Pericles

Pericles, Prince of Tyre had been performed before 20 May 1608, when Edward Blount entered it for publication in the Register of the Stationers’ Company. The earliest two known Quartos are both dated 1609 and it reached a sixth edition by 1635. It remains unclear why Pericles was not included in the First Folio in 1623: perhaps it was known to be of collaborative authorship (favoured candidates as part-author include George Wilkins); perhaps no better text was readily available to replace the unsatisfactory and in places garbled text printed in 1609. In 1664, Pericles was the first of seven plays attributed to Shakespeare which were added as a supplement to a reissue of the 1663 Third Folio. Alone of the seven, it was gradually accepted into the Shakespeare canon, because of unmistakable signs of Shakespeare’s late style in acts 3–5, but also because of other resemblances to the late romances, especially The Winter’s Tale. Apparently a great success in its own time (Ben Jonson could complain, as late as 1629, of the continued popularity of such a ‘mouldy tale’), Pericles is now the least performed of the romances.

In his opening speech, the Chorus, in the person of the fourteenth-century poet John Gower, introduces the story with the claim that ‘bonum quo antiquius eo melius’, the older a good thing is the better it is. The romance of Apollonius of Tyre is indeed old, originating in the eastern Mediterranean in the fifth century AD. Its many English retellings stretch from a fragmentary Old English translation, by way of Gower’s Confessio Amantis (late 1380s), to a prose novel by Laurence Twyne, The Pattern of Painful Adventures … that Befell unto Prince Apollonius, written in the 1570s. In the play – and in a prose narrative by George Wilkins published in 1608 and apparently influenced by seeing the play in performance – the protagonist becomes Pericles, a name which may recall the great Athenian statesman but which is more directly derived from ‘Pyrocles’, one of the two heroes of Sir Philip Sidney’s vastly popular and much imitated romance, Arcadia (1590).

Pericles tells its old story with great directness and with remarkable fidelity to the sequence of events in Gower and Twyne. The travels and tribulations of Pericles are echoed, fourteen years later, by those of his lost (and supposedly dead) daughter, Marina, so named because she was born in a storm at sea in which her mother Thaisa died. The name Marina also originates in the play, and strikingly resembles those of other heroines of late Shakespearean romance – Perdita, ‘the lost one’, and Miranda, ‘wonderful’. The Job-like despair and catatonic withdrawal of Pericles are cured, in the play’s climactic scene, by reunion with his daughter, a cure effected both by the example of her patience in extremity and by their discovery of each other’s identity. As a bonus, a vision of the goddess Diana leads Pericles and Marina to Ephesus where the family reunion is completed by the discovery of Thaisa, long supposed dead but providentially resuscitated by the sage Cerimon and preserved as a nun in the temple of Diana (circumstances which recall the dénouement of The Comedy of Errors, written some fourteen years earlier).

The Arden text is based on the 1609 First Quarto.

LIST OF ROLES

ANTIOCHUS		King of Antioch
PERICLES		Prince of Tyre
SIMONIDES		King of Pentapolis
CLEON		governor of Tharsus
LYSIMACHUS		governor of Mytilene
CERIMON		a lord of Ephesus
THALIARD		a lord of Antioch
PHILEMON		a servant to Cerimon
LEONINE		a servant to Dionyza
MARSHAL
PANDAR
BOULT		his servant
DAUGHTER		of Antiochus
DIONYZA		wife to Cleon
THAISA		daughter to Simonides
MARINA		daughter to Pericles and Thaisa
LYCHORIDA		nurse to Marina
BAWD
Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen and Messengers
DIANA
GOWER		as Chorus

1.Ch. Enter GOWER.

GOWER     To sing a song that old was sung,
From ashes ancient Gower is come,
Assuming man’s infirmities,
To glad your ear, and please your eyes.
It hath been sung at festivals,	5
On ember-eves and holy-ales;
And lords and ladies in their lives
Have read it for restoratives:
The purchase is to make men glorious,
Et bonum quo antiquius eo melius.	10
If you, born in these latter times,
When wit’s more ripe, accept my rimes,
And that to hear an old man sing
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I life would wish, and that I might	15
Waste it for you like taper-light.
This Antioch, then, Antiochus the Great
Built up, this city, for his chiefest seat,
The fairest in all Syria –
I tell you what mine authors say.	20
This king unto him took a peer,
Who died and left a female heir,
So buxom, blithe and full of face
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,	25
And her to incest did provoke.
Bad child, worse father, to entice his own
To evil should be done by none.
But custom what they did begin
Was with long use account’d no sin.	30
The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,
To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures play-fellow;
Which to prevent he made a law,	35
To keep her still, and men in awe;
That whoso ask’d her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life.
So for her many a wight did die,
As yon grim looks do testify.	40
[pointing to the heads]
What now ensues, to the judgement of your eye
I give my cause, who best can justify.     Exit.

1.1 Enter ANTIOCHUS, PRINCE PERICLES and attendants.

ANTIOCHUS
Young prince of Tyre, you have at large receiv’d
The danger of the task you undertake.
PERICLES     I have, Antiochus, and, with a soul
Embolden’d with the glory of her praise,	5
Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
ANTIOCHUS     Music!     [Music.]
Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,
For the embracements even of Jove himself;
At whose conception, till Lucina reign’d,
Nature this dowry gave: to glad her presence,	10
The senate-house of planets all did sit
To knit in her their best perfections.
Enter Antiochus’ Daughter.
PERICLES
See, where she comes apparell’d like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!	15
Her face the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever raz’d, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
You gods, that made me man, and sway in love,	20
That have inflam’d desire in my breast
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree
Or die in the adventure, be my helps,
As I am son and servant to your will,
To compass such a boundless happiness!	25
ANTIOCHUS     Prince Pericles –
PERICLES     That would be son to great Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS     Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch’d;
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.	30
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 the whole heap must die.
Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,	35
Drawn by report, advent’rous by desire,
Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance
pale,
That without covering save yon field of stars,
Here they stand martyrs slain in Cupid’s wars;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist	40
For going on death’s net, whom none resist.
PERICLES     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;	45
For death remember’d should be like a mirror,
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:	50
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
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,	55
I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS     Scorning advice, read the conclusion then:
[Angrily throws down the riddle.]
Which read and not expounded, ’tis decreed,
As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed.
DAUGHTER
Of all, ’say’d yet, may’st thou prove prosperous!	60
Of all, ’say’d yet, I wish thee happiness.
PERICLES     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	65
On mother’s flesh which did me breed.
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:	70
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live, resolve it you.
[aside] Sharp physic is the last: but, O you powers
That gives heaven countless eyes to view men’s acts:
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,	75
If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?
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	80
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings,
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,	85
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
[turning towards the Princess]
Good sooth, I care not for you.
ANTIOCHUS     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:	90
Either expound now or receive your sentence.
PERICLES     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,	95
He’s more secure to keep it shut than shown;
For vice repeated is like the wand’ring wind,
Blows dust in others’ eyes, to spread itself;
And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear	100
To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts
Copp’d hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng’d
By man’s oppression; and the poor worm doth die for’t.
Kings are earth’s gods; in vice their law’s their will;
And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?	105
It is enough you know; and it is fit,
What being more known grows worse, to smother it.
All love the womb that their first being bred,
Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.
ANTIOCHUS     [aside]
Heaven, that I had thy head! he has found the meaning;	110
But I will gloze with him.
[aloud]     Young prince of Tyre,
Though by the tenour of our strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,
We might proceed to cancel of your days,
Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree	115
As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise:
Forty days longer we do respite you;
If by which time our secret be undone,
This mercy shows we’ll joy in such a son;
And until then your entertain shall be	120
As doth befit our honour and your worth.
Exeunt all but Pericles.
PERICLES     How courtesy would seem to cover sin,
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight!
If it be true that I interpret false,	125
Then were it certain you were not so bad
As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
Where now you’re both a father and a son,
By your uncomely claspings with your child, –
Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father;	130
And she an eater of her mother’s flesh,
By the defiling of her parent’s bed;
And both like serpents are, who though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men	135
Blush not in actions blacker than the night,
Will shew no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, another doth provoke;
Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke.
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,	140
Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame:
Then, lest my life be cropp’d to keep you clear,
By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear.     Exit.
Enter ANTIOCHUS.
ANTIOCHUS     He hath found the meaning,
For which we mean to have his head. He must	145
Not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathed manner;
And therefore instantly this prince must die;
For by his fall my honour must keep high.	150
Who attends us there?
Enter THALIARD.
THALIARD     Doth your highness call?
ANTIOCHUS     Thaliard,
You are of our chamber, Thaliard, and our mind
partakes
Her private actions to your secrecy;
And for your faithfulness we will advance you.	155
Thaliard, behold here’s poison, and here’s gold;
We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him:
It fits thee not to ask the reason why:
Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
THALIARD     My lord, ’tis done.
ANTIOCHUS     Enough.	160
Enter a Messenger.
Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.
MESSENGER     My lord, prince Pericles is fled. Exit.
ANTIOCHUS     As thou wilt live, fly after; and like an
arrow shot from a well-experienc’d archer hits the
mark his eye doth level at, so thou never return unless	165
thou say ‘Prince Pericles is dead’.
THALIARD     My lord, if I can get him within my pistol’s
length, I’ll make him sure enough: so, farewell to your
highness.
ANTIOCHUS     Thaliard, adieu!     Exit Thaliard.
Till Pericles be dead	170
My heart can lend no succour to my head.     Exit.

1.2 Enter PERICLES with his Lords.

PERICLES     Let none disturb us.     The Lords withdraw.
Why should this change of thoughts,
The sad companion, dull-ey’d melancholy,
Be my so us’d a guest, as not an hour
In the day’s glorious walk or peaceful night,	5
The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me
quiet?
Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun
them,
And danger, which I fear’d, is at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here;
Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,	10
Nor yet the other’s distance comfort me.
Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by mis-dread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done,	15
Grows elder now and cares it be not done.
And so with me: the great Antiochus,
’Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he’s so great can make his will his act,
Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence;	20
Nor boots it me to say I honour him,
If he suspect I may dishonour him;
And what may make him blush in being known,
He’ll stop the course by which it might be known.
With hostile forces he’ll o’erspread the land,	25
And with th’ostent of war will look so huge,
Amazement shall drive courage from the state,
Our men be vanquish’d ere they do resist,
And subjects punish’d that ne’er thought offence:
Which care of them, not pity of myself, –	30
Who am no more but as the tops of trees
Which fence the roots they grow by and defend
them –
Makes both my body pine and soul to languish,
And punish that before that he would punish.
Enter HELICANUS and all the Lords to Pericles.
1 LORD     Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!	35
2 LORD     And keep your mind, till you return to us,
Peaceful and comfortable!
HELICANUS     Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
They do abuse the king that flatter him,
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;	40
The thing the which is flatter’d but a spark,
To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err.
When Signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace,	45
He flatters you, makes war upon your life.
Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you please;
I cannot be much lower than my knees. [He kneels.]
PERICLES     All leave us else; but let your cares o’erlook
What shipping and what lading’s in our haven,	50
And then return to us.     Exeunt Lords.
Helicanus,
Thou hast mov’d us; what seest thou in our looks?
HELICANUS     An angry brow, dread lord.
PERICLES     If there be such a dart in princes’ frowns,
How durst thy tongue move anger to our face?	55
HELICANUS
How dares the plants look up to heaven, from
whence
They have their nourishment?
PERICLES     Thou know’st I have power
To take thy life from thee.
HELICANUS     I have ground the axe myself;
Do but you strike the blow.
PERICLES     Rise, prithee, rise;
Sit down; thou art no flatterer;	60
I thank thee for’t; and heaven forbid
That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid!
Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,
Who by thy wisdom makes a prince thy servant,
What would’st thou have me do?
HELICANUS     To bear with patience	65
Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself.
PERICLES     Thou speak’st like a physician, Helicanus,
That ministers a potion unto me
That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me then: I went to Antioch,	70
Whereas thou know’st, against the face of death
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an issue I might propagate,
Are arms to princes and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;	75
The rest, hark in thine ear, as black as incest;
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seem’d not to strike, but smooth; but thou know’st this:
’Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.
Which fear so grew in me, I hither fled,	80
Under the covering of a careful night,
Who seem’d my good protector; and, being here,
Bethought me what was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants’ fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years.	85
And should he doubt, as no doubt he doth,
That I should open to the list’ning air
How many worthy princes’ bloods were shed,
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt he’ll fill his land with arms,	90
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine if I may call offence,
Must feel war’s blow, who spares not innocence:
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov’dst me for’t, –
HELICANUS     Alas, sir!	95
PERICLES
Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks,
Musings into my mind, with thousand doubts
How I might stop this tempest ere it came;
And finding little comfort to relieve them,
I thought it princely charity to grieve them.	100
HELICANUS
Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak,
Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,
And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by public war or private treason
Will take away your life.	105
Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,
Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.
Your rule direct to any; if to me,
Day serves not light more faithful than I’ll be.	110
PERICLES     I do not doubt thy faith;
But should he wrong my liberties in my absence?
HELICANUS
We’ll mingle our bloods together in the earth,
From whence we had our being and our birth.
PERICLES
Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Tharsus	115
Intend my travel, where I’ll hear from thee,
And by whose letters I’ll dispose myself.
The care I had and have of subjects’ good
On thee I lay, whose wisdom’s strength can bear it.
I’ll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath;	120
Who shuns not to break one will crack both.
But in our orbs we’ll live so round and safe,
That time of both this truth shall ne’er convince,
Thou show’dst a subject’s shine, I a true prince’.
Exeunt.

1.3 Enter THALIARD alone.

THALIARD     So this is Tyre, and this the court. Here
must I kill King Pericles; and if I do it not, I am
sure to be hang’d at home: ’tis dangerous. Well, I
perceive he was a wise fellow and had good
discretion that, being bid to ask what he would of	5
the king, desir’d he might know none of his secrets:
now do I see he had some reason for’t; for if a king
bid a man be a villain, he’s bound by the indenture
of his oath to be one. Husht! here comes the lords
of Tyre.	10
Enter HELICANUS and ESCANES with other lords.
HELICANUS     You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
Further to question of your king’s departure.
His seal’d commission, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently he’s gone to travel.
THALIARD     [aside]     How? the king gone?	15
HELICANUS     If further yet you will be satisfied
Why, as it were unlicens’d of your loves,
He would depart, I’ll give some light unto you.
Being at Antioch –
THALIARD     [aside]     What from Antioch?
HELICANUS
Royal Antiochus, on what cause I know not,	20
Took some displeasure at him; at least he judg’d so;
And doubting lest he had err’d or sinn’d,
To show his sorrow he’d correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman’s toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.	25
THALIARD     [aside]     Well, I perceive I shall not be hang’d
now, although I would.
But since he’s gone, the king’s ears it must please,
He ’scap’d the land, to perish at the seas.
I’ll present myself. [aloud] Peace to the lords of Tyre!	30
HELICANUS     Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
THALIARD     From him I come
With message unto princely Pericles;
But since my landing I have understood
Your lord has betook himself to unknown travels,	35
My message must return from whence it came.
HELICANUS We have no reason to desire it,
Commended to our master, not to us;
Yet ere you shall depart, this we desire,
As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre. Exeunt.	40

1.4 Enter CLEON, the governor of Tharsus, with his wife DIONYZA and attendants.

CLEON     My Dionyza, shall we rest us here,
And by relating tales of others’ griefs,
See if ’twill teach us to forget our own?
DIONYZA     That were to blow at fire in hope to quench it;
For who digs hills because they do aspire	5
Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher.
O my distressed lord, even such our griefs are;
Here they are but felt, and seen with mischief’s eyes,
But like to groves, being topp’d, they higher rise.
CLEON     O Dionyza,	10
Who wanteth food, and will not say he wants it,
Or can conceal his hunger till he famish?
Our tongues and sorrows to sound deep?
Our woes into the air, our eyes to weep,
Till lungs fetch breath that may proclaim them louder?
That, if heaven slumber while their creatures want,
They may awake their helps to comfort them.
I’ll then discourse our woes, felt several years,
And wanting breath to speak help me with tears.
DIONYZA     I’ll do my best, sir.	20
CLEON
This Tharsus, o’er which I have the government,
A city on whom plenty held full hand,
For riches strew’d herself even in her streets;
Whose towers bore heads so high they kiss’d the clouds,
And strangers ne’er beheld but wond’red at;	25
Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn’d,
Like one another’s glass to trim them by –
Their tables were stor’d full to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on as delight:
All poverty was scorn’d, and pride so great,	30
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
DIONYZA     O, ’tis too true.
CLEON     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,	35
Although they gave their creatures in abundance,
As houses are defil’d for want of use,
They are now starv’d for want of exercise;
Those palates who, not yet two summers younger,
Must have inventions to delight the taste,	40
Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it;
Those mothers who, to nuzzle 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?	50
DIONYZA     Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it.
CLEON     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 Tharsus may be theirs.	55
Enter a Lord.
LORD     Where’s the lord governor?
CLEON     Here.
Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring’st in haste,
For comfort is too far for us to expect.
LORD     We have descried, upon our neighbouring shore,	60
A portly sail of ships make hitherward.
CLEON     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 the hollow vessels with their power,
To beat us down, the which are down already,
And make a conquest of unhappy men,
Whereas no glory’s got to overcome.	70
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.
CLEON     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?
Our ground’s the lowest, and we are half-way here.
Go tell their general we attend him here, to know for
what he comes, and whence he comes, and what he	80
craves.
LORD     I go, my lord.     Exit.
CLEON     Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist;
If wars, we are unable to resist.
Enter Lord, with PERICLES and attendants.
PERICLES     Lord governor, for so we hear you are,	85
Let not our ships and number of our men
Be like a beacon fir’d t’amaze your eyes.
We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre,
And seen the desolation of your streets;
Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears,	90
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,	95
And give them life whom hunger starv’d half dead.
ALL     The gods of Greece protect you!
[Cleon, Dionyza and lords of Tharsus kneel.]
And we’ll pray for you.
PERICLES     Arise, I pray you, rise;
We do not look for reverence, but for love
And harbourage for ourself, our ships and men.	100
CLEON     The which when any shall not gratify,
Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought,
Be it our wives, our children, or ourselves,
The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils!
Till when, – the which I hope shall ne’er be seen –	105
Your grace is welcome to our town and us.
PERICLES
Which welcome we’ll accept; feast here awhile,
Until our stars that frown lend us a smile.        Exeunt.

2.Ch. Enter GOWER

GOWER
Here have you seen a mighty king
His child, I wis, to incest bring;
A better prince and benign lord
That will prove awful both in deed and word.
Be quiet then, as men should be	5
Till he hath pass’d necessity.
I’ll show you those in troubles reign,
Losing a mite, a mountain gain.
The good in conversation,	10
To whom I give my benison,
Is still at Tharsus, where each man
Thinks all is writ he spoken can;
And, to remember what he does,
Build his statue to make him glorious.	15
But tidings to the contrary
Are brought your eyes; what need speak I?
Dumb Show.
Enter, at one door, PERICLES, talking with CLEON; all the train with them. Enter, at another door, a gentleman, with a letter to Pericles; Pericles shows the letter to Cleon; Pericles gives the messenger a reward and knights him.
Exit Pericles at one door, and Cleon at another.
Good Helicane hath stay’d at home,
Not to eat honey like a drone
From others’ labours; for he strives	20
To killen bad, keep good alive;
And to fulfil his prince’ desire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:
How Thaliard came full bent with sin
And hid intent to murder him;	25
And that in Tharsus was not best
Longer for him to make his rest.
He, doing so, put forth to seas,
Where when men been, there’s seldom ease;
For now the wind begins to blow;	30
Thunder above and deeps below
Makes such unquiet that the ship
Should house him safe is wrack’d and split;
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is toss’d.	35
All perishen of men, of pelf,
Ne aught escapend but himself;
Till fortune, tir’d with doing bad,
Threw him ashore, to give him glad:
And here he comes. What shall be next,	40
Pardon old Gower, – this ’longs the text.     Exit.

2.1 Enter PERICLES, wet.

PERICLES     Yet cease your ire, you angry stars of heaven!
Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man
Is but a substance that must yield to you;
And I, as fits my nature, do obey you.	5
Alas, the seas hath cast me on the rocks,
Wash’d me from shore to shore, and left me breath
Nothing to think on but ensuing death.
Let it suffice the greatness of your powers
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;	10
And having thrown him from your wat’ry grave,
Here to have death in peace is all he’ll crave.
Enter three Fishermen.
1 FISHERMAN     What, ho, Pilch!
2 FISHERMAN     Ha, come and bring away the nets!
1 FISHERMAN     What, Patch-breech, I say!
3 FISHERMAN     What say you, master?	15
1 FISHERMAN     Look how thou stirr’st now! come away,
or I’ll fetch’th with a wanion.
3 FISHERMAN     Faith, master, I am thinking of the poor
men that were cast away before us even now.
1 FISHERMAN     Alas, pour souls, it griev’d my heart to	20
hear what pitiful cries they made to us to help them,
when, well-a-day, we could scarce help ourselves.
3 FISHERMAN     Nay, master, said not I as much when I
saw the porpoise, how he bounc’d and tumbled? they
say they’re half fish, half flesh; a plague on them, they	25
ne’er come but I look to be wash’d! Master, I marvel
how the fishes live in the sea.
1 FISHERMAN     Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat
up the little ones. I can compare our rich misers to
nothing so fitly as to a whale: ’a plays and tumbles,	30
driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours
them all at a mouthful. Such whales have I heard on
a’th’ land, who never leave gaping till they swallow’d
the whole parish, church, steeple, bells, and all.
PERICLES [aside]     A pretty moral.	35
3 FISHERMAN     But, master, if I had been the sexton, I
would have been that day in the belfry.
2 FISHERMAN     Why, man?
3 FISHERMAN     Because he should have swallow’d me too;
and when I had been in his belly, I would have kept	40
such a jangling of the bells, that he should never have
left till he cast bells, steeple, church, and parish up
again. But if the good King Simonides were of my
mind –
PERICLES [aside]     Simonides?	45
3 FISHERMAN     We would purge the land of these drones,
that rob the bee of her honey.
PERICLES [aside]     How from the finny subject of the sea
These fishers tell the infirmities of men;
And from their wat’ry empire recollect	50
All that may men approve or men detect! –
Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen.
2 FISHERMAN
Honest! good fellow, what’s that? If it be a day fits you,
search out of the calendar, and nobody look after it.
PERICLES     May see the sea hath cast upon your coast –	55
2 FISHERMAN
What a drunken knave was the sea to cast thee in our
way!
PERICLES     A man whom both the waters and the wind,
In that vast tennis-court, hath made the ball
For them to play upon, entreats you pity him;	60
He asks of you, that never us’d to beg.
1 FISHERMAN     No, friend, cannot you beg? here’s them
in our country of Greece gets more with begging than
we can do with working.
2 FISHERMAN     Canst thou catch any fishes then?	65
PERICLES     I never practis’d it.
2 FISHERMAN     Nay, then thou wilt starve, sure; for here’s
nothing to be got now-a-days, unless thou canst fish
for’t.
PERICLES     What I have been I have forgot to know;	70
But what I am, want teaches me to think on:
A man throng’d up with cold. My veins are chill,
And have no more of life than may suffice
To give my tongue that heat to ask your help;
Which if you shall refuse, when I am dead,	75
For that I am a man, pray you see me buried.
1 FISHERMAN     Die, quoth-a? Now gods forbid’t, and I
have a gown here, come, put it on; keep thee warm.
Now, afore me, a handsome fellow! come, thou shalt go
home, and we’ll have flesh for holidays, fish for	80
fasting-days, and moreo’er puddings and flap-jacks;
and thou shalt be welcome.
PERICLES     I thank you, sir.
2 FISHERMAN     Hark you, my friend; you said you could
not beg.	85
PERICLES     I did but crave.
2 FISHERMAN     But crave? then I’ll turn craver too, and so
I shall ’scape whipping.
PERICLES     Why, are your beggars whipp’d then?
2 FISHERMAN     O, not all, my friend, not all; for if all your	90
beggars were whipp’d, I would wish no better office
than to be beadle. But, master, I’ll go draw up the net.
Exeunt Second and Third Fishermen.
PERICLES     [aside] How well this honest mirth becomes
their labour!
1 FISHERMAN     Hark you, sir; do you know where ye are?	95
PERICLES     Not well.
1 FISHERMAN     Why, I’ll tell you: this is call’d Pentapolis,
and our king, the good Simonides.
PERICLES     The good Simonides, do you call him?
1 FISHERMAN     Ay, sir; and he deserves so to be call’d for	100
his peacable reign and good government.
PERICLES     He is a happy king, since he gains from his
subjects the name of good by his government. How far
is his court distant from this shore?
1 FISHERMAN     Marry, sir, half a day’s journey. And I’ll	105
tell you, he hath a fair daughter, and to-morrow is her
birthday; and there are princes and knights come
from all parts of the world to joust and tourney for
her love.
PERICLES     Were my fortunes equal to my desires, I could	110
wish to make one there.
1 FISHERMAN     O, sir, things must be as they may; and
what a man cannot get, he may lawfully deal for his
wife’s soul.
Enter Second and Third Fishermen, drawing up a net.
2 FISHERMAN     Help, master, help! here’s a fish hangs in	115
the net, like a poor man’s right in the law; ’twill hardly
come out. Ha, bots on’t, ’tis come at last, and ’tis
turn’d to a rusty armour.
PERICLES     An armour, friends! I pray you, let me see it.
Thanks, Fortune, yet, that after all thy crosses	120
Thou giv’st me somewhat to repair myself;
And though it was mine own, part of mine heritage,
Which my dead father did bequeath to me,
With this strict charge, even as he left his life:
‘Keep it, my Pericles; it hath been a shield	125
’Twixt me and death;’ – and pointed to his brace –
‘For that it sav’d me, keep it; in like necessity,
The which the gods protect thee from, may defend thee!’
It kept where I kept – I so dearly lov’d it –
Till the rough seas, that spares not any man,	130
Took it in rage, though calm’d hath given’t again.
I thank thee for’t; my shipwreck now’s no ill,
Since I have here my father gave in his will.
1 FISHERMAN     What mean you, sir?
PERICLES
To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of worth,	135
For it was sometime target to a king;
I know it by this mark. He lov’d me dearly,
And for his sake I wish the having of it;
And that you’d guide me to your sovereign’s court,
Where with it I may appear a gentleman;	140
And if that ever my low fortunes better,
I’ll pay your bounties; till then rest your debtor.
1 FISHERMAN     Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady?
PERICLES     I’ll show the virtue I have borne in arms.
1 FISHERMAN     Why, di’e take it; and the gods give thee	145
good on’t!
2 FISHERMAN     Ay, but hark you, my friend; ’twas we that
made up this garment through the rough seams of the
waters: there are certain condolements, certain vails. I
hope, sir, if you thrive, you’ll remember from whence	150
you had them.
PERICLES     Believe’t, I will.
By your furtherance I am cloth’d in steel;
And spite of all the rapture of the sea
This jewel holds his building on my arm.	155
Unto thy value I will mount myself
Upon a courser, whose delightful steps
Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread.
Only, my friend, I yet am unprovided of a pair of
bases.	160
2 FISHERMAN     We’ll sure provide; thou shalt have my
best gown to make thee a pair, and I’ll bring thee to the
court myself.
PERICLES     Then honour be but equal to my will,
This day I’ll rise, or else add ill to ill.     Exeunt.	165

2.2 Enter SIMONIDES, with Lords and attendants and THAISA.

SIMONIDES
Are the knights ready to begin the triumph?
1 LORD     They are, my liege,
And stay your coming to present themselves.
SIMONIDES
Return them we are ready; and our daughter,
In honour of whose birth these triumphs are,	5
Sits here like Beauty’s child, whom Nature gat
For men to see, and seeing wonder at.     Exit a Lord.
[Simonides and Thaisa take seats in the pavilion, facing
the public way.]
THAISA     It pleaseth you, my royal father, to express
My commendations great, whose merit’s less.
SIMONIDES     It’s fit it should be so; for princes are	10
A model which heaven makes like to itself:
As jewels lose their glory if neglected,
So princes their renowns if not respected.
’Tis now your honour, daughter, to entertain
The labour of each knight in his device.	15
THAISA     Which, to preserve mine honour, I’ll perform.
[The first knight passes by, and his squire presents
his shield to the Princess.]
SIMONIDES     Who is the first that doth prefer himself?
THAISA     A knight of Sparta, my renowned father;
And the device he bears upon his shield
Is a black Ethiop reaching at the sun;	20
The word, Lux tua vita mihi.
[She hands the shield to Simonides who returns it
through her to the page.]
SIMONIDES     He loves you well that holds his life of you.
[The second knight passes.]
Who is the second that presents himself?
THAISA     A prince of Macedon, my royal father;
And the device he bears upon his shield	25
Is an arm’d knight that’s conquer’d by a lady;
The motto thus, in Spanish, Più per dolcezza che per forza.
[The third knight passes.]
SIMONIDES     And what’s the third?
THAISA     The third of Antioch;
And his device, a wreath of chivalry;
The word, Me pompae provexit apex.	30
[The fourth knight passes.]
SIMONIDES     What is the fourth?
THAISA     A burning torch that’s turned upside down;
The word, Qui me alit, me extinguit.
SIMONIDES
Which shows that beauty hath his power and will,
Which can as well inflame as it can kill.	35
[The fifth knight passes.]
THAISA     The fifth, an hand environed with clouds,
Holding out gold that’s by the touchstone tried;
The motto thus, Sic spectanda fides.
[The sixth knight, Pericles, passes in rusty armour,
without shield, and unaccompanied. He presents his
device directly to Thaisa.]
SIMONIDES
And what’s the sixth and last, the which the knight himself
With such a graceful courtesy deliver’d?	40
THAISA     He seems to be a stranger; but his present is
A wither’d branch, that’s only green at top;
The motto, In hac spe vivo.
SIMONIDES     A pretty moral;
From the dejected state wherein he is,	45
He hopes by you his fortunes yet may flourish.
1 LORD
He had need mean better than his outward show
Can any way speak in his just commend;
For by his rusty outside he appears
To have practis’d more the whipstock than the lance.	50
2 LORD     He well may be a stranger, for he comes
To an honour’d triumph strangely furnished.
3 LORD     And on set purpose let his armour rust
Until this day, to scour it in the dust.
SIMONIDES     Opinion’s but a fool, that makes us scan	55
The outward habit by the inward man.
But stay, the knights are coming;
We will withdraw into the gallery.     Exeunt.
[Great shouts and all cry, ‘The mean knight! ’]

2.3 Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Marshal, ladies, lords, Knights from tilting and attendants.

SIMONIDES     Knights,
To say you’re welcome were superfluous.
To place upon the volume of your deeds,
As in a title-page, your worth in arms,
Were more than you expect, or more than’s fit,	5
Since every worth in show commends itself.
Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast.
You are princes and my guests.
THAISA     But you, my knight and guest;
To whom this wreath of victory I give,	10
And crown you king of this day’s happiness.
PERICLES     ’Tis more by fortune, lady, than my merit.
SIMONIDES     Call it by what you will, the day is yours;
And here, I hope, is none that envies it.
In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed:	15
To make some good, but others to exceed;
And you are her labour’d scholar. Come, queen o’th’ feast –
For, daughter, so you are – here take your place;
Marshal, the rest, as they deserve their grace.
KNIGHTS     We are honour’d much by good Simonides.	20
SIMONIDES
Your presence glads our days; honour we love,
For who hates honour hates the gods above.
MARSHAL     Sir, yonder is your place.
PERICLES     Some other is more fit.
1 KNIGHT     Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen
Have neither in our hearts nor outward eyes	25
Envied the great nor shall the low despise.
PERICLES     You are right courteous knights.
SIMONIDES     Sit, sir, sit.
[aside] By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts,
These cates resist me, he not thought upon.
THAISA     [aside] By Juno, that is queen of marriage,	30
All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury,
Wishing him my meat.
[to Simonides]      Sure he’s a gallant gentleman.
SIMONIDES[to Thaisa]      He’s but a country gentleman;
Has done no more than other knights have done;
Has broken a staff or so; so let it pass.	35
THAISA     [aside] To me he seems like diamond to glass.
PERICLES     [aside]
Yon king’s to me like to my father’s picture,
Which tells me in that glory once he was;
Had princes sit like stars about his throne,
And he the sun, for them to reverence.	40
None that beheld him but, like lesser lights,
Did vail their crowns to his supremacy;
Where now his son’s like a glow-worm in the night,
The which hath fire in darkness, none in light:
Whereby I see that Time’s the king of men;	45
He’s both their parent, and he is their grave,
And gives them what he will, not what they crave.
SIMONIDES     What, are you merry, knights?
1 KNIGHT     Who can be other in this royal presence?
SIMONIDES
Here, with a cup that’s stor’d unto the brim, –	50
As you do love, fill to your mistress’ lips, –
We drink this health to you.
KNIGHTS     We thank your grace.
SIMONIDES     Yet pause awhile;
Yon knight doth sit too melancholy,
As if the entertainment in our court	55
Had not a show might countervail his worth.
Note it not you, Thaisa?
THAISA     What is’t to me, my father?
SIMONIDES     O attend, my daughter:
Princes, in this, should live like gods above,	60
Who freely give to every one that come to honour them;
And princes not doing so are like to gnats
Which make a sound, but kill’d are wonder’d at.
Therefore to make his entrance more sweet,
Here say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him.	65
THAISA     Alas, my father, it befits not me
Unto a stranger knight to be so bold;
He may my proffer take for an offence,
Since men take women’s gifts for impudence.
SIMONIDES     How?	70
Do as I bid you, or you’ll move me else!
THAISA     [aside]
Now, by the gods, he could not please me better.
SIMONIDES     Furthermore tell him, we desire to know
Of whence he is, his name and parentage.
THAISA     The king my father, sir, has drunk to you.	75
PERICLES     I thank him.
THAISA     Wishing it so much blood unto your life.
PERICLES
I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely.
THAISA     And further he desires to know of you
Of whence you are, your name and parentage.	80
PERICLES     A gentleman of Tyre; my name, Pericles;
My education been in arts and arms;
Who, looking for adventures in the world,
Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men,
And after shipwreck driven upon this shore.	85
THAISA     He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles,
A gentleman of Tyre,
Who only by misfortune of the seas
Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore.
SIMONIDES     Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune,	90
And will awake him from his melancholy.
Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles,
And waste the time, which looks for other revels.
Even in your armours, as you are address’d,
Will well become a soldier’s dance.	95
I will not have excuse with saying this:
Loud music is too harsh for ladies’ heads,
Since they love men in arms as well as beds.
[The Knights dance.]
So this was well ask’d, ’twas so well perform’d.
Come, sir, here’s a lady that wants breathing too;	100
And I have heard, you knights of Tyre
Are excellent in making ladies trip,
And that their measures are as excellent.
PERICLES     In those that practise them they are, my lord.
SIMONIDES     O, that’s as much as you would be denied	105
Of your fair courtesy.
[The Knights and ladies dance.]
Unclasp, unclasp!
Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well,
[to Pericles] But you the best. Pages and lights, to conduct
These knights unto their several lodgings!
Yours, sir, we have given order be next our own.	110
PERICLES     I am at your grace’s pleasure.
SIMONIDES     Princes, it is too late to talk of love,
And that’s the mark I know you level at.
Therefore each one betake him to his rest;
To-morrow all for speeding do their best.     Exeunt.

2.4 Enter HELICANUS and ESCANES.

HELICANUS     No, Escanes, know this of me,
Antiochus from incest liv’d not free;
For which, the most high gods not minding longer
To withhold the vengeance that they had in store,
Due to this heinous capital offence,	5
Even in the height and pride of all his glory,
When he was seated in a chariot
Of an inestimable value, and his daughter with him,
A fire from heaven came and shrivell’d up
Their bodies, even to loathing; for they so stunk,	10
That all those eyes ador’d them ere their fall
Scorn now their hand should give them burial.
ESCANES     ’Twas very strange.
HELICANUS     And yet but justice; for though
This king were great, his greatness was no guard
To bar heaven’s shaft, but sin had his reward.	15
ESCANES     ’Tis very true.
Enter three Lords.
1 LORD     See, not a man in private conference
Or council has respect with him but he.
2 LORD     It shall no longer grieve without reproof.
3 LORD     And curs’d be he that will not second it.	20
1 LORD     Follow me then. Lord Helicane, a word.
HELICANUS
With me? and welcome; happy day, my lords.
1 LORD     Know that our griefs are risen to the top,
And now at length they overflow their banks.
HELICANUS
Your griefs! for what? wrong not your prince you love.	25
1 LORD     Wrong not yourself then, noble Helicane;
But if the prince do live, let us salute him,
Or know what ground’s made happy by his breath.
If in the world he live, we’ll seek him out;
If in his grave he rest, we’ll find him there;	30
And be resolv’d he lives to govern us,
Or dead, gives cause to mourn his funeral
And leaves us to our free election,
2 LORD
Whose death indeed the strongest in our censure,
And knowing this kingdom is without a head –	35
Like goodly buildings left without a roof
Soon fall to ruin – your noble self,
That best know how to rule and how to reign,
We thus submit unto – our sovereign.
ALL     Live, noble Helicane!	40
HELICANUS     By honour’s cause, forbear your suffrages;
If that you love Prince Pericles, forbear.
Take I your wish, I leap into the seas,
Where’s hourly trouble for a minute’s ease.
A twelvemonth longer, let me entreat you	45
To forbear the absence of your king;
If in which time expir’d he not return,
I shall with aged patience bear your yoke.
But if I cannot win you to this love,
Go search like nobles, like noble subjects,	50
And in your search spend your adventurous worth;
Whom if you find and win unto return,
You shall like diamonds sit about his crown.
1 LORD     To wisdom he’s a fool that will not yield;
And since Lord Helicane enjoineth us,	55
We with our travels will endeavour it.
HELICANUS
Then you love us, we you, and we’ll clasp hands:
When peers thus knit, a kingdom ever stands.
Exeunt.

2.5 Enter SIMONIDES, reading of a letter at one door; the Knights meet him.

1 KNIGHT     Good morrow to the good Simonides.
SIMONIDES
Knights, from my daughter this I let you know,
That for this twelvemonth she’ll not undertake
A married life.
Her reason to herself is only known,	5
Which from her by no means can I get.
2 KNIGHT     May we not get access to her, my lord?
SIMONIDES     Faith, by no means; she has so strictly tied
Her to her chamber that ’tis impossible.
One twelve moons more she’ll wear Diana’s livery;	10
This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vow’d,
And on her virgin honour will not break it.
3 KNIGHT Loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves.
Exeunt Knights.
SIMONIDES     So,
They are well dispatch’d; now to my daughter’s letter:	15
She tells me here, she’ll wed the stranger knight,
Or never more to view nor day nor light.
’Tis well, mistress; your choice agrees with mine;
I like that well: nay, how absolute she’s in’t,
Not minding whether I dislike or no!	20
Well, I do commend her choice,
And will no longer have it be delay’d.
Soft, here he comes: I must dissemble it.
Enter PERICLES.
PERICLES     All fortune to the good Simonides!
SIMONIDES     To you as much: sir, I am beholding to you	25
For your sweet music this last night. I do
Protest my ears were never better fed
With such delightful pleasing harmony.
PERICLES     It is your grace’s pleasure to commend;
Not my desert.
SIMONIDES     Sir, you are music’s master.	30
PERICLES     The worst of all her scholars, my good lord.
SIMONIDES     Let me ask you one thing:
What do you think of my daughter, sir?
PERICLES     A most virtuous princess.
SIMONIDES     And she is fair too, is she not?	35
PERICLES     As a fair day in summer, wondrous fair.
SIMONIDES     Sir, my daughter thinks very well of you;
Ay, so well, that you must be her master,
And she will be your scholar: therefore look to it.
PERICLES     I am unworthy for her schoolmaster.	40
SIMONIDES     She thinks not so; peruse this writing else.
PERICLES     [aside] What’s here?
A letter that she loves the knight of Tyre!
’Tis the king’s subtlety to have my life. –
[Kneels.] O, seek not to entrap me, gracious lord,	45
A stranger and distressed gentleman,
That never aim’d so high to love your daughter,
But bent all offices to honour her.
SIMONIDES
Thou hast bewitch’d my daughter, and thou art
A villain.
PERICLES     By the gods, I have not:	50
Never did thought of mine levy offence;
Nor never did my actions yet commence
A deed might gain her love or your displeasure.
SIMONIDES     Traitor, thou liest.
PERICLES     Traitor?
SIMONIDES     Ay, traitor.
PERICLES     Even in his throat – unless it be the king –	55
That calls me traitor, I return the lie.
SIMONIDES     [aside]
Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage.
PERICLES     My actions are as noble as my thoughts,
That never relish’d of a base descent.
I came unto your court for honour’s cause,	60
And not to be a rebel to her state;
And he that otherwise accounts of me,
This sword shall prove he’s honour’s enemy.
SIMONIDES     No?
Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.	65
Enter THAISA.
PERICLES     Then, as you are as virtuous as fair,
Resolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did e’er solicit, or my hand subscribe
To any syllable that made love to you.
THAISA     Why, sir, say if you had, who takes offence	70
At that would make me glad?
SIMONIDES     Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory?
[aside] I am glad on’t with all my heart. –
I’ll tame you, I’ll bring you in subjection.
Will you, not having my consent,	75
Bestow your love and your affections
Upon a stranger? [aside] who, for aught I know,
May be (nor can I think the contrary)
As great in blood as I myself. –
Therefore hear you, mistress: either frame	80
Your will to mine; and you, sir, hear you:
Either be rul’d by me, or I’ll make you –
Man and wife.
Nay, come, your hands and lips must seal it too;
And being join’d, I’ll thus your hopes destroy,	85
And for further grief, – God give you joy!
What, are you both pleas’d?
THAISA     Yes, if you love me, sir.
PERICLES     Even as my life my blood that fosters it.
SIMONIDES     What, are you both agreed?
BOTH     Yes, if ’t please your majesty.	90
SIMONIDES
It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed;
And then, with what haste you can, get you to bed.
Exeunt.
3.Ch.     Enter GOWER.
GOWER
Now sleep y-slacked hath the rout;
No din but snores the house about,
Made louder by the o’er-fed breast
Of this most pompous marriage-feast.
The cat, with eyne of burning coal,	5
Now couches ’fore the mouse’s hole;
And crickets at the oven’s mouth
Sing the blither for their drouth.
Hymen hath brought the bride to bed,
Where by the loss of maidenhead	10
A babe is moulded. Be attent,
And time that is so briefly spent
With your fine fancies quaintly eche;
What’s dumb in show I’ll plain with speech.
Dumb Show
Enter PERICLES and SIMONIDES at one door, with
attendants; a messenger meets them, kneels, and gives
Pericles a letter; Pericles shows it to Simonides; the lords
kneel to him. Then enter THAISA with child, with
LYCHORIDA, a nurse; the King shows her the letter; she
rejoices; she and Pericles take leave of her father, and
depart with Lychorida and their attendants. Then exeunt
Simonides and the rest.
By many a dern and painful perch	15
Of Pericles the careful search,
By the four opposing coigns
Which the world together joins,
Is made with all due diligence
That horse and sail and high expense	20
Can stead the quest. At last from Tyre,
Fame answering the most strange inquire,
To th’ court of King Simonides
Are letters brought, the tenour these:
Antiochus and his daughter dead,	25
The men of Tyrus on the head
Of Helicanus would set on
The crown of Tyre, but he will none;
The mutiny he there hastes t’appease;
Says to ’em, if King Pericles	30
Come not home in twice six moons,
He, obedient to their dooms,
Will take the crown. The sum of this,
Brought hither to Pentapolis,
Y-ravished the regions round,	35
And every one with claps can sound,
‘Our heir-apparent is a king!
Who dream’d, who thought of such a thing?’
Brief, he must hence depart to Tyre.
His queen with child makes her desire –	40
Which who shall cross? – along to go.
Omit we all their dole and woe.
Lychorida, her nurse, she takes,
And so to sea. Their vessel shakes
On Neptune’s billow; half the flood	45
Hath their keel cut; but fortune’s mood
Varies again; the grisled north
Disgorges such a tempest forth,
That, as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives.	50
The lady shrieks and well-a-near
Does fall in travail with her fear;
And what ensues in this fell storm
Shall for itself itself perform.
I nill relate, action may	55
Conveniently the rest convey;
Which might not what by me is told.
In your imagination hold
This stage the ship, upon whose deck
The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak.     Exit.	60

3.1 Enter PERICLES, on shipboard.

PERICLES
The god of this great vast, rebuke these surges,
Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou that hast
Upon the winds command, bind them in brass,
Having call’d them from the deep! O, still
Thy deaf ’ning, dreadful thunders; gently quench	5
Thy nimble sulphurous flashes! O, how, Lychorida,
How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously;
Wilt thou spit all thyself? The seaman’s whistle
Is as a whisper in the ears of death,
Unheard. Lychorida! – Lucina, O	10
Divinest patroness, and midwife gentle
To those that cry by night, convey thy deity
Aboard our dancing boat; make swift the pangs
Of my queen’s travails! Now, Lychorida!
Enter LYCHORIDA, with an infant.
LYCHORIDA Here is a thing too young for such a place,	15
Who, if it had conceit, would die, as I
Am like to do. Take in your arms this piece
Of your dead queen.
PERICLES     How? how, Lychorida?
LYCHORIDA     Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm.
Here’s all that is left living of your queen,	20
A little daughter: for the sake of it,
Be manly, and take comfort.
PERICLES     O you gods!
Why do you make us love your goodly gifts,
And snatch them straight away? We here below
Recall not what we give, and therein may	25
Use honour with you.
LYCHORIDA     Patience, good sir,
Even for this charge.
PERICLES     Now, mild may be thy life!
For a more blusterous birth had never babe;
Quiet and gentle thy conditions! for
Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world	30
That e’er was prince’s child. Happy what follows!
Thou hast as chiding a nativity
As fire, air, water, earth, and heaven can make,
To herald thee from the womb. Poor inch of nature!
Even at the first thy loss is more than can	35
Thy portage quit, with all thou canst find here.
Now the good gods throw their best eyes upon’t!
Enter two Sailors.
1 SAILOR     What courage, sir? God save you!
PERICLES     Courage enough: I do not fear the flaw;
It hath done to me the worst. Yet for the love	40
Of this poor infant, this fresh-new seafarer,
I would it would be quiet.
1 SAILOR     Slack the bolins there! Thou wilt not, wilt
thou? Blow, and split thyself.
2 SAILOR     But sea-room, and the brine and cloudy billow	45
kiss the moon, I care not.
1 SAILOR     Sir, your queen must overboard; the sea works
high, the wind is loud, and will not lie till the ship be
clear’d of the dead.
PERICLES     That’s your superstition.	50
1 SAILOR     Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it hath been still
observ’d; and we are strong in custom. Therefore
briefly yield ’er, for she must overboard straight.
PERICLES     As you think meet. Most wretched queen!
LYCHORIDA     Here she lies, sir.	55
PERICLES     A terrible childbed hast thou had, my dear;
No light, no fire: th’unfriendly elements
Forgot thee utterly; nor have I time
To give thee hallow’d to thy grave, but straight
Must cast thee, scarcely coffin’d, in the ooze;	60
Where, for a monument upon thy bones,
And e’er-remaining lamps, the belching whale
And humming water must o’erwhelm thy corpse,
Lying with simple shells. O Lychorida,
Bid Nestor bring me spices, ink and paper,	65
My casket and my jewels; and bid Nicander
Bring me the satin coffer; lay the babe
Upon the pillow; hie thee, whiles I say
A priestly farewell to her: suddenly, woman.
Exit Lychorida.
2 SAILOR     Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches,	70
caulked and bitumed ready.
PERICLES     I thank thee. Mariner, say what coast is this?
2 SAILOR     We are near Tharsus.
PERICLES     Thither, gentle mariner,
Alter thy course from Tyre. When canst thou reach it?	75
2 SAILOR     By break of day, if the wind cease.
PERICLES     O, make for Tharsus!
There will I visit Cleon, for the babe
Cannot hold out to Tyrus; there I’ll leave it
At careful nursing. Go thy ways, good mariner;	80
I’ll bring the body presently.     Exeunt.