PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ANTIOCHUS, king of Antioch.
PERICLES, prince of Tyre.

HELICANUS,

ESCANES,

} two lords of Tyre.

SIMONIDES, king of Pentapolis.
CLEON, governor of Tharsus.
LYSIMACHUS, governor of Mytilene.

CERIMON, a lord of Ephesus.

THALIARD, a lord of Antioch.

PHILEMON, servant to Cerimon.

LEONINE, servant to Dionyza. Marshal.
A Pander, and his Wife. BoULT, their servant.
GOWER, as Chorus.

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, Sailors, Pirates,
Fishermen, and Messengers, &c.

SCENE, dispersedly in various Countries.

Pentapolis.] This is an imaginary city, and its name might have been borrowed from some romance. We meet indeed in history with Pentapolitana regio, a country in Africa, consisting of five cities; and from thence, perhaps, some novelist furnished the sounding title of Pentapolis, which occurs likewise in the 37th chapter of Kyng Appolyn of Tyre, 1510, as well as in Gower, the Gesta Romanorum, and Twine's translation from it.

It should not however be concealed, that Pentapolis is also found in an ancient map of the world, MS. in the Cotton Library, British Museum, Tiberius, B. V.

That the reader may know through how many regions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessary to observe that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, in Asia; Tharsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, an island in the Ægean Sea; and Ephesus, the capital of Ionia, a country of the Lesser Asia.-STEEVENS.

PERICLES,

PRINCE OF TYRE.

ACT I.

Enter GowEr.

Before the palace of Antioch,

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 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,
Who died and left a female heir,

holy-ales;] i. e. says Dr. Farmer, church-ales.

a pheere,] This word, which is frequently used by our old poets, sig nifies a mate or companion.-MALONE.

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,
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 ensues, to the judgment of your eye

I give, my cause who best can justify.

SCENE I.

Antioch. A Room in the Palace.

[Exit.

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.

d

e

- full of face,] i. e. Completely beautiful.-MALONE.
account] for accounted.

[Musick.

thither frame,] i. e. Shape or direct their course thither.-MALONE.

As yon grim looks do testify.] Gower must be supposed here to point to the heads of those unfortunate wights, which, he tells us, in his poem, were fixed on the gate of the palace at Antioch.-MALOne.

8

my cause who best can justify.] i. e. Which (the judgment of your eye) best can justify, i. e. prove its resemblance to the ordinary course of nature.STEEVENS.

b

prince of Tyre.] It does not appear in the present drama, that the father of Pericles is living. By prince, therefore, throughout this play we are to understand prince regnant.-MALONE.

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!k

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,'

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."

i At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,)] i. e. From the time of whose conception, till the hour of her birth, over which Lucina presided, the planets sat in council, in order to endow her with the rarest perfections.

and her thoughts the king

Of every virtue gives renown to men!] This passage is incurably depraved, and my attempts to restore it are decidedly abortive.-STEEVENS.

and testy wrath

Could never be her mild companion.] i. e. The companion of her mildness.—— M. MASON.

A countless glory,] i. e. Her face, like the firmament, invites you to a blaze of beauties too numerous to be counted.-STEEVENS.

all thy whole heap must die,] i. e. Thy whole mass must be destroyed -MALONE.

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 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 :P
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!

• For going-] i. e. For fear of going.-STEEVENS.

P

like to them, to what I must:] That is, to prepare this body for that state to which I must come.-MALONE.

a Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling woe, &c.] The meaning may be -I will act as sick men do: who having had experience of the pleasures of the world, and only a visionary and distant prospect of heaven, have neglected the latter for the former; but at length feeling themselves decaying, grasp no longer at temporal pleasures, but prepare calmly for futurity.-MALONE

In all, save that, I wish thee happiness!] Her father has just said to Pericles, that his life depended on his expounding the riddle; and the daughter, who feels a regard for the prince, expresses it by deprecating his fate and wishing him success in every thing except that. She wishes that he may not expound the riddle, but that his failing to do so may be attended with prosperous consequences.-M. MASON.