| ACT V SCENE III | The temple of Diana at Ephesus; THAISA standing
near the altar, as high priestess; a number of
Virgins on each side; CERIMON and other Inhabitants
of Ephesus attending. |
| [
Enter PERICLES, with his train; LYSIMACHUS,
HELICANUS, MARINA, and a Lady
] |
| PERICLES | Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command, |
| I here confess myself the king of Tyre; |
| Who, frighted from my country, did wed |
| At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa. |
| At sea in childbed died she, but brought forth | 5 |
| A maid-child call'd Marina; who, O goddess, |
| Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus |
| Was nursed with Cleon; who at fourteen years |
| He sought to murder: but her better stars |
| Brought her to Mytilene; 'gainst whose shore | 10 |
| Riding, her fortunes brought the maid aboard us, |
| Where, by her own most clear remembrance, she |
| Made known herself my daughter. |
| THAISA | Voice and favour! |
| You are, you are--O royal Pericles! | 15 |
| [Faints] |
| PERICLES | What means the nun? she dies! help, gentlemen! |
| CERIMON | Noble sir, |
| If you have told Diana's altar true, |
| This is your wife. |
| PERICLES | Reverend appearer, no; | 20 |
| I threw her overboard with these very arms. |
| CERIMON | Upon this coast, I warrant you. |
| PERICLES | 'Tis most certain. |
| CERIMON | Look to the lady; O, she's but o'erjoy'd. |
| Early in blustering morn this lady was | 25 |
| Thrown upon this shore. I oped the coffin, |
| Found there rich jewels; recover'd her, and placed her |
| Here in Diana's temple. |
| PERICLES | May we see them? |
| CERIMON | Great sir, they shall be brought you to my house, | 30 |
| Whither I invite you. Look, Thaisa is recovered. |
| THAISA | O, let me look! |
| If he be none of mine, my sanctity |
| Will to my sense bend no licentious ear, |
| But curb it, spite of seeing. O, my lord, | 35 |
| Are you not Pericles? Like him you spake, |
| Like him you are: did you not name a tempest, |
| A birth, and death? |
| PERICLES | The voice of dead Thaisa! |
| THAISA | That Thaisa am I, supposed dead | 40 |
| And drown'd. |
| PERICLES | Immortal Dian! |
| THAISA | Now I know you better. |
| When we with tears parted Pentapolis, |
| The king my father gave you such a ring. | 45 |
| [Shows a ring] |
| PERICLES | This, this: no more, you gods! your present kindness |
| Makes my past miseries sports: you shall do well, |
| That on the touching of her lips I may |
| Melt and no more be seen. O, come, be buried |
| A second time within these arms. | 50 |
| MARINA | My heart |
| Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom. |
| [Kneels to THAISA] |
| PERICLES | Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh, Thaisa; |
| Thy burden at the sea, and call'd Marina |
| For she was yielded there. | 55 |
| THAISA | Blest, and mine own! |
| HELICANUS | Hail, madam, and my queen! |
| THAISA | I know you not. |
| PERICLES | You have heard me say, when I did fly from Tyre, |
| I left behind an ancient substitute: | 60 |
| Can you remember what I call'd the man? |
| I have named him oft. |
| THAISA | 'Twas Helicanus then. |
| PERICLES | Still confirmation: |
| Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he. | 65 |
| Now do I long to hear how you were found; |
| How possibly preserved; and who to thank, |
| Besides the gods, for this great miracle. |
| THAISA | Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man, |
| Through whom the gods have shown their power; that can | 70 |
| From first to last resolve you. |
| PERICLES | Reverend sir, |
| The gods can have no mortal officer |
| More like a god than you. Will you deliver |
| How this dead queen re-lives? | 75 |
| CERIMON | I will, my lord. |
| Beseech you, first go with me to my house, |
| Where shall be shown you all was found with her; |
| How she came placed here in the temple; |
| No needful thing omitted. | 80 |
| PERICLES | Pure Dian, bless thee for thy vision! I |
| Will offer night-oblations to thee. Thaisa, |
| This prince, the fair-betrothed of your daughter, |
| Shall marry her at Pentapolis. And now, |
| This ornament | 85 |
| Makes me look dismal will I clip to form; |
| And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd, |
| To grace thy marriage-day, I'll beautify. |
| THAISA | Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit, sir, |
| My father's dead. | 90 |
| PERICLES | Heavens make a star of him! Yet there, my queen, |
| We'll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves |
| Will in that kingdom spend our following days: |
| Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign. |
| Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay | 95 |
| To hear the rest untold: sir, lead's the way. |
| [Exeunt] |
| [Enter GOWER] |
| GOWER | In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard |
| Of monstrous lust the due and just reward: |
| In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen, |
| Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen, | 100 |
| Virtue preserved from fell destruction's blast, |
| Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last: |
| In Helicanus may you well descry |
| A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty: |
| In reverend Cerimon there well appears | 105 |
| The worth that learned charity aye wears: |
| For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame |
| Had spread their cursed deed, and honour'd name |
| Of Pericles, to rage the city turn, |
| That him and his they in his palace burn; | 110 |
| The gods for murder seemed so content |
| To punish them; although not done, but meant. |
| So, on your patience evermore attending, |
| New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending. |
| [Exit] |
Shakespeare's Sources for Pericles