Twine calls the daughter of Apollonius Tarsia and the mother Lucina; Gower gives the mother no name and calls the daughter Thaisë (the Anglo-Saxon text calls the country Thasia, which corresponds to Shakespeare's Thaisa). In the Patterne of Painefull Pleasures it is Cerimon's pupil, Machaon, who discovers the presence of life in the body of Lucina. And this is the original plan of the Latin Historia. In Heinrich v. Neustadt, Gower and Shakespeare it is Cerimon himself who restores the princess to life. If we consider the incident of the erection by the grateful citizens of Tharsis of a statue to the hero who has timely succoured them against famine, we find it in the oldest MSS., in Heinrich von Neustadt, the Gesta Romanorum, and it naturally flows thence into Twine, Shakespeare and Wilkins. Gower has copied his account from Godfrey, but adds a touch; the statue, he says, was "overgilt." Twine has: "they erected in the market-place a monument in the memoriall of him, his stature made of brasse, standing in a charret, holding corne in his right hand, and spurning it with his left foot." Collier observes that " Shakespeare wrote statute for statue, probably as a joke at the expense of the ignorant folks temp. Elizabeth; but in the Gesta Romanorum, ed. Madden, p. 25, we have statute for statue, and it is to be suspected that the word in the text should properly be statute" (Collier, Shakespeare's Library, Vol. iv, p. 263; statue is the spelling of Q.1, statute of Q.2, Q.3). "And to remember what he does Build his statue to make him glorious." (Pericles, ii, Pro.) The vows of Apollonius have special interest. Shakespeare makes Pericles say of his daughter: "Till she be married, madam By bright Diana, whom we honour, all This is all that Shakespeare gives of the ancient vows common to both Latin and Teutonic peoples. Twine says, "hee sware a solemne othe, that he would not poule his head, clip his beard, nor pare his nailes untill hee had married his daughter at ripe yeares." The episode of the striking of Tharsia by Apollonius varies in the different versions. It is an incident more repugnant than the brothel scenes. In Pericles the brutal act is not performed, but a reminiscence of it lingers in: "I said my lord, if you did know my parentage You would not do me violence." (V, i, 100.) These lines are insusceptible of explanation without a knowledge of the earlier versions of the story. There is a hiatus here that must be supplied by reference to Shakespeare's predecessors (see Appendix, p. 308). Twine has, "Then Apollonius fell in a rage, and forgetting all courtesie, his unbridled affection stirring him. thereunto, rose up sodainly and stroke the maiden on the face with his foote, so that shee fell to the ground, and the bloud gushed plentifully out of her cheekes. And like it is that shee was in a swoone." Godfrey writes, Godfrey writes, "Pulsaque calce patris Tharsia læsa dolet," while in Gower it stands : "And after hire with his honde He smote and thus whan she hym fonde Diseasyd, courtesly she saide Avoy, my lorde, I am a mayde And if you wiste what I am And owte of what lynage I cam The last element of the story that Pudmenzky employs for comparative purposes is the riddle (cf. Pudmenzky, Shakespeare's Pericles und d. Apol. des Heinrich v. Neustadt, p. 17). There is first the evil riddle that Antiochus proposes to Apollonius, and later occur the riddles that Tharsia puts to the King for his solution when she plays the harp before him to dispel his melancholy. In the old Latin Historia her riddles are eight in number, and the answers are unda, pisces, navis, balneum, spongia, sphæra, speculum, rotæ, scola. These very riddles are in the riddle bag of the mysterious Symphosius, to whom we have already referred (cf. Douce, Illustrations of Shakespeare, ii, 137). The Gesta Romanorum gives only three riddles. And none at all are found in Godfrey, Gower or Shakespeare (save in Shakespeare the first riddle borrowed from Twine). The literary fashion of the time had changed, and this particular form of diversion was obsolete, yet the appearance of the one riddle in Shakespeare-wretched as it is-is an 1 In the Greek romance of Chariton the hero kicks his wife so that she falls unconscious, and is believed to be dead. interesting survival of a once popular and significant species of literary entertainment. Riddle-teaching was parable-preaching. It was a mnemonic device, and it became, no doubt, cottage wisdom. But certainly in its genesis, at least, it contained suggestions of something deeper, and the riddle was employed to conceal dangerous truth. The points of likeness between Gower and Shakespeare are brought out by P. Z. Round in his "Introduction" to Griggs' Facsimile Quartos. The source of the play is mainly the story as told in Confessio Amantis (Bk. viii), but the recrimination scene between Cleon and his wife (iv, iii) is from Twine. Wilkins borrowed phrases from Sidney's Arcadia, which are pointed out by the Variorum editors. Twine follows the Latin Historia rather narrowly, but adds occasionally to the narrative. The additions are the following (I quote from the reprint of Twine in Hazlitt's Shakespeare Library): P. 264, lines 11-22 the storm at sea (cf. Tempest, in Griggs qu.). P. 265, "a rough fisherman, with an hoode upon his head, and a filthie leatherne pelt upon his backe." P. 273, line 10, "examining her urine." P. 275, lines 14-21 and 22-25 (cf. Chap. vi). P. 276, lines 23 to bottom. P. 277, the king's speech to Apollonius, and Apollonius' answer. P. 278, 279, the description of the marriage. Twine depicts the dresses and jewelry. P. 284, description of Lucina's faultless beauty. P. 296, explanation of the term Priapus. P. 303, lines 9-13, 19-23, 25-28. P. 312, lines 7-18. P. 320, lines 10 to bottom. P. 321, lines 18 to bottom. P. 323, lines 7-20. P. 325, lines 7-16. Nearly all of Chap. xxii is original with Twine. P. 330, line 19 to end of Chap. xxiii. Generally speaking, Twine enlarges as much as possible, giving speeches in full even when the substance has been related previously. Wilkins did not improve the parts he stole from Twine; witness the account of the wedding festivities and the storm. Twine was far surpassed, however, as an amplifier by Heinrich von Neustadt, who goes minutely into a description of Tharsus and the medical lore of his time. Philomin, the forward pupil, says to Orrimonius (Cerimonius), his master: "latwerjen traget her die zer amehte sin guot ez geschiht gern den wiben Man prahte ouch da pi Cinciat und mitratacum. da gap man der siechen pinol von Ciper und Schavernac malvasiam und Bladac win von Chreidpinel turchies unde muscatel moraz unde lutertranc. Reinval douhte in ze kranc" (Apol., 2714-2777). Notice also this Whitman-like catalogue of stones: "Nu merket hie gemeine die ouzerwelten steine die in die Krone sint geslagen da ist abeston und absinth ametist unde amandius perillus und calcedon carbunculus und calophagon centaureus und celonite calidonius und cegolite corniolus und corallen crisopassus und cristallen djadochus und dionysya echites elydropia epistratis galaritide jaspis und gerachide panterus und obtallius topasios und smaragdus, die steine war en drin gesazt alle in püschelin gevazzt" (Apol., 18,416–18,439). Collier, in his introduction to Mommsen's edition of Wilkins' novel, attempts to prove two contentions: first, "that the novel before us very much adopts the language of the play; second, that it not infrequently supplies portions of the play as it was acted in 1607 or 1608, which have not come down to us in any of the printed copies of Pericles." In illustration of the first point, Collier quotes from the novel, "A Gentleman of Tyre-his name Pericles—his education been in arts and arms, who, looking for adventures in the world, was, by the rough and unconstant seas, most unfortunately bereft both of ships and men, and after shipwreck thrown upon that shore ;" and cites the parallel passage from the play: "A Gentleman of Tyre; my name Pericles; My education beene in Artes and Armes : Who looking for aduentures in the world, Was by the rough Seas reft of Ships and men, And after shipwracke, driuen upon this shore" (II, iii, 81). Collier has greater difficulty in discovering in the text of the novel the lost language of Shakespeare. Act iii, Scene i, of the play, as it is printed, relates mainly to the birth of Marina at sea during a storm. In the novel Pericles thus addresses the infant : "Poor inch of nature! . . . . thou art as rudely welcome to the world, as ever princess babe was, and hast as chiding a nativity as fire, air, earth and water can afford thee." In the play as printed no corresponding commencement of the apostrophe, "Poor inch of nature!" is to be found, and yet the words must have come from Shakespeare. No mere hackney scribe could have conceived them. Moreover, the words which follow are nearly identical in the play with the sentence from the novel: "Thou art the rudelyest welcome to this world, That euer was Princes Child: happy what followes, Thou hast as chiding a natiuitie, As Fire, Ayre, Water, Earth and Heauen can make" (III, i, 30). |