Pericles, Prince Of Tyre

1 altar, as high priestess; a number of Virgins on each side; Cerimon and
2 other inhabitants of Ephesus attending.
3 Enter Pericles with his train; Lysimachus, Helicanus, Marina and a
4 Lady.
5 PERICLES.
6 Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command,
7 I here confess myself the King of Tyre;
8 Who, frighted from my country, did wed
9 At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa.
10 At sea in childbed died she, but brought forth
11 A maid child call’d Marina; whom, O goddess,
12 Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus
13 Was nursed with Cleon; who at fourteen years
14 He sought to murder: but her better stars
15 Brought her to Mytilene; ’gainst whose shore
16 Riding, her fortunes brought the maid aboard us,
17 Where by her own most clear remembrance, she
18 Made known herself my daughter.
19 THAISA.
20 Voice and favour!
21 You are, you are—O royal Pericles!
22 [_Faints._]
23 PERICLES.
24 What means the nun? She dies! help, gentlemen!
25 CERIMON.
26 Noble sir,
27 If you have told Diana’s altar true,
28 This is your wife.
29 PERICLES.
30 Reverend appearer, no;
31 I threw her overboard with these very arms.
32 CERIMON.
33 Upon this coast, I warrant you.
34 PERICLES.
35 ’Tis most certain.
36 CERIMON.
37 Look to the lady; O, she’s but o’er-joy’d.
38 Early in blustering morn this lady was
39 Thrown upon this shore. I oped the coffin,
40 Found there rich jewels; recover’d her, and placed her
41 Here in Diana’s temple.
42 PERICLES.
43 May we see them?
44 CERIMON.
45 Great sir, they shall be brought you to my house,
46 Whither I invite you. Look, Thaisa is
47 Recovered.
48 THAISA.
49 O, let me look!
50 If he be none of mine, my sanctity
51 Will to my sense bend no licentious ear,
52 But curb it, spite of seeing. O, my lord,
53 Are you not Pericles? Like him you spake,
54 Like him you are: did you not name a tempest,
55 A birth, and death?
56 PERICLES.
57 The voice of dead Thaisa!
58 THAISA.
59 That Thaisa am I, supposed dead
60 And drown’d.
61 PERICLES.
62 Immortal Dian!
63 THAISA.
64 Now I know you better,
65 When we with tears parted Pentapolis,
66 The king my father gave you such a ring.
67 [_Shows a ring._]
68 PERICLES.
69 This, this: no more, you gods! your present kindness
70 Makes my past miseries sports: you shall do well,
71 That on the touching of her lips I may
72 Melt and no more be seen. O, come, be buried
73 A second time within these arms.
74 MARINA.
75 My heart
76 Leaps to be gone into my mother’s bosom.
77 [_Kneels to Thaisa._]
78 PERICLES.
79 Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh, Thaisa;
80 Thy burden at the sea, and call’d Marina
81 For she was yielded there.
82 THAISA.
83 Blest, and mine own!
84 HELICANUS.
85 Hail, madam, and my queen!
86 THAISA.
87 I know you not.
88 PERICLES.
89 You have heard me say, when I did fly from Tyre,
90 I left behind an ancient substitute:
91 Can you remember what I call’d the man?
92 I have named him oft.
93 THAISA.
94 ’Twas Helicanus then.
95 PERICLES.
96 Still confirmation:
97 Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he.
98 Now do I long to hear how you were found:
99 How possibly preserved; and who to thank,
100 Besides the gods, for this great miracle.
101 THAISA.
102 Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man,
103 Through whom the gods have shown their power; that can
104 From first to last resolve you.
105 PERICLES.
106 Reverend sir,
107 The gods can have no mortal officer
108 More like a god than you. Will you deliver
109 How this dead queen relives?
110 CERIMON.
111 I will, my lord.
112 Beseech you, first go with me to my house,
113 Where shall be shown you all was found with her;
114 How she came placed here in the temple;
115 No needful thing omitted.
116 PERICLES.
117 Pure Dian, bless thee for thy vision! I
118 Will offer night-oblations to thee. Thaisa,
119 This prince, the fair betrothed of your daughter,
120 Shall marry her at Pentapolis.
121 And now this ornament
122 Makes me look dismal will I clip to form;
123 And what this fourteen years no razor touch’d
124 To grace thy marriage-day, I’ll beautify.
125 THAISA.
126 Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit, sir,
127 My father’s dead.
128 PERICLES.
129 Heavens make a star of him! Yet there, my queen,
130 We’ll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves
131 Will in that kingdom spend our following days:
132 Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign.
133 Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay
134 To hear the rest untold. Sir, lead’s the way.
135 [_Exeunt._]
136 Enter Gower.
137 GOWER.
138 In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard
139 Of monstrous lust the due and just reward:
140 In Pericles, his queen and daughter seen,
141 Although assail’d with Fortune fierce and keen,
142 Virtue preserved from fell destruction’s blast,
143 Led on by heaven, and crown’d with joy at last.
144 In Helicanus may you well descry
145 A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty:
146 In reverend Cerimon there well appears
147 The worth that learned charity aye wears:
148 For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
149 Had spread their cursed deed, the honour’d name
150 Of Pericles, to rage the city turn,
151 That him and his they in his palace burn.
152 The gods for murder seemed so content
153 To punish, although not done, but meant.
154 So on your patience evermore attending,
155 New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.
156 [_Exit._]