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 was stuff'd within

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With bloody veins, expecting overthrow,

Are stored with corn to make your needy bread, And give them life whom hunger starved half

dead.

All. The gods of Greece protect you!

And we'll pray for you.

Per.

Arise, 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 awhile,

Until our stars that frown lend us a smile.

IOC

[Exeunt.

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,

92. happily, haply.

VOL. IV

33

D

That will 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 conversation,
To whom I give my benison,
Is still at Tarsus, where each man
Thinks all is writ he speken can;

IO

And, to remember what he does,
Build his statue to make him glorious:

But tidings to the contrary

Are brought your eyes; what need speak I?

DUMB SHow.

one

Enter at 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; gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exit PERICLES at one door, and

Cleon at another.

Good Helicane, that stay'd at home,
Not to eat honey like a drone
From others' labours; for though he strive

To killen bad, keep good alive;

And to fulfil his prince' desire,

Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:
How Thaliard came full bent with sin

And had intent to murder him;

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And that in Tarsus was not best
Longer for him to make his rest.

He, doing 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

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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, tired with doing bad,

Threw him ashore, to give him glad :
And here he comes. What shall be next,

Per. Yet cease your ire, you 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
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;
And having thrown him from your watery grave,
Here to have death in peace is all he'll crave.

Enter three Fishermen.

First Fish. What, ho, Pilch !

Sec. Fish. Ha, come and bring away the nets!
First Fish. What, Patch-breech, I say !
Third Fish. What say you, master?

First Fish. Look how thou stirrest now! come away, or I'll fetch thee with a wanion.

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

now.

First 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.

Third Fish. Nay, master, said not I as much when I saw the porpus how he bounced and tumbled? they say they're 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.

First 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 o' the land, who never leave gaping till they've swallowed the whole parish, church, steeple, bells, and all.

Per. [Aside] A pretty moral.

Third Fish. But, master, if I had been the 40

sexton, I would have been that day in the belfry. Sec. Fish. Why, man?

Third Fish. Because he should have swallowed me too: and when I had been in his belly, I would have kept such a jangling of the bells, that he should never have left, till he cast bells, steeple, church, and parish, up again. But if the good King Simonides were of my mind,

Per. [Aside] Simonides !

Third Fish. We would purge the land of these 50 drones, that rob the bee of her honey.

Per. [Aside] How from the finny subject of

the sea

These fishers tell the infirmities of men;
And from their watery empire recollect
All that may men approve or men detect!
Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen.

Sec. Fish. Honest! good fellow, what's that? It it be a day fits you, steal 't out of the calendar, and nobody look after it.

Per. May see the sea hath cast me upon your

coast.

Sec. Fish. What a drunken knave was the sea to cast thee in our way!

Per. A man whom both the waters and the wind,

In that vast tennis-court, have made the ball
For them to play upon, entreats you pity him;

He asks of you, that never used to beg.

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