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
Ou 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 hauds 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.

Re-enter ANTIOCHUS.

[Exit.

Yet neither p.casure'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:
Aud 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 vanquish'd, ere they do resist,
And subjects punish'd, that ne'er thought of-
fence:
Which care of them, not pity of myself,
(Who am no more but as the tops of trees,

Ant. He bath found the meaning, for the which Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend

we mean

To have his head.

He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the word, Antiochus doth sin

In such a loathed 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?

them,)

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

breast!

2 Lord. Aud keep your mind, till you return
Peaceful and comfortable!
[to us,
Hel. Peace, peace, my lords, and give expe.
rience tongue.

They do abuse the king, that flatter him
For flattery is the bellows blows up siu;

Ant. Thaliard, you're of our chamber, and our The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

mind

Partakes her private actions to your secrecy;
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 ?
That. My lord,

'Tis done.

Enter a MESSENGER.

Ant. Enough:

Lest your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.
Mess. My lord, prince Pericles is fled.
[Exit MESSENGER.

Ant. As thou

Wilt live, fly after: and, as an arrow, shot
From a well experienced 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

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

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.

P'er. 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.] Heli-
canus, thon

Hast moved us: what seest thou in our looks?
Liel. Au 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,

Exit.

Ant. Thaliard, adieu! till Pericles be dead, My heart can lend no succour to my head.

SCENE II.-Tyre.-A Room in the Palace.
Enter PERICLES, HELICANUS, and other
Lords.

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

The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
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 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 too hit me here:

• Whereas.

hid!

Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,
Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant
What would'st thou have me do?

Hel. With patience bear

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 would'st tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me then: I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death,
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;

1. e. Takes care it be not done.

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 suc-
ceed.

1 knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than their years:
And should be 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
bin;

[Aside.

His seal'd commission, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently—he's gone to travel.
Thal. 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-

That. What from Antioch?

[Aside. Hel. Royal Antiochus (on what cause I know not,)

Took some displeasure at him; at least he
judg'd so:

And doubting lest that he had err'd or sinn'd,
To show his sorrow, would correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.
That. Well, I perceive
[Aside.

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 on the seas,-
Peace to the lords of

When all, for mine, if I may call❜'t offence,
Must feel war's blow, who spares not inno-But I'll present me.

cence:

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,

Masings 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 enher by public war, or private treason,
We take away your life.

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

Or Decanes de cat his thread of life.
Yar rale direct to any; if to me,

Day serves Bot light more faithful than I'll be.
Per. I do not doubt thy faith:

But should be wrong my liberties in absence-
Bet. 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

— Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow, and And strangers ne'er beheld, but wonder'd at; kuf good discretion, that being bid to ask what Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn'd, arwad of the king, desired be might know Like one another's glass to trim + them by : of his secrets. Now do I see he had some Their tables were stor'd full, to glad the sight, Fring for it; for if a king bid a man be a vil-And not so much to feed on, as delight; la br is bound by the indenture of his oath to mr.—Hash, here come the lords of Tyre.

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

Ta Gar lo question of your king's departure.
• In our diferent -pheres.
+ Overcome.

All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
Dio. Oh! 'tis too true.

Cle. But see what heaven can do! By this
our change,
[aff,
These mouths whom but of late, earth, sea, and
Were all too little to content and please,

• To jet, to strut.

To dress them by.

Although they gave their creatures in abun- [The curse of heaven and men succced their

Scene I.

PERICLES, PRINCE OE TYRE.

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.

Enter three FISHERMEN.

1 Fish. What, ho, Pilche!

2 Fish. Ho! come and bring away the nets.
1 Fish. What Patch-breech I say!
3 Fish. What say you, master?

1 Fish. Look how thou stirrest now! come away, or I'll fetch thee with a wannion.

3 Fish. 'Faith, master, I am thinking of the pour men that were cast away before us, even

BOW.

1 Fish. Alas, poor souls, it griev'd my heart to hear what piliin cries they made to us to belp them, when, well-a-day, we could scarce help ourselves.

2 Fish. Nay, master, said not I as much, when I saw the porpus, how he bounced and tabled? they say, they are half fish half flesh : a plague on them, they ne'er come, but I look to be wash'd. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.

155

puddings and flap-Jacks, and thou shalt be
welcome.

Per. I thank you, Sir.

2 Fish. Hark you, my friend, you said you! could not be s

Per. I did but crave.

2 Fish. But crave? Then I'll turn craver too,
[then?
and so I shall 'scape whipping.
Per. Why, are all your beggars whipp'd
2 Fish. Oh! not all, my friend, not all: for if
all your beggars were whipp'd, I would wish no
better office than to be beadle. But, master, I'll
go draw up the net.

[Exeunt two of the FISHERMEN.
Per. How well this honest mirth becomes
their labour !

1 Fish. Hark you, Sir! do you know where
you are?
Per. Not well.

1 Fish. Why, I'll tell you: this is called Pentapolis, and our king, the good Simonides. Per. The good king Simonides, do you call him?

1 Fish. Ay, Sir, and he deserves to be 80 call'd, for his peaceable reign and good govern. ment. Per. He is a happy king, since from his sub

1 Fish. Why as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones: I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale; 'a plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouth-How ful. Such whales have I heard on a'the land, who Bever leave gaping, till they've swallow'd the whole parish, church, steeple, bells, and all. Per. A pretty moral.

3 Fish. But, master, if I had been the sexton, I would have been that day in the belfry. 2 Fish. Why, man?

3 Fut. Because he should have swallow'd me too: and when I had been in his belly, I would have kept such a jangling of the bells, that he bald have never have left, till he cast bells, repie, church, and parish, up again. the good king Simonides were of my mind→→→ Per. Simonides!

But if

3 Fish. We would purge the land of these drones that rob the bee of her honey.

Per. How from the finny subject of the sea
These fishers tell the intirmities of men;
And from their wat'ry empire recollect
A that may men approve, or men detect!
Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen.

2 Fish. Honest! good fellow, what's that? If it be a day fits you, scratch it out of the calendar, and no body will look after it.

Per. Nay, see, the sea hath cast upon your

coast

2 Fish. What a drunken knave was the sea, to cast thee in our way!

Per. A man whom both the waters and the

wind,

In that vast tennis-court, hath made the ball
For them to play upon, entreats you pity him :
Hess of you, that never us'd to beg.

1 Fr. No, friend, cannot you beg? here's them in ear country of Greeee gets more with begging than we can do with working.

2 Fish. Canst thou catch any fishes then?
Per. 1 never practis'd it.

2 Fish. Nay, then thou wilt starve sure; for bee's nothing to be got now-a-days, unless thou qut bsb for't.

Per. What I have been, I have forgot to

know;

hat what I am, want teaches me to think on:
A za shrank up with cold; my veins are
chill,

And have no more of life than may suffice
Tove my tongue that heat, to ask your help;
ach if you shall refuse, when I am dead,
For I am a man, pray see me buried.

1 Fish. Die quoth-a? Now gods forbid! 1 kaw a gown here; come, put it on; keep thee Now, afore me, a handsome fellow ! thou shalt go home, and we'll have flesh As Lulatayı, fish for fasting days, and moreo'er

jects

He gains the name of good, by his government.
far is his court distant from this shore?
1 Fish. Marry, Sir, half a day's journey;
and I'll tell you he hath a fair daughter, and
to-morrow is her birth-day; and there are prin-
ces and knights come from all parts of the
world, to just and tourney for her love.

Per. Did but my fortunes equal my desires,
I'd wish to make one there.

1 Fish. O Sir, things must be as they may; and what a man cannot get, he may lawfully deal for-his wife's soul.

Re-enter the Two FISHERMEN, drawing up a

net.

2 Fish. Help, master, help; here's a fish Ha! bots on't, hangs in the net, like a poor man's right in the law; 'twill hardly come out. 'tis come at last, and 'tis turn'd to a rusty ar

mour.

Per. An armour, friends! I pray you, let me
see it.

Thanks, fortune, yet, that after all my crosses,
Thou giv'st me somewhat to repair myself;
And, though it was mine own, part of inine hert.
tage,

Which my dead father did bequeath to me,
With this strict charge, (even as he left his life,)
Keep it, my Pericles, it hath been a shield
'Twixt me and death: (and pointed to this
brace) t

For that it sav'd me, keep it; in like necessity
Which gods protect thee from! it may defend
thee.

It kept where I kept, I so dearly lov'd it;
Till the rough seas, that spare not any man,
Took it in rage, though calm'd, they give't
again :

I thank thee for't; my shipwreck's now no ill,
Since I have here my father's gift by will.
1 Fish. What mean you, Sir ?

Per. To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of
worth,

For it was sometime target to a king;

I know it by this mark. He lov'd me dearly,
And for his sake I wish the having of it;
And that you'd guide me to your sovereign's
court,

Where with't I may appear a gentleman;
And if that ever my low fortunes better,
I'll pay your bounties: till then, rest your
debtor.

1 Fish. Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady
Per. I'll show the virtue I have borne in arms.