Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Shakespeare, William
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
William Shakespeare
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
[Dramatis Personae
Gower, as Chorus
Antiochus, King of Antioch
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Helicanus
Escanes
two lords of Tyre
Simonides, King of Pentapolis
Cleon, Governor of Tharsus
Lysimachus, Governor of Mytilene
Cerimon, a lord of Ephesus
Thaliard, a lord of Antioch
Philemon, servant to Cerimon
Leonine, a murderer, servant to Dionyza
Marshal
Pander
Boult, his servant
Another Servant
Daughter of Antiochus
Dionyza, wife to Clean
Thaisa, daughter to Simonides
Marina, daughter to Pericles and Thaisa
Lychorida, nurse to Marina
Bawd
Diana, a goddess appearing to Pericles
Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers
Scene: In several eastern Mediterranean countries]
[Act I]
Enter Gower.
[GOW.]
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 those 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 peer,
Who died and left a female heir,
So buxom, blithe, and full of face
As heaven 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.
But custom what they did begin
Was with long use account'd 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 ask'd her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life.
So for her many [a] wight did die,
As yon grim looks do testify.
[Points to the heads of the unsuccessful suitors, displayed above.]
What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
I give my cause, who best can justify.
Exit.
[Scene I]
Enter Antiochus, Prince Pericles, and Followers.
ANT.
Young Prince of Tyre, you have at large received
The danger of the task you undertake.
PER.
I have, Antiochus, and with a soul
Embold'ned with the glory of her praise,
Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
Music.
ANT.
Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride
For embracements even 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,
To knit in her their best perfections.
Enter Antiochus' Daughter.
PER.
See where she comes, apparelled like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Her face the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever ras'd, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
You gods that made me man, and sway in love,
That have inflam'd desire in my breast
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree
(Or die in th' adventure), be my helps,
As I am son and servant to your will,
To compass such a [boundless] happiness!
ANT.
Prince Pericles –
PER.
That would be son to great Antiochus.
ANT.
Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd;
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.
Her face, like heaven, 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 semblance pale,
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
For going on death's net, whom none resist.
PER.
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 heaven, but feeling woe,
Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did;
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as every prince should do;
My riches to the earth from whence they came;
[To the Princess.]
But my unspotted fire of love to you.
Thus ready for the way of life or death,
I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.
[ANT.]
Scorning advice, read the conclusion then;
Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed,
As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.
DAUGH.
Of all 'say'd yet, mayst thou prove prosperous!
Of all 'say'd yet, I wish thee happiness!
PER.
Like a bold champion I assume the lists,
Nor ask advice of any other thought
But faithfulness and courage.
[Reads.]
The Riddle
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother's flesh which did me breed.
I sought a husband, in which labor
I found that kindness in a father.
He's father, son, and husband mild;
I mother, wife – and yet his child.
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live, resolve it you.
[Aside.]
Sharp physic is the last. But O you powers!
That gives heaven 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?
[Aside to the Princess.]
Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still,
Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill.
But I must tell you, now my thoughts revolt,
For he's no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to hearken;
But being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
ANT.
Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that's an article within our law,
As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expir'd,
Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
PER.
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 is 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
Copp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng'd
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.
ANT [Aside.]
Heaven, that I had thy head! He has 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 our honor and your worth.
[Exeunt.] Manet Pericles solus.
PER.
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 parent's 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:
Murther'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 cropp'd to keep you clear,
By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear.
Exit.
Enter Antiochus.
ANT.
He hath found the meaning,
For 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 loathed manner;
And therefore instantly this prince must die,
For by his fall my honor must keep high.
Who attends us there?
Enter Thaliard.
THAL.
Doth your Highness call?
ANT.
Thaliard – you are of our chamber, Thaliard,
And our mind partakes her private actions
To your secrecy; and for your faithfulness
We will advance you, Thaliard. 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?
THAL.
My lord, 'tis done.
ANT.
Enough.
Enter a Messenger.
Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.
MESS.
My lord, Prince Pericles is fled.
[Exit.]
ANT.
As thou
Wilt live, fly after, and like an arrow shot
From a well-experienc'd archer hits the mark
His eye doth level at, so thou never return
Unless thou say Prince Pericles is dead.
THAL.
My lord,
If I can get him within my pistol's length,
I'll make him sure enough; so farewell to your Highness.
[ANT.]
Thaliard, adieu!
[Exit Thaliard.]
Till Pericles be dead,
My heart can lend no succor to my head.
[Exit.]
[Scene II]
Enter Pericles with his Lords.
PER.
Let none disturb us.
[Exeunt Lords.]
Why should this change of thoughts,
The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
[Be my] so us'd 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?
Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them,
And danger, which I fear'd, is at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here.
Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet the other'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 honor [him],
If he suspect I may dishonor 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 vanquish'd ere they do resist,
And subjects punish'd that ne'er thought offense:
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 [Helicanus and] all the Lords to Pericles.
1. LORD.
Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!
2. LORD.
And keep your mind, till you return to us,
Peaceful and comfortable!
HEL.
Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
They do abuse the King that flatter him,
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin,
The thing the which is flattered, but a spark
To which that [blast] gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.
When Signior Sooth here does proclaim peace,
He flatters you, makes war upon your life.
Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you please,
I cannot be much lower than my knees.
[Kneels.]
PER.
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.]
Helicanus, thou
Hast mov'd us. What seest thou in our looks?
HEL.
An angry brow, dread lord.
PER.
If there be such a dart in princes' frowns,
How durst thy tongue move anger to our face?
HEL.
How dares the plants look up to heaven, from whence
They have their nourishment?
PER.
Thou knowest I have power
To take thy life from thee.
HEL.
I have ground the axe myself,
Do but you strike the blow.
PER.
Rise, prithee rise. Sit down. Thou art
No flatterer. I thank thee for't, and heaven forbid
That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid!
Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,
Who by thy wisdom makes a prince thy servant,
What wouldst thou have me do?
HEL.
To bear with patience
Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself.
PER.
Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus,
That ministers a potion unto me
That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me then: I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an issue I might propagate,
Are arms to princes and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;
The rest (hark in thine ear) as black as incest,
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seem'd not to strike, but smooth. But thou know'st this,
'Tis time to fear when tyrants seems to kiss.
Which fear so grew in me, I hither fled,
Under the covering of a careful night,
Who seem'd my good protector, and being here,
Bethought what was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous, and tyrants' [fears]
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years;
And should he [doubt]'t, as no doubt he doth,
That I should open to the list'ning air
How many worthy princes' bloods were shed
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms,
And make pretense of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call offense,
Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence:
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov'dst me for't –
HEL.
Alas, sir!
PER.
Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks,
Musings into my mind, with thousand doubts
How I might stop this tempest ere it came,
And finding little comfort to relieve them,
I thought it princely charity to grieve for them.
HEL.
Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak,
Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,
And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by public war or private treason
Will take away your life.
Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,
Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.
Your rule direct to any; if to me,
Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be.
PER.
I do not doubt thy faith;
But should he wrong my liberties in my absence?
HEL.
We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth,
From whence we had our being and our birth.
PER.
Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Tharsus
Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee,
And by whose letters I'll dispose myself.
The care I had and have of subjects' good
On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it.
I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath:
Who shuns not to break one will crack [them] both;
But in our orbs [we'll] live so round and safe,
That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince,
Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince'.
Exeunt.
[Scene III]
Enter Thaliard solus.
THAL. So this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I kill King Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be hang'd at home. 'Tis dangerous. Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow and had good discretion that, being bid to ask what he would of the king, desir'd he might know none of his secrets. Now do I see he had some reason for't; for if a king bid a man be a villain, he's bound by the indenture of his oath to be one. Husht! here comes the lords of Tyre.
Enter Helicanus, Escanes, with other Lords.
HEL.
You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
Further to question me of your king's departure.
His seal'd commission, left in trust with me,
Does speak sufficiently he's gone to travel.
THAL [Aside.]
How? the King gone?
HEL.
If further yet you will be satisfied
Why (as it were unlicens'd of your loves)
He would depart, I'll give some light unto you.
Being at Antioch –
THAL [Aside.]
What from Antioch?
HEL.
Royal Antiochus, on what cause I know not,
Took some displeasure at him, at lease he judg'd so;
And doubting lest he had err'd or sinn'd,
To show his sorrow, he'd correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.
THAL [Aside.]
Well, I perceive
I shall not be hang'd now, although I would;
But since he's gone, the King's seas must please:
He scap'd the land to perish at the sea.
I'll present myself. – Peace to the lords of Tyre!
[HEL.]
Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
THAL.
From him I come
With message unto princely Pericles,
But since my landing I have understood
Your lord has [betook] himself to unknown travels;
Now message must return from whence it came.
HEL.
We have no reason to desire it,
Commended to our master, not to us;
Yet ere you shall depart, this we desire,
As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.
Exeunt.
[Scene IV]
Enter Cleon, the Governor of Tharsus, with his wife [Dionyza] and others.
CLE.
My Dionyza, shall we rest us here,
And by relating tales of others' griefs,
See if 'twill teach us to forget our own?
DION.
That were to blow at fire in hope to quench it,
For who digs hills because they do aspire
Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher.
O my distressed lord, even such our griefs are;
Here they are but felt, and seen with mischief's eyes,
But like to groves, being topp'd, they higher rise.
CLE.
O Dionyza!
Who wanteth food and will not say he wants it,
Or can conceal his hunger till he famish?
Our tongues and sorrows to sound deep our woes
Into the air, our eyes to weep, till tongues
Fetch breath that may proclaim them louder, that
If heaven slumber, while their creatures want,
They may awake their helpers to comfort them.
I'll then discourse our woes, felt several years,
And wanting breath to speak, help me with tears.
DION.
I'll do my best, sir.
CLE.
This Tharsus, o'er which I have the government,
A city on whom plenty held full hand,
For riches strew'd herself even in her streets;
Whose towers bore heads so high they kiss'd the clouds,
And strangers ne'er beheld but wond'red at;
Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn'd,
Like one another's glass to trim them by;
Their tables were stor'd full, to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on as delight;
All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
DION.
O, 'tis too true.
CLE.
But see what heaven can do by this our change:
These mouths who, but of late, earth, sea, and air
Were all too little to content and please,
Although they gave their creatures in abundance,
As houses are defil'd for want of use,
They are now starv'd for want of exercise;
Those palates who, not yet [two summers] younger,
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread and beg for it;
Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,
Thought nought too curious, are ready now
To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd.
So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife
Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life.
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall
Have scarce strength left to give them burial.
Is not this true?
DION.
Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it.
CLE.
O, let those cities that of plenty's cup
And her prosperities so largely taste,
With their superfluous riots, hear these tears!
The misery of Tharsus may be theirs.
Enter a Lord.
LORD.
Where's the Lord Governor?
CLE.
Here.
Speak out thy sorrows which [thou] bring'st in haste,
For comfort is too far for us to expect.
LORD.
We have descried, upon our neighboring shore,
A portly sail of ships make hitherward.
CLE.
I thought as much.
One sorrow never comes but brings an heir
That may succeed as his inheritor;
And so in ours, some neighboring nation,
Taking advantage of our misery,
[Hath] stuff'd the hollow vessels with their power
To beat us down, the which are down already,
And make a conquest of unhappy me,
Whereas no glory's got to overcome.
LORD.
That's the least fear; for by the semblance
Of their white flags display'd, they bring us peace,
And come to us as favorers, not as foes.
CLE.
Thou speak'st like [him's] untutor'd to repeat:
Who makes the fairest show means most deceit.
But bring they what they will and what they can,
What need we [fear]?
Our ground's the lowest, and we are half way there.
Go tell their general we attend him here,
To know for what he comes, and whence he comes,
And what he craves.
LORD.
I go, my lord.
[Exit.]
CLE.
Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist;
If wars, we are unable to resist.
Enter Pericles with [Lord and] Attendants.
PER.
Lord Governor, for so we hear you are,
Let not our ships and number of our men
Be like a beacon fir'd t' amaze your eyes.
We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre,
And seen the desolation of your streets;
Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears,
But to relieve them of their heavy load;
And these our ships, you happily may think
Are like the Troyan horse was stuff'd within
With bloody veins, expecting overthrow,
Are stor'd with corn to make your needy bread,
And give them life whom hunger starv'd half dead.
OMNES.
The gods of Greece protect you!
And we'll pray for you.
PER.
Arise, I pray you, rise.
We do not look for reverence but for love,
And harborage for ourself, our ships, and men.
CLE.
The which when any shall not gratify,
Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought,
Be it our wives, our children, or ourselves,
The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils!
Till when – the which I hope shall ne'er be seen –
Your Grace is welcome to our town and us.
PER.
Which welcome we'll accept; feast here awhile,
Until our stars that frown lend us a smile.
Exeunt.
[Act II]
Enter Gower.
[GOW.]
Here have you seen a mighty king
His child, I wis, to incest bring;
A better prince and benign lord,
That will prove aweful both in deed and word.
Be quiet then, as men should be,
Till he hath pass'd necessity.
I'll show you those in troubles reign,
Losing a mite, a mountain gain.
The good in conversation,
To whom I give my benison,
Is still at Tharsus, where each man
Thinks all is writ he [speken] can;
And, to remember what he does,
Build his statue to make him glorious.
But tidings to the contrary
Are brought your eyes; what need speak I?
Dumb Show
Enter at one door Pericles talking with Cleon; all the Train with them. Enter at another door a Gentleman with a letter to Pericles; Pericles shows the letter to Cleon; Pericles gives the Messenger a reward and knights him. Exit Pericles at one door and Clean at another.
Good Helicane, that stay'd at home,
Not to eat honey like a drone
From others' labors; for though he strive
To killen bad, keep good alive,
And to fulfill his prince' desire,
[Sends word] of all that haps in Tyre:
How Thaliard came full bent with sin
And hid intent to murder him;
And that in Tharsus was not best
Longer for him to make his rest.
He, doing so, put forth to seas,
Where when men been, there's seldom ease,
For now the wind begins to blow;
Thunder above, and deeps below,
Makes such unquiet, that the ship
Should house him safe is wrack'd and split,
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coast is toss'd.
All perishen of man, of pelf,
Ne aught escapend but himself;
Till Fortune, tir'd with doing bad,
Threw him ashore, to give him glad.
And here he comes. What shall be next,
Pardon old Gower – this long's the text.
[Exit.]
[Scene I]
Enter Pericles wet.
PER.
Yet cease your ire, you angry stars of heaven!
Wind, rain, and thunder, remember earthly man
Is but a substance that must yield to you;
And I (as fits my nature) do obey you.
Alas, the seas hath cast me on the rocks,
Wash'd me from shore to shore, and left [me] breath
Nothing to think on but ensuing death.
Let it suffice the greatness of your powers
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;
And having thrown him from your wat'ry grave,
Here to have death in peace is all he'll crave.
Enter three Fishermen.
1.
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