Gesta Romanorum

by Charles Swan

  As he ended, the daughter of Altistrates sprung towards him, and would have clasped him in her arms. He repelled her with indignation, not supposing that it was his wife. “Oh, my lord ! “cried she, weeping, “better half of my soul! why do you use me thus? I am thy wife, the daughter of King Altistrates ; and thou art of Tyre; thou art Apollonius, my husband and lord. Thou wert the beloved one who instructed me. Thou wert the shipwrecked man whom I loved with pure and fond regard.” Apollonius awakening at the mention of these well-known circumstances, recollected his long-lost lady. He fell upon her neck, and wept for joy. “Blessed be the Most High, who hath restored me my wife and daughter.” “But where,” said she, “is our daughter ? “Presenting Tharsia, he replied,” Behold her.” They kissed each other tenderly; and the news of this happy meeting was soon noised abroad through the whole city. (28)

  Apollonius again embarked for his own country. Arriving at Antioch, he was crowned, and then hastening to Tyre, he appointed Athanagoras and his daughter to the rule of this place. Afterwards assembling a large army, he sat down before Tharsus, and commanded Stranguilio and Dionysias to be seized and brought before him. Addressing the Tharsians, he inquired, “Did I ever do an injury to any one of you ? ““No, my lord,” answered they; “we are ready to die for you. This statue bears record how you preserved us from death.” “Citizens,” returned Apollonius, “I intrusted my daughter to Stranguilio and his wife: they would not restore her.” “Oh, my lord,” cried the unhappy woman, “thou hast read her fate inscribed on the monument.” The king directed his daughter to come forward; and Tharsia, reproaching her, said, “Hail, woman! Tharsia greets thee ; Tharsia returned from the grave.” Dionysias trembled; and the citizens wondered and rejoiced. Tharsia then called the steward. “Theophilus, dost thou know me ? Answer distinctly, who employed thee to murder me ?”

  “My lady Dionysias.”

  The citizens, hearing this, dragged both the husband and wife out of the city and stoned them. They would have killed Theophilus also, but Tharsia, interposing, freed him from death. “Unless he had given me time to pray,” she said, “I should not now have been defending him.”

  Apollonius tarried here three months, and gave large gifts to the city. Thence sailing to Pentapolis, the old King Altistrates received them with delight. He lived with his son, and daughter, and grandchild a whole year in happiness. After that he died, full of years, bequeathing the kingdom to his son and daughter.

  As Apollonius walked one day upon the sea-shore, he recollected the kind-hearted fisherman who succoured him after his shipwreck, and he ordered him to be seized and brought to the palace. The poor fisherman, perceiving himself under the escort of a guard of soldiers, expected nothing less than death. He was conducted into the presence of the king, who said, “This is my friend, who helped me after my shipwreck, and showed me the way to the city;” and he gave him to understand that he was Apollonius of Tyre. He then commanded his attendants to carry him two hundred sestertia, with men-servants and maid-servants. Nor did his kindness stop here—he made him one of his personal attendants, and retained him as long as he lived. Elamitus, who declared to him the intentions of Antiochus, fell at his feet, and said, “My lord, remember thy servant Elamitus.” Apollonius, extending his hand, raised him up, and enriched him. Soon after this a son was born, whom he appointed king in the room of his grandfather, Altistrates.

  Apollonius lived with his wife eighty-four years; and ruled the kingdoms of Antioch and Tyre in peace and happiness. He wrote two volumes of his adventures, one of which he laid up in the temple of the Ephesians, and the other in his own library. After death, he went into everlasting life. To which may God, of His infinite mercy, lead us all. (29)

  * “This king unto him took a pheere,

  Who died and left a female heir,

  So buxom, blithe, and full of face,

  As Heaven had lent her all His grace.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “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 wight did die,

  As yon grim looks do testify.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “[Pericles reads the riddle.]

  I 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.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † “Ant. Young prince of Tyre,

  Though by the tenour of our strict edict,

  Your exposition misinterpreting,

  “We might proceed to cancel of your days;

  Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree

  As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise:

  Forty days longer we do respite you;

  If by which time our secret be undone,

  This mercy shows, we’ll joy in such a son:

  And, until then, your entertain shall be,

  As doth befit our honour and your worth.” Ibid.

  * “Enter THALIARD.

  Thai. Doth your highness call?

  Ant Thaliard, you’re of our chamber, and our mind

  Partakes her private actions to your secresy;

  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.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “Thai Well, I perceive (Aside).

  I shall not be hang’d now, although I would;

  But since he’s gone, the king it sure must please,

  He ’scaped the land, to perish on the seas.—

  But I’ll present me.—Peace to the lords of Tyre!

  Hel. Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.

  Thai. From him I come

  With message unto princely Pericles;

  But since my landing, as I have understood

  Your lord has took himself to unknown travels,

  My message must return from whence it came.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † Called Hellanicus in the Latin copy of 1595.

  * “And to remember what he does,

  Gild his statue glorious.”—SHAKESPEARE.

  Gower says,

  “It was of latten over-gilt.”—Conf. Aman.

  † DIONYZA in Shakespeare.

  ‡ Pentapolis was properly a country of Africa, and so called from its five cities, Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemaïs, Cyrene, and Apollonia; it was also a country of Palestine. But I suppose a city of Tuscany is meant here, which was called by the name of Pentapolis. Mr. Stevens, however, says that it is an imaginary city, and its name probably borrowed from some romance. “That the reader may know through how many regions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessary to observe that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; Tyre, a city of Phœnicia in Asia; Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, an island in the Ægean Sea; and Ephesus, the capital of Ionia, a country of Lesser Asia.”— STEVENS.

  * “(Dumb show.)

  Enter at one door PERICLES, talking tvith CLEON; all the train with them. Enter at anotlier door a Gentleman, with a letter to PERICLES; PERICLES shows the letter to CLEON; then gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exeunt Pericles, Cleon, &c. severally.

  Gow. Good Helicane hath stay’d at home,

  Not to eat honey, like a drone,

  From others’ labours; for tho’ he strive

  To killen bad, keep good alive;

  And, to fulfil his prince’ desire,

  Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:

  How Thal
iard came full bent with sin,

  And hid intent to murder him;

  And that in Tharsus was not best

  Longer for him to make his rest:

  He, knowing so, put forth to seas,

  Where when men been, there’s seldom ease.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “2 Fish. Ay, but hark you, my friend; ’twas we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters: there are certain condolements, certain vails. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you’ll remember from whence you had it.”—SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † The custom of anointing the body after bathing is a well-known Eastern practice; but the nudity of the boy running through the streets with a proclamation, I do not exactly understand.

  † Called by Shakespeare Simonides ; but the incident following is omitted, and another used instead.

  * “Ludum Splieræ.”

  † An extract from Gower here, may throw some light upon the game alluded to:—

  “And as it should then befall

  That day was set of such assise,

  That they should in the land-es guise,

  (As was heard of the people say)

  Their common game then play.

  And cried was, that they should come

  Unto the gam-e all and some;

  Of them that ben deliver and wite,

  To do such mastery as they might.

  They made them naked (as they should)

  For so that ilke gam-e would;

  And it was the custom-e and use,

  Among-es them was no refuse.

  The flower of all the town was there,

  And of the court also there were;

  And that was in a larg-e place,

  Eight even before the king-es face,

  Which Arthescates then hight.

  The play was played right in his sight,

  And who most worthy was of deed,

  Receive he should a certain meed,

  And in the city bear a price.

  Apollonius, which was ware and wise,

  Of every game could an end

  He thought assay, how so it went.”

  Confessio Amantis, lib. viii. fol. 178.

  ‡ “Cyramaco accepto,” in the text of the Gesta Romanorum; but in the “Narratio,” &c, “accepto ceromata,” a compound of oil and wax.

  * “Sim. Yet pause a while;

  Yon knight, methinks, doth sit too melancholy,

  As if the entertainment in our court

  Had not a show might countervail his worth.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † This presents us a family picture, rather than the delineation of a court: but they were primitive times, and, more forcibly than any other circumstance, these touches denote the high antiquity of the stories.

  * “Sim. Tell him, we desire to know,

  Of whence he is, his name and parentage.

  Thai. The king my father, sir, has drunk to you.

  Per. I thank him.

  Thai. Wishing it so much blood unto your life.

  Per. I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely.

  Thai. And further he desires to know of you,

  Of whence you are, your name and parentage.

  Per. A gentleman of Tyre—(my name, Pericles;

  My education being in arts and arms;)

  “Who, looking for adventures in the world,

  Was by the rough sea reft of ships and men,

  And, after shipwreck, driven upon this shore.

  Thai. He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles,

  A gentleman of Tyre, who only by

  Misfortune of the sea has been bereft

  Of ships and men, and cast upon this shore.

  Sim. Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune,

  And will awake him from his melancholy.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † “Veteres ejus dolores renovasti.”—One does not expect to meet Virgil’s “Regina jubes renovare dolorem,” in a writer of monastic romances, who certainly never went to the fountain-head.

  The guests positively asserted that they never heard or saw anything better; and the daughter, regarding the youth with fixed attention, grew suddenly and violently enamoured. “Oh, my father,” cried she, “let me reward him as I think fit.” The king assented; and she, looking tenderly upon the youth, said, “Sir Apollonius, receive out of my royal father’s munificence two hundred talents of gold and four hundred pounds of silver, a rich garment, twenty men-servants, and ten handmaids;” then, turning to the attendants present, she continued, “Bring what I have promised.” Her commands were obeyed; and the guests then rising, received permission to depart.

  * “Thai. But you, my knight and guest;

  To whom this wreath of victory I give,

  And crown you king of this day’s happiness.

  Per. ’Tis more by fortune, lady, than my merit.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  † “Eater PERICLES.

  Per. All fortune to the good Simonides!

  Sim. To you as much! Sir, I am beholden to you

  For your sweet music this last night: my ears,

  I do protest, were never better fed

  With such delightful pleasing harmony.

  Per. It is your grace’s pleasure to commend;

  Not my desert.

  Sim. Sir, you are music’s master.

  Per. The worst of all her scholars, my good lord” Ibid.

  * “Sim. My daughter, sir, thinks very well of you;

  Ay, so well, sir, that you must be her master,

  And she’ll your scholar be; therefore look to it.

  Per. Unworthy I to be her schoolmaster.

  Sim, She thinks not so.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Pericles.

  * “Venas et singulas partes corporis tangebant.” We may gather from notices like these some idea of the state of physic at the period in which these tales were fabricated.

  * “Helicanus. No, no, my Escanes; know this of me,—

  Antiochus from incest lived not free ;

  For which the most high gods not minding longer

  To withhold the vengeance that they had in store,

  Due to this heinous capital offence;

  Even in the height and pride of all his glory,

  When he was seated, and his daughter with him,

  In a chariot of inestimable value,

  A fire from heaven came, and shrivell’d up

  Their bodies, even to loathing; for they so stunk,

  That all those eyes adored them, ere their fall,

  Scorn now their hand should give their burial.”

  SHAKESPEAEE, Pericles.

  † “Gow. At. last from Tyre

  (Fame answering the most strong inquire)

  To the court of king Simonides

  Are letters brought, the tenour these:

  Antiochus and his daughter’s dead;

  The men of Tyrus on the head

  Of Helicanus would set on

  The crown of Tyre, but he will none :

  The mutiny there he hastes t’ appease;

  Says to them, if king Pericles

  Come not, in twice six moons, home,

  He, obedient to their doom,

  “Will take the crown. The sum of this,

  Brought hither to Pentapolis,

  Y-ravished the regions round,

  And every one with claps ’gan 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).” Ibid.

  * In Shakspeare, Lychorida.

  † “Lych. Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm.

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

  A little daughter.”

  SHAKESPEARE, Per
icles.

  * “Quoniam verus erat pulchritudinis radius: in quo natura nihil viciosum constituit; nisi quòd earn immortalem non formaverat.” This is far beyond the common strain of a monkish imagination; and, in truth, the whole passage forms a brilliant description of female beauty. See Note 24.

  † Prodigality (in the original, prodigus) seems to imply an impudent stare; an eye prodigal of its favours, as may be said of a star. The changeableness of the eye is a great beauty. Pope says of his Belinda—

  “Her lovely looks a sprightly mind disclose,

  Quick as her eyes, and as unfixed as those.”

  Rape of the Loch.

  * These are Platonic fancies.

  † “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 require his charity!”

  SHAKESPEAKE, Pericles.

  * The modern disciple of Galen may learn something, peradventure, from this same wise youth, but I question much if his gratitude be commensurate.

  † “Enter a Servant, with boxes, napkins, and fire.

  Cer. Well said, well said; the fire and the 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 :—