PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE

“Enter GOWER

Before the palace of Antioch

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.”

“Et bonum quo antiquius, eo melius.

If you, born in these latter times,

When wit’s more ripe, accept my rhymes.”

“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:

This king unto him took a fere,

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,

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 no sin.

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,

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.”

“ANTIOCHUS

Young prince of Tyre, you have at large received

The danger of the task you undertake.

PERICLES

I have, Antiochus, and, with a soul

Embolden’d with the glory of her praise,

Think death no hazard in this enterprise.

ANTIOCHUS

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,

The senate-house of planets all did sit,

To knit in her their best perfections.”

“ANTIOCHUS

Prince Pericles,–

PERICLES

That would be son to great Antiochus.”

“Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,

Drawn by report, adventurous 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

For going on death’s net, whom none resist.”

“For death remember’d should be like a mirror,

Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.”

“am no viper, yet I feed

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.

How they may be, and yet in two,

As you will live, resolve it you.

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?

Fair glass of light, I loved you, and could still,

Takes hold of the hand of the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS”

“…Your time’s expired:

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,

He’s more secure to keep it shut than shown:

For vice repeated is like the wandering wind.

Blows dust in other’s eyes, to spread itself;

And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,

The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear:

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?

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.”

“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

As doth befit our honour and your worth.”

“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,

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 untimely claspings with your child,

Which pleasure fits an husband, not a father;

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

Blush not in actions blacker than the night,

Will shun 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,

Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame:

Then, lest my lie be cropp’d to keep you clear,

By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear.

Exit

Re-enter ANTIOCHUS

ANTIOCHUS

He hath found the meaning, for which we mean

To have his head.

He must 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.

Who attends us there?”

“ANTIOCHUS

Thaliard,

You are of our chamber, and our mind partakes

Her private actions to your secrecy;

And for your faithfulness we will advance you.

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.”

“Messenger

My lord, prince Pericles is fled.

Exit

ANTIOCHUS

As thou

Wilt live, fly after: and like an arrow shot

From a well-experienced archer hits the mark

His eye doth level at, so thou ne’er return

Unless thou say <Prince Pericles is dead.>”

“Till Pericles be dead,

My heart can lend no succor to my head.”

“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,

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;

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,

And with the 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,

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.”

“When Signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace,

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.”

“HELICANUS

How dare 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

[Kneeling]

I have ground the axe myself;

Do you but strike the blow.

PERICLES

Rise, prithee, rise.

Sit down: thou art no flatterer:

I thank thee for it; and heaven forbid

That kings should let their ears hear their

faults hid!

Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,

Who by thy wisdom makest a prince thy servant,

What wouldst thou have me do?”

“Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;

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.”

“…and tyrants’ fears

Decrease not, but grow faster than the years”

“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.”

“PERICLES

Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Tarsus

Intend my travel, where I’ll hear from thee;

And by whose letters I’ll dispose myself.”

“CLEON

Thou speak’st like him’s untutor’d to repeat:

Who makes the fairest show means most deceit.

But bring they what they will and what they can,

What need we fear?

The ground’s the lowest, and we are half way there.

Go tell their general we attend him here,

To know for what he comes, and whence he comes,

And what he craves.

(…)

CLEON

Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist;

If wars, we are unable to resist.”

“PERICLES

(…)

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,

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 stored with corn to make your needy bread,

And give them life whom hunger starved half dead.

All

The gods of Greece protect you!

And we’ll pray for you.”

“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:

Alas, the sea 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;

And having thrown him from your watery grave,

Here to have death in peace is all he’ll crave.”

“Third Fisherman

…Master, I

marvel how the fishes live in the sea.

First 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, driving the poor fry before him, and at

last devours them all at a mouthful: such whales

have I heard on o’ the land, who never leave gaping

till they’ve swallowed the whole parish, church,

steeple, bells, and all.”

“PERICLES

[Aside] How from the finny subject of the sea

These fishers tell the infirmities of men;

And from their watery empire recollect

All that may men approve or men detect!

Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen.”

“Second 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, have made the ball

For them to play upon, entreats you pity him:

He asks of you, that never used to beg.”

“First Fisherman

…Here’s them in our

country Greece gets more with begging than we can do

with working.”

“First Fisherman

Why, I’ll tell you: this is called Pentapolis, and

our king the good Simonides.

PERICLES

The good King Simonides, do you call him.

First Fisherman

Ay, sir; and he deserves so to be called for his

peaceable 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?

First Fisherman

Marry, sir, half a day’s journey: and I’ll tell

you, he hath a fair daughter, and to-morrow is her

birth-day; and there are princes and knights come

from all parts of the world to just and tourney for her love.

PERICLES

Were my fortunes equal to my desires, I could wish

to make one there.

First Fisherman

O, sir, things must be as they may; and what a man

cannot get, he may lawfully deal for–his wife’s soul.”

“PERICLES

To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of worth,

For it was sometime target to a king;

I know it by this mark. He loved me dearly,

And for his sake I wish the having of it;

And that you’ld guide me to your sovereign’s court,

Where with it I may appear a gentleman;

And if that ever my low fortune’s better,

I’ll pay your bounties; till then rest your debtor.

First Fisherman

Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady?

PERICLES

I’ll show the virtue I have borne in arms.

First Fisherman

Why, do ‘e take it, and the gods give thee good on’t!”

“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 Ethiope reaching at the sun

The word, ‘Lux tua vita mihi.’”

“Who is the second that presents himself?

THAISA

A prince of Macedon, my royal father;

And the device he bears upon his shield

Is an arm’d knight that’s conquer’d by a lady;

The motto thus, in Spanish, ‘Piu por dulzura que por fuerza.’”

“SIMONIDES

And what’s the third?

THAISA

The third of Antioch;

And his device, a wreath of chivalry;

The word, ‘Me pompae provexit apex.’”

“SIMONIDES

What is the fourth?

THAISA

A burning torch that’s turned upside down;

The word, ‘Quod me alit, me extinguit.’

SIMONIDES

Which shows that beauty hath his power and will,

Which can as well inflame as it can kill.”

“The Fifth Knight passes over

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 over

SIMONIDES

And what’s

The sixth and last, the which the knight himself

With such a graceful courtesy deliver’d?

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,

He hopes by you his fortunes yet may flourish.”

“First Lord

…

For by his rusty outside he appears

To have practised more the whipstock than the lance.”

Second Lord

He well may be a stranger, for he comes

To an honour’d triumph strangely furnished.

Third 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

The outward habit by the inward man.

But stay, the knights are coming: we will withdraw

Into the gallery.”

“PERICLES

‘Tis more by fortune, lady, than by 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,

To make some good, but others to exceed;

And you are her labour’d scholar. Come, queen o’

the feast,–

For, daughter, so you are,–here take your place:

Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace.”

“THAISA

By Juno, that is queen of marriage,

All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury.

Wishing him my meat. Sure, he’s a gallant gentleman.

SIMONIDES

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.”

“Whereby I see that Time’s the king of men,

He’s both their parent, and he is their grave,

And gives them what he will, not what they crave.”

“SIMONIDES

Yet pause awhile:

Yon knight doth sit too melancholy,

As if the entertainment in our court

Had not a show might countervail his worth.

Note it not you, Thaisa?”

“Loud music is too harsh for ladies’ heads,

Since they love men in arms as well as beds.

The Knights dance”

“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”

“HELICANUS

For 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 to

Forbear the absence of your king:

If in which time expired, 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,

And in your search spend your adventurous worth;

Whom if you find, and win unto return,

You shall like diamonds sit about his crown.”

“Enter SIMONIDES, reading a letter, at one door: the Knights meet him

First 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,

Which yet from her by no means can I get.

Second 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;

This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vow’d

And on her virgin honour will not break it.

Third Knight

Loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves.

Exeunt Knights

SIMONIDES

So,

They are well dispatch’d; now to my daughter’s letter:

She tells me here, she’d 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!

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”

“SIMONIDES

Sir, you are music’s master.

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?

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.”

“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.

O, seek not to entrap me, gracious lord,

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.”

“SIMONIDES

Traitor, thou liest.

PERICLES

Traitor!

SIMONIDES

Ay, traitor.

PERICLES

Even in his throat–unless it be the king–

That calls me traitor, I return the lie.

SIMONIDES

[Aside] Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage.”

“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,

Bestow your love and your affections

Upon a stranger?”

“SIMONIDES

It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed;

And then with what haste you can get you to bed.

Exeunt”

Estranho Simonides…

“GOWER

…

Hymen hath brought the bride to bed.

Where, by the loss of maidenhead,

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.

[Provavelmente um espetáculo de bobos no teatro.]

Enter, PERICLES and SIMONIDES at one door, with Attendants; a Messenger meets them, kneels, and gives PERICLES a letter: PERICLES shows it 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 takes leave of her father, and depart with LYCHORIDA and their Attendants. Then exeunt SIMONIDES and the rest

At last from Tyre,

Fame answering the most strange inquire,

To the court of King Simonides

Are letters brought, the tenor these:

Antiochus and his daughter dead;

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’ oppress;

Says to ‘em, if King Pericles

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,

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–

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

Hath their keel cut: but fortune’s mood

Varies again; the grisly north

Disgorges such a tempest forth,

That, as a duck for life that dives,

So up and down the poor ship drives:

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

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”

“PERICLES

Thou 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 deafening, dreadful thunders; gently quench

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

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!”

“LYCHORIDA

Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm.

Here’s all that is left living of your queen,

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

Use honour with you.”

“PERICLES

Now, mild may be thy life!

For a more blustrous birth had never babe:

Quiet and gentle thy conditions! for

Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world

That ever 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: even at the first

Thy loss is more than can thy portage quit,

With all thou canst find here. Now, the good gods

Throw their best eyes upon’t!”

“PERICLES

A terrible childbed hast thou had, my dear;

No light, no fire: the 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;

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,

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”

“PERICLES

I thank thee. Mariner, say what coast is this?

Second Sailor

We are near Tarsus.

PERICLES

Thither, gentle mariner.

Alter thy course for Tyre. When canst thou reach it?

Second Sailor

By break of day, if the wind cease.

PERICLES

O, make for Tarsus!

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:

I’ll bring the body presently.

Exeunt”

“PHILEMON

Doth my lord call?

CERIMON

Get fire and meat for these poor men:

‘T has been a turbulent and stormy night.

Servant

I have been in many; but such a night as this,

Till now, I ne’er endured.

CERIMON

Your master will be dead ere you return;

There’s nothing can be minister’d to nature

That can recover him.”

“CERIMON

I hold it ever,

Virtue and cunning were endowments greater

Than nobleness and riches: careless heirs

May the two latter darken and expend;

But immortality attends the former.

Making a man a god. ‘Tis known, I ever

Have studied physic, through which secret art,

By turning o’er authorities, I have,

Together with my practise, made familiar

To me and to my aid the blest infusions

That dwell in vegetives, in metals, stones;

And I can speak of the disturbances

That nature works, and of her cures; which doth give me

A more content in course of true delight

Than to be thirsty after tottering honour,

Or tie my treasure up in silken bags,

To please the fool and death.

Second Gentleman

Your honour has through Ephesus pour’d forth

Your charity, and hundreds call themselves

Your creatures, who by you have been restored:

And not your knowledge, your personal pain, but even

Your purse, still open, hath built Lord Cerimon

Such strong renown as time shall ne’er decay.”

“CERIMON

Whate’er it be,

‘Tis wondrous heavy. Wrench it open straight:

If the sea’s stomach be o’ercharged with gold,

‘Tis a good constraint of fortune it belches upon us.

Second Gentleman

‘Tis so, my lord.

CERIMON

How close ‘tis caulk’d and bitumed!

Did the sea cast it up?

First Servant

I never saw so huge a billow, sir,

As toss’d it upon shore.

CERIMON

Wrench it open;

Soft! it smells most sweetly in my sense.

Second Gentleman

A delicate odour.

CERIMON

As ever hit my nostril. So, up with it.

O you most potent gods! what’s here? a corse!

First Gentleman

Most strange!

CERIMON

Shrouded in cloth of state; balm’d and entreasured

With full bags of spices! A passport too!

Apollo, perfect me in the characters!

Reads from a scroll

‘Here I give to understand,

If e’er this coffin drive a-land,

I, King Pericles, have lost

This queen, worth all our mundane cost.

Who finds her, give her burying;

She was the daughter of a king:

Besides this treasure for a fee,

The gods requite his charity!’

If thou livest, Pericles, thou hast a heart

That even cracks for woe! This chanced tonight.

Second Gentleman

Most likely, sir.

CERIMON

Nay, certainly to-night;

For look how fresh she looks! They were too rough

That threw her in the sea. Make a fire within:

Fetch hither all my boxes in my closet.”

Exit a Servant

Death may usurp on nature many hours,

And yet the fire of life kindle again

The o’erpress’d spirits. I heard of an Egyptian

That had nine hours lien dead,

Who was by good appliance recovered.

Re-enter a Servant, with boxes, napkins, and fire

Well said, well said; the fire and cloths.

The rough and woeful music that we have,

Cause it to sound, beseech you.

The viol once more: how thou stirr’st, thou block!

The music there!–I pray you, give her air.

Gentlemen.

This queen will live: nature awakes; a warmth

Breathes out of her: she hath not been entranced

Above five hours: see how she gins to blow

Into life’s flower again!”

“CERIMON

She is alive; behold,

Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly jewels

Which Pericles hath lost,

Begin to part their fringes of bright gold;

The diamonds of a most praised water

Do appear, to make the world twice rich. Live,

And make us weep to hear your fate, fair creature,

Rare as you seem to be.

She moves

THAISA

O dear Diana,

Where am I? Where’s my lord? What world is this?”

“Enter PERICLES, CLEON, DIONYZA, and LYCHORIDA with MARINA in her arms

PERICLES

Most honour’d Cleon, I must needs be gone;

My twelve months are expired, and Tyrus stands

In a litigious peace. You, and your lady,

Take from my heart all thankfulness! The gods

Make up the rest upon you!”

“PERICLES

We cannot but obey

The powers above us. Could I rage and roar

As doth the sea she lies in, yet the end

Must be as ‘tis. My gentle babe Marina, whom,

For she was born at sea, I have named so, here

I charge your charity withal, leaving her

The infant of your care; beseeching you

To give her princely training, that she may be

Manner’d as she is born.”

“Without your vows. Till she be married, madam,

By bright Diana, whom we honour, all

Unscissor’d shall this hair of mine remain,

Though I show ill in’t. So I take my leave.

Good madam, make me blessed in your care

In bringing up my child.”

“CERIMON

Madam, this letter, and some certain jewels,

Lay with you in your coffer: which are now

At your command. Know you the character?

THAISA

It is my lord’s.

That I was shipp’d at sea, I well remember,

Even on my eaning time; but whether there

Deliver’d, by the holy gods,

I cannot rightly say. But since King Pericles,

My wedded lord, I ne’er shall see again,

A vestal livery will I take me to,

And never more have joy.

CERIMON

Madam, if this you purpose as ye speak,

Diana’s temple is not distant far,

Where you may abide till your date expire.

Moreover, if you please, a niece of mine

Shall there attend you.

THAISA

My recompense is thanks, that’s all;

Yet my good will is great, though the gift small.

Exeunt”

“…But, alack,

That monster envy, oft the wrack

Of earned praise, Marina’s life

Seeks to take off by treason’s knife.

And in this kind hath our Cleon

One daughter, and a wench full grown,

Even ripe for marriage-rite; this maid

Hight Philoten: and it is said

For certain in our story, she

Would ever with Marina be:

Be’t when she weaved the sleided silk

With fingers long, small, white as milk;

Or when she would with sharp needle wound

The cambric, which she made more sound

By hurting it; or when to the lute

She sung, and made the night-bird mute,

That still records with moan; or when

She would with rich and constant pen

Vail to her mistress Dian; still

This Philoten contends in skill

With absolute Marina: so

With the dove of Paphos might the crow

Vie feathers white. Marina gets

All praises, which are paid as debts,

And not as given. This so darks

In Philoten all graceful marks,

That Cleon’s wife, with envy rare,

A present murderer does prepare

For good Marina, that her daughter

Might stand peerless by this slaughter.

The sooner her vile thoughts to stead,

Lychorida, our nurse, is dead:

And cursed Dionyza hath

The pregnant instrument of wrath

Prest for this blow. The unborn event

I do commend to your content:

Only I carry winged time

Post on the lame feet of my rhyme;

Which never could I so convey,

Unless your thoughts went on my way.

Dionyza does appear,

With Leonine, a murderer.

Exit”

“Enter DIONYZA and LEONINE

DIONYZA

Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do’t:

‘Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.

Thou canst not do a thing in the world so soon,

To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,

Which is but cold, inflaming love i’ thy bosom,

Inflame too nicely; nor let pity, which

Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be

A soldier to thy purpose.

LEONINE

I will do’t; but yet she is a goodly creature.

DIONYZA

The fitter, then, the gods should have her. Here

she comes weeping for her only mistress’ death.

Thou art resolved?

LEONINE

I am resolved.”

“MARINA

When I was born:

Never was waves nor wind more violent;

And from the ladder-tackle washes off

A canvas-climber. ‘Ha!’ says one, ‘wilt out?’

And with a dropping industry they skip

From stem to stern: the boatswain whistles, and

The master calls, and trebles their confusion.

LEONINE

Come, say your prayers.

MARINA

What mean you?

LEONINE

If you require a little space for prayer,

I grant it: pray; but be not tedious,

For the gods are quick of ear, and I am sworn

To do my work with haste.

MARINA

Why will you kill me?

LEONINE

To satisfy my lady.

MARINA

Why would she have me kill’d?

Now, as I can remember, by my troth,

I never did her hurt in all my life:

I never spake bad word, nor did ill turn

To any living creature: believe me, la,

I never kill’d a mouse, nor hurt a fly:

I trod upon a worm against my will,

But I wept for it. How have I offended,

Wherein my death might yield her any profit,

Or my life imply her any danger?

LEONINE

My commission

Is not to reason of the deed, but do it.

MARINA

You will not do’t for all the world, I hope.

You are well favour’d, and your looks foreshow

You have a gentle heart. I saw you lately,

When you caught hurt in parting two that fought:

Good sooth, it show’d well in you: do so now:

Your lady seeks my life; come you between,

And save poor me, the weaker.

LEONINE

I am sworn,

And will dispatch.

He seizes her

Enter Pirates

First Pirate

Hold, villain!

LEONINE runs away

Second Pirate

A prize! a prize!

Third Pirate

Half-part, mates, half-part.

Come, let’s have her aboard suddenly.

Exeunt Pirates with MARINA

Re-enter LEONINE

LEONINE

These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes;

And they have seized Marina. Let her go:

There’s no hope she will return. I’ll swear

she’s dead,

And thrown into the sea. But I’ll see further:

Perhaps they will but please themselves upon her,

Not carry her aboard. If she remain,

Whom they have ravish’d must by me be slain.

Exit”

“[Num bordel, longe dali…]

Pandar

Therefore let’s have fresh ones, whate’er we pay for

them. If there be not a conscience to be used in

every trade, we shall never prosper.

Bawd [Cafetina]

Thou sayest true: ‘tis not our bringing up of poor

bastards,–as, I think, I have brought up some eleven–

BOULT

Ay, to eleven; and brought them down again. But

shall I search the market?

Bawd

What else, man? The stuff we have, a strong wind

will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully sodden.

Pandar

Thou sayest true; they’re too unwholesome, o’

conscience. The poor Transylvanian is dead, that

lay with the little baggage.

BOULT

Ay, she quickly pooped him; she made him roast-meat

for worms. But I’ll go search the market.”

“Bawd

Come, other sorts offend as well as we.

Pandar

As well as we! ay, and better too; we offend worse.

Neither is our profession any trade; it’s no

calling. But here comes Boult.

Re-enter BOULT, with the Pirates and MARINA

BOULT

[To MARINA] Come your ways. My masters, you say

she’s a virgin?

First Pirate

O, sir, we doubt it not.

BOULT

Master, I have gone through for this piece, you see:

if you like her, so; if not, I have lost my earnest.

Bawd

Boult, has she any qualities?

BOULT

She has a good face, speaks well, and has excellent

good clothes: there’s no further necessity of

qualities can make her be refused.

Bawd

What’s her price, Boult?

BOULT

I cannot be bated one doit of a thousand pieces.

Pandar

Well, follow me, my masters, you shall have your

money presently. Wife, take her in; instruct her

what she has to do, that she may not be raw in her

entertainment.

Exeunt Pandar and Pirates

Bawd

Boult, take you the marks of her, the colour of her

hair, complexion, height, age, with warrant of her

virginity; and cry ‘He that will give most shall

have her first.’ Such a maidenhead were no cheap

thing, if men were as they have been. Get this done

as I command you.

BOULT

Performance shall follow.

Exit

MARINA

Alack that Leonine was so slack, so slow!

He should have struck, not spoke; or that these pirates,

Not enough barbarous, had not o’erboard thrown me

For to seek my mother!

Bawd

Why lament you, pretty one?

MARINA

That I am pretty.

Bawd

Come, the gods have done their part in you.

MARINA

I accuse them not.”

“Bawd

Ay, and you shall live in pleasure.

MARINA

No.

Bawd

Yes, indeed shall you, and taste gentlemen of all

fashions: you shall fare well; you shall have the

difference of all complexions. What! do you stop your ears?

MARINA

Are you a woman?

Bawd

What would you have me be, an I be not a woman?

MARINA

An honest woman, or not a woman.

Bawd

Marry, whip thee, gosling: I think I shall have

something to do with you. Come, you’re a young

foolish sapling, and must be bowed as I would have

you.

MARINA

The gods defend me!

Bawd

If it please the gods to defend you by men, then men

must comfort you, men must feed you, men must stir

you up. Boult’s returned.”

“BOULT

‘Faith, they listened to me as they would have

hearkened to their father’s testament. There was a

Spaniard’s mouth so watered, that he went to bed to

her very description.

Bawd

We shall have him here to-morrow with his best ruff on.

BOULT

To-night, to-night. But, mistress, do you know the

French knight that cowers i’ the hams?

Bawd

Who, Monsieur Veroles?

BOULT

Ay, he: he offered to cut a caper at the

proclamation; but he made a groan at it, and swore

he would see her to-morrow.

Bawd

Well, well; as for him, he brought his disease

hither: here he does but repair it. I know he will

come in our shadow, to scatter his crowns in the

sun.

BOULT

Well, if we had of every nation a traveller, we

should lodge them with this sign.”

“…

To weep that you live as ye do makes pity in your

lovers: seldom but that pity begets you a good

opinion, and that opinion a mere profit.

MARINA

I understand you not.

BOULT

O, take her home, mistress, take her home: these

blushes of hers must be quenched with some present practise.

Bawd

Thou sayest true, i’ faith, so they must; for your

bride goes to that with shame which is her way to go

with warrant.”

“MARINA

If fires be hot, knives sharp, or waters deep,

Untied I still my virgin knot will keep.

Diana, aid my purpose!

Bawd

What have we to do with Diana? Pray you, will you go with us?

Exeunt”

“DIONYZA

I think

You’ll turn a child again.

CLEON

Were I chief lord of all this spacious world,

I’ld give it to undo the deed. O lady,

Much less in blood than virtue, yet a princess

To equal any single crown o’ the earth

I’ the justice of compare! O villain Leonine!

Whom thou hast poison’d too:

If thou hadst drunk to him, ‘t had been a kindness

Becoming well thy fact: what canst thou say

When noble Pericles shall demand his child?

DIONYZA

That she is dead. Nurses are not the fates,

To foster it, nor ever to preserve.

She died at night; I’ll say so. Who can cross it?

Unless you play the pious innocent,

And for an honest attribute cry out

‘She died by foul play.’

CLEON

O, go to. Well, well,

Of all the faults beneath the heavens, the gods

Do like this worst.

DIONYZA

Be one of those that think

The petty wrens of Tarsus will fly hence,

And open this to Pericles. I do shame

To think of what a noble strain you are,

And of how coward a spirit.

CLEON

To such proceeding

Who ever but his approbation added,

Though not his prime consent, he did not flow

From honourable sources.”

“CLEON

Thou art like the harpy,

Which, to betray, dost, with thine angel’s face,

Seize with thine eagle’s talons.”

“By you being pardon’d, we commit no crime

To use one language in each several clime

Where our scenes seem to live. I do beseech you

To learn of me, who stand i’ the gaps to teach you,

The stages of our story. Pericles

Is now again thwarting the wayward seas,

Attended on by many a lord and knight.

To see his daughter, all his life’s delight.

Old Escanes, whom Helicanus late

Advanced in time to great and high estate,

Is left to govern. Bear you it in mind,

Old Helicanus goes along behind.

Well-sailing ships and bounteous winds have brought

This king to Tarsus,–think his pilot thought;

So with his steerage shall your thoughts grow on,–

To fetch his daughter home, who first is gone.

Like motes and shadows see them move awhile;

Your ears unto your eyes I’ll reconcile.

DUMB SHOW.

Enter PERICLES, at one door, with all his train; CLEON and DIONYZA, at the other. CLEON shows PERICLES the tomb; whereat PERICLES makes lamentation, puts on sackcloth, and in a mighty passion departs. Then exeunt CLEON and DIONYZA

See how belief may suffer by foul show!

This borrow’d passion stands for true old woe;

And Pericles, in sorrow all devour’d,

With sighs shot through, and biggest tears

o’ershower’d,

Leaves Tarsus and again embarks. He swears

Never to wash his face, nor cut his hairs:

He puts on sackcloth, and to sea. He bears

A tempest, which his mortal vessel tears,

And yet he rides it out. Now please you wit.

The epitaph is for Marina writ

By wicked Dionyza.”

“Let Pericles believe his daughter’s dead,

And bear his courses to be ordered

By Lady Fortune; while our scene must play

His daughter’s woe and heavy well-a-day

In her unholy service. Patience, then,

And think you now are all in Mytilene.”

“Bawd

Fie, fie upon her! she’s able to freeze the god

Priapus, and undo a whole generation. We must

either get her ravished, or be rid of her. When she

should do for clients her fitment, and do me the

kindness of our profession, she has me her quirks,

her reasons, her master reasons, her prayers, her

knees; that she would make a puritan of the devil,

if he should cheapen a kiss of her.

BOULT

‘Faith, I must ravish her, or she’ll disfurnish us

of all our cavaliers, and make our swearers priests.”

“LYSIMACHUS

Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade?

MARINA

What trade, sir?

LYSIMACHUS

Why, I cannot name’t but I shall offend.

MARINA

I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it.

LYSIMACHUS

How long have you been of this profession?

MARINA

E’er since I can remember.

LYSIMACHUS

Did you go to ‘t so young? Were you a gamester at

five or at seven?

MARINA

Earlier too, sir, if now I be one.

LYSIMACHUS

Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a

creature of sale.

MARINA

Do you know this house to be a place of such resort,

and will come into ‘t? I hear say you are of

honourable parts, and are the governor of this place.

LYSIMACHUS

Why, hath your principal made known unto you who I am?

MARINA

Who is my principal?

LYSIMACHUS

Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots

of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something

of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious

wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, my

authority shall not see thee, or else look friendly

upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place:

come, come.

MARINA

If you were born to honour, show it now;

If put upon you, make the judgment good

That thought you worthy of it.

LYSIMACHUS

How’s this? how’s this? Some more; be sage.

MARINA

For me,

That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune

Have placed me in this sty, where, since I came,

Diseases have been sold dearer than physic,

O, that the gods

Would set me free from this unhallow’d place,

Though they did change me to the meanest bird

That flies i’ the purer air!

LYSIMACHUS

I did not think

Thou couldst have spoke so well; ne’er dream’d thou couldst.

Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,

Thy speech had alter’d it. Hold, here’s gold for thee:

Persever in that clear way thou goest,

And the gods strengthen thee!

MARINA

The good gods preserve you!

LYSIMACHUS

For me, be you thoughten

That I came with no ill intent; for to me

The very doors and windows savour vilely.

Fare thee well. Thou art a piece of virtue, and

I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.

Hold, here’s more gold for thee.

A curse upon him, die he like a thief,

That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou dost

Hear from me, it shall be for thy good.”

“BOULT

I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common

hangman shall execute it. Come your ways. We’ll

have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say.”

“BOULT

The nobleman would have dealt with her like a

nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a

snowball; saying his prayers too.

Bawd

Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure:

crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable.

BOULT

An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she

is, she shall be ploughed.

MARINA

Hark, hark, you gods!”

“MARINA

Neither of these are so bad as thou art,

Since they do better thee in their command.

Thou hold’st a place, for which the pained’st fiend

Of hell would not in reputation change:

Thou art the damned doorkeeper to every

Coistrel that comes inquiring for his Tib;

To the choleric fisting of every rogue

Thy ear is liable; thy food is such

As hath been belch’d on by infected lungs.

BOULT

What would you have me do? go to the wars, would

you? where a man may serve seven years for the loss

of a leg, and have not money enough in the end to

buy him a wooden one?”

“For what thou professest, a baboon, could he speak,

Would own a name too dear. O, that the gods

Would safely deliver me from this place!

Here, here’s gold for thee.

If that thy master would gain by thee,

Proclaim that I can sing, weave, sew, and dance,

With other virtues, which I’ll keep from boast:

And I will undertake all these to teach.

I doubt not but this populous city will

Yield many scholars.”

“BOULT

‘Faith, my acquaintance lies little amongst them.

But since my master and mistress have bought you,

there’s no going but by their consent: therefore I

will make them acquainted with your purpose, and I

doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough.

Come, I’ll do for thee what I can; come your ways.

Exeunt”

Diana boa de lábia

O ÚLTIMO ATO

“GOWER

Marina thus the brothel ‘scapes, and chances

Into an honest house, our story says.

She sings like one immortal, and she dances

As goddess-like to her admired lays;

Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her needle composes

Nature’s own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry,

That even her art sisters the natural roses;

Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry:

That pupils lacks she none of noble race,

Who pour their bounty on her; and her gain

She gives the cursed bawd. Here we her place;

And to her father turn our thoughts again,

Where we left him, on the sea. We there him lost;

Whence, driven before the winds, he is arrived

Here where his daughter dwells; and on this coast

Suppose him now at anchor. The city strived

God Neptune’s annual feast to keep: from whence

Lysimachus our Tyrian ship espies,

His banners sable, trimm’d with rich expense;

And to him in his barge with fervor hies.

In your supposing once more put your sight

Of heavy Pericles; think this his bark:

Where what is done in action, more, if might,

Shall be discover’d; please you, sit and hark.

Exit”

“First Lord

Sir,

We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager,

Would win some words of him.

LYSIMACHUS

‘Tis well bethought.

She questionless with her sweet harmony

And other chosen attractions, would allure,

And make a battery through his deafen’d parts,

Which now are midway stopp’d:

She is all happy as the fairest of all,

And, with her fellow maids is now upon

The leafy shelter that abuts against

The island’s side.”

“HELICANUS

Sure, all’s effectless; yet nothing we’ll omit

That bears recovery’s name. But, since your kindness

We have stretch’d thus far, let us beseech you

That for our gold we may provision have,

Wherein we are not destitute for want,

But weary for the staleness.

LYSIMACHUS

O, sir, a courtesy

Which if we should deny, the most just gods

For every graff would send a caterpillar,

And so afflict our province. Yet once more

Let me entreat to know at large the cause

Of your king’s sorrow.”

“Re-enter, from the barge, Lord, with MARINA, and a young Lady

LYSIMACHUS

O, here is

The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one!

Is’t not a goodly presence?

HELICANUS

She’s a gallant lady.”

“MARINA

Sir, I will use

My utmost skill in his recovery, Provided

That none but I and my companion maid

Be suffer’d to come near him.

LYSIMACHUS

Come, let us leave her;

And the gods make her prosperous!

MARINA sings”

“MARINA

Hail, sir! my lord, lend ear.

PERICLES

Hum, ha!

MARINA

I am a maid,

My lord, that ne’er before invited eyes,

But have been gazed on like a comet: she speaks,

My lord, that, may be, hath endured a grief

Might equal yours, if both were justly weigh’d.

Though wayward fortune did malign my state,

My derivation was from ancestors

Who stood equivalent with mighty kings:

But time hath rooted out my parentage,

And to the world and awkward casualties

Bound me in servitude.

Aside

I will desist;

But there is something glows upon my cheek,

And whispers in mine ear, ‘Go not till he speak.’”

Hum ha!

“MARINA

I said, my lord, if you did know my parentage,

You would not do me violence.

PERICLES

I do think so. Pray you, turn your eyes upon me.

You are like something that–What country-woman?

Here of these shores?

MARINA

No, nor of any shores:

Yet I was mortally brought forth, and am

No other than I appear.

PERICLES

I am great with woe, and shall deliver weeping.

My dearest wife was like this maid, and such a one

My daughter might have been: my queen’s square brows;

Her stature to an inch; as wand-like straight;

As silver-voiced; her eyes as jewel-like

And cased as richly; in pace another Juno;

Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them hungry,

The more she gives them speech. Where do you live?

MARINA

Where I am but a stranger: from the deck

You may discern the place.

PERICLES

Where were you bred?

And how achieved you these endowments, which

You make more rich to owe?

MARINA

If I should tell my history, it would seem

Like lies disdain’d in the reporting.

PERICLES

Prithee, speak:

Falseness cannot come from thee; for thou look’st

Modest as Justice, and thou seem’st a palace

For the crown’d Truth to dwell in: I will

believe thee,

And make my senses credit thy relation

To points that seem impossible; for thou look’st

Like one I loved indeed. What were thy friends?

Didst thou not say, when I did push thee back–

Which was when I perceived thee–that thou camest

From good descending?

MARINA

So indeed I did.

PERICLES

Report thy parentage. I think thou said’st

Thou hadst been toss’d from wrong to injury,

And that thou thought’st thy griefs might equal mine,

If both were open’d.

MARINA

Some such thing

I said, and said no more but what my thoughts

Did warrant me was likely.

PERICLES

Tell thy story;

If thine consider’d prove the thousandth part

Of my endurance, thou art a man, and I

Have suffer’d like a girl: yet thou dost look

Like Patience gazing on kings’ graves, and smiling

Extremity out of act. What were thy friends?

How lost thou them? Thy name, my most kind virgin?

Recount, I do beseech thee: come, sit by me.

MARINA

My name is Marina.

PERICLES

O, I am mock’d,

And thou by some incensed god sent hither

To make the world to laugh at me.

MARINA

Patience, good sir,

Or here I’ll cease.

PERICLES

Nay, I’ll be patient.

Thou little know’st how thou dost startle me,

To call thyself Marina.

MARINA

The name

Was given me by one that had some power,

My father, and a king.

PERICLES

How! a king’s daughter?

And call’d Marina?

MARINA

You said you would believe me;

But, not to be a troubler of your peace,

I will end here.

PERICLES

But are you flesh and blood?

Have you a working pulse? and are no fairy?

Motion! Well; speak on. Where were you born?

And wherefore call’d Marina?

MARINA

Call’d Marina

For I was born at sea.

PERICLES

At sea! what mother?

MARINA

My mother was the daughter of a king;

Who died the minute I was born,

As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft

Deliver’d weeping.

PERICLES

O, stop there a little!

Aside

This is the rarest dream that e’er dull sleep

Did mock sad fools withal: this cannot be:

My daughter’s buried. Well: where were you bred?

I’ll hear you more, to the bottom of your story,

And never interrupt you.

MARINA

You scorn: believe me, ‘twere best I did give o’er.

PERICLES

I will believe you by the syllable

Of what you shall deliver. Yet, give me leave:

How came you in these parts? where were you bred?

MARINA

The king my father did in Tarsus leave me;

Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,

Did seek to murder me: and having woo’d

A villain to attempt it, who having drawn to do’t,

A crew of pirates came and rescued me;

Brought me to Mytilene. But, good sir,

Whither will you have me? Why do you weep?

It may be,

You think me an impostor: no, good faith;

I am the daughter to King Pericles,

If good King Pericles be.

PERICLES

Ho, Helicanus!

HELICANUS

Calls my lord?

PERICLES

Thou art a grave and noble counsellor,

Most wise in general: tell me, if thou canst,

What this maid is, or what is like to be,

That thus hath made me weep?

HELICANUS

I know not; but

Here is the regent, sir, of Mytilene

Speaks nobly of her.

LYSIMACHUS

She would never tell

Her parentage; being demanded that,

She would sit still and weep.

PERICLES

O Helicanus, strike me, honour’d sir;

Give me a gash, put me to present pain;

Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me

O’erbear the shores of my mortality,

And drown me with their sweetness. O, come hither,

Thou that beget’st him that did thee beget;

Thou that wast born at sea, buried at Tarsus,

And found at sea again! O Helicanus,

Down on thy knees, thank the holy gods as loud

As thunder threatens us: this is Marina.

What was thy mother’s name? tell me but that,

For truth can never be confirm’d enough,

Though doubts did ever sleep.

MARINA

First, sir, I pray,

What is your title?

PERICLES

I am Pericles of Tyre: but tell me now

My drown’d queen’s name, as in the rest you said

Thou hast been godlike perfect,

The heir of kingdoms and another like

To Pericles thy father.

MARINA

Is it no more to be your daughter than

To say my mother’s name was Thaisa?

Thaisa was my mother, who did end

The minute I began.

PERICLES

Now, blessing on thee! rise; thou art my child.

Give me fresh garments. Mine own, Helicanus;

She is not dead at Tarsus, as she should have been,

By savage Cleon: she shall tell thee all;

When thou shalt kneel, and justify in knowledge

She is thy very princess. Who is this?

HELICANUS

Sir, ‘tis the governor of Mytilene,

Who, hearing of your melancholy state,

Did come to see you.

PERICLES

I embrace you.

Give me my robes. I am wild in my beholding.

O heavens bless my girl! But, hark, what music?

Tell Helicanus, my Marina, tell him

O’er, point by point, for yet he seems to doubt,

How sure you are my daughter. But, what music?

HELICANUS

My lord, I hear none.

PERICLES

None!

The music of the spheres! List, my Marina.

LYSIMACHUS

It is not good to cross him; give him way.

PERICLES

Rarest sounds! Do ye not hear?

LYSIMACHUS

My lord, I hear.

Music”

“DIANA appears to PERICLES as in a vision

DIANA

My temple stands in Ephesus: hie thee thither,

And do upon mine altar sacrifice.

There, when my maiden priests are met together,

Before the people all,

Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife:

To mourn thy crosses, with thy daughter’s, call

And give them repetition to the life.

Or perform my bidding, or thou livest in woe;

Do it, and happy; by my silver bow!

Awake, and tell thy dream.

Disappears

PERICLES

Celestial Dian, goddess argentine,

I will obey thee. Helicanus!”

“GOWER

Now our sands are almost run;

More a little, and then dumb.

This, my last boon, give me,

For such kindness must relieve me,

That you aptly will suppose

What pageantry, what feats, what shows,

What minstrelsy, and pretty din,

The regent made in Mytilene

To greet the king. So he thrived,

That he is promised to be wived

To fair Marina; but in no wise

Till he had done his sacrifice,

As Dian bade: whereto being bound,

The interim, pray you, all confound.

In feather’d briefness sails are fill’d,

And wishes fall out as they’re will’d.

At Ephesus, the temple see,

Our king and all his company.

That he can hither come so soon,

Is by your fancy’s thankful doom.

Exit

SCENE III. The temple of Diana at Ephesus; THAISA standing near the altar, as high priestess; a number of Virgins on each side; CERIMON and other Inhabitants of Ephesus attending. Enter PERICLES, with his train; LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, MARINA, and a Lady

PERICLES

Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command,

I here confess myself the king of Tyre;

Who, frighted from my country, did wed

At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa.

At sea in childbed died she, but brought forth

A maid-child call’d Marina; who, O goddess,

Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus

Was nursed with Cleon; who at fourteen years

He sought to murder: but her better stars

Brought her to Mytilene; ‘gainst whose shore

Riding, her fortunes brought the maid aboard us,

Where, by her own most clear remembrance, she

Made known herself my daughter.

THAISA

Voice and favour!

You are, you are–O royal Pericles!

Faints

PERICLES

What means the nun? she dies! help, gentlemen!

CERIMON

Noble sir,

If you have told Diana’s altar true,

This is your wife.

PERICLES

Reverend appearer, no;

I threw her overboard with these very arms.

CERIMON

Upon this coast, I warrant you.

PERICLES

‘Tis most certain.

CERIMON

Look to the lady; O, she’s but o’erjoy’d.

Early in blustering morn this lady was

Thrown upon this shore. I oped the coffin,

Found there rich jewels; recover’d her, and placed her

Here in Diana’s temple.”

“Are you not Pericles? Like him you spake,

Like him you are: did you not name a tempest,

A birth, and death?

PERICLES

The voice of dead Thaisa!

THAISA

That Thaisa am I, supposed dead

And drown’d.

PERICLES

Immortal Dian!

THAISA

Now I know you better.

When we with tears parted Pentapolis,

The king my father gave you such a ring.

Shows a ring

PERICLES

This, this: no more, you gods! your present kindness

Makes my past miseries sports: you shall do well,

That on the touching of her lips I may

Melt and no more be seen. O, come, be buried

A second time within these arms.”

“PERICLES

Reverend sir,

The gods can have no mortal officer

More like a god than you. Will you deliver

How this dead queen re-lives?

CERIMON

I will, my lord.

Beseech you, first go with me to my house,

Where shall be shown you all was found with her;

How she came placed here in the temple;

No needful thing omitted.”

“GOWER

In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard

Of monstrous lust the due and just reward:

In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen,

Although assail’d with fortune fierce and keen,

Virtue preserved from fell destruction’s blast,

Led on by heaven, and crown’d with joy at last:

In Helicanus may you well descry

A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty:

In reverend Cerimon there well appears

The worth that learned charity aye wears:

For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame

Had spread their cursed deed, and honour’d name

Of Pericles, to rage the city turn,

That him and his they in his palace burn;

The gods for murder seemed so content

To punish them; although not done, but meant.

So, on your patience evermore attending,

New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.

Exit”