| ACT II SCENE III | The same. A hall of state: a banquet prepared. |
| [
Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, Attendants, and
Knights, from tilting
] |
| SIMONIDES | Knights, |
| To say you're welcome were superfluous. |
| 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, | 5 |
| 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 guest; |
| To whom this wreath of victory I give, | 10 |
| And crown you king of this day's happiness. |
| PERICLES | 'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit. |
| SIMONIDES | Call it by what you will, the day is yours; |
| And here, I hope, is none that envies it. |
| In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed, | 15 |
| To make some good, but others to exceed; |
| And you are her labour'd scholar. Come, queen o' |
| the feast,-- |
| For, daughter, so you are,--here take your place: |
| Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace. | 20 |
| KNIGHTS | We are honour'd much by good Simonides. |
| SIMONIDES | Your presence glads our days: honour we love; |
| For who hates honour hates the gods above. |
| Marshal | Sir, yonder is your place. |
| PERICLES | Some other is more fit. | 25 |
| First 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. |
| SIMONIDES | Sit, sir, sit. | 30 |
| PERICLES | By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts, |
| These cates resist me, she but thought upon. |
| THAISA | By Juno, that is queen of marriage, |
| All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury. |
| Wishing him my meat. Sure, he's a gallant gentleman. | 35 |
| 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, | 40 |
| Which tells me in that glory once he was; |
| Had princes sit, like stars, about his throne, |
| And he the sun, for them to reverence; |
| None that beheld him, but, like lesser lights, |
| Did vail their crowns to his supremacy: | 45 |
| Where now his son's like a glow-worm in the night, |
| The which hath fire in darkness, none in light: |
| Whereby I see that Time's the king of men, |
| He's both their parent, and he is their grave, |
| And gives them what he will, not what they crave. | 50 |
| SIMONIDES | What, are you merry, knights? |
| Knights | Who can be other in this royal presence? |
| SIMONIDES | Here, with a cup that's stored unto the brim,-- |
| As you do love, fill to your mistress' lips,-- |
| We drink this health to you. | 55 |
| KNIGHTS | We thank your grace. |
| SIMONIDES | Yet pause awhile: |
| Yon knight doth sit too melancholy,
|
| As if the entertainment in our court |
| Had not a show might countervail his worth. | 60 |
| Note it not you, Thaisa? |
| THAISA | What is it |
| To me, my father? |
| SIMONIDES | O, attend, my daughter: |
| Princes in this should live like gods above, | 65 |
| Who freely give to every one that comes |
| To honour them: |
| And princes not doing so are like to gnats, |
| Which make a sound, but kill'd are wonder'd at. |
| Therefore to make his entrance more sweet, | 70 |
| Here, say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him. |
| THAISA | Alas, my father, it befits not me |
| Unto a stranger knight to be so bold: |
| He may my proffer take for an offence, |
| Since men take women's gifts for impudence. | 75 |
| SIMONIDES | How! |
| Do as I bid you, or you'll move me else. |
| THAISA | [Aside] Now, by the gods, he could not please me better.
|
| SIMONIDES | And furthermore tell him, we desire to know of him, |
| Of whence he is, his name and parentage. | 80 |
| THAISA | The king my father, sir, has drunk to you. |
| PERICLES | I thank him. |
| THAISA | Wishing it so much blood unto your life. |
| PERICLES | I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely. |
| THAISA | And further he desires to know of you, | 85 |
| Of whence you are, your name and parentage. |
| PERICLES | A gentleman of Tyre; my name, Pericles; |
| My education been in arts and arms; |
| Who, looking for adventures in the world, |
| Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men, | 90 |
| And after shipwreck driven upon this shore. |
| THAISA | He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles, |
| A gentleman of Tyre, |
| Who only by misfortune of the seas |
| Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore. | 95 |
| SIMONIDES | Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune, |
| And will awake him from his melancholy. |
| Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles, |
| And waste the time, which looks for other revels. |
| Even in your armours, as you are address'd, | 100 |
| 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. |
[The Knights dance] |
| So, this was well ask'd,'twas so well perform'd. | 105 |
| Come, sir; |
| Here is a lady that wants breathing too: |
| And I have heard, you knights of Tyre |
| Are excellent in making ladies trip; |
| And that their measures are as excellent. | 110 |
| PERICLES | In those that practise them they are, my lord. |
| SIMONIDES | O, that's as much as you would be denied |
| Of your fair courtesy. |
[The Knights and Ladies dance] |
| Unclasp, unclasp: |
| Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well. | 115 |
[To PERICLES] |
| But you the best. 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. | 120 |
| SIMONIDES | Princes, it is too late to talk of love; |
| And that's the mark I know you level at: |
| Therefore each one betake him to his rest; |
| To-morrow all for speeding do their best. |
| [Exeunt] |
Shakespeare's Sources for Pericles