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For death-like dragons here affright thee hard:
Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view
Her countless glory, which desert must gain;
And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,

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Tell thee with speechless tongues and semblance pale,
That without covering, save yon field of stars,
They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist
For going on death's net, whom none resist.
Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught
My frail mortality to know itself,

And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must;
For death remember'd should be like a mirror,

For... hard] for the terrors ath here face you with cruel asDaniel conjectures, " For death, dragons, here affrights"; and er, affront for affright. Malone ed the hyphen which is wanting

Ff.

countless] infinite. As Malone the poet was probably thinking e stars, the "countless eyes" of en (line 73).

which... ut desert can win. 33. And which ... die] and use, without desert, your eye pres to reach that fruit, you must h, head and body. The word has been considered a difficulty and Collier conjectured "all thy e head," which is little more than ense; and Bailey, shapes. But ilkins's Miseries of Enforced Mar

gain] which noth

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riage, Act ii. (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix.
505), we have a very similar expres-
sion for the body : "I'll . . . make
a consumption of this pile of man".

once.

34. sometimes] sometime, Shakespeare has both "sometimes" and "sometime" in this sense.

40. For going . . . net] from running yourself into death's snare: for, literally, to prevent, or, from fear of. Clarke remarks that on is here for the more usual "in," because driving headlong on to the net as well as entering headlong into the net is thus implied.

41. who hath] For the second person of the verb when the antecedent is in the third person, see Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, § 247.

44. to what I must] to inevitable death. For to we should have expected "for".

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Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it, error.
I'll make my will then; and as sick men do,
Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling

woe,

Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did:
So I bequeath a happy peace to you

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And all good men, as every prince should do;

My riches to the earth from whence they came,
[To the Princess.] But my unspotted fire of love to

you.

Thus ready for the way of life or death,

I wait the sharpest blow.

Ant. Scorning advice, read the conclusion then;
Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed,
As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed.

48, 49. Who know . . . did]" The meaning," says Malone, "may be 'I will act as sick men do, who having had experience of the pleasures of the world, and only visionary and distant prospect of heaven, have neglected the latter for the former; but at length feeling themselves decaying, grasp no longer at temporal pleasures, but prepare calmly for futurity"." Though some modern editors accept this explanation, I cannot believe that see heaven embraces anything like so comprehensive an idea. Mason conjectures "now in the world see (or seek) heaven"; Staunton, "know the world's heaven"; while Delius for but would substitute "by". Reading "their" for see, I would render the lines, "I'll make my will, then, and, as is done by sick men who know the world as their heaven, but feeling. did, will bequeath,' etc. Compare 2 Henry VI. II. i. 19: "Thy heaven is on earth".

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gh. Of all, 'say'd yet, may'st thou prove prosperous!

Of all, 'say'd yet, I wish thee happiness.
Like a bold champion, I assume the lists,

Nor ask advice of any other thought
But faithfulness and courage.

[He reads the riddle.]

I am no viper, yet I feed

On mother's flesh which did me breed; 60. 'say'd] Percy conj.; sayd Qq 1, 2, 3; said (the rest). of all, 'say'd yet] of all who as yet made this attempt. Of = he is not one of those who as yet made it; but the Grecism ommon one. Compare, e.g., A immer-Night's Dream, v. i. 252; eth, v. iv. 8; Paradise Lost, iv.

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assume the lists] enter the lists ake up the combat. 63. Nor ask courage] ens quotes as the source of words book iii. of Sidney's dia: "Whereupon asking adof no other thought but faithsse and courage, he presently ed from his own horse," etc. thought] prompting.

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65. I am... breed] For us myth as to the death of the nt vipers, Topsell, Historie of gSerpents, refers to Herodotus. passage in question (iii. 190) runs “ νῦν δ ̓ ἐπεὰν [αἱ ἔχιδναι] θορνται κατὰ ζεύγεα καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ ᾖ δ - τῇ ἐκποιήσι, ἀπιεμένου αὐτοῦ τὴν ν ἡ θήλεα ἅπτεται τῆς δειρῆς καὶ σα οὐκ ἀνίει πρὶν ἂν διαφάγῃ. ὁ ἡ ἔρσην ἀποθνήσκει τρόπῳ τῷ εἰρη, ἡ δὲ θήλεα τίσιν τοιήνδε ἀποτίνει σενι· τῷ γονέϊ τιμωρέοντα ἔτι ἐν αστρὶ ἐόντα τὰ τέκνα διεσθίει τὴν ρα, διαφαγόντα δὲ τὴν νηδὺν αὐτῆς Thy ěkdvσiv moléeтal." So Aris=, Mirab. 165: "TоÛ TEρKVOû ĔXEWs

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τῇ ἐχίδνῃ συγγινομένου, ἡ ἔχιδνα ἐν τῇ
συνουσίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποκόπτει. διὰ
τοῦτο καὶ τὰ τέκνα, ὥσπερ τὸν θάνατον
τοῦ πατρὸς μετερχόμενα, τὴν γαστέρα
TÊs unтpòs diapρhyvvow" (quoted by
Jebb, on Antigone, 531). Pliny (ii.
37), though affirming the manner of
the father's death, accounts differently
for the action of the young:
66 Terres-
trium," he says, "sola vipera inter se
parit ova unius coloris, et mollia, ut
pisces. Tertia die intra uterum catu-
los excludit, deinceps singulos singulis
diebus parit viginti fere numero
(so far following Aristotle, Hist.
Anim. v. 28). Itaque ceterae tardi-
tatis impatientes perrumpunt latera
occisa parente. Topsell further re-
fers to Galen, Plutarch, Aelian, Lucan,
etc., as agreeing in regard to the
revenge taken by the young brood,
and Theophrastus, etc., as being
sceptical on the point. The eggs are
hatched, as Aristotle and Pliny say,
within the mother viper; and as soon
as the embryo gets outside, it unfolds
itself and springs into life, often as-
suming what looks like a hostile
attitude. There was also a belief
that in times of danger the young
vipers took refuge in the mother's
mouth. Naturalists do not think this
impossible, but hold the facts un-
proved. If there is any truth in it,
the action may further have fostered

I sought a husband, in which labour
I found that kindness in a father.
He's father, son, and husband mild,
I mother, wife, and yet his child,
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live, resolve it you.

70

[Aside.] Sharp physic is the last: but, O you
powers!

That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,

If this be true, which makes me pale to read it? 75
Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still,
Were not this glorious casket stor❜d with ill :
But I must tell you, now my thoughts revolt;
For he's no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate. 80
You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings,

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79. on whom . . . wait] This, says Malone, " means no more thanhe's no honest man, that knowing," etc., and so Clarke. But surely the idea is that of some creature perfect outwardly, but vile inwardly, who awaits the coming of a visitor. To receive the welcome of such a creature, no one worth the name of a man will make the slightest approach. In gate there is a blending of the literal and the figurative.

81. viol] a stringed instrument of the violin type. Shakespeare mentions the base viol and the viol-degamboys (or viol taken between the legs in playing).

81. sense] probably here the uninflected plural, as in Macbeth, v. I. 99; Othello, Iv. iii. 95.

Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,

Would draw heaven down and all the gods to

hearken;

But being play'd upon before your time,

Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.

. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that's an article within our law,

As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expir'd:
Either expound now or receive your sentence.

. Great king,

Few love to hear the sins they love to act;

'Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it. Who has a book of all that monarchs do,

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He's more secure to keep it shut than shown; 95
For vice repeated is like the wandering wind,
Blows dust in others' eyes, to spread itself;

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Mason refers to Massinger's Unnatural Combat, iii. 4, when Beaufort, betrothed to the daughter of the incestuous father, touches her hand. 88. our law] the law I have laid down on this matter.

93. braid] probably only an aphetic form of abraid, upbraid. Marston, Antonio and Mellida (pt. ii.), 1. ii. 209, and The Malcontent, IV. 236, has imbraid in the same sense; and Greene, Alphonsus, ii. 2, “darst thou abraid me in my land”.

96, 97. For vice itself] for the noising abroad of vicious deeds resembles the action of that chartered libertine, the wind, which, in giving itself free way, blows dust in men's eyes.

97. to spread itself] the indefinite infinitive.

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