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 presence3), 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 5, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever ras'd, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion®.

2 In the old copy this line stands :

'Musick, bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride.' Malone thinks it a marginal direction, inserted in the text by mistake. Mr. Boswell thinks it only an Alexandrine, and adds, 'It does not seem probable that musick would commence at the close of Pericles' speech, without an order from the king.'

3 The words whose and her refer to the daughter of Antiochus. The construction is, 'at whose conception the senate-house of planets all did sit,' &c.; and the words, till Lucina reign'd, Nature,' &c. are parenthetical. The leading thought may have been taken from Sidney's Arcadia, book ii.:-' The senate-house of the planets was at no time to set for the decreeing of perfec tion in a man,' &c. Thus also Milton, Paradise Lost, viii. 511: all heaven,

And happy constellations, on that hour
Shed their selectest influence.'

4 The Graces are her subjects, and her thoughts the sovereign of every virtue that gives renown to men.' The ellipsis in the second line is what obscured this passage, which Steevers would have altered, because he did not comprehend it.

5 Her face is a book where may be read all that is praiseworthy, every thing that is the cause of admiration and praise.' Shakspeare has often this image.

By her mild companion' the companion of her mildness' is meant.

Ye gods that made me man, and sway in love,
That have inflam'd desire in my breast,
To taste the fruit of celestial tree,
yon

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 7,
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.
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 10:

7 Hesperides is here taken for the name of the garden in which the golden apples were kept; as we find it in Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. See vol. ii. p. 370, note 26.

8 Thus Lucan, lib. vii :

cœlo tegitur qui non habet urnam.'

9 i. e. 'for fear of going,' or 'lest they should go.' See vol. i. p. 109, note 12; and vol. iii. p. 284, note 4. Dr. Percy proposed to read, 'in death's net;' but on and in were anciently used the one for the other.

10 That is, to prepare this body for that state to which I must come.'

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 woe11,
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.

Ant. Scorning advice.-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

12!

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

But faithfulness, and courage 13.

[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.

11 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.'

12 The old copy reads:

Of all said yet, may'st thou prove prosperous;

Of all said yet, I wish thee happiness!'

The emendation is Mr. Mason's.

13 This is from the third book of Sidney's Arcadia :-' Whereupon asking advice of no other thought but faithfulnesse and courage, he presently lighted from his own horse,' &c.

He's father, son, and husband mild,
I mother, wife, and yet his child.
How they may be, and yet in two,
As will live, resolve it you.
you

Sharp physick is the last14: but O you powers!
That give heaven countless eyes 15 to view men's acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually 16,
If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?
Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still,

[Takes hold of the Hand of the Princess.
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 wait17,
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 musick,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to
hearken;

But, being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime:
Good sooth, I care not for you

Ant. Prince Pericles, touch not 18, upon thy life,

14 i. e. the intimation in the last line of the riddle, that his life depends on resolving it; which he properly enough calls sharp physick, or a bitter potion.

15 Thus in A Midsummer Night's Dream :

17 i, e. he is no perfect or honest man, that knowing, &c.

18 This is a stroke of nature. The incestuous king cannot bear to see a rival touch the hand of the woman he loves. His jealousy resembles that of Antony: :

to let him be familiar with

My play-fellow, your hand; this kingly seal

And plighter of high hearts.'

Malefort, in Massinger's Unnatural Combat, expresses the like impatient jealousy, when Beaufort touches his daughter Theocrine, to whom he was betrothed.

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;
"Twould '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 shown;
For vice repeated, is like the wand'ring wind,
Blows dust in others' eyes, to spread itself19;
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 20 hills towards heaven, to tell, the earth is

throng'd

By man's oppression 21; and the

die for't.

poor worm

22 doth

19 The man who knows the ill practices of princes is unwise if he reveals what he knows; for the publisher of vicious actions resembles the wind, which, while it passes along, blows dust into men's eyes. When the blast is over, the eyes that have been affected by the dust, though sore, see clear enough to stop for the future the air that would annoy them.' Pericles means by this similitude to show the danger of revealing the crimes of princes; for as they feel hurt by the publication of their shame, they will of course prevent a repetition of it, by destroying the person who divulged. He pursues the same idea in the instance

of the mole.

20 Copp'd hills' are hills rising in a conical form, something of the shape of a sugarloaf. Thus in Horman's Vulgaria, 1519: Sometime men wear copped caps like a sugar loaf.' So Baret: To make copped, or sharpe at top; cacumino.' In A. S. cop is a head. See vol. iii. p. 434, note 3; and vol. viii. p. 352, note 6.

21 The earth is oppressed by the injuries which crowd upon her. Steevens altered throng'd to wrong'd; but apparently without necessity.

22 The mole is called poor worm as a term of commiseration. In The Tempest, Prospero, speaking to Miranda, says, ‘Poor worm, thou art infected.' The mole remains secure till it has thrown up those hillocks which betray his course to the molecatcher.