And yet Demetrius' words went through my heart.

A double crime, Demetrius, is your charge;
Fondness for Rome, and hatred to your brother.
If you can clear your innocence in one,
'Twill give us cause to think you wronged in

both.

Dem. How shall I clear it, sir?

King. This honest man

Detests the Romans: if you wed his daughter, Rome's foe becomes the guardian of your faith. Dem. I told you, sir, when I returned from

Rome

King. How! Dost thou want an absolute

command?

Your brother, father, country, all exact it.

Ant. See yonder guards at hand, if you refuse. Nay, more; a father, so distressed, demands A son's compassion, to becalm his heart. Oh! sir, comply.

[Aside to DEMETRIUS. Dem. There! there indeed you touch me! Besides, if I'm confined, and Perseus free, I never, never shall behold her more.Pardon, ye gods! an artifice forced on me. [Aside to ANTIGONUS. Dread sir, your son complies. [To the King. Dym. Astonishment!

King. Strike off his chains. Nay, Perseus too is free:

They wear no bonds, but those of duty, now. Dymas, go thank the prince: he weds your daugh

In serving him, who gave it. Thus you'll make
Indulgence, justice; and absolve your master.
Though kings delight in raising what they love,
Less owe they to themselves than to the throne;
Nor must they prostitute its majesty,
To swell a subject's pride, howe'er deserving.
Dym. What the king grants me-
Dem. Talk not of a grant;

What a king ought not, that he cannot give;
And what is more than meet from prince's bounty,
Is plunder, not a grant. Think you, his honour
A perquisite belonging to your place,

As favourite paramount? Preserve the king
From doing wrong, though wrong is done for you,
And shew, 'tis not in favour to corrupt thee.
Dym. I sought not, sir, this honour.
Dem. But would take it.

True majesty's the very soul of kings;
And rectitude's the soul of majesty:
If mining minions sap that rectitude,
The king may live, but majesty expires:
And he, that lessens majesty, impairs
That just obedience public good requires ;
Doubly a traitor, to the crown and state.
Dym. Must I refuse what Philip's pleased to
give?

Dem. Can a king give thee more than is his
own?

Know, a king's dignity is public wealth;
On that subsists the nation's fame and power.
Shall fawning sycophants, to plump themselves,
Eat up their master, and dethrone his glory?
What are such wretches? What, but vapours.
foul,

From fens and bogs, from royal beams exhaled,
That radiance intercepting, which should cheer
The land at large? Hence subjects' hearts grow

cold,

And frozen loyalty forgets to flow;

But, then 'tis slippery standing for the minion:
Stains on his ermine, to their royal master
Such miscreants are; not jewels in his crown.
If you persist, sir-But, of words no more!
To me, to threat is harder than to do.

Dym. Let me embrace this genuine son of empire!

When warm debates divide the doubtful land,
Should I not know the prince most fit to reign?
I've tried you as an eagle tries her young,
And find, your dauntless eye is fixed on glory.
I'll to the king, and your commands obey.—
We must give young men opiates in a fever.

Yes, boy, I will obey thee, to thy ruin!
Erixene shall strike thee dead for this.

[dside.

I'm a bold advocate for other love, Though, at their bar, indicted for a fool.

honour,

By lifting up a minion from the dust,

And mating him with princes! Use your power Against yourself; yes, use it like a man,

Can break the fiery passions to the bit,
And, spite of their licentious sallies, keep
The radiant track of glory-passions, then,
Are aids and ornaments. 1iumphant reason,.

He woos the diadem; that diadem, which I
Despised for him. Oh, how unlike our loves!
But it is well; he gives me my revenge.
Wed Dymas' daughter! What a fall is there!
Not the world's empire could repair his glory.
Del. Madam, you can't be moved too much:
But why

More now than at the first?

Eriz. At first I doubted;

For who, that loved like me, could have believed?
I disbelieved what Pericles reported;

And thought it Perseus' art to wound our loves.
But when the good Antigonus, sworn friend
To false Demetrius, when his word confirmed it,
Then passion took me, as the northern blast
An autumn leaf. O gods! the dreadful whirl!
But, while I speak, he's with her: laughs and
plays;

Mingles his dalliance with insulting mirth;
To this new goddess offers up my tears;
Yes, with my shame and torture, woos her love.
I see, hear, feel it! O these raging fires!
Can then the thing we scorn give so much pain?
Del. Madam, these transports give him cause
to triumph.

Erir. I vent my grief to thee; he ne'er shall know it;

If I can't conquer, I'll conceal my passion,
And stifle all its pangs beneath disdain.

Del. The greatest minds are most relenting

too;

If then Demetrius should repent his crimeErir. If still my passion burns, it shall burn inward;

On the fierce rack in silence I'll expire,
Before one sigh escape me.-He repent!
What wild extravagance of thought is thine!
But did he? Who repents, has once been false:
In love, repentance but declares our guilt;
And injured honour shall exact its due.
In vain his love, nay mine, should groan in vain ;
Both are devoted. Vengeance, vengeance reigns!
Our first love, murdered, is the sharpest pang
A human heart can feel.

· Del. The king approaches.

Enter the King, &c.

King. Madam, at length we see the dawn of

peace,

And hope an end of our domestic jars.
The jealous Perseus can no longer fear
Demetrius is a Roman, since this day
Makes him the son of Dymas, Rome's worst foe.
Erix. Already, sir, I've heard, and heard with
joy,

The important news.

King. To make our bliss run o'er, You, madam, will complete what Heaven begins, And save the love-sick Perseus from despair. That marriage would leave Rome without pre

My lord, your brother doubts if I'm sincere,
And thinks (an error natural to him)

I'll break my vow to you. You will clear my fame,

And labour to convince him, that to-morrow Erixene's at once a bride and queen. [Exit. Per. When I have worked him up to violence, Bring thou the king, and pity my distress. [To PERICLES, who goes out. Dem. On what extremes extreme distress compels me!

In things impossible I put my trust:

I, in my only brother, find a foe;

Yet, in my rival, hope the greatest friend.
When all our hopes are lodged in such expedi-

ents,

'Tis as if poison were our only food,
And death was called on as the guard of life.
Per. Why dost thou droop?

Dem. Because I am dead; quite dead
To hope, and yet rebellious to despair;
Like ghosts unblessed, that burst the bars of
death.

Strange is my conduct, stranger my distress: Beyond example both! Whoe'er before me Pressed his worst foe to prove his truest friend? But though thou'rt not my brother, thou'rt a

man;

And, if a man, compassionate the worst

That man can feel; though found that worst in

me.

Per. What would'st?

Dem. Unclinch thy talons from thy prey; Let the dove fly to this her nest again. [Striking his breast. For, oh! the maid's unalienably mine, Though now through rage run mad, and turned to thee.

How often have I languished at her feet,
Basked in her eye, and revelled in her smile!
How often, as she listened to my vows,
Trembling and pale with agonies of joy,
Have I left earth, and mounted to the stars!
Per. There Dymas' daughter shone above the
rest,

Illustrious in thy sight.

Dem. Thy taunt, how false!

I no less press your interest, than my own.
Think you 'tis possible her heart, so long
Inclined to me, the price of all my vows,
Purchased by tears and groans, and paid me down
In tenderest returns of love divine,
Can in one day be yours? Impossible!

Support you in distress.

Dem. Inhuman Perseus!

If pity dwells within the heart of man,
If due that pity to the last distress,
Pity a lover exquisitely pained,
A lover exquisitely pained by you.
Oh! in the name of all the gods, relent!
Give me my princess, give her to my throes!
Amidst a thousand you may chuse a love;
The spacious earth contains but one for me.
But, oh! I rave. Art thou not he, the man,
Who drinks my groans like music to his ear,
And would, as wine, as nectar, drink my blood?
Are all my hopes of mercy lodged in thee?
Oh, rigid gods! and shall I then fall down,
Embrace thy feet, and bathe them with my tears?
Yes, I will drown thee with my tears, my blood,
So thou afford a human ear to pangs,

A brother's pangs, a brother's broken heart! Per. Pardon, Demetrius; but the princess calls,

And I am bound to go.

Dem. Oh, stay!

Per. You tremble.

[Laying hold of him.

Dem. The princess calls, and you are bound to go!

Per. E'en so.

Dem. What princess?

Per. Mine.

Dem. 'Tis false !

Per. Unhand me.

Dem. What, see, talk, touch, nay, taste her like a bee,

Draw honey from her wounded lip, while I
Am stung to death!

Per. The triumph once was your's.

Dem. Rip up my breast, or you shall never stir. My heart may visit her! Oh, take it with you! Have I not seen her, where she has not been? Have I not clasped her shadow? trod her steps? Transported trod, as if they led to Heaven? Each morn my life I lighted at her eye, And every evening, at its close expired.

[Bursts into tears. Per. Fie! thou art a Roman; can a Roman weep?

Sure Alexander's helmet can sustain

Far heavier strokes than these. For shame, De

metrius ;

E'en snatch up the next Sabine in thy way,

Dem. By Heaven you shall not stir. Long as I live, I stand a world between you, And keep you distant as the poles asunder. Who takes my love, in mercy take my life; Thy bloody pass cleave through thy brother's

breast.

I beg, I challenge, I provoke my death.

But 'tis no wonder from a brother king:

[Produces the forged letter. This king of Thrace-To-morrow he'll be king Of Macedon-He there foredies to-night. Per. And yet I doubt it, for I know his fond

ness.

Enter King and DYMAS.

Per. You will not murder me?
Dem. Yes, you and all.

King. How like a tiger foaming o'er his prey!
Per. Now, sir, believe your eyes, believe your

ears,

And still believe me perjured as this morning. King. Heaven's wrath's exhausted, there's no more to fear.

My darling son found criminal in all !

Dem. That villain there to blast me! Yes, I'll speak;

For what have I to fear, who feel the worst?
'Tis time the truth were known. That villain, sir,
Has cleft my heart, and laughs to see it bleed:
But his confession shall redeem my fame,
And re-enthrone me in my princess' smile;
Or I'll return that false embrace he gave me,
And stab him in your sight.

King. Hold, insolent!
Where's your respect to me?
Dem. Öh, royal sir!

That has undone me. Through respect I gave
A feigned consent, which his black artifice
Has turned to my destruction. I refused
That slave's, that cursed slave's, that statesman's
daughter,

And he pretends she was refused to me.
Hence, hence this desolation. Nought I fear,
Though nature groan her last. And shall he
then

Escape and triumph?

King. Guards there! Seize the prince! [He is seized. The man you menace you shall learn to fear. Dym. Hold, sir! not this for me! It is your

son:

What is my life, though poured upon your feet?
King. Is this a son?

Dem. No, sir; my crime's too great,
Which dares to vindicate a father's honour,
To catch the glories of a falling crown,
And save it from pollution. But I've done.
I die, unless my princess is restored;

[Pointing to DYMAS.
And if I die, by heaven, and earth, and hell!
His sordid blood shall mingle with the dust,
And see if thence 'twill mount into the throne.
Oh, sir, think of it! I'll expect my fate. [Exit.
King. And thou shalt have it.

Dym. How, my lord; in tears!

King. As if the gods came down in evidence, How many sudden rays of proof concur To my conviction? Was ever equal boldness?

[Aside to DYMAS. Heaven knows with what regret-But, sir, your

safety

[Presenting the mandate for DEMETRIUS'S

death.

Is he not young? Was he not much indulged?
Galled by his brother? Doubted by his father?
Tempted by Rome? A nation to a boy?

Dym. Oh, a mere infant-that deposes kings.
King. No; once he saved my crown.
Dym. And now would wear it.
King. How my head swims!
Per. Nor strange; the task is hard.
Dym. Yet scarce for him. Brutus was but a
Roman;

[Speaking, as if he would not have the king

hear.

Yet, like a Philip dared, and is immortal. King. I hear thee, Dymas; give me then the mandate. [Going to sign, he stops short. Dym. No wonder if his mother thus had paused.

Per. Rank cankers on thy tongue! Why mention her? Aside. King. Oh, gods! I see her now: what am I doing! [Throws away the style.