Thal. From him I come

With message unto princely Pericles;
But, since my landing, I have understood
Your lord has betook himself to unknown
travels;

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My message must return from whence it came.
Hel. We have no reason to desire2 it,
Commended to our master, not to us:
Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire,-
As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.
[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Tarsus. An open place.
Enter CLEON, DIONYZA, and Attendants.

Cle. My Dionyza, shall we rest us here,
And, by relating tales of others' griefs,
See if 't will teach us to forget our own?

Dio. That were to blow at fire in hope to quench it;

For who digs hills because they do aspire Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher. O my distressed lord, ev'n such our griefs are; Here they're but felt, and seen with mischief's

Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it : [Those mothers who, to nousle up11 their babes, Thought nought too curious,12 are ready now To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd.] So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life:

6 And strangers ne'er beheld but wonder'd at, i.e. and which strangers ne'er beheld but with wonder.

7 Jetted, strutted.

8 Glass to trim them by, pattern after which to dress themselves.

Enter PERICLES, with Attendants; some people of Tarsus follow.

Per. Lord governor, for so we hear you are, Let not our ships and number of our men Be, like a beacon fir'd, t' amaze9 your eyes. We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre, And seen the desolation of your streets: Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears, 90 But to relieve them of their heavy load; And these our ships, you happily10 may think Are like the Trojan horse was11 stuff'd within With bloody veins, expecting overthrow, Are stor❜d with corn to make your needy bread, And give them life whom hunger starv'd half dead.

All. [Kneeling] The gods of Greece protect you!

And we'll pray for you.

The same.

Enter GOWER.

Gow. [Here have you seen a mighty king His child, I-wis, to incest bring;

A better prince, and bénign lord,

That will prove awful both in deed and word;
Be quiet, then, as men should be,
Till he hath pass'd necessity.3

I'll show you those in troubles reign,
Losing a mite, a mountain gain.
The good in conversation1-
To whom I give my benison-

Is still at Tarsus, where each man
Thinks all is writ he speken can;
And, to remember what he does,
Build his statue to make him glorious:
But tidings to the contrary

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