And finding little comfort to relieve them,
I thought it princely charity to grieve them.3
HEL. Well, my lord, since you have given me
leave to speak,

Freely I'll speak. Antiochus you fear,
And justly too, I think,
think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by publick 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 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 absenceHEL. We'll mingle 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 sure crack both :5

3 I thought it princely charity to grieve them.] That is, to lament their fate. The eldest quarto reads to grieve for them.But a rhyme seems to have been intended. The reading of the text was furnished by the third quarto 1630, which, however, is of no authority.. MALONE.

whose wisdom's strength can bear it.] Pericles transferring his authority to Helicanus during his absence, naturally brings the first scene of Measure for Measure to our mind.

MALONE.

- will sure crack both:] Thus the folio. The word sure

is not found in the quarto. MALONE..

6

But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe,"
That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince,"
Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.'
[Exeunt.

8

• But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe,] The first quarto reads will live. For the emendation I am answerable. The quarto of 1619 has we live. The first copy may have been right, if, as I suspect, the preceding line has been lost.

7

But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe,]
in seipso totus teres atque rotundus."

66

MALONE.

In our orbs means, in our different spheres. STEEVens.

this truth shall ne'er convince,] Overcome. X. p. 88, n. 4. MALONE.

Horace.

See Vol.

• Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.] Shine is by our ancient writers frequently used as a substantive. So, in Chloris, or The Complaint of the passionate despised Shepherd, by W. Smith, 1596:

"Thou glorious sunne, from whence my lesser light "The substance of his chrystal shine doth borrow." This sentiment is not much unlike that of Falstaff: "I shall think the better of myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince." MALONE.

That the word shine may be used as a substantive, cannot be doubted whilst we have sunshine and moonshine. If the present reading of this passage be adopted, the word shine must necessarily be taken in that sense; but what the shine of a subject is, it would be difficult to define. The difficulty is avoided by leaving out a letter, and reading

Thou show'dst a subject shine, I a true prince.

In this case the word shine becomes a verb, and the meaning will be:"No time shall be able to disprove this truth, that you have shown a subject in a glorious light, and a true prince." M. MASON.

The same idea is more clearly expressed in King Henry VIII. Act III. SC. ii:

"A loyal and obedient subject is
"Therein illustrated."

I can neither controvert nor support Mr. M. Mason's position,

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 hanged at home: 'tis 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,

because I cannot ascertain if shine be considered as a verb, how the meaning he contends for is deduced from the words before

9 I perceive he was a wise fellow, &c.] Who this wise fellow was, may be known from the following passage in Barnabie Riche's Souldier's Wishe to Britons Welfare, or Captaine Skill and Captaine Pill, 1604, p. 27: "I will therefore commende the poet Philipides, who being demaunded by King Lisimachus, what favour he might doe unto him for that he loved him, made this answere to the King, that your majestie would never impart unto me any of your secrets,” STEEVENS.

Further to question of your king's departure.
His seal'd commission, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently, he's gone to travel.
THAL. HOW! the king gone!

[Aside.

HEL. If further 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.

What from Antioch?

[Aside.

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, would correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,'

With whom each minute threatens life or death.
THAL. Well, I perceive

[Aside. I shall not be hang'd now, although I would; But since he's gone, the king it sure must please, He 'scap'd the land, to perish on the seas.—

So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,] Thus, in King Henry VIII:

"Hath into monstrous habits put the graces

"That once were his."

Again, in Chapman's version of the fifth Odyssey: since his father's fame

"He puts in pursuite," &c. STEEVENS,

although I would;] So, Autolycus, in The Winter's Tale: "If I had a mind to be honest, I see, Fortune would not suffer me; she drops bounties into my mouth." MALONE.

3 But since he's gone, the king it sure must please,

He 'scap'd the land to perish on the seas.] Old copy-
But since he's gone, the king's seas must please:
He 'scap'd the land, to perish at the sea.

STEEVENS.

the king's seas must please:] i. e. must do their pleasure;

But I'll present me. Peace to the lords of Tyre!

HEL. Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
THAL. From him I come

With message unto princely Pericles;
But, since my landing, as I have understood
Your lord has took himself to unknown travels,
My message must return from whence it came.

HEL. We have no reason to desire it, since
Commended to our master, not to us:
Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire,—
As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.5

[Exeunt.

must treat him as they will. A rhyme was perhaps intended. We might read in the next line,

"He 'scap'd the land, to perish on the seas."

So, in The Taming of the Shrew:

"I will bring you gain, or perish on the seas."

Perhaps we should read:

MALONE.

"But since he's gone, the king it sure must please,
"He 'scap'd the land, to perish on the seas." PERCY.

• We have no reason to desire it,] Thus all the old copies. Perhaps a word is wanting. We might read:

We have no reason to desire it told

Your message being addressed to our master, and not to us, there is no reason why we should desire you to divulge it. If, however, desire be considered as a trisyllable, the metre, though, perhaps, not the sense, will be supplied.. MALONE.

I have supplied the adverb-since, both for the sake of sense and metre. STEEVENS.

5 Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire,

As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.] Thus also Agamemnon addresses Eneas in Troilus and Cressida:

"Yourself shall feast with us, before you go,
"And find the welcome of a noble foe."

MALONE.

VOL. XXI.