Aar. O, why should wrath be mute, and fury I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers, Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence, And give him burial in his father's grave: No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds, But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey: All the editors and critics agree in supposing this play spurious. I see no reason for differing from them; for the colour of the style is wholly different from that of the other plays. JOHNSON. Simonides, king of Pentapolis. Thaliard, a lord of Antioch. Philemon, servant to Cerimon. Leonine, servant to Dionyza. Marshal. A Pandar, and his Wife. Gower, as chorus. The Daughter of Antiochus. Dionyza, wife to Cleon. Boult, their servant. Thaisa, daughter to Simonides. Marina, daughter to Pericles and Thaisa. Lychorida, nurse to Marina. Diana. Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers, &c. Scene, dispersedly in various countries.1 (1) That the reader may know through how many regions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessary to observe, that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; Tyre a city of Phoenicia, in Asia; Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capitol of Lesbos, an island in the Egean sea; and Ephesus, the capital of Ionia, a country of the Lesser Asia. PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE. ACT I. Enter Gower. Before the palace of Antioch. To sing a song of old2 was sung, To glad your ear, and please your eyes. The fairest in all Syria; (I tell you what mine authors say :) (1) Chorus, in the character of Gower, an ancient English poet, who has related the story of this play in his Confessio Amantis. (2) i. e. That of old. (3) Whitsun-ales, &c. (4) Wife, the word signifies a mate or companion. |