The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy, 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 feared, is at Antioch, Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here; If he suspect I may dishonour him: And what may make him blush in being known, 6 (Who am no more but as the tops of trees, Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend them) And punish that before, that he would punish. 1 Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast. other, and "our might be mistaken for of (a point in which we agree with Mr. Singer), so as to confuse what was otherwise sufficiently clear: Rowe clumsily made the sense run on, which it certainly does not. In the next line but one Malone altered as to "is," but we might perhaps read, 4 Since HE, so great,] Since he's so great," corruptly in the old copies. 5 And with the OSTENT of war] So amended by Tyrwhitt, from stint of the old copies, and not stent, as Steevens misprinted it: he also quoted several instances of the use of the expression "ostent of war" in writers of the time. (Who AM no more] The old copies read, "Who once no more." Steevens followed Farmer in the reading of our text. 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'; Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err: [Kneeling. Per. All leave us else; but let your cares o'er-look And then return to us. [Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus, thou Hel. An angry brow, dread lord. Per. If there be such a dart in prince's frowns, How durst thy tongue move anger to our face? Hel. How dare the plants look up to heaven, from whence They have their nourishment? 7 To which that BLAST gives HEAT and stronger glowing;] The old copies read, "To which that spark gives heart and stronger glowing :" modern editors notice one corruption, but do not mention the other. Monck Mason proposed "blast" for spark, and all agree that either that word or some equivalent, breath or wind, is necessary. Malone adopted breath, and Steevens wind. Heart for "Heat was an easy mistake. How dare the PLANTS look up to heaven,] Malone tells us that the 4to, 1609, has "plants;" no copy of that edition we have seen, reads "plants," but planets: the mistake is evident, and in Malone's copy it must have been corrected while the sheet was going through the press. 9 Sit down; thou art no flatterer:] Malone silently interpolated the repetition of "Sit down" in this line, no doubt for the sake of the measure. The poet perhaps so wrote, but the words added are in no early impression, and we are not in any way authorized to insert them. Wilkins' novel thus speaks of this part of the interview :-"Which chiding of this good old lord the gentle Prince courteously receiving, tooke him into his armes, thankt him that he was no flatterer, and commaunding him to seat himselfe by him, he, from poynt to poynt, related to him all the occurrents past." I thank thee for it; and heaven forbid, That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid. Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant, What wouldst thou have me do? Hel. To bear with patience Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself. That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself. Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death Who seem'd my good protector; and being here, To lop that doubt he'll fill this land with arms, And make pretence of wrong that I have done him; Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence: Hel. Alas, sir! 10 And should he DOUBT it,] Malone's judicious emendation of the 4to, 1609, which reads, "And should he doo't:" the folio, 1664, following the later 4tos, prints "And should he think it." Seven lines lower, Malone's copy of the 4to, 1609, differs, by having "spares" for fears of other copies of the same impression. This important correction (like "plants" for planets on the preceding page) must have been made while the edition was being printed, and strongly enforces the fitness of examining different copies of the same edition. Per. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks, 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, Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while, 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 1? 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 On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it. That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince3, [Exeunt. 1 But should he wrong MY liberties in my absence?] Modern editors have made unpardonably free with the verse here, by quietly striking out "my" in the second instance. If they may omit in one place, why not in another? In a line above, "Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life," why do they not strike out "do," when it injures the measure, as well as weakens the sense? We preserve it as the ancient text. In the line in question, we may be reasonably sure that "my liberties" ought to be "thy liberties;" and in the last line of the scene we might read sign for "shine;" but in neither case have we authority for varying from the 4tos. and folios. 2 will SURE crack both.] inserted in the folio, 1664. 3 "Sure" is not in any of the 4tos, but was - this truth shall ne'er CONVINCE,] i. e. Overcome, or conquer. See Vol. ii. p. 174, and Vol. v. pp. 403. 445. 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, 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, I shall not be hang'd now, although I would; 4 he might know none of his secrets:] In reference to this saying Steevens cited the following from Barnaby Rich's "Souldiers Wishe to Britain's Welfare," &c. 1604, p. 27: "I will therefore commend the poet Philipides, who, being demaunded by King Lisimachus what favour he might doe unto him, for that he loved him, made this answer to the king-that your majesty would never impart unto me any of your secrets." |