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I'll then discourse our woes, felt several years,
And wanting breath to speak help me with tears.
I'll do my best, sir.

This Tarsus, o'er which I have the government,
A city on whom plenty held full hand,

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For riches strew'd herself even in the streets; Whose towers bore heads so high they kiss'd the clouds,

And strangers ne'er beheld but wonder'd at;
Whose men and dames so jetted all-adorn'd,
Like one another's glass to trim them by:
Their tables were stored full to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on as delight;
All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.

O! 'tis too true.

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30

But see what heaven can do! By this our change,
These mouths, who but of late, earth, sea, and air,
Were all too little to content and please,
Although they gave their creatures in abundance,

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As houses are defil'd for want of use,

40

They are now starv'd for want of exercise;
Those palates who, not yet two summers younger,
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it;
Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,
Thought nought too curious, are ready now
To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd.
So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife 45
Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life.
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall
Have scarce strength left to give them burial.
Is not this true?

39. two summers] too (or to) sauers (or savers) Qq, Ff 3, 4.

The Tempest, III. iii. 74: "Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures," i.e. the winds, thunder, etc. Bacon's Essays, Of Truth: "The first creature of God in the works of the days was the light of the sense

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38. for... exercise] for want of anything on which to exercise themselves.

39. not yet... younger] This reading, now generally accepted, is Mason's, who explains: "Those palates, who, less than two years ago, required some new inventions of cookery to delight their tastes would now be glad of plain bread". The conjecture is confirmed beyond all doubt by a passage in Wilkins's novel, quoted by the Cambridge Editors: "The ground of which fierce lamentation was, to see the power of change, that this City, who not two summers younger did so excell in pompe," etc. The old copies give yet.

40. Must have] demanded to have; an obsolete use of "must" as a past.

50

42. nousle] a corruption of "nurstle"; nurse, cherish. Rolfe quotes The Faerie Queene, 1. vi. 23

66

"Whom, till to ryper years he

gan aspyre,

He nousled up in life and manners wilde ";

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and again, v. i. 6, vI. iv. 35. The
word is apparently the same with
'nuzzle,"
," for which Malone quotes
The Strange Birth of Famous
Arthur, etc. (1601): "Being nuzzled
in effeminate delights". So Marston,
Antonio and Mellida (pt. ii.), Pro-
logue, 16: "And nuzzled 'twixt the
breasts of happiness"; and What
You Will, 111. ii. 58:-

"Makes my coy minx to nuzzle
'twixt the breasts

Of her lull'd husband"; the idea being that of pressing close to the breasts of the female with a view to nutriment.

43. curious] exquisite, sought with

care.

Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it.

O! let those cities that of plenty's cup

And her prosperities so largely taste,

With their superfluous riots, hear these tears:
The misery of Tarsus may be theirs.

Enter a Lord.

Where's the lord governor ?

Here.

55

Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring'st in haste,
For comfort is too far for us to expect.

We have descried, upon our neighbouring shore, 60
A portly sail of ships make hitherward.

I thought as much.

One sorrow never comes but brings an heir

That may succeed as his inheritor ;

And so in ours. Some neighbouring nation, 65
Taking advantage of our misery,

Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their power,
To beat us down, the which are down already;
And make a conquest of unhappy me,

Whereas no glory's got to overcome.

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70

59. Here. expect.] Verse first by Malone; prose in Qq, Ff 3, 4. 【ath] Rowe (ed. 2); That Qq, Ff 3, 4.

v. 162 (Arden ed.).

superfluous riots] riotous indul- see note on Troilus and Cressida, IV.
in superfluities. Compare
Lear, Iv. i. 70: "the superfluous
ust-dieted man".

hear these tears] hear these al lamentations. Collier conres "heed' for "hear".

which... haste] with which haste shows you to be charged. portly] imposing. Compare Merchant of Venice, 1. i. 9, and

61. make] making, directing their

course.

63. One sorrow... heir] Steevens
compares Hamlet, IV. v. 79:-

"When sorrows come, they come
not single spies,
But in battalions".
67. power] armed forces.

70. Whereas] when, in whose case.

1

Lord. That's the least fear; for, by the semblance

Of their white flags display'd, they bring us peace,
And come to us as favourers, not as foes.
Cle. Thou speak'st like him's untutor'd to repeat:

Who makes the fairest show means most deceit. 75
But bring they what they will and what they can,
What need we fear?

The ground's the lowest and we are half way there.
Go tell their general we attend him here,

To know for what he comes, and whence he comes, 80
And what he craves.

Lord. I go, my lord.

Cle. Welcome is peace if he on peace consist;
If wars we are unable to resist.

Enter PERICLES, with Attendants.

Per. Lord governor, for so we hear you are,
Let not our ships and number of our men
Be like a beacon fir'd to amaze your eyes.
We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre,
And seen the desolation of your streets :

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[Exit.

85

foes.] Arranged as by Malone; in Qq, Ff 3, 4, the first
74. him 's] Malone; himnes, hymnes,
77, 78. What . . . lowest] Arranged as
78-81. and
craves.] Arranged as

fear] we need not

71-73. That's line ends at feare, the rest is prose. hymmes, hywwes, hymns Qq, Ff. by Malone; one line in Qq, Ff 3, 4. by Malone; prose in Qq, Ff 3, 4. 71. That's fear that in the least. 71. semblance] a trisyllable. 74. like him's repeat] The reading in the text is Malone's. Steevens explains, "Deluded by the pacifick experience of this navy, you talk like one who has never learned the common adage, that the fairest outsides are most to be suspected";

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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
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.

The gods of Greece protect you!

3838

90

95

And we'll pray for you.

Arise, I pray you, rise:

We do not look for reverence, but for love,

And harbourage for ourself, our ships, and men. 100 The which when any shall not gratify,

Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought,

Be it our wives, our children, or ourselves,

...

Coo. Arise, men.] Arranged as by Rowe; two lines, the first ending nce, Qq 1, 2, 3; prose in the rest.

er

sorrow] i.e. fresh sorrow. conjectures "hearts" for and the word is more in keepith the next line.

was stuff'd] The relative omitFor stuff'd, compare Heywood, ron Age, ii., "this steed's huge 3 stuff'd with Greekish guile With bloody . . . overthrow] ine can hardly be sound. For Steevens conjectured "views," Malone adopted; Collier, es"; Bailey, "foes". To me ater difficulty is in "expecting row". Even if veins could the armed men within the horse, we read "banes" or "foes,' ing overthrow could mean ng else but " 'expecting their

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>verthrow". Rolfe endeavours : over the difficulty by referring

those words to you in line 92, which seems impossible. I suggest" bloody arms importing overthrow". In Wilkins's novel, "and those his shippes which their feares might cause them to think were fraughted with their destruction, were intreasured with corne for their reliefe ". The same confusion of " arms and "veins" appears to occur in Shirley's Love Tricks, iv. v., where the muchwounded soldier implores compassion on a forlorn gentleman, that have lost the use of my veins ". Compare Euripides, Troades, II, “èyкvμóν' lππov TeVXÉWV".

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95. your needy bread] the bread of which you have such sore need.

102. in thought] in SO much as thought. Malone conjectured "aught".

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