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

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Where's the lord governor ?

Cle. Here.

Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring'st, in haste,
For comfort is too far for us to expect.

Lord. We have descried, upon our neighbouring shore, A portly sail of ships make hitherward.

Cle. I thought as much.

One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir,

That may succeed as his inheritor ;

And so in ours some neighbouring nation,

Taking advantage of our misery,

Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their power,
To beat us down, the which are down already;
And make a conquest of unhappy me,

Whereas no glory's got to overcome.

Lord. That's the least fear; for, by the semblance
Of their white flags display'd, they bring us peace,
And come to us as favourers, not as foes.

Cle. Thou speak'st like him's untutor❜d to repeat,"
Who makes the fairest show, means most deceit.
But bring they what they will, what need we fear?
The ground's the low'st, and we are half way there.
Go tell their general, we attend him here,

To know for what he comes, and whence he comes,

their power,] i. e. Their forces.

[Exit.

Whereas-] For where.

• Thou speak'st like him's untutor'd to repeat,] The sense is-Deluded by the pacifick appearance of this navy, you talk like one, who has never learned the common adage, "that the fairest outsides an emost to be suspected."-STEEVENS.

Cle. Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist;' If wars, we are unable to resist.

Enter PERICLES, with Attendants.

Per. Lord governor, for so we hear you are, Let not our ships and number of our men Be, like a beacon fir'd, to amaze your eyes. We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre, And seen the desolation of your streets : Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears, But to relieve them of their heavy load; And these our ships you happily may think Are, like the Trojan horse, war-stuff'd within, With bloody views, expecting overthrow, Are stor❜d with corn, to make your needy bread," And give them life, who are hunger-starv'd, half dead. All. The gods of Greece protect you!

And we'll pray for you.

Per.
Rise, I pray you, rise;
We do not look for reverence, but for love,

And harbourage for ourself, our ships, and men.
Cle. The which when any shall not gratify,

Or

pay you with unthankfulness in thought,

Be it our wives, our children, or ourselves,

The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils!
Till when, (the which, I hope, shall ne'er be seen,)
Your grace is welcome to our town and us.

Per. Which welcome we'll accept; feast here a while, Until our stars that frown, lend us a smile.

-PERCY.

I

consist;] i. e. Stands; a Latin sense.-MALONE.

[Exeunt.

to make your needy bread,] i. e. To make bread for your needy subjects,

unthankfulness in thought,] i. e. Mental ingratitude.

ACT II.

Enter GoWER.

Gow. Here have you seen a mighty king
His child, I wis, to incest bring;

A better prince, and benign lord,
Prove awful both in deed and word.
Be quiet then, as men should be,
Till he hath pass'd necessity.

I'll show you those in troubles reign,
Losing a mite, a mountain gain.
The good in conversation2
(To whom I give my benizon,)
Is still at Tharsus, where each man
Thinks all is writ he spoken can:*
And, to remember what he does,
Gild his statue glorious:

But tidings to the contrary

Are brought your eyes; what need speak I?

Dumb show.

Enter at one door, PERICLES, talking with CLEON; all the Train with them. Enter at another door, a Gentleman, with a Letter to PERICLES; PERICLES shows the Letter to CLEON; then gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exeunt PERICLES, CLEON, &c. severally.

Gow. Good Helicane hath staid at home,

Not to eat honey, like a drone,

From others' labours; forth he strive

To killen bad, keep good alive;

I'll show you those-] I will now exhibit to you persons, who, after suffering small and temporary evils, will at length be blessed with happinessMALONE.

conversation] i. e. Conduct, behaviour. Gower means to say-The good prince (on whom I bestow my best wishes) is still engaged at Tharsus, where every man, &c.-STEEVENS.

a Thinks all is writ he spoken can:] Pays as much respect to whatever Pericles says, as if it were holy writ.-MALONE.

-forth, &c.] i. e. Thoroughly, from beginning to end.-STEEVENS.

And, to fulfil his prince' desire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:

How Thaliard came full bent with sin,
And hid intent, to murder him;
And that in Tharsus was not best
Longer for him to make his rest:
He knowing so, put forth to seas,
Where when men been, there's seldom ease;
For now the wind begins to blow;
Thunder above, and deeps below,
Make such unquiet, that the ship
Should house him safe, is wreck'd and split;
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is tost;
All perishen of man, of pelf,

Ne aught escapen but himself;
Till fortune, tir'd with doing bad,
Threw him ashore, to give him glad :
And here he comes: what shall be next,
Pardon old Gower; this long's the text."

SCENE I.

Pentapolis. An open Place by the Sea-side.

Enter PERICLES, wet.

Per. Yet cease your ire, ye angry stars of heaven!
Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man
Is but a substance that must yield to you;
And I, as fits my nature, do obey you.

Alas, the sea hath cast me on the rocks,

Wash'd me from shore to shore, and left me breath
Nothing to think on, but ensuing death:

Let it suffice the greatness of your powers,

C

[Exit.

ship—] Ship and split are such defective rhymes, that I suppose the author wrote fleet. Pericles, in the storm, lost his fleet as well as the vessel in which he was himself embarked.-STEEVENS.

Pardon old Gower; this long's the text.] The meaning of this may be-Ercuse old Gower from telling you what follows. The very text to it has proved of too considerable length already.-STEEVENS.

To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;
And having thrown him from your wat❜ry grave,
Here to have death in peace, is all he'll crave.

Enter Three Fishermen.

1 Fish. What, ho, Pilche!

2 Fish. Ho! come, and bring away the nets. 1 Fish. What Patch-breech, I say!

3 Fish. What say you, master?

1 Fish. Look how thou stirrest now! come away, or I'll fetch thee with a wannion.f

3 Fish. 'Faith, master, I am thinking of the poor men that were cast away before us, even now.

1 Fish. Alas, poor souls, it grieved my heart to hear what pitiful cries they made to us, to help them, when, well-a-day, we could scarce help ourselves.

3 Fish. Nay, master, said not I as much, when I saw the porpus, how he bounced and tumbled? they say, they are half fish, half flesh: a plague on them, they ne'er come, but I look to be washed. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.

1 Fish. Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones: I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale; 'a plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful. Such whales have I heard on a'the land, who never leave gaping, 'till they've swallowed the whole parish, church, steeple, bells and all.

Per. A pretty moral.

3 Fish. But, master, if I had been the sexton, I would have been that day in the belfry.

2 Fish. Why, man ?

3 Fish. Because he should have swallowed me too;

Pilche!] In allusion to his dress: pilche is a leathern coat.

with a wannion.] A phrase very commonly met with in old authors, but totally unexplained; it seems equivalent to with a vengeance, or with a plague. See NARES' Glossary.

when I saw the porpus, how he bounced and tumbled ?] Malone considers this prognostick as arising merely from the superstition of the sailors: but captain Cook, in his second voyage to the South Seas, meitions the playing of porpusses round the ship as a certain sign of a violent gale of wind.M. MASON.