Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT V SCENE I | PROLOGUE. | |
[Enter GOWER] | ||
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 | 5 | |
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 | 10 | |
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 | 15 | |
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. | 20 | |
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] | ||
ACT V SCENE I | On board PERICLES’ ship, off Mytilene. A close pavilion on deck, with a curtain before it; PERICLES within it, reclined on a couch. A barge lying beside the Tyrian vessel. | |
[ Enter two Sailors, one belonging to the Tyrian vessel, the other to the barge; to them HELICANUS ] | ||
Tyrian Sailor | [To the Sailor of Mytilene] Where is lord Helicanus? | |
he can resolve you. | ||
O, here he is. | ||
Sir, there’s a barge put off from Mytilene, | ||
And in it is Lysimachus the governor, | 5 | |
Who craves to come aboard. What is your will? | ||
HELICANUS | That he have his. Call up some gentlemen. | |
Tyrian Sailor | Ho, gentlemen! my lord calls. | |
[Enter two or three Gentlemen] | ||
First Gentleman | Doth your lordship call? | |
HELICANUS | Gentlemen, there’s some of worth would come aboard; | 10 |
I pray ye, greet them fairly. | ||
[ The Gentlemen and the two Sailors descend, and go on board the barge ] | ||
[ Enter, from thence, LYSIMACHUS and Lords; with the Gentlemen and the two Sailors ] | ||
Tyrian Sailor | Sir, | |
This is the man that can, in aught you would, | ||
Resolve you. | ||
LYSIMACHUS | Hail, reverend sir! the gods preserve you! | 15 |
HELICANUS | And you, sir, to outlive the age I am, | |
And die as I would do. | ||
LYSIMACHUS | You wish me well. | |
Being on shore, honouring of Neptune’s triumphs, | ||
Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us, | 20 | |
I made to it, to know of whence you are. | ||
HELICANUS | First, what is your place? | |
LYSIMACHUS | I am the governor of this place you lie before. | |
HELICANUS | Sir, | |
Our vessel is of Tyre, in it the king; | 25 | |
A man who for this three months hath not spoken | ||
To any one, nor taken sustenance | ||
But to prorogue his grief. | ||
LYSIMACHUS | Upon what ground is his distemperature? | |
HELICANUS | ‘Twould be too tedious to repeat; | 30 |
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. | 35 | |
LYSIMACHUS | Yet let me obtain my wish. | |
HELICANUS | Behold him. | |
[PERICLES discovered] | ||
This was a goodly person, | ||
Till the disaster that, one mortal night, | ||
Drove him to this. | 40 | |
LYSIMACHUS | Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you! | |
Hail, royal sir! | ||
HELICANUS | It is in vain; he will not speak to you. | |
First Lord | Sir, | |
We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager, | 45 | |
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, | 50 | |
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. | 55 | |
[ Whispers a Lord, who goes off in the barge of LYSIMACHUS ] | ||
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, | 60 | |
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 | 65 | |
Let me entreat to know at large the cause | ||
Of your king’s sorrow. | ||
HELICANUS | Sit, sir, I will recount it to you: | |
But, see, I am prevented. | ||
[ Re-enter, from the barge, Lord, with MARINA, and a young Lady ] | ||
LYSIMACHUS | O, here is | 70 |
The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one! | ||
Is’t not a goodly presence? | ||
HELICANUS | She’s a gallant lady. | |
LYSIMACHUS | She’s such a one, that, were I well assured | |
Came of a gentle kind and noble stock, | 75 | |
I’ld wish no better choice, and think me rarely wed. | ||
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 in aught, | 80 | |
Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay | ||
As thy desires can wish. | ||
MARINA | Sir, I will use | |
My utmost skill in his recovery, Provided | ||
That none but I and my companion maid | 85 | |
Be suffer’d to come near him. | ||
LYSIMACHUS | Come, let us leave her; | |
And the gods make her prosperous! | ||
[MARINA sings] | ||
LYSIMACHUS | Mark’d he your music? | |
MARINA | No, nor look’d on us. | 90 |
LYSIMACHUS | See, she will speak to him. | |
MARINA | Hail, sir! my lord, lend ear. | |
PERICLES | Hum, ha! | |
MARINA | I am a maid, | |
My lord, that ne’er before invited eyes, | 95 | |
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 | 100 | |
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; | 105 | |
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, | 110 |
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: | 115 |
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; | 120 | |
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? | 125 | |
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? | 130 | |
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 | 135 | |
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? | 140 | |
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 | 145 |
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 | 150 | |
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 | 155 | |
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. | 160 |
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. | 165 | |
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, | 170 | |
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, | 175 | |
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? | 180 | |
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, | 185 | |
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: | 190 | |
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 | 195 |
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 | 200 | |
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, | 205 | |
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? | 210 |
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 | 215 |
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. | 220 | |
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, | 225 | |
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. | 230 | |
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? | 235 | |
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. | 240 | |
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. | 245 |
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? | 250 | |
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. | 255 | |
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. | 260 |
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. | 265 |
[Music] | ||
PERICLES | Most heavenly music! | |
It nips me unto listening, and thick slumber | ||
Hangs upon mine eyes: let me rest. | ||
[Sleeps] | ||
LYSIMACHUS | A pillow for his head: | |
So, leave him all. Well, my companion friends, | 270 | |
If this but answer to my just belief, | ||
I’ll well remember you. | ||
[Exeunt all but PERICLES] | ||
[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, | 275 | |
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; | 280 | |
Do it, and happy; by my silver bow! | ||
Awake, and tell thy dream. | ||
[Disappears] | ||
PERICLES | Celestial Dian, goddess argentine, | |
I will obey thee. Helicanus! | ||
[Re-enter HELICANUS, LYSIMACHUS, and MARINA] | ||
HELICANUS | Sir? | 285 |
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. | ||
[To LYSIMACHUS] | ||
Shall we refresh us, sir, upon your shore, | 290 | |
And give you gold for such provision | ||
As our intents will need? | ||
LYSIMACHUS | Sir, | |
With all my heart; and, when you come ashore, | ||
I have another suit. | 295 | |
PERICLES | You shall prevail, | |
Were it to woo my daughter; for it seems | ||
You have been noble towards her. | ||
LYSIMACHUS | Sir, lend me your arm. | |
PERICLES | Come, my Marina. | 300 |
[Exeunt] |
Continue to Pericles, Act 5, Scene 2