The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  THALIART, a villain

  PERICLES, Prince of Tyre

  MARINA, Pericles’ daughter

  CLEON, Governor of Tarsus

  DIONIZA, his wife

  LEONINE, a murderer

  KING SIMONIDES, of Pentapolis

  THAISA, his daughter

  Three FISHERMEN, his subjects

  Five PRINCES, suitors of Thaisa

  A MARSHAL

  LYCHORIDA, Thaisa’s nurse

  CERIMON, a physician of Ephesus

  PHILEMON, his servant

  LYSIMACHUS, Governor of Mytilene

  A BAWD

  A PANDER

  BOULT, a leno

  DIANA, goddess of chastity

  Lords, ladies, pages, messengers, sailors, gentlemen

  A Reconstructed Text of Pericles, Prince of Tyre

  Sc. 1 Enter Gower as Prologue

  GOWER

  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.

  It hath been sung at festivals,

  On ember-eves and holy-ales,

  And lords and ladies in their lives

  Have read it for restoratives.

  The purchase is to make men glorious,

  Et bonum quo antiquius eo melius.

  If you, born in these latter times

  When wit’s more ripe, accept my rhymes,

  And that to hear an old man sing

  May to your wishes pleasure bring,

  I life would wish, and that I might

  Waste it for you like taper-light.

  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 heav’n 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.

  By 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 bedfellow,

  In marriage pleasures playfellow,

  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 wight did die,⌈A row of heads is revealed⌉

  As yon grim looks do testify.

  What now ensues, to th’ judgement of your eye

  I give, my cause who best can justify. Exit

  ⌈Sennet.⌉ Enter King Antiochus, Prince Pericles, and ⌈lords and peers in their richest ornaments⌉

  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

  Emboldened with the glory of her praise

  Think death no hazard in this enterprise.

  ANTIOCHUS Music!

  Music sounds

  Bring in our daughter, clothèd like a bride

  Fit for th’embracements ev’n of Jove himself,

  At whose conception, till Lucina reigned,

  Nature this dowry gave to glad her presence:

  The senate-house of planets all did sit,

  In her their best perfections to knit.

  Enter Antiochus’ Daughter

  PERICLES

  See where she comes, apparelled like the spring,

  Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king

  Of ev’ry virtue gives renown to men;

  Her face the book of praises, where is read

  Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence

  Sorrow were ever razed and testy wrath

  Could never be her mild companion.

  You gods that made me man, and sway in love,

  That have inflamed desire in my breast

  To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree

  Or die in the adventure, be my helps,

  As I am son and servant to your will,

  To compass such a boundless happiness.

  ANTIOCHUS Prince Pericles—

  PERICLES

  That would be son to great Antiochus.

  ANTIOCHUS

  Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,

  With golden fruit, but dang’rous to be touched,⌈He gestures towards the heads⌉

  For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.

  ⌈He gestures towards his daughter⌉

  Her heav‘n-like face enticeth thee to view

  Her countless glory, which desert must gain;

  And which without desert, because thine eye

  Presumes to reach, all the whole heap must die.

  Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself

  Drawn by report, advent’rous by desire,

  Tell thee with speechless tongues and semblants

  bloodless

  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

  From going on death’s net, whom none resist.

  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;

  For death remembered should be like a mirror

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

  I’ll make my will then, and, as sick men do,

  Who know the world, see heav‘n, but feeling woe

  Grip not at earthly joys as erst they did,

  So I bequeath a happy peace to you

  And all good men, as ev’ry prince should do;

  My riches to the earth from whence they came,

  (To the Daughter) But my unspotted fire of love to you.

  (To Antiochus) Thus ready for the way of life or death,

  I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.

  ANTIOCHUS

  Scorning advice, read the conclusion then,⌈He angrily throws down the riddle⌉

  Which read and not expounded, ’tis decreed,

  As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.

  DAUGHTER (to Pericles)

  Of all ‘sayed yet, mayst thou prove prosperous;

  Of all ’sayed yet, I wish thee happiness.

  PERICLES

  Like a bold champion I assume the lists,

  Nor ask advice of any other thought

  But faithfulness and courage.

  ⌈He takes up and⌉ reads aloud 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 this may be and yet in two,

  As you will live resolve it you.

  Sharp physic is the last. ⌈Aside⌉ But O, you powers

  That gives heav’n 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?

  ⌈He gazes on the Daughter⌉

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

  Were not this glorious casket stored with ill.

  But I must tell you now my thoughts revolt,

  For he’s no man on whom perfections wait

  That, knowi
ng sin within, will touch the gate.

  You’re a fair viol, and your sense the strings

  Who, fingered to make man his lawful music,

  Would draw heav’n down and all the gods to hearken,

  But, being played upon before your time,

  Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.

  Good sooth, I care not for you.

  ANTIOCHUS

  Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,

  For that’s an article within our law

  As dang’rous as the rest. 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, like the wand’ring wind,

  Blows dust in others’ 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

  Copped hills towards heav’n to tell the earth is thronged

  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.

  ANTIOCHUS (aside)

  Heav’n, that I had thy head! He’s found the meaning.

  But I will gloze with him.—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,

  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 your worth and our degree.

  ⌈Flourish.⌉Exeunt all but Pericles

  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 uncomely claspings with your child—

  Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father—

  And she, an eater of her mother’s flesh,

  By the defiling of her parents’ 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 ’schew 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 life be cropped to keep you clear,

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

  Enter Antiochus

  ANTIOCHUS

  He hath found the meaning, for the 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 loathèd manner,

  And therefore instantly this prince must die,

  For by his fall my honour must keep high.

  Who attends us there?

  Enter Thaliart

  THALIART

  Doth your highness call?

  ANTIOCHUS

  Thaliart, you are of our chamber, Thaliart,

  And to your secrecy our mind partakes

  Her private actions. For your faithfulness

  We will advance you, Thaliart. 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?

  THALIART My lord, ’tis done.

  ANTIOCHUS Enough.

  Enter a Messenger hastily

  Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.

  MESSENGER

  Your majesty, Prince Pericles is fled. ⌈Exit⌉

  ANTIOCHUS (to Thaliart)

  As thou wilt live, fly after; like an arrow

  Shot from a well-experienced archer hits

  The mark his eye doth level at, so thou

  Never return unless it be to say

  ‘Your majesty, Prince Pericles is dead.’

  THALIART

  If I can get him in my pistol’s length

  I’ll make him sure enough. Farewell, your highness.

  ANTIOCHUS

  Thaliart, adieu.

  ⌈Exit Thaliart⌉

  Till Pericles be dead

  My heart can lend no succour to my head.

  Exit. ⌈The heads are concealed⌉

  Sc. 2 Enter Pericles, distempered, with his lords

  PERICLES

  Let none disturb us.

  Exeunt lords

  Why should this change of thoughts,

  The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,

  Be my so used a guest as not an hour

  In the day’s glorious walk or peaceful night,

  The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me

  quiet? 5

  Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun

  them,

  And danger, which I feared, ’s at Antioch,

  Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here.

  Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,

  Nor yet care’s author’s distance comfort me.

  Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,

  That have their first conception by misdread,

  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 th‘ostent of war will look so huge

  Amazement shall drive courage from the state,

  Our men be vanquished ere they do resist,

  And subjects punished 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.

  Enter all the Lords, among them old Helicanus, to Pericles

  FIRST LORD

  Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!

  SECOND LORD

  And keep your mind peaceful and comfortable.

  HELICANUS

  Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.

  (To Pericles
) You do not well so to abuse yourself,

  To waste your body here with pining sorrow,

  Upon whose safety doth depend the lives

  And the prosperity of a whole kingdom.

  ‘Tis ill in you to do it, and no less

  ll in your council not to contradict it.

  They do abuse the King that flatter him,

  For flatt’ry is the bellows blows up sin;

  The thing the which is flattered, but a spark,

  To which that wind gives heat and stronger glowing;

  Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,

  Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.

  When Signor Sooth here does proclaim a peace

  He flatters you, makes war upon your life.

  ⌈He kneels⌉

  Prince, pardon me, or strike me if you please.

  I cannot be much lower than my knees.

  PERICLES

  All leave us else; but let your cares o’erlook

  What shipping and what lading’s in our haven,

  And then return to us. Exeunt Lords

  Helicane, thou

  Hast moved us. What seest thou in our looks?

  HELICANUS An angry brow, dread lord.

  PERICLES

  If there be such a dart in princes’ frowns,

  How durst thy tongue move anger to our brows?

  HELICANUS

  How dares the plants look up to heav’n from whence

  They have their nourishment?

  PERICLES

  Thou knowest I have pow’r to take thy life from thee.

  HELICANUS

  I have ground the axe myself; do you but strike the blow.

  PERICLES ⌈lifting him up⌉

  Rise, prithee, rise. Sit down. Thou art no flatterer,

  I thank thee for it, and the heav‘ns forbid

  That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid.

  Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,

  Who by thy wisdom mak’st a prince thy servant,

  What wouldst thou have me do?

  HELICANUS

  To bear with patience

  Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself.