The Works of Shakespeare

The soldier that did company these three
In poor beseeming: 't was a fitment for
The purpose I then follow'd.-That I was he,
Speak, Iachimo: I had you down, and might
Have made you finish.

Iach.
I am down again; [Kneeling.
But now my heavy conscience sinks my knee,
As then your force did. Take that life, beseech you,
Which I so often owe; but your ring first,
And here the bracelet of the truest princess
That ever swore her faith.

himself unknown, without seeking find, and be embraced by a piece of tender air; and when from a stately cedar shall be lopped branches, which being dead many years shall after revive, be jointed to the old stock, and freshly grow, then shall Posthumus end his miseries, Britain be fortunate, and flourish in peace and plenty."

Thou, Leonatus, art the lion's whelp;
The fit and apt construction of thy name,
Being Leo-natus, doth import so much.
The piece of tender air, thy virtuous daughter,
[To CYMBELINE.

Which we call mollis aer; and mollis aer
We term it mulier: which mulier, I divine,
Is this most constant wife; who, even now,
Answering the letter of the oracle,
Unknown to you, unsought, were clipp'd about
With this most tender air.
Cym.

This hath some seeming.

Sooth. The lofty cedar, royal Cymbeline, Personates thee; and thy lopp'd branches point Thy two sons forth; who, by Belarius stolen, For many years thought dead, are now reviv'd, To the majestic cedar join'd, whose issue Promises Britain peace and plénty.

Cym.

Well,

My peace we will begin.-And, Caius Lucius,
Although the victor, we submit to Cæsar,
And to the Roman empire; promising
To pay our wonted tribute, from the which
We were dissuaded by our wicked queen;
Whom heavens, in justice, both on her and hers
Have laid most heavy hand.

Sooth. The fingers of the powers above do tune The harmony of this peace. The vision,

Which I made known to Lucius ere the stroke

Of this yet scarce-cold battle, at this instant
Is full accomplish'd; for the Roman eagle,
From south to west on wing soaring aloft,
Lessen'd herself, and in the beams o' the sun
So vanish'd: which foreshow'd our princely eagle,
Th' imperial Cæsar, should again unite
His favour with the radiant Cymbeline,
Which shines here in the west.

Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, Messengers, &c.
SCENE, dispersedly in various Countries.

Enter GoWER.

Before the Palace of Antioch.

To sing a song that 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,1
And lords and ladies in their lives
Have read it for restoratives:
The purpose is to make men glorious;
Et bonum 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 Antioch, then: Antiochus the great
Built up this city for his chiefest seat,
The fairest in all Syria;

I tell you what my authors say:
This king unto him took a feere,3
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 child, worse 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-follow,

In marriage pleasures play-fellow :
Which to prevent he made a law,

1 Festivals; days: in old copies. Farmer made the change.

ACT I.

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 yond' grim looks do testify.

What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify. [Exit.
SCENE I-Antioch. 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 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,

purchase in old copies. 3 Mate 4 But in old copies. 5 Of the decap

itated heads over the city gate. 6 rack'd: in old copies. 7 bondless: in old copies. Rowe made the change.

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
Her countless glory, which desert must gain;
And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
Yond' sometime famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,

Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance pale,
That, without covering, save yond' 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 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.

Ant. Scorning advice, read the conclusion, then;
Which read and not expounded, 't is decreed,
As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.

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 wandering 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 throng'd
By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth die for 't.
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. [Aside.] Heaven, that I had thy head! he has
found the meaning;

But I will gloze with him. [To him.] 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.
Per. How courtesy would seem to cover sin,
When what is done is like an hypocrite,

Daugh. Of all, 'say'd yet, may'st thou prove pros- The which is good in nothing but in sight. perous!

Of all, 'say'd yet, I wish thee happiness.

Per. Like a bold champion, I assume the lists, Nor ask advice of any other thought

But faithfulness, and courage.

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 physick 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,
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 his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down and all the gods to hearken;
But being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth to 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;
'T would 'braid yourself too near for me to tell it.

1 shew: in old copies. Malone made the change.

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 cropp'd to keep you clear,
By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear.
Re-enter ANTIOCHUS.

[Exit.

We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him: | When signior Sooth, here, does proclaim a peace,
It fits thee not to ask the reason why,
Because we bid it. Say, is it done?

Thal.

My lord,

SCENE II.-Tyre. A Room in the Palace.
Enter PERICLES, HELICANUS, and other Lords.
Per. Let none disturb us: why should this change
of thoughts?

The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
By me so us'd 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 fear'd, 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: that 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 silence:
Nor boots it me to say, I honour,

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 ostent2 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 am3 no more but as the tops of trees,
Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend them)
Makes both my body pine, and soul to languish,
And punish that before, that he would punish.

1 Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred 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 sin;
The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,

Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err :

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 o'er-look What shipping, and what lading 's in our haven, And then return to us. [Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus,

thou

Hel. Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself. Per. Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus, That ministers a potion unto me,

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;
The rest (hark in thine ear) as black as incest:
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seem'd not to strike, but smooth; but thou know'st this,
'Tis 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.
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 arms,
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call 't, offence,
Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence :
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov'st me for it-
Hel.
Per. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my
cheeks,

Alas, sir!

Musings into my mind, a thousand doubts
How I might stop this tempest ere it came;
And finding little comfort to relieve them,

I thought it princely charity to grieve them.

Hel. Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak,

Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,
And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,

1 like: in quartos. 2 stint in old copies. Tyrwhitt made the change. 3 once in old copies. Steevens made the change. in old copies. Mason made the change. heart: in old copies. 6 doo 't in old copies. Malone made the change.

4 spark :

Who either by public war, or private treason,

Will take away your life.

Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,

Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.

Your rule direct to any; if to me,

Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be.

Per. I do not doubt thy faith;

But should he wrong my liberties in my absence ?
Hel. We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth,
From whence we had our being and our birth.

Per. Tyre, I now look from thee, then; and to Tharsus
Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee,
And by whose letters I'll dispose myself.
The care I had, and have, of subjects' good,
On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it.
I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath;
Who shuns not to break one, will sure1 crack both.
But in our orbs we live so round and safe,
That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince,2
Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.

[Exeunt. SCENE III-Tyre. An Ante-chamber in the Palace.

Enter THALIARD.

Thal. So, this is Tyre, and this is the court. Here must I kill king Pericles; and if I do 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 might know none of his secrets: now do I see he had some reason for it; for if a king bid a man be a villain, he is bound by the indenture of his oath to be one.Hush! here come the lords of Tyre.

Enter HELICANUS, ESCANES, and other Lords.
Hel. You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
Farther 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 farther 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)
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;
But since he's gone, the king's seas must please :
He 'scap'd the land, to perish at the sea.-

SCENE IV.-Tharsus. A Room in the Governor's
House.

Enter CLEON, DIONYZA, and Attendants.

Cle. My Dionyza, shall we rest us here,
And by relating tales of other's griefs,
See if 't 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;
Here they're but felt, and seen with mischief's eyes,
But like to groves, being topp'd, they higher rise.
Cle. O Dionyza,

Who wanteth food, and will not say he wants it,
Or can conceal his hunger, till he famish?
Our tongues and. sorrows do sound deep
Our woes into the air; our eyes do weep,
Till tongues fetch breath that may proclaim them louder;
That if heaven slumber, while their creatures want,
They may awake their helps to comfort them.
I'll then discourse our woes, felt several years,
And, wanting breath to speak, help me with tears.
Dio. I'll do my best, sir.

Cle. This Tharsus, o'er which I have the government,
A city, on whom plenty held full hand,
For riches strew'd herself even in the streets,
Whose towers bore heads so high, they kiss'd the clouds,
And strangers ne'er beheld, but wonder'd at;
Whose men and dames so jetted3 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,
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, whom 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 starv'd 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 nousle 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

I'll present myself.-[To them.] Peace to the lords of And her prosperities so largely taste,

Tyre.

Hel. Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.

Thal. From him I come,

With message unto princely Pericles:

But since my landing I have understood,

Your lord hath betook himself to unknown travels,

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,

With their superfluous riots, hear these tears:
The misery of Tharsus may be theirs.

As friends to Antioch we may feast in Tyre. [Exeunt. One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir

That may succeed as his inheritor ;

1 Not in quartos. 2 Overcome. 3 Strutted. 4 savers: in old copies. Steevens made the change.

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