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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 loved you, and could still,

[Takes hold of the hand of the PRINCESS.
Were not this glorious casket stored 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, fingered to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down and all the gods to
hearken;

But, being played 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 expired;
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 shewn;
For vice repeated is like the wand'ring wind,
Blows dust in others' eyes to spread itself;
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

Cropped hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is wronged

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 dare say Jove doth ill? It is enough you know; and it is fit,

What being more known grows worse, to smo

ther it.

All love the womb that their first beings bred, Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.

Ant. Heaven, that I had thy head! he has found the meaning;

But I will gloze with him. [Aside.]—Young prince of Tyre,

Though by the tenour of our strict edíct,
Your exposition misinterpreting,

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

[Exeunt ANTIOCHUS, his Daughter, and
Attendants.

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 a 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 cropped 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 the which

we mean

To have his head.

He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathéd manner:

And therefore instantly this prince must die;
For by his fall my honour must keep high.—

Who attends on us there?

Enter THALIARD.

Thal. Doth your highness call? Ant. Thaliard, you are of our chamber, and our mind

Partakes her private actions to your secresy; 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;

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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 si-
lence;

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 the ostent of war will look so huge,
Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
Our men be vanquished ere they do resist,
And subjects punished that ne'er thought offence:

Which care of them, not pity of myself (Who am no more but as the tops of trees, Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them),

Makes both my body pine and soul to languish, And punish that before, that he would punish. 1st Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!

2nd Lord. And keep your mind, till you re

turn to us,

Peaceful and comfortable!

Hel. Peace, peace, my lords, 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 flattered but a spark,
To which that breath 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 does proclaim a 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

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Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself.

Per. Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus; Who 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,

Bring arms to princes, and to subjects joys.
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
Seemed 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 seemed 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 their 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 innocence:
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, a 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 I'll 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 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 absence

Hel. We'll mingle 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 shew'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-Tyre. An Ante-chamber in the Palace.

Enter THALIARD.

Thal. So this is Tyre, and this is the court. Here must I kill King Pericles; and if I do not, I am sure to be hanged at home: 'tis 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. 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 HELICANES, ESCANES, and other Lords.
Hel. You shall not need my fellow peers of
Tyre,

Further to question of your king's departure.
His sealed commission, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently; he 's gone to travel.
Thal. How! the king gone!

[Aside.

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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 other's griefs,
See if 't will teach us to forget our own?

Dio. 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 distresséd lord, even such our griefs;
Here they're but felt, and seen with mistful eyes,
But like to groves, being topped, 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.
I'll then discourse our woes, felt several years,
And wanting breath to speak, help me with tears.
Dio. I'll do my best, sir.

Cle. This Tharsus, o'er which I have govern

ment

(A city on whom plenty held full hand),
For riches, strewed herself even in the streets;
Whose towers bore heads so high they kissed the
clouds,

And strangers ne'er beheld, but wondered at;
Whose men and dames so jetted and adorned,
Like one another's glass to trim them by :
Their tables were stored full, to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on as delight;
All poverty was scorned, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
Dio. O, 't is too true.

Cle. But see what heaven can do! By this
our change,

These mouths, whom but of late, earth, sea, and air,

Were all too little to content and please,
Although they gave their creatures in abundance,
As houses are defiled for want of use,
They are now starved for want of exercise:
Those palates, who not yet two summers younger
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it;
Those mothers who to nousle up their babes
Thought nought too curious, are ready now
To eat those little darlings whom they loved.
So sharp are hunger's teeth that man and wife
Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life.
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall,

Have scarce strength left to give them burial. Is not this true?

Dio. Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it. Cle. O let those cities that of Plenty's cup And her prosperities so largely taste, With their superfluous riots, hear these tears! The misery of Tharsus may be theirs.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Where 's the lord governor ?
Cle. Here.

Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring'st, in haste,

For comfort is too far for us to expect.

Lord. We have descried, upon our neighbouring shore,

A portly sail of ships make hitherward.
Cle. I thought as much.

One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir
That may succeed as his inheritor;
And so in ours: some neighbouring nation,
Taking advantage of our misery,

Hath stuffed these hollow vessels with their power
To beat us down, the which are down already;
And make a conquest of unhappy me,
Whereas no glory 's got to overcome.

Lord. That 's the least fear; for by the semblance

Of their white flags displayed they bring us peace, And come to us as favourers, not as foes.

Cle. Thou speak'st like him's untutored to

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Cle Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist; If wars, we are unable to resist.

Enter PERICLES, with Attendants. Per. Lord governor, for so we hear you are, Let not our ships and number of our men Be, like a beacon fired, to amaze your eyes. We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre, And seen the desolation of your streets: Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears, But to relieve them of their heavy load; And these our ships you happily may think Are, like the Trojan horse, war-stuffed within, With bloody views, expecting overthrow, Are stored with corn to make your needy bread, And give them life who are hunger-starved, half dead.

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Enter GoWER.

Gow. Here have you seen a mighty king

His child, I wis, to incest bring;
A better prince, and benign lord,
Prove awful both in deed and word.
Be quiet, then, as men should be,
Till he hath passed necessity.
I'll shew you those in troubles' reign,
Losing a mite a mountain gain.
The good in conversation
(To whom I give my benison)

Is still at Tharsus, where each man
Thinks all is writ he spoken can:
And, to remember what he does,
Gild his statue glorious :

But tidings to the contrary

Are brought your eyes; what need speak I?

(DUMB SHEW.)

Enter at one door PERICLES, talking with CLEON ; all the Train with them. Enter at another door, a Gentleman, with a letter to PERICLES; PERICLES shews the letter to CLEON: then gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exeunt PERICLES, CLEON, &c., severally.

Gow. Good Helicane hath staid at home,
Not to eat honey, like a drone,

From others' labours; forth he strives
To killen bad, keep good alive;
And, to fulfil his prince' desire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:
How Thaliard came full bent with sin
And hid intent to murder him;
And that in Tharsus was not best
Longer for him to make his rest.
He knowing so, put forth to seas,
Where when men been, there's seldom ease:
For now the wind begins to blow;
Thunder above and deeps below
Make such unquiet, that the ship,

Should house him safe, is wrecked and split;
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is tost;
All perishen of man, of pelf,
Ne aught escapen but himself;
Till fortune, tired with doing bad,
Threw him ashore to give him glad :
And here he comes: what shall be next,
Pardon old Gower; this long's the text. [Exit.

SCENE I.-Pentapolis. An open Place by the Sea-side.

Enter PERICLES, wet.

Per. Yet cease your ire, ye angry stars of heaven!

Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man Is but a substance that must yield to you;

And I, as fits my nature, do obey you.
Alas, the sea hath cast me on the rocks,
Washed me from shore to shore, and left me breath
Nothing to think on but ensuing death:
Let it suffice the greatness of your powers,
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;
And having thrown him from your wat'ry grave,
Here to have death in peace is all he 'll crave.

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