GOWER
To sing a song that old was sung
From ashes ancient Gower is come.
It hath been sung at festivals,
On ember-eves and holy-ales;
And lords and ladies in their lives
Have read it for restoratives.
If you, born in these latter times
When wit's more ripe, accept our rhymes.
This Antioch, then. I Antiochus the Great.
This king unto him took a peer,
Who died and left a female heir
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.
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 asked her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:
So for her many a man did die,
As yon grim looks do testify.
What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
We give, our cause who best can justify.
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-
PERICLES [aside]
See where she comes, apparell’d like the
spring,
Graces her subject, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!
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 touched;
Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,
Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance
pale,
Here they stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's
wars.
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.
ANTIOCHUS
Scorning advice, read the conclusion then:
Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed,
As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed.
DAUGHTER
Of all say'd yet, mayst thou prove prosperous!
Of all say'd yet, I wish thee happiness!
PERICLES
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother's flesh which did me breed.
I sought a husband, in which labor
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.
[Aside]
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?
ANTIOCHUS
Prince Pericles,
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.
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,
But I will gloze with him. [To PERICLES] -Young
prince of Tyre,
Though by the tenor of our strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,
We might proceed to cancel of your days,
Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise:
Forty days longer we do respite you;
PERICLES [Aside]
How courtesy would seem to cover sin,
As with foul incest to abuse your soul.
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.
Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke.
Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you
clear,
By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear.
ANTIOCHUS
He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
And therefore instantly this prince must die.
For by his fall my honour must keep high.
PERICLES
Helicanus, thou
Hast moved us. What seest thou in our looks?
HELICANUS
An angry brow, dread lord.
PERICLES
Fit counselor and servant for a prince
Who by thy wisdom makest a prince thy servant,
What wouldst thou have me do?
I went to Antioch
Where, as thou know'st
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder,
The rest--hark in thine ear--as black as incest.
And should he doubt it, as no doubt he doth,
That I should open to the listening air
How many worthy princes' bloods were shed,
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with
arms
HELICANUS
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.
Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,
Your rule direct to any. If to me,
Day serves not light more faithful than I'll
be.
PERICLES
I do not doubt thy faith;
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
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
Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher.
CLEON
O Dionyza,
Who wanteth food and will not say he wants
it,
Or can conceal his hunger till he famish?
This Tarsus, o'er which I have the government,
A city o'er whom plenty held full hand,
For riches strew'd herself even in the streets;
Whose towers bore heads so high they kiss'd
the clouds,
And strangers ne'er beheld but wondered at;
All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
DIONYZA
O, 'tis too true.
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 Tarsus may be theirs.
LEONINE
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.
LEONINE
We have descried, upon our neighboring shore,
A portly sail of ships make hitherward.
CLEON
I thought as much.
--- Some neighboring nation,
Taking advantage of our misery,
Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their
power,
To beat us down, the which are down already.
LEONINE
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
Go tell their general we attend him here,
To know for what he comes, and whence he comes,
And what he craves.
LEONINE
I go, my lord.
CLEON
Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist;
If wars, we are unable to resist.
PERICLES
Lord governor, for so we hear you are,
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 [Kneeling]
The gods of Greece protect you!
PERICLES
Arise, I pray you, rise.
We do not look for reverence, but for love,
And harbourage for ourself, our ships, and
men.
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,--
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.
GOWER
Here have you seen a mighty king
His child, iwis, 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,
Till he hath passed necessity.
We'll show you those in trouble reign,
Losing a mite, a mountain gain.
Good Helicane, that stayed at home,
Not to eat honey like a drone
From others' labors; for though he strive
To killen bad, keep good alive;
And to fulfil his prince' desire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:
How many came full bent with sin
And had intent to murder him;
And that in Tarsus 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;
Thunder above and deeps below
Make such unquiet, that the ship
Should house him safe is wrecked and split;
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is tossed:
All perishen of man, of pelf,
Ne aught escapen but himself;
Till fortune, tired with doing bad,
Threw him ashore, to give him glad:
And here he comes.
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,
Washed me from shore to shore, and left me
breath
Nothing to think on but ensuing death.
SECOND FISHERMAN
What, ho!
FIRST FISHERMAN
Come and bring away the nets!
PERICLES
Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen
SECOND FISHERMAN
Honest! Good fellow, what's that?
PERICLES
May see the sea hath cast upon your coast-
SECOND FISHERMAN
What a drunken knave was the sea to cast thee
in our way!
PERICLES
What I have been I have forgot to know;
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,
For that I am a man, pray see me buried.
FIRST FISHERMAN
Die quoth-a? Now gods forbid! 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
fasting-days, and moreo'er puddings and flap-jacks,
and thou shalt be welcome.
PERICLES
I thank you, sir.
FIRST FISHERMAN
Hark you, sir, do you know where ye are?
PERICLES
Not well.
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 tomorrow
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
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.
SECOND FISHERMAN
Help, master, help! here's a fish hangs in
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 turned to a rusty armor.
PERICLES
An armor, friends! I pray you, let me see
it.
Thanks, fortune, yet, that, after all my crosses,
Thou givest me somewhat to repair myself;
FIRST FISHERMAN
What mean you, sir?
PERICLES
To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of
worth,
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!
SECOND FISHERMAN
I hope, sir, if you thrive, you'll remember
from whence you had it.
PERICLES
Believe 't, I will.
By your furtherance I am clothed in steel;
Only, my friend, I yet am unprovided
Of a pair of bases.
SECOND 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 honor be but equal to my will,
This day I'll rise, or else add ill to ill.
SIMONIDES
Are the knights ready to begin the triumph?
LORD
They are, my liege;
And stay your coming to present themselves.
SIMONIDES
Return them we are ready; and our daughter,
In honor of whose birth these triumphs are,
Stays here, like beauty's child, whom nature
gat
For men to see, and seeing wonder at.
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
A model which heaven makes like to itself:
But stay, the knights are coming: we will
withdraw
Into the gallery.
SIMONIDES
Knights, 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,
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 royal guest;
To whom this wreath of victory I give,
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.
Come, queen o' the feast,--
For, daughter, so you are, here take your
place.
Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace.
KNIGHT
We are honored much by good Simonides.
SIMONIDES
Your presence glads our days.
KNIGHT
Sir, yonder is your place.
PERICLES
Some other is more fit.
KNIGHT
Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen
That neither in our hearts nor outward eyes
Envy the great nor do the low despise.
PERICLES
You are right courteous knights.
[aside]
By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts,
These cates resist me, she but thought upon.
THAISA [aside]
By Juno, that is queen of marriage,
All viands that I eat do seem unsavory.
Wishing him my meat.
[To SIMONIDES] 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.
THAISA
To me he seems like diamond to glass.
PERICLES
Yon king's to me like to my father's picture,
Which tells me in that glory once he was.
THAISA
The king my father, sir, has drunk to you.
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.
PERICLES
A gentleman of Tyre; my name, Pericles;
Who, looking for adventures in the world,
Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men,
And after shipwreck driven upon this shore.
SIMONIDES
Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles,
And waste the time, which looks for other
revels.
Even in your armors, as you are addressed,
Will very well become a soldier's dance.
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.
Come, sir;
Here is a lady that wants breathing too:
And I have heard, you knights of Tyre
Are excellent in making ladies trip;
PERICLES
In those that practice them they are, my lord.
SIMONIDES
O, that's as much as you would be denied
Of your fair courtesy.
SIMONIDES
Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well.
Pages and lights, to conduct
These knights unto their several lodgings!
[To Pericles] Yours, sir, we have given order
to be next our own.
PERICLES
I am at your grace's pleasure.
SIMONIDES [aside]
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 delayed.
[to PERICLES]
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.
PERICLES
I am unworthy for her schoolmaster.
SIMONIDES
She thinks not so; peruse this writing else.
PERICLES
[Aside] What's here? A letter, that she loves
the knight of Tyre!
SIMONIDES
Thou hast bewitched my daughter,
And thou art a villain.
PERICLES
By the gods, I have not:
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,
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 relished of a base descent.
I came unto your court for honor's cause,
And not to be a rebel to her state;
And he that otherwise accounts of me,
This sword shall prove he's honor's enemy.
SIMONIDES
No? Here comes my daughter, she can witness
it.
PERICLES
Then, as you are as virtuous as fair,
Resolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did ere solicit, or my hand subscribe
To any syllable that made love to you.
THAISA
Why, sir, say if you had,
Who takes offence 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,
Bestow your love and your affections
Upon a stranger?
Therefore hear you, mistress; either frame
your will
To mine,and you, sir, hear you, either be
Ruled by me, or I will 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;
And for a further grief,--God give you joy!
What, are you both pleased?
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 it please your majesty.
SIMONIDES
It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you
wed;
And then with what haste you can get you to
bed.
GOWER
Now sleep y-slaked hath the rout;
No din but snores the house about,
Made louder by the o'er-fed breast
Of this most pompous marriage-feast.
Hymen hath brought the bride to bed,
Where by the loss of maidenhead
A babe is moulded,
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 Tyre 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
Come not home in twice six moons,
He, obedient to their dooms,
Will take the crown. The sum of this,
Brought hither to Pentapolis,
Enraptured 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.
And what ensues in this fell storm
The sea-tossed Pericles appears to speak.
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 called them from the deep!
[calls] O, how, Lychorida,
How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously;
Wilt thou spit all thyself? Lychorida!
LYCHORIDA
Here is a thing too young for such a place,
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,
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?
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
That ever was prince's child.
FIRST SAILOR
Slack the bowlines there! Thou wilt not, wilt
thou? Blow, and split thyself.
SECOND SAILOR
But sea-room, an the brine and cloudy billow
kiss the moon, I care not.
FIRST SAILOR
Sir, your queen must overboard: the sea works
high, the wind is loud, and will not lie till
the ship be
cleared of the dead.
PERICLES
That's your superstition.
FIRST SAILOR
Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it hath been
still observed: and we are strong in custom.
Therefore
briefly yield her; for she must overboard
straight.
PERICLES
As you think meet. Most wretched queen!
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 hallowed to thy grave, but straight
Must cast thee, scarcely coffined, in the
ooze;
Where, for a monument upon they bones
And aye- remaining lamps, the belching whale
And humming water must o’erwhelm thy corpse
lying with simple shells.
SECOND SAILOR
Sir, we are ready.
PERICLES
I thank thee. Mariner, say what coast is this?
SECOND SAILOR
We are near Tarsus.
PERICLES
O, make for Tarsus!
There will I visit Cleon, for the babe
Cannot hold out to Tyre. There I'll leave
it
At careful nursing. Come I am ready good mariner.
FIRST SERVANT
Sir, even now
Did the sea toss this upon our shore:
'Tis of some wreck.
CERIMON
O you most potent gods! What's here? a corpse!
FIRST SERVANT
Most strange!
CERIMON
She is alive! Behold,
Her eyelids, begin to part their fringes of
bright gold;
Live, and make us weep to hear your fate,
fair creature,
Rare as you seem to be.
THAISA
O dear Diana, Where am I? Where's my lord?
What world is this?
SECOND SERVANT
Is not this strange?
FIRST SERVANT
Most rare.
CERIMON
Hush, my gentle neighbors.
Lend me your hands; to the next chamber bear
her.
Get linen: now this matter must be looked
to,
For her relapse is mortal. Come, come;
And Aesculapius guide us!
PERICLES
Most honoured Cleon, I must needs be gone;
My twelve months are expired, and Tyre stands
In a litigious peace. You, and your lady,
Take from my heart all thankfulness.
DIONYZA
O, your sweet queen!
That the strict fates had pleased you had
brought her hither,
To have blessed mine eyes with her!
PERICLES
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.
DIONYZA
I have one myself,
Who shall not be more dear to my respect
Than yours, my lord.
PERICLES
Madam, my thanks and prayers.
GOWER
Imagine Pericles arrived at Tyre,
Welcomed and settled to his own desire.
His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus,
Unto Diana there a votaress.
Now to Marina bend your mind,
Whom our fast-growing scene must find
At Tarsus, and by Cleon trained
In music, letters; who hath gained
Of education all the grace,
Which makes her both the heart and place
Of general wonder. 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, our Cleon hath
One daughter, and a wench full grown,.
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.
Dionyza does appear,
With Leonine, a murderer.
DIONYZA
Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do't:
'Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.
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 nurse’s
death.
Thou art resolved?
LEONINE
I am resolved.
MARINA
No, I will rob Tellus of her weed
To strew thy grave with flowers; the yellows,
blues,
The purple violets and marigolds
Shall as a carpet hang upon the green
While summer days doth las. Ay me, poor maid,
Born in a tempest when my mother died,
This world to me is as a lasting storm,
Whirring me from my friends.
DIONYZA
How now, Marina! why do you keep alone?
How chance my daughter is not with you?
Do not consume your blood with sorrowing:
Have you a nurse of me. Lord your favour’s
Changed with this unprofitable woe.
Come, give me your flowers. O’er the sea-margent
Walk with Leonine; the air is quick there,
And it pierces and sharpens the stomach.
Come, Leonine.
Take her by the arm, walk with her.
MARINA
No, I pray you.
I'll not bereave you of your servant.
DIONYZA
Come, come, I know 'tis good for you.
Walk half an hour, Leonine, at the least.
Remember what I have said.
LEONINE
I warrant you, madam.
DIONYZA
I'll leave you, my sweet lady, for a while.
Pray, walk softly, do not heat your blood.
MARINA
But
DIONYZA
What, I must have a care of you.
MARINA
My thanks, sweet madam.
Is this wind westerly that blows?
LEONINE
South-west.
MARINA
When I was born, the wind was north.
LEONINE
Was't so?
MARINA
My father, as nurse said, did never fear,
But cried 'Good seaman!' to the sailors,
Galling his kingly hands, haling ropes,
And, clasping to the mast, endured a sea
That almost burst the deck.
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 killed?
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 favored, 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 showed 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.
PANDER
Hold, villain!
BAWD
A prize! a prize!
PANDER
Half-part, mate, half-part.
Come, let's have her aboard suddenly.
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.
DIONYZA
Why, are you foolish? Can it be undone?
CLEON
O Dionyza, such a piece of slaughter
The sun and moon ne'er looked upon!
DIONYZA
I think you'll turn a child again.
CLEON
Were I chief lord of all this spacious world,
I'd give it to undo the deed. A lady
Much less in blood than virtue, yet a princess.
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
Heavens forgive it!
DIONYZA
And as for Pericles, what should he say?
We wept after her hearse, and yet we mourn.
CLEON
Thou art like the harpy,
Which to betray dost with thine angel's face
Seize with thine eagle's talons.
DIONYZA
You are like one that superstitiously
Doth swear to the gods that winter kills the
flies:
But yet I know you'll do as I advise.
GOWER
Thus time we waste, and longest leagues make
short,
Pericles
Is now again thwarting the wayward seas,
Attended on by many a lord and knight,
To fetch his daughter home, who first is gone.
This borrowed passion stands for true old
woe,
And Pericles in sorrow all devoured,
With sighs shot through and biggest tears
o'ershowered,
Leaves Tarsus and to sea he bears.
Let Pericles believe his daughter's dead,
Let Pericles believe his daughter’s dead,
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.
PANDAR
Well, I had rather than twice the worth of
her she had ne'er come here.
BAWD
Fie, fie upon her. We must either get her
ravished, or be rid of her. She'll disfurnish
us of all our
cavaliers, and make our swearers priests.
PANDAR
Now, the pox upon her green-sickness for me.
BAWD
Here comes the Lord Lysimachus.
LYSIMACHUS
How now! How a dozen of virginities?
BAWD
Now, the gods to-bless your honor!
PANDER
We have here one, sir, if she would--but there
never came her like in Mytilene.
Is she not a fair creature?
LYSIMACHUS
'Faith, she would serve after a long voyage
at sea. Well, there's for you: leave us.
BAWD
I beseech your honor, give me leave: a word,
and I'll have done presently.
LYSIMACHUS
I beseech you, do.
BAWD
First, I would have you note, this is an honorable
man.
MARINA
I desire to find him so, that I may worthily
note him.
BAWD 
Next, he's the governor of this country, and
a man whom I am bound to.
LYSIMACHUS
Ha' you done?
BAWD
My lord, she's not paced yet: you must take
some pains to work her to your manage. Come,
we will
leave his honour and her together. Go thy
ways.
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
honorable parts, and are the governor of this
place.
LYSIMACHUS
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 honor, 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 unhallowed 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 dreamed
thou couldst.
Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,
Thy speech had altered 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
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.
PANDER
I beseech your honour, one piece for me.
LYSIMACHUS
Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper!
Your house, but for this virgin that doth
prop it,
Would sink and overwhelm you. Away!
BAWD
How's this? We must take another course with
you. If your peevish chastity, which is not
worth a
breakfast in the cheapest country under the
cope, shall undo a whole household, let me
be gelded
like a spaniel. Come your ways.
GOWER
Marina thus the brothel 'scapes, and chances
Into an honest house, our story says.
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.
SAILOR OF TYRE
Where is Lord Helicanus? He can resolve you.
O, here he is.
[To HELICANUS] Sir, there's a barge put off
from Mytilene,
And in it is Lysimachus the governor,
Who craves to come aboard. What is your will?
HELICANUS
That he have his.
There's some of worth would come aboard;
I pray you, greet them fairly.
SAILOR OF MYTILENE
Sir,
This is the man that can, in aught you would
Resolve you.
LYSIMACHUS
Hail, reverend sir! The gods
Preserve you!
HELICANUS
And you, sir, to outlive the age I am,
And die as I would do.
LYSIMACHUS
You wish me well.
Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us,
I made to it, to know of whence you are.
HELICANUS
Sir, our vessel is of Tyre, in it the king;
A man who for this three months hath not spoken
To anyone, nor taken sustenance
But to prorogue his grief.
LYSIMACHUS
Upon what ground
Is his distemperature?
HELICANUS
'Twould be too tedious
To repeat, but the main grief springs from
the loss
Of a beloved daughter and a wife.
LYSIMACHUS
May we not see him?
HELICANUS
You may,
But bootless is your sight. He will not speak
to any.
LYSIMACHUS
Sir, we have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager,
Would win some words of him.
She questionless, with her sweet harmony
And other chosen attractions, would allure,
And make a battery through his deafen'd ports,
Which now are midway stopp'd.
Go, fetch her hither.
HELICANUS
Sure, all effectless; yet nothing we'll omit
That bears recovery's name.
LYSIMACHUS
--Welcome, fair one! Is't not
A goodly creature?
HELICANUS
She's a gallant lady.
LYSIMACHUS
Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty
Expect even here, where is a kingly patient:
If that thy prosperous and artificial feat
Can draw him but to answer thee -
MARINA
Sir, I will use
My utmost skill in his recovery, provided
That none but I ---
Be suffer'd to come near him.
LYSIMACHUS
Come, let us leave her;
And the gods make her prosperous. She will
speak to him.
MARINA
Hail, sir! My lord, lend ear.
MARINA
She speaks,
My lord, that, may be, hath endured a grief
Might equal yours, if both were justly weighed.
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.'
PERICLES
My fortunes--parentage--good parentage--
To equal mine. Was it not thus? What say you?
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 countrywoman?
Here of these shores?
MARINA
No, nor of any shores:
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. Where do you
live?
MARINA
If I should tell
My history, it would seem like lies
Disdained 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 crowned 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 that thou
camest
From good descending?
MARINA
So indeed I did.
PERICLES
Tell thy story. What were thy friends?
How lost thou them? Thy name, my most kind
virgin?
Recount, I do beseech thee.
MARINA
My name is Marina.
PERICLES
O, I am mocked,
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 called 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?
Motion as well? Speak on. Where were you born?
And wherefore call'd Marina?
MARINA
Called Marina
For I was born at sea.
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, buried. -
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 wooed 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 daught er to King Pericles,
If good King Pericles be.
PERICLES
Ho, Helicanus!
HELICANUS
Calls my lord?
PERICLES
O Helicanus, strike me, honored 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.
[To Marina] 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 confirmed 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 drowned 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.
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, sir.
O heavens bless my girl! But, hark, 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
Music, my lord? I hear
PERICLES
Most heavenly music!
It nips me unto listening, and thick slumber
Hangs upon mine eyes. Let me rest.
LYSIMACHUS
So leave him all
Well, my companion friends,
If this but answer to my just belief,
I'll well remember you.
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.
Perform my bidding, or thou liv’st in woe;
Do it and happy, by my silver bow.
Awake and tell thy dream.
PERICLES
Celestial Dian, goddess argentine,
I will obey thee. Helicanus!
HELICANUS
Sir?
PERICLES
My purpose was for Tarsus, there to strike
The inhospitable Cleon; but I am
For other service first. Toward Ephesus
Turn our blown sails; eftsoons I'll tell thee
why.
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 whom, O goddess,
Wears yet thy silver livery.
THAISA
Voice and favor!
You are, you are--O royal Pericles!
PERICLES
What means the nun? She dies. Help!
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 overjoyed.
Early in blustering morn this lady was
Thrown upon this shore. I
Found her there; recovered her, and placed
her
Here in Diana's temple. Look, Thaisa is
Recovered.
THAISA
O, my lord,
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
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.
MARINA
My heart
Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom.
PERICLES
Look, who is here: flesh of thy flesh,
Thaisa,
Thy burden at the sea, and call'd Marina,
For she was yielded there.
THAISA
Blest, and mine own!
PERICLES
Pure Dian, bless thee for thy vision.
GOWER
In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard
Of monstrous lust the due  and just reward:
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.
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:
So, on your patience evermore attending,
New joy wait on you. Here our play has ending.
