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ANTIOCHUS, king of Antioch.

PERICLES, prince of Tyre.

HELICANES, two lords of Tyre.
ESCANES,

SIMONIDES, king of Pentapolis."
CLEON, governor of Tharsus.
LYSIMACHUS, governor of Mitylene.
CERIMON, a lord of Ephesus,
THALIARD, a lord of Antioch.
PHILEMON, servant to Cerimon.
LEONINE, servant to Dionyza.

A Pandar, and his Wife.
BOULT, their servant.

GOWER, as Chorus.

The Daughter of Antiochus.

DIONYZA, wife to Cleon.

THAISA, daughter to Simonides.

Marshall.

MARINA, daughter to Pericles and Thaisa.

LYCHORIDA, nurse to Marina.

DIANA.

Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers, &c.

SCENE, dispersedly in various countries.

[1] This is an imaginary city, and its name might have been borrowed

from some romance.

STEEVENS.

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To sing a song of old was sung,
From ashes ancient Gower is come;
Assuming man's infirmities,

To glad your ear, and please your eyes.
It hath been sung at festivals,
On ember-eves, and holy ales ; 2
And lords and ladies of their lives
Have read it for restoratives :
'Purpose to make men glorious ;
Et quo antiquius, eo melius.
If you, born in these latter times,
When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes,
And that to hear an old man sing,
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I life would wish, and that I might
Waste it for you, like taper-light.-
This city then, Antioch the great
Built up for his chiefest seat;
The fairest in all Syria;

(I tell you what mine authors say :)
This king unto him took a pheere, 3
Who died and left a female heir,

[1] I do not know that old is by any author used adverbially. We might read:

To sing a song of old was sung,

i. e. that of old &c.

But the poet is so licentious in the language which he has attributed to Gower in this piece, that I have not ventured to make any change.

MALONE.

[2] i.e. says Dr. Farmer, by whom this emendation was made, churchales. MALONE.

[3] This word, which is frequently used by our old poets, signifies a mate or companion. The old copies have-peer. MALONE,

So buxom, blithe, and full of face,4
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke :
Bad father to entice his own
To evil, should be done by none.
By custom, what they did begin,
Was, with long use, account no sin.
The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,
To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures play-fellow :
Which to prevent, he made a law,
(To keep her still, and men in awe,)
That whoso ask'd her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:
So for her many a wight did die,
As yon grim looks do testify.5

What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify.

[Exit.

SCENE I.

Antioch. A Room in the Palace.

Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERI

CLES, and Attendants.

Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large receiv'd The danger of the task you undertake.

Per. I have, Antiochus, and with a soul Embolden'd with the glory of her praise, Think death no hazard, in this enterprize.

[Music

Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,
For the embracements even of Jove himself;
At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,)
Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence,
The senate-house of planets all did sit,
To knit in her their best perfections.

[4] Completely, exuberantly beautiful. A full fortune, in Othello, means a complete, a large one. MALONE.

[5] Gower must be supposed here to point to the heads of those unfortu nate wights, which were fixed on the gate of the palace at Antioch.

MALONE.

Enter the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.

Per. See, where she comes, apparell'd like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men !6

Her face, the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever ras'd, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.7

Ye gods that made me man, and sway in love,
That have inflam'd desire in my breast,
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,
Or die in the adventure, be my helps,
As I am son and servant to your will,
To compass such a boundless happiness!
Ant. Prince Pericles,

Per. That would be son to great Antiochus.
Ant. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd;
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard :
Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view
A countless glory, which desert must gain :
And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
Yon sometime famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventʼrous by desire,

Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance pale,
That, without covering, save yon field of stars,
They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars ;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist,
For going on death's net, whom none resist.

Per. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught

My frail mortality to know itself,

And by those fearful objects to prepare

[6] She comes (says Pericles) adorned with all the colours of the spring; the Graces are proud to enroll themselves among her subjects; and the king, (i. e. the chief) of every virtue that ennobles humanity, impregnates her mind:

Graces her subjects, in her thonghts the king

Of every virtue, &c.

In short she has no superior in beauty, yet still she is herself under the dominion of virtue. STEEVENS.

[7] This is a bold expression testy wrath could not well be a mild companion to any one; but by her mild companion, Shakspeare means the companion of her mildness. M. MASON.

[8] Thy whole heap, thy body, must suffer for the offence of a part, thine eye. The word bulk like heap in the present passage, was used for body by Shakspeare and his contemporaries. MALONE.

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This body, like to them, to what I must:9

For death remember'd, should be like a mirror,
Who tells us, life's but breath; to trust it, error.
I'll make my will then; and as sick men do,
Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling woe,
Gripe not at earthly joys, as erst they did;
So I bequeath a happy peace to you,

And all good men, as every prince should do ;
My riches to the earth from whence they came ;
But my unspotted fire of love to you.

[To the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.

Thus ready for the way of life or death,

I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus,

Scorning advice.

Ant. Read the conclusion then ;

Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed,
As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed.

Daugh.In all,save that, may'st thou prove prosperous ! In all, save that, I wish thee happiness!

Per. Like a bold champion, I assume the lists, Nor ask advice of any other thought

But faithfulness and courage.

[He reads the Riddle.]

I am no viper, yet I feed

On mother's flesh, which did me breed:
1 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 lov'd you, and could still,

[Takes hold of the hand of the Princess.
Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill:
But I must tell you,-now, my thoughts revolt,
For he's no man on whom perfections wait,

[9] That is, to prepare this body for that state to which I must come.

MALONE.

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