ACT I

Enter GOWER.

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 ensues, to the judgement of your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify." [Erit.

[SCENE I. Antioch. A room in the palace.] Enter ANTIOCHUS, PRINCE PERICLES, and followers.

Ant. Young Prince of Tyre, you have at large received

The danger of the task you undertake.
Per. I have, Antiochus, and, with a soul
Embold'ned with the glory of her praise,
Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a
bride

[Music.

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 15
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever raz'd, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.

You 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!

I am no viper, yet I feed

On mother's flesh which did me breed. I sought a husband, in which labour

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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 gives 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,
Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill.
But I must tell you, now my thoughts revolt;

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

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We might proceed to cancel off 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 all but Pericles.
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,

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Then were it certain you were not so bad 125
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 pleasures 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.

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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,

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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 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 but as the tops of trees,
Which fence the roots they grow by and defend

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them Makes both my body pine and soul to languish, And punish that before that he would punish. Enter [HELICANUS, with other] LORDS. 1. Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!

2. Lord. And keep your mind, till you return

to us,

Peaceful and comfortable!

That ministers a potion unto me

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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,

Are arms to princes and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder; 75
The rest - hark in thine ear as black as in-
cest;

Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father

Seem'd not to strike, but smooth. But thou

know'st this,

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"T is 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 succeed.

I knew him tyrannous, and tyrants' fears

Decrease not, but grow faster than the years; 85
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

Thal. So, this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I kill King Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be hang'd at home. 'T is 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 [5 might know none of his secrets. Now do I see he had some reason for 't; for if a king bid a man be a villain, he 's bound by the indenture of his oath to be one. Hush! here comes the lords of Tyre.

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Tyre, Further to question me of your king's departure. His seal'd commission, left in trust with me, Doth speak sufficiently he 's gone to travel. Thal. [Aside.] 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

Thal. [Aside.] What from Antioch? Hel. Royal Antiochus-on what cause I know not

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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, he'd correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.
Thal. [Aside.] Well, I perceive

I shall not be hang'd now, although I would.

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My message must return from whence it came. Hel. We have no reason to desire it, Commended to our master, not to us; Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire, As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre. [Exeunt. [SCENE IV. Tarsus. A room in the Governor's house.]

Enter CLEON, the Governor of Tarsus, with [D10NYZA,] his wife, and others.

Cle. My Dionyza, shall we rest us here, And by relating tales of others' griefs, See if it 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 distressed lord, even such our griefs are. Here they 're but felt, and seen with mischief's

the clouds,

And strangers ne'er beheld but wond'red at; 25
Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn'd,
Like one another's glass to trim them by.
Their tables were stor'd full, to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on as delight.
All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great, 30
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, who 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 defil'd 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 nuzzle up their babes,
Thought nought too curious, are ready now
To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd.
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 Tarsus may be theirs.

Enter a LORD.

"Who makes the fairest show means most de

ceit."

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