Who shuns not to break one, will sure crack both: Whereas reproof, obedient, and in order,

But in our orbs2 we'll live so round and sate, Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err.

That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince, When signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace,

Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince. He flatters you, makes war upon your life:

(Exeu nt. Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you please; I cannot be much lower than my knees.

SCENE III.-Tyre. An Ante-chamber in the Per. All leave us else; but let your cares o'erlook

Palace. What shipping, and what lading's in our haven,

Enter THALIARD. And then return to us. (Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus, Thal. So, this is Tyre, and this is the court, thou

Here must I kill king Pericles; and, if I do not, I Hast moved us: what seest thou in our looks?

am sure to be hanged at home: 'tis dangerous. Hel. An angry brow, dread lord.

Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow, and had Per. If there be such a dart in princes' frowns, good discretion, that being bid to ask what he wou ld How durst thy tongue move anger to our face? of the king, desired he might know none of his Hel. How dare the plants look up to heaven, secrets, Now do I see he had some reason for it: from whence

for it a king bid a man be a villain, he is bound by They have their nourishment?

the indenture of his oath to be one.-Hush, here Per.

Thou know'st I have power come the lords of Tyre.
To take thy life.
Hel. (Kneeling.) I have ground the axe myself;

Enter HELICANCS, ESCANES, and other Lords. Do you but strike the blow.

Hel. You shall not need, my fellow-peers of Tyre, Per.

Rise, pr’ythee, rise;

Further to question of your king's departure. Sit down, sit down; thou art no flatterer:

His seal'd commission, left in trust with me, I thank thee for it; and high heaven forbid, Doth speak sufficiently, he's gone to travel. That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid?

Thal. How! the king gone? Fit counsellor, and servant for a prince,

Hel. If further yet you will be satisfied, Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant, Why, as it were, unlicens'd of your loves, What wouldst thou have me do?

He would depart, I'll give some light unto you. Hel.

With patience bear Being at AntiochSuch griefs as you do lay upon yourself.

Thal.

What from Antioch? [Aside: Per. Thou speak’st like a physician, Helicanus; liel. Royal Antiochus (on what cause I know Who minister'st a potion unto me,

not) That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself. Took some'displeasure at him; at least he judg'd Attend me, then: I went to Antioch, Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death And doubting lest that he had err'd or sinn'd, I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty, To show his sorrow, would correct himself; From whence an issue I might propagate,

9 In our different spheres.

: Overcome.

(Asicle.