He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world, Antiochus doth fin
In fuch a loathed manner:

And therefore, inftantly this prince muft die;
For by his fall my honour must keep high.
Who attends us there?

Enter Thaliard.

Thal. Doth your highness call?

Ant. Thaliard, you're of our chamber, and our mind

Partakes her private actions to your fecrefy;
And for your faithfulness we will advance you.
Thaliard, behold here's poifon, and here's gold;
We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him;
It fits thee not to afk the reason why,

Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
Thal. My lord, 'tis done.

Ant. Enough.

Enter a Meffenger.

Let your breath cool your felf, telling your hafte.
Mef. My lord, prince Pericles is fled.

Ant. As thou

Wilt live, fly after; and as an arrow, fhot
From a well experienc'd archer, hits the mark
His eye doth level at, fo thou ne'er return,
Unless thou fay'ft, Prince Pericles is dead.

Thal. My lord, if I can get him within my piftol's length, I'll make him fure enough: fo farewel to your highness. [Exit.

and our mind

Partakes her private actions.

] Our author elfe

where ufes the word partake in an active fenfe, for participate. "Your exultation partake to every one." MALONE.

Ant.

Ant. Thaliard adieu! till Pericles be dead, My heart can lend no fuccour to my head 7.

SCENE II.

Tyre.

Enter Pericles, Helicanus, and other Lords.

[Exit.

Per. Let none difturb us: why fhould this charge of thoughts?

The fad companion, dull-ey'd Melancholy,
By me's fo us'd a guest, as not an hour,

In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night,
(The tomb where grief fhould fleep) can breed me

quiet!

Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes fhun

them,

And danger which I feared, is at Antioch,

Whose arm seems far too fhort to hit me here;
Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my fpirits,

'My heart can lend no fuccour to my head.] So the king in Hamlet:

8

66

Do it England,

"For like the hectick in my blood he rages,

"And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,

"How cre my baps, my joys were ne'er begun." MALONE. why fhould this change of thoughts?] In what refpect are the thoughts of Pericles changed? I would read-" charge of thoughts," 1. e. weight of them, burthen, preffure of thought. So afterwards in this play :

"Patience, good fir, even for this charge." The first copy reads chage. STEEVENS.

The fad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,] So, in the Comedy ef Errors:

"Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue

"But moody and dull Melancholy,

"Kinfman to grim and comfortless despair." MALONE. dull-eyed melancholy,]

The fame compound epithet occurs in the Merchant of Venice: "I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey'd fool."

C 3

STEEVENS.

Nor

Nor yet the other's distance comfort me:
Then it is thus; the paffions 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 2,
And fo with me;-the great Antiochus,
('Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he's fo great, can make his will his act,)
Will think me speaking, though I fwear to filence;
Nor boots it me to fay I honour him 3,
If he suspect I may difhonour him:

And what may make him blush in being known,
He'll ftop the course by which it might be known
With hostile forces he'll o'er-fpread the land,
And with th' oftent of war will look fo huge *,
Amazement fhall drive courage from the ftate;
Our men be vanquifh'd, e'er they do refift,
And fubjects punish'd, that ne'er thought offence:

but fear what might be done,] But fear of what might happen. MALONE.

and cares it be not done.] And makes provifion that it may

not be done. MALONE.

3

to fay I honour him,] Him was fupplied by Mr. Rowe for the fake of the metre. MALONE,

4 And with the stint of war will look fo huge,] Should not

this be

And with th' oflent of war, &c.? TYRWHITT.

I once thought the author wrote,

And with the dint of war.

i. e. by the force of war.-So in Julius Cafar:

"Now I perceive you feel the dint of pity."

But Mr, Tyrwhitt's emendation is much neater, and preferves

at the fame time, the congruity of the metaphor.

ufed by Shakspeare in the Merchant of Venice:

"Like one well ftudied in a fad oflent

"To please his grandam”—

Again, in King Richard 11:

"With oftentation of despised arms".

The word is

Stint, which is the reading of all the copies, has here no means

ing. MALONE.

i

Which care of them, not pity of myself,
(Who owe no more but as the tops of trees,
Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend
them,)

Makes both my body pine, and foul to languish,
And punish that before, that he would punish.

1 Lord. Joy and all comfort in your facred breast! 2 Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us, Peaceful and comfortable!

Hel. Peace, peace, and give experience tongue :
They do abuse the king that flatter him,

For flattery is the bellows blows up fin;
The thing the which is flatter'd, but a fpark,
To which that fpark gives heat and ftronger glow-
ing ';

Which care of them, not pity of myself,

(Who once no more but as the tops of trees,

Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend them)
Makes, &c.]

This paffage is obfcure; but with fome flight alteration a mean. ing may be extracted from it. The fenfe unites without affistance from the lines printed in Italicks, fo that they feem quite parenthetical, and may be regarded only as illuftrative of a prince's condition.

He means to compare the head of a kingdom to the fummit of a tree. As it is the office of the latter to fcreen each plant that grows beneath it from the injuries of weather, fo it is the duty of the former to protect those who shelter themselves under his government.

Instead of who once, I would therefore read whose use, or whofe affice. STEEVENS,

I read-who owe no more; i. e. who have no other duty or obligation. To owe, in our ancient writers, does not always fig. nify to poffefs, though it be fometimes ufed in that fenfe.

MALONE,

To which that Spark gives heat and ftronger glowing;] Thus the earliest quarto. The folios and Rowe read,

MALONE.

To which that fpark gives heart.-
The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark
To which that fpark gives beat, &c.]

I fhould imagine that the printer by accident has repeated the
Word park ipitead of wind, which the fenfe fhould feem to require.

C4

STEEVENS.

Whereas

Whereas reproof, obedient, and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.
When fignior Sooth 7 here doth proclaim a peace,
He flatters you, makes war upon your life:
Prince, pardon me, or ftrike me if you please,
I cannot be much lower than my knees.

Per. All leave us elfe; but let your cares o'er-look What shipping, and what lading's in our haven, And then return to us. Helicanus, thou

Haft moved us: what feeft thou in our looks?
Hel. An angry brow, dread lord.

Per. If there be fuch a dart in princes' frowns,
How durft thy tongue move anger to our face?
Hel. How dare the plants look up to heaven, from
whence

They have their nourishment?

Per. Thou know'ft I have power

o take thy life from thee.

Hel. I have ground the axe
Myfelf; do you but strike the blow..

Per. Rife, prithee rife; fit down, thou art no flat

terer;

I thank thee for it; and heaven forbid,

That kings fhould let their ears hear their faults hid! Fit

7 When fignior Sooth] A near kinfman of this gentleman is mentioned in the Winter's Tale:

"and his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by fir Smyle, his neighbour". MALONE.

8

How dare the plants look up to heaven from whence

They have their nourishment?]

Thus the 4to, 1609. Mr. Rowe, &c. read,

How dare the planets look up unto heaven

From whence they have their nourishment?

It would puzzle a philofopher to afcertain the quality of planetary nourishment, or to difcover how planets, which are already in heaven, can be laid to look up to it. STEEVENS.

9 That kings fhould let their ears hear their faults hid.] Heaven forbid that kings fhould flop their ears, and fo prevent them from

hear