| 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] |
Shakespeare's Sources for Pericles