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.3
The good in conversation+

(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,

prove awful &c. The verb in the first line is carried on to the third. Old copy:

That will prove awful both in deed and word.

I have omitted the two first words, as the sense proceeds with out them, and they render the metre irregular. STEEVENS.

3

I'll show you those, &c.] I will now exhibit to you persons, who, after suffering small and temporary evils, will at length be blessed with happiness.-I suspect our author had here in view the title of the chapter in Gesta Romanorum, in which the story of Apollonius is told; though I will not say in what language he read it. It is this: "De tribulatione temporali quæ in gaudium sempiternum postremo commutabitur." MALONE.

-to

The good in conversation-] Conversation is conduct, behaviour. So, in the Second Epistle of St. Peter, iii. 11: “ be in all holy conversation and godliness." STEevens.

The good in conversation

(To whom I give my benizon,)

Is still at Tharsus, where-] This passage is confusedly expressed. Gower means to say-The good prince (on whom I bestow my best wishes) is still engaged at Tharsus, where every man &c. STEEVENS.

Thinks all is writ he spoken can:] Pays as much respect to whatever Pericles says, as if it were holy writ. "As true as the gospel," is still common language. MALONE.

Writ may certainly mean scripture; the holy writings, by way of eminence, being so denominated. We might, however, read-wit, i. e. wisdom. So, Gower, in this story of Prince Appolyn:

66 Though that thou be of littel witte." STEEVEns.

Gild his statue glorious :7

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.

Gild his statue glorious:] This circumstance, as well as the foregoing, is found in the Confessio Amantis:

"Appolinus, whan that he herde

The mischefe, how the citee ferde,
"All freliche of his owne gifte
"His wheate among hem for to shifte,
"The whiche by ship he had brought,
"He yave, and toke of hem right nought.
"But sithen fyrst this worlde began,
"Was never yet to suche a man
"More joye made than thei hym made;
"For thei were all of hym so glade,
"That thei for ever in remembrance
"Made a figure in resemblance

"It was of laton over-gylte;

"Thus hath he nought his yefte spilte."

All the copies read-Build his statue &c. MALONE.

They also unnecessarily read:

Build his statue to make it glorious.

Read-gild. So, in Gower:

"It was of laton over-gylte."

Again, in Kyng Appolyn of Thyre, 1510: "in remem

braunce they made an ymage or statue of clene gold," &c.

STEEVENS.

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;
And, to fulfil his prince' desire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:9
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:

$-forth &c.] Old copy-for though he strive. I read forth; i. e. thoroughly, from beginning to end. So, in Measure for Measure:

66

you, cousin,

"Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
"Do with your injuries as seems you best."

9 Good Helicane hath staid at home,

And, to fulfil his prince' desire,

STBEVENS.

Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:] The old copy reads:
Good Helicane that stay'd at home,—

Sav'd one of all &c.

The emendation was suggested by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. 1 And hid intent, to murder him ;] The first quarto reads: And hid in Tent to murder him.

This is only mentioned to show how inaccurately this play was originally printed, and to justify the liberty that has been taken in correcting the preceding passage. The reading of the text is that of the quarto 1619. MALONE.

How Thaliard came full bent with sin,

And hid intent to murder him.] Sin and him cannot be received as rhymes. Perhaps the author wrote,

- full bent with scheme,

And hid intent, &c.

The old reading, in the second line, is certainly the true one. Hid intent is concealed design, such as was that of Thaliard. STEEVENS.

was not best-] The construction is, And that for him to make his rest longer in Tharsus, was not best; i. e. his best course.

Malone.

He knowing so,3 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; 5
Till fortune, tir'd with doing bad,

Threw him ashore, to give him glad:"

He knowing so,] i. e. says Mr. Steevens, by whom this emendation was made, "he being thus informed." The old copy has-He doing so. MALONE.

that the ship

Should house him safe, is wreck'd and split ;] Ship and. are such defective rhymes, that I suppose our author wrote fleet. Pericles, in the storm, lost his feet as well as the vessel in which he was himself embarked. STEEVENS.

"Ne aught escapen but himself;] [Old copy-escapen'd-] It should be printed either escapen or escaped.

Our ancestors had a plural number in their tenses which is now lost out of the language; e. g. in the present tense,

I escape
Thou escapest
He escapeth

We escapen
Ye escapen
They escapen.

But it did not, I believe, extend to the preter-imperfects, otherwise than thus: They didden [for did] escape. PERCY.

I do not believe the text to be corrupt. Our author seems in this instance to have followed Gower:

and with himselfe were in debate, "Thynkende what he had fore," &c.

I think I have observed many other instances of the same kind in the Confessio Amantis. MALONE.

Thinkende is a participle, and therefore inapplicable to the present question. STEEVENS.

6

to give him glad:] Dr. Percy asks if we should not read-to make him glad. Perhaps we should: but the language

And here he comes: what shall be next,
Pardon old Gower; this long's the text."

[Exit.

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:

of our fictitious Gower, like that of our Pseudo-Rowley, is so often irreconcileable to the practice of any age, that criticism on such bungling imitations is almost thrown away. STEEVENS. what shall be next,

7

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

left

and left me breath

Nothing to think on, &c.] The quarto, 1609, reads — and my breath. I read-and left me breath, that is, left me life, only to aggravate my misfortunes, by enabling me to think on the death that awaits me. MALONE.

Mr. Malone's correction is certainly proper; and the passage. before us can have no other meaning, than-left me alive only that ensuing death might become the object of my contemplation. So, in the second Book of Sidney's Arcadia, where the shipwreck of Pyrocles is described: "left nothing but despair of safetie, and expectation of a loathsome end."