Tim. Ay, you are honest men.
Pain. We are hither come to offer you our
service.
Tim. Most honest men! Why, how shall I requit you?
Can you eat roots, and drink cold water? no. Beth. What we can do, we'll do, to do you service.
Tim. You are honest men: You have heard that I have gold;
I am sure you have: speak truth; you are honest
men.
Pain. So it is said, my noble lord: but thereCame not my friend, nor I.
[fore
Tis. Good honest men!-Thou draw'st a
counterfeit.
Best in all Athens: thou art, indeed, the best;
Thon counterfeit'st most lively.
Pain. So, so, my lord.
Tim. Even so, Sir, as I say :-And, for thy fiction, [To the POET. Why thy verse swells with stuff so fine and
smooth,
That thou art even natural in thine art.
But, for all this, my honest-natur'd friends,
I must needs say, you have a little fault :
Tim. I thank them; and would send them back the plague,
Could I but catch it for them.
1 Sen. Oh! forget
What we are sorry for ourselves in thee.
Marry, 'tis not monstrous in you; neither wish I, The senators, with one consent of love, ⚫
You take much pains to mend.
Entreat thee back to Athens; who have thought
Both. Beseech your honour,
To make it known to us.
Tum. You'll take it ill.
Both. Most thankfully, my lord.
Tim. Will you, indeed?
Both. Doubt it not, worthy lord.
Tim. There's ne'er a one of you but
That mightily deceives you.
Both. Do we, my lord?
Tim. Ay, and you hear him cog, see him dis
Offering the fortunes of his former days,
The former man may make him: Bring us to
And chance it as it may.
[him,
Flav. Here is his cave.
Peace and content be here! Lord Timon! Timon!
Look out, and speak to friends: The Athe-
nians,
By two of their most reverend senate, greet
Speak to them, noble Timon.
[thee:
On special dignities, which vacant lie
For thy best use and wearing.
2 Sen. They confess,
Toward thee, forgetfulness too general, gross :
Which now the public body,-which doth seldom
Play the recanter,-feeling in itself
A lack of Timon's aid, hath sense withal
Of its own fall, restraining aid to Timon;
And send forth us, to make their sorrowed
render, t
Together with a recompense more fruitful
Than their offence can weigh down by the dram;
Ay, even such heaps and sums of love and
wealth,
As shall to thee blot out what wrongs were
semble,
Know his gross patchery, love him, feed him,
Keep in your bosom: yet remain assur'd,
That he's a made-up villain. +
Pain. I know none such, my lord.
Port. Nor I.
Tim. Look you, I love you well; I'll give you
gold,
Rid me these villains from your companies:
Hang them, or stab them, drown them in a
draught, t
Confound them by some course, and come to me,
I'll give you gold enough.
Both. Name them, my lord, let's know them.
Tum. You that way, and you this, but two in
company :-
Each man apart, all single and alone,
Yet an arch villain keeps him company.
If, where thou art, two villains shall not be.
[To the Painter.
Gome not near him.-If thou would'st not reside
[To the POET.
Eat where one villain is, then him abandon.-
Hence ! pack! there's gold, ye came for gold, ye
slaves:
[Hence!
You have done work for me, there's payment:
You are an alchymist, make gold of that :-
Out, rascal dogs!
[Exit, beating and driving them out.
SCENE 11.-The same.
Enter FLAVIUS, and two SENATORS.
Flay. It is in vain that you would speak with
For he is set so only to himself, [Timon;
That nothing but himself, which looks like man,
is friendly with him.
1 Sen. Bring us to his cave:
is our part and promise to the Athenians, To speak with Timon.
2 Sen. At all times alike
Men are not still the same: 'Twas time, and
griefs,
That fram'd him thus: time, with his fairer band,
theirs,
And write in thee the figures of their love,
Ever to read them thine.
Tim. You witch me in it;
Surprise me to the very brink of tears:
Lend me a fool's heart, and a woman's eyes,
And I'll beweep these comforts, worthy sena-
tors.
1 Sen. Therefore, so please thee to return with us, And of our Athens (thine, and ours,) to take The captainship, thou shalt be met with thanks, Allow'd with absolute power, and thy good
name
Live with authority:-so soon we shall drive back
Of Alcibiades the approaches wild;
Who, like a boar too savage, doth root up
His country's peace.
2 Sen. And shakes his threat'ning sword
Against the walls of Athens.
1 Sen. Therefore, Timon,
Tim. Well, Sir, I will; therefore, I will, Sir;
Thus,-
If Alcibiades kill my countrymen,
Let Alcibiades know this of Timon, [Athens,
That-Timon cares not. But if he sack fair
And take our goodly aged men by the beards,
Giving our holy virgins to the stain
Of contumelious, beastly, mad-brain'd war;
Then, let him know,-and tell him Timon speaks
it,
In pity of our aged, and our youth,
I cannot chuse but tell him, that-I care not,
And let him tak't at worse; for their knives care
not,
While you have throats to answer: for myself,
There's not a whittle § in the unruly camp,
But I do prize it at my love, before
[you
The reverend'st throat in Athens. So I leave
With an united voice of affection.
1 Licensed.
As a portrait was then called. • A complete villaia. 1 In a jakes, or house of office. Confession.
148
To the protection of the prosperous gods,⚫
As thieves to keepers.
Flav. Stay not, all's in vain.
Tim. Why, I was writing of my epitaph,
It will be seen to-morrow; My long sickness
Of health, and living, now begins to mend,
And nothing brings me all things. Go, live
still;
men,
1 Sen. These words become your lips as they
pass through them.
2 Sen. And enter in our ears like great triúm-
phers
In their applauding gates.
Tim. Commend me to them;
Be Alcibiades your plague, you his,
And last so long enough!
1 Sen. We speak in vain.
pect.
[ing,
Tim. But yet I love my country: and am not The enemies' drum is heard, and fearful scour One that rejoices in the common wreck, Doth choke the air with dust in and prepare ; As common bruit † doth put it. Our's is the fall, I fear; our foes, the snare.
1 Sen. That's well spoke.
Tim. Commend me to my loving country
[Exeunt. SCENE IV.-The Woods.-TIMON'S Cave, and a Tomb-stone seen.
And tell them, that, to ease them of their griefs,
Their fears of hostile strokes, their aches, losses,
Their pangs of love, with other incident throes
That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain
In life's uncertain voyage, I will some kindness do
them:
I'll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades'
wrath.
2 Sen. I like this well, he will return again. Tim. I have a tree, which grows here in my close,
That mine own use invites me to cut down,'
And shortly must I fell it; Tell my friends,
Tell Athens, in the sequence of degree, $
From high to low throughout, that whoso please
To stop affliction, let him take his haste,
Come hither, ere my tree hath felt the axe,
And hang himself:-I pray you do my greet-
ing.
Flav. Trouble him no further, thus you still
shall find him.
Tim. Come not to me again: but say to
Athens,
Timon hath made his everlasting mansion
Upon the beached verge of the salt flood;
Which once a day with his embossed froth
The turbulent surge shall cover; thither come,
And let my grave-stone be your oracle,-
Lips, let sour words go by, and language end:
What is amiss, plague and infection mend!
Graves only be men's works; and death, their
gain !
reign.
Sun, hide thy beams! Timon hath done his
1 Sen. His discontents are unremoveably
[Exit TIMON.
Coupled to nature.
2 Sen. Our hope in him is dead: let us re-
turn,
And strain what other means is left unto us
In our dear ¶ peril.
3 Sen. It requires swift foot.
[Exeunt.
Act V.
And made us speak like friends :--this man was
riding
From Alciabiades to Timon's cave,
With letters of entreaty, which imported
His fellowship i'the cause against your city,
In part for his sake mov'd.
• The gods who especially dispense prosperity. + The disease of life is drawing to a period. Report. lowest. In due succession from highest to Swollen froth. ¶ Dreadful,
Enter SENATORS from TIMON.
1 Sen. Here come our brothers.
2 Sen. No talk of Timon, nothing of him ex
Enter a SOLDIER, seeking TIMON.
Sol. By all description this should be the place.
Who's here? speak, ho!-No answer -What is this ?
Timon is dead, who hath outstretch'd his span :
Some beast rear'd this; there does not live a man.
What's on this tomb I cannot read; the character
Dead, sure; and this his grave.-
I'll take with wax.
Our captain hath in every figure skill;
An ag'd interpreter, though young in days:
Whose fall the mark of his ambition is.
Before proud Athens he's set down by this.
[Exit.
SCENE V.-Before the Walls of Athens.
Trumpets sound. Enter ALCIBIADES, and
Forces.
Our terrible approach.
Alcib. Sound to this coward and lascivious town
[A Parley sounded.
Enter SENATORS on the Walls.
With all licentious measure, making your wills
Till now you have gone on, and fill'd the time
The scope of justice; till now, myself, and
such
As slept within the shadow of your power,
Have wander'd with our travers'd arins,
breath'd,
and
Our sufferance vainly: Now the time is flush +
When crouching marrow, in the bearer strong,
Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease;
Cries, of itself, No more: now breathless wrong,
With fear and horrid flight.
And pursy insolence shall break his wind,
1 Sen. Noble and young,
When thy first griefs were but a mere conceit,
Ere thou hadst power, or we had cause of fear,
We sent to thee; to give thy rages balm,
To wipe out our ingratitude with loves
Above their quantity.
2 Sen. So did we woo
Transformed Timon to our city's love,
By humble message, and by promis'd means;
We were not all unkind, nor all deserve
The common stroke of war.
1 Sen. These walls of ours
Were not erected by their hands, from whom
You have receiv'd your griefs: nor are they such,
Than these great towers, trophies, and schools
should fall
For private faults in them.
2 Sen. Nor are they living,
Who were the motives that you first went out;
Shame, that they wanted cunning, in excess
Hath broke their hearts. March, noble lord,
Into our city with thy banners spread :
By decimation, and a tithed death,
(If thy revenges hunger for that food,
Which nature loaths,) take thou the destin'd
tenth;
• Arms revers'd.
+ Mature.
L.e. By promising him a competent subsistence.
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.
LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.
THIS play, the authorship of which has been much disputed, was probably written about the year 1508. Pope ranks it among "the wretched pieces," which cannot be attributed to Shakspeare; but Malone, who divided it into scenes, considers the internal evidence, (such as the congenial sentiments, the situation of the persona, the colour of the style, and the similitude of its expressions, to passages in his undisputed dramas) suffici ently decisive as to his having written the last three acts, and occasional portions of the preceding two. Indeed, unless it be considered as the production of some inferior playwright, amended by Shakspeare, an earlier date must be assigned to its production, than acknowledged authorities will warrant ; for no play in the English language is so incorrect as this---the metre is seldom attended to---verse is frequently printed as prose--and the grossest errors appear throughout. With all these faults, however, it is mentioned as a very popular per formance; and may still be read with pleasure; for it abounds with situations of difficulty and danger, is ful} of bustle and vivacity, the interest never lags, and the results are all gratifying. Some of the dialogues are nevertheless gross and nonsensical---those which take place in the brothel are superlatively disgusting, nor can they be excusedby the moral intended to be drawn from them. Steevens, upon this portion, has judiciously remarked, that Marina, who is designed for a character of juvenile innocence, appears much too knowing in the impurities of a brothel; nor are her expressions more chastised than her ideas. The unities of time and place are equally outraged: the action of the piece is alternately occurring at Antioch in Syria---Tyre in Phoenicia Tarsus in Cilicia---Mitylene in the island of Lesbos---and Ephesus the capital of Ionia. The story ou which the play is founded, is of great antiquity; but the dramatic hero bears no resemblance to his great Athenian namesake. It is taken from the history of Appolonius, king of Tyre, in the Gesta Romanorum, a very old book; which is also related by Gower, in his Confessio Amantis, a poem. Many incidents of the play may be found in the latter work, and even a few of its particular expressions; and, therefore, as Gower himself is introduced, (like the chorus of old) it is reasonable to suppose that Shakspeare chiefly followed the work of that poct.
ANTIOCHUS, King of Antloch.
PERICLES, Prince of Tyre.
HELICANUS, 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.-MARSHAL.
A PANDAR, and his WIFE.-BOULT, their Ser-
vant.
ACT I.
Enter GowER.
Before the Palace of Antloch.
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;
And lords and ladies of their lives
Have read it for restoratives:
'Purpose to make inen glorious;
Et quo antiquius, eo melius
If you, born in these latter times,
When wit's more ripe, accept my raymes,
And that to hear an old man sing,
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I. e. That of old.
Whitsun-ales, &c.
THE DAUGHTER of Antiochus.
DIONYZA, Wife to Cleon.
THAISA, Daughter to Simonides.
MARINA, Daughter to Pericles and Thaisa.
LYCHORIDA, Nurse to Marina.
DIANA.
Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sei. lors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messenger, &c.
SCENE, dispersedly in various countries.
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,"
Who died and left a female heir,
So buxom, blithe, and full of face,
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,
• Wife, the word signifies a mate or companion, ↑ Accounted.
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.⚫
What now
lists,
Nor ask advice of any other thought
ensues, to the judgment of But faithfulness, and courage.
[He reads the Riddle.]
your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify.
[Exit.
SCENE I-Antloch.-A Room in the Palace.
Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, 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 enterprise.
[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.
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 !
Her face, the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever raz'd, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
Ye gods that made me man, and sway in love,
That have inflam'd desire within 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, advent'rous by desire,
Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance
pale,
That, without covering, save yon' field of stars,
They bere 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 hast taught
My frail mortality to know itself,
And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must:
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.
Pointing to the scene of the palace gate at Antioch, en which the heads of these unfortunate wights were fixed. L.e. That gives.
Ant. Read the conclusion thea;
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!
"
Per. Like a bold champion, I assume the
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 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,
That knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You're a fair viol, and your sense the strings ;
Who, finger'd to make man bis lawful music,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to
hearken;
But, being play'd 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 expir'd :
Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
Per. Great king,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act:
'Twould '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 shown;
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
Copp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth
is wrong'd
[die for't.
By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth
Kings are earth's gods: in vice their law's
their will;
And if Jove stray, who dares say, Jove doth ill?
It is enough you know; and it is fit,
What, being more known, grows worse, to
smother 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 edict,
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 shows, 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.
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