To Thaisa
Therefore hear you, mistress, either frame your will84
To mine — and you sir, hear you — either be
Joins their hands
Ruled by me, or I’ll make you man and wife!
Nay, come, your hands and lips must seal it too,
Pulls their hands apart
And being joined I’ll thus your hopes destroy,
Joins their hands again
And for 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 fosters92 it.
SIMONIDES What, are you both agreed?
BOTH Yes, if’t 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.
Exeunt
[Act 3 Chorus]
running scene 9
Enter Gower
GOWER Now sleep y-slackèd hath the rouse1,
No din but snores about the house,
Made louder by the o’erfed breast3
Of this most pompous4 marriage feast.
The cat with eyne5 of burning coal
Now couches from6 the mouse’s hole,
And crickets sing7 at the oven’s mouth
Are the blither for their drouth8.
Hymen9 hath brought the bride to bed,
Where by the loss of maidenhead10
A babe is moulded. Be attent11,
And time that is so briefly12 spent
With your fine fancies quaintly eche13.
What’s dumb in show, I’ll plain14 with speech.
Dumb show
Enter Pericles and Simonides at one door with Attendants. A Messenger meets them, kneels and gives Pericles a letter. Pericles shows it Simonides, the Lords kneel to him. Then enter Thaisa, with child, with Lychorida, a nurse. The King shows her the letter, she rejoices: she and Pericles take leave of her father, and depart [with Lychorida and their Attendants. Exeunt Simonides and his train]
GOWER By many a dern and painful perch15,
Of16 Pericles the careful search
By the four opposing coigns17
Which the world together joins,
Is made with all due diligence
That horse and sail and high expense
Can stead21 the quest. At last from Tyre —
Fame answering the most strange inquire22 —
To th’court of King Simonides
Are letters brought, the tenor24 these:
Antiochus and his daughter dead25,
The men of Tyrus on the head
Of Helicanus would set on
The crown of Tyre, but he will none28.
The mutiny he there hastes t’appease29,
Says to ’em, if King Pericles
Come not home in twice six moons31,
He, obedient to their dooms32,
Will take the crown. The sum33 of this
Brought hither to Pentapolis
Y-ravishèd35 the regions round,
And everyone with claps can36 sound,
‘Our heir apparent37 is a king:
Who dreamt? Who thought of such a thing?’
Brief39, he must hence depart to Tyre.
His queen, with child, makes her desire —
Which who shall cross41? — along to go:
Omit we all their dole42 and woe.
Lychorida her nurse43 she takes,
And so to sea. Their vessel shakes
On Neptune’s billow, half the flood
Hath their keel cut, but Fortune, moved46,
Varies again. The grizzled north47
Disgorges such a tempest forth
That as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives50.
The lady shrieks and, well-a-near51,
Does fall in travail with her fear.
And what ensues in this fell53 storm
Shall for itself, itself perform:
I nill relate, action55 may
Conveniently56 the rest convey,
Which might not what by me is told57.
In your imagination hold58
This stage the ship, upon whose deck
The sea-tossed Pericles appears to speak60.
[Exit]
[Act 3 Scene 1]
running scene 10
Enter Pericles on shipboard
PERICLES The god of this great vast, rebuke these surges1
Which wash both heaven and hell, and thou2 that hast
Upon the winds command, bind them in brass3,
Having called them from the deep! O, still4
Thy5 deaf’ning dreadful thunders, gently quench
Calls
Thy nimble sulphurous flashes6!— O, how, Lychorida!
How does my queen? — Thou stormest venomously,
Wilt thou spit all thyself? The seaman’s whistle8
Is as a whisper in the ears of death,9
Calls
Unheard. Lychorida!— Lucina10, 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 travails14!— Now, Lychorida!
Enter Lychorida With the baby
LYCHORIDA Here is a thing too young for such a place,
Who if it had conceit16 would die,
As I am like17 to do. Take in your arms
This piece18 of your dead queen.
PERICLES How? How, Lychorida?
LYCHORIDA Patience, good sir, do not assist20 the storm.
Here’s all that is left living of your queen:
A little daughter. For the sake of it,
Gives him the baby
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 therein27 may
Use honour with you28.
LYCHORIDA Patience, good sir, even for this charge29.
To the baby
PERICLES Now, mild may be thy life30,
For a more blusterous birth had never babe.
Quiet and gentle thy conditions32, for
Thou art the rudeliest33 welcome to this world
That ever was prince’s child. Happy what follows34:
Thou hast as chiding35 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 can’st find here39.
Now the good gods throw their best eyes40 upon’t!
Enter two Sailors
FIRST SAILOR What courage, sir? God save you!
PERICLES Courage enough. I do not fear the flaw42,
It hath done to me the worst: yet for the love
Of this poor infant, this fresh new seafarer,
I would it would be quiet.
FIRST SAILOR Slack the bowlines there! Thou46 wilt not, wilt thou,
blow and split thyself.
SECOND SAILOR But sea-room an the brine and cloudy billow48
kiss the moon, I care not.
FIRST SAILOR Sir, your queen must overboard. The sea works50
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 still54
observed, and we are strong in custom. Therefore briefly55
yield ’er, for she must overboard straight5
6.
PERICLES As you think meet57. Most wretched queen!
Reveals the body
LYCHORIDA Here she lies, sir.
To Thaisa
PERICLES A terrible childbed hast thou had, my dear.
No light, no fire, th’unfriendly elements
Forgot thee utterly. Nor have I time
To give thee hallowed62 to thy grave, but straight
Must cast thee, scarcely coffined, in the ooze,
Where, for a monument64 upon thy bones
And aye-remaining lamps, the belching65 whale
And humming66 water must o’erwhelm thy corpse,
Lying with simple shells. O Lychorida,
Bid Nestor68 bring me spices, ink and paper,
My casket and my jewels, and bid Nicander69
Gives her the baby
Bring me the satin coffer70. Lay the babe
Upon the pillow. Hie thee71, whiles I say
A priestly farewell to her. Suddenly72, woman!
[Exit Lychorida]
SECOND SAILOR Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulked73
and bitumed74 ready.
PERICLES I thank thee. Mariner, say, what coast is this?
FIRST SAILOR We are near Tarsus.
PERICLES Thither, gentle mariner,
Alter thy course for Tyre78. When can’st thou reach it?
FIRST 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 ways83, good mariner,
I’ll bring the body presently84.
Exeunt
[Act 3 Scene 2]
running scene 11
Enter Lord Cerimon with a Servant
And another survivor of the storm
CERIMON Philemon, ho!
Enter Philemon
PHILEMON Doth my lord call?
CERIMON Get fire and meat for these poor men.
[Exit Philemon]
’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.
To Servant
CERIMON Your master will be dead ere you return,
There’s nothing can be ministered to nature8
To the other
That can recover him.— Give this to the ’pothecary9,
And tell me how it works.
[Exeunt all but Cerimon]
Enter two Gentlemen
FIRST GENTLEMAN Good morrow.
SECOND GENTLEMAN Good morrow to your lordship.
CERIMON Gentlemen, why do you stir so early?
FIRST GENTLEMAN Sir, our lodgings standing bleak upon14 the sea
Shook as15 the earth did quake:
The very principals did seem to rend16
And all to topple. Pure surprise and fear
Made me to quit the house.
SECOND GENTLEMAN That is the cause we trouble you so early,
’Tis not our husbandry20.
CERIMON O, you say well.21
FIRST GENTLEMAN But I much marvel that your lordship, having
Rich tire23 about you, should at these early hours,
Shake off the golden slumber of repose24.
’Tis most strange nature should be so conversant with pain25,
Being thereto not compelled.
CERIMON I hold it ever27
Virtue and cunning28 were endowments greater
Than nobleness and riches. Careless29 heirs
May the two latter darken30 and expend,
But immortality attends the former,
Making a man a god. ’Tis known, I ever
Have studied physic33, through which secret art,
By turning o’er authorities34, I have,
Together with my practice35, made familiar
To me and to my aid the blest infusions36
That dwells in vegetives37, in metals, stones,
And I can speak of the disturbances
That nature works39 and of her cures, which doth give me
A more content in course40 of true delight
Than to be thirsty after tottering honour41,
Or tie my pleasure up in silken bags42
To please the fool and death43.
SECOND GENTLEMAN Your honour has
Through Ephesus45 poured forth your charity,
And hundreds call themselves your creatures46, who
By you have been restored. And not47 your knowledge,
Your personal pain48, but even your purse still open,
Hath built Lord Cerimon such strong renown,
As time shall never—
Enter two or three with a chest
CERIMON’S SERVANT So, lift there.
CERIMON What’s that?
CERIMON’S SERVANT Sir, even now
Did the sea toss up upon our shore this chest.
’Tis of some wreck.
CERIMON Set’t down, let’s look upon’t.
SECOND GENTLEMAN ’Tis like a coffin, sir.
CERIMON What e’er it be,
’Tis wondrous heavy. Wrench it open straight:
If the sea’s stomach be o’ercharged60 with gold,
’Tis a good constraint of fortune61 it belches upon us.
SECOND GENTLEMAN ’Tis so, my lord.
CERIMON How close ’tis caulked and bitumed63!
Did the sea cast it up?
CERIMON’S SERVANT I never saw so huge a billow65, sir,
As tossed it upon shore.
CERIMON Wrench it open.
Soft!68 It smells most sweetly in my sense.
SECOND GENTLEMAN A delicate odour.
CERIMON As ever hit my nostril. So, up with it70.
They open the chest
O you most potent gods! What’s here, a corpse?
SECOND GENTLEMAN Most strange!
CERIMON Shrouded in cloth of state, balmed and entreasured73
With full bags of spices, a passport74 too!
Apollo, perfèct me in the characters75:
Reads
‘Here I give to understand,
If e’er this coffin drives a-land77,
I, King Pericles, have lost
This queen, worth all our mundane cost79.
Who80 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?85
SECOND GENTLEMAN Most likely, sir.
CERIMON Nay, certainly tonight,
For look how fresh she looks: they were too rough88
That threw her in the sea. Make a fire within,
Fetch hither all my boxes in my closet90.
[Exit a Servant]
Death may usurp on nature many hours,
And yet the fire of life kindle again
The o’er-pressed spirits93. I heard of an Egyptian
That had nine hours lain dead, who was
By good appliance95 recoverèd.
Enter one with napkins and fire
Well said, well said — the fire and cloths96. The rough and
Woeful music that we have, cause it to sound, beseech you.
Music
The viol once more — how thou stirr’st, thou block98!
Music again
The music there! I pray you give her air.
&nbs
p; Gentlemen, this queen will live,
Nature awakes a warm breath out of her101!
She hath not been entranced above102 five hours:
See how she ’gins to blow103 into life’s flower again.
FIRST GENTLEMAN The heavens through you increase our wonder,
And sets up your fame for ever.
CERIMON She is alive! Behold her eyelids, cases
To those heavenly jewels107 which Pericles hath lost,
Begin to part their fringes of bright gold108.
The diamonds of a most praisèd water109
Doth appear, to make the world twice rich. Live,
And make us weep to hear your fate, fair creature,
Rare112 as you seem to be.
She moves
THAISA O dear Diana, where am I? Where’s my lord?
What world is this?
SECOND GENTLEMAN Is not this strange?
FIRST GENTLEMAN Most rare116.
CERIMON Hush, my gentle neighbours.
Lend me your hands, to the next chamber bear her.
Get linen. Now this matter must be looked to,
For her relapse is mortal120. Come, come,
And Aesculapius121 guide us.
They carry her away. Exeunt
[Act 3 Scene 3]
running scene 12
Enter Pericles [and Lychorida with Marina] at Tarsus, with Cleon and Dionyza
Pericles Page 7