SCENE II. Tyre. A room in the palace.

Enter PERICLES.

Per. [to those without] Let none disturb us.-Why should this charge of thoughts,

The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,

Be my so-us'd a guest as not an hour,(17)

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 fear'd, 's at Antioch,(18)
Whose aim seems far too short to hit me here: (19)

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,(20)

(17)

Why should this charge of thoughts,
The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
Be my so-us'd a guest as not an hour,]

The old eds. have

"why shold this chage [and "change"] of thoughts,

The sad companion dull eyde melancholie,

By ine so vsde a guest, as not an houre.”

(Here "charge," as Steevens observes, means "weight, burden, pressure." (18) fear'd, 's at Antioch,] So Walker, Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. 100.-Old eds. "fear'd, is at Antioch."

(19) Whose aim seems far too short to hit me here:] The old eds. have "Whose arme seemes," &c.-Compare Coriolanus, act i. sc. 2, "We shall be shorten'd in our aim," &c.; and Troilus and Cressida, act ii. sc. 3, "which short-aimed ignorance," &c., where the old eds. have "which short-arm'd ignorance," &c.

(20) him,] Not in the old eds.

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,(21)
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:
Which care of them, not pity of myself,-

Who am no more (22) 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.

Enter HELICANUS and other Lords. (23)

First Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast! Sec. Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us, 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;

(21) And with th' ostent of war will look so huge,] Tyrwhitt's correction. -The old eds. have "And with the stint of warre," &c., which Mr. Knight retains; "stint," he says, "is synonymous with stop in the old writers" (and I wonder that he did not cite from Timon of Athens, act v. sc. 4, "Make war breed peace; make peace stint war," &c.): but he takes no notice of the immediately following words, "will LOOK SO HUGE," which fully confirm Tyrwhitt's emendation. (Steevens adduces from Chapman's Homer's Batrachomuomachia,

"Both heralds bearing the ostents of war;”

and from Dekker's Entertainment of James I., 1604,

"And why you bear, alone, th' ostent of warre.”)

(22) Who am no more] Farmer's correction: but qy. if the true reading-The old eds. have "Who once no more."

(23) Enter HELICANUS and other Lords.] At the commencement of this scene the quarto of 1609 has "Enter Pericles with his Lords;" and here it has "Enter all the Lords to Pericles."-The other old eds. have the former stage-direction (the third folio slightly varying it), but they omit the latter one.-Undoubtedly the first speech of Pericles is spoken to himself.

(24) Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.] The modern emendation is "Peace, peace, my lords, and give experience tongue.”

The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

To which that blast gives heat (25) 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 (26) 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.

Thou know'st I've power

Hel. [kneeling] I've ground the axe myself; Do you but strike the blow.

Per.

Rise, prithee, rise.

Sit down thou art no flatterer :

I thank thee for it; and heaven (27) forbid

That kings should let their ears hear their faults chid (29)

(25) To which that blast gives heat] The quarto of 1609 has" To which that sparke gives heate;" and so the later eds., except that they corrupt "heate" into "heart."-Here the transcriber or compositor by mistake repeated the word "sparke" from the preceding line.-Steevens would substitute "wind;" Malone printed "breath;" Mason proposed "blast," which I adopt.—Walker (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. i. p. 315) says, "I doubt whether breath' or 'blast' be the true emendation."

(26) a] Omitted in the old eds.

(27) Sit down: thou art no flatterer :

I thank thee for it; and heaven]

Has been amended to

"Sit down, sit down: thou art no flatterer:

I thank thee for it; and high heaven.”

(28) That kings should let their ears hear their faults chid !] Here, of course, "let" means "hinder."-The old eds. have "

their faults

hid;" which Malone gravely explains "their secret faults: "--but "hid" is a manifest error for "chid."

Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,

Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant,

What wouldst thou have me do?

Hel.

To bear with patience

Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself,(29)

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,

(30)

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 (31) was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears

(29)

To bear with patience

Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself.]

The modern correction is

"With patience bear

Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself."

(30) From whence an issue I might propagate,

Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.]

Walker (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. i. p. 75) conjectures that, between these two lines, a line, somewhat to the following effect, has been omitted;

"Worthy to heir my throne; for kingly boys," &c.—

"The meaning of this passage," says Mason, "is clearly this; 'From whence I might propagate such issue, as bring additional strength to princes and joy to their subjects.' The expression is certainly faulty; but it seems to be the fault of the author, not the printer. I believe it was written as it stands."

(31) Bethought me what] The old eds. omit "me," which the author doubtless wrote. ("I have bethought me of another fault." Measure for Measure, act v. sc. I.)

Decrease not, but grow faster than their years: (32)
And should he doubt it,—as (33) 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 (34) offence,

Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence:
Which love to all,-of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov'st (35) 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've 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 absence?

and tyrants' fears

Decrease not, but grow faster than their years:]

All the old eds. have

"and tyrants feare

Decrease not, but grow faster then the yeares ;”.

except the fourth folio, where "feare" is corrected to "fears."

(33) And should he doubt it, as] So Malone.-The old eds. have

"And shold he doo't, as," and "And should he thinke, as.”

(34) call't] The old eds. have "call."

35 reprov'st] The old eds. have "reprouedst."

VOL. IX.