To melt in showers. Thy grandsire loved thee well:

Many a time he danced thee on his knee,
Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow;
Many a matter hath he told to thee,
Meet and agreeing with thine infancy!
In that respect then, like a loving child,

Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring,

Because kind nature doth require it so :
Friends should associate friends in grief and woe.
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.
Boy. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all
my heart

Would I were dead, so you did live again!—
O lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;
My tears will choke me if I ope my mouth.

Enter Attendants, with AARON.

Ist. Rom. You sad Andronici have done with

woes;

Give sentence on this execrable wretch,
That hath been breeder of these dire events.
Luc. Set him breast deep in earth and famish
him;

There let him stand ard rave and cry for food:

If any one relieves or pities him,
For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
Some stay to see him fastened in the earth.
Aar. O why should wrath be mute and fury
dumb?

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
I should repent the evils I have done;
Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did,
Would I perform if I might have my will:
If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.
Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor
hence,

And give him burial in his father's grave.
My father and Lavinia shall forthwith
Be closed in our household's monument.
As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
No funeral rite nor man in mournful weeds,
No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey:
Her life was beast-like and devoid of pity;
And being so shall have like want of pity.
See justice done on Aaron, that damned Moor,
From whom our heavy haps had their begin-
ning;

Then, afterwards, to order well the state;
That like events may ne'er it ruinate.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-Antioch. A Room in the Palace.
Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, and Attendants.
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
Emboldened 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 reigned)
Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence,
The senate-house cf planets all did sit,
To knit in her their best perfections.

Enter the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.

Per. See, where she comes, apparelled 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 'rased, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
Ye gods that made me man and sway in love,
That have inflamed 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,

Το

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 touched; 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, adventurous 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
This body, like to them, to what I must:
For death remembered 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 't is decreed,
As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed.
Daugh. In all, save that, mayst 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:
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 loved you, and could still,

[Takes hold of the hand of the PRINCESS.
Were not this glorious casket stored 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, fingered to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down and all the gods to
hearken;

But, being played 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 expired;
Either expound now or receive your sentence.
Per. Great king,

Few love to hear the sins they love to act;
'T would '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 shewn;
For vice repeated is like the wand'ring wiud,
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

Cropped hills towards heaven, to tell the earth

But I will gloze with him. [Aside.]-Young prince of Tyre,

Though by the tenour of our strict edíct,
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 shews 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.

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 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. 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 hands of sin, Ay and the targets to put off the shame : Then, lest my life be cropped to keep you clear, By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. [Exit.

Re-enter ANTIOCHUS.

Ant. He hath found the meaning, for the which

we mean

To have his head.

He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathéd 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?

Ant. Thaliard, you are of our chamber, and our mind

Partakes her private actions to your secresy; 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?

Thal. 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.
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

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

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

SCENE II.-Tyre. A Room in the Palace. Enter PERICLES, HELICANUS, and otner Lords. Per. Let none disturb us. Why this charge of thoughts?

The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,
By me so used 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 to hit me here:
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 si-
lence;

Nor boots it me to say I honour him
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 vanquished ere they do resist,
And subjects punished that ne'er thought offence:

2nd Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us,

Peaceful and comfortable!

Hel. Peace, peace, my lords, and give experience tongue.

They do abuse the king that flatter him :
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin :
The thing the which is flattered but a spark,
To which that breath gives heat 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 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