Ay, traitor, sir.

Per. Even in his throat (unless it be the king) That calls me traitor, I return the lie.

Sim. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage.
[Aside.
Per. My actions are as noble as my thoughts,
That never relished of a base descent.

I came unto your court for honor's cause,
And not to be a rebel to her state;
And he that otherwise accounts of me,
This sword shall prove his honor's enemy.
Sim. No!-

Here comes my daughter; she can witness it.

Enter THAISA.

Per. Then as you are as virtuous as fair,
Resolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did e'er solicit, or my hand subscribe
To any syllable that made love to you?
Thai. Why, sir, say if you had,

Who takes offence at that would make me glad.
Sim. Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory?—
I am glad of it with all my heart.

you;

[Aside.] I'll tame

I'll bring you in subjection.-
Will you, not having my consent, bestow
Your love and your affections on a stranger
(Who, for aught I know to the contrary,
Or think, may be as great in blood as Ï.)

?

[Aside.

Hear, therefore, mistress; frame your will to mine,-
And you, sir, hear you.-Either be ruled by me,
Or I will make you-man and wife.-

Nay, come; your hands and lips must seal it too.-
And being joined, I'll thus your hopes destroy ;-
And for a further grief,-God give you joy!
What, are you both pleased?

Thai.

Yes, if

you

love me,

sir.

Per. Even as my life, my blood that fosters it.1
Sim. What, are you both agreed?

Both.
Sim. It pleaseth me so well, I'll see you wed;
Then, with what haste you can, get you to bed.

Yes, please your majesty.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

Enter GOWER.

Gower. Now sleep yslaked hath the rout;
No din but snores, the house about,
Made louder by the o'er-fed breast
Of this most pompous marriage-feast.
The cat, with eyne of burning coal,
Now couches 'fore the mouse's hole;
And crickets sing at th' oven's mouth,
As the blither for their drouth.
Hymen hath brought the bride to bed,
Where, by the loss of maidenhead,
A babe is moulded.-Be attent,
And time that is so briefly spent,

2

With your fine fancies quaintly eche; 2
What's dumb in show, I'll plain with speech.

Dumb Show.

Enter PERICLES and SIMONIDES at one door, with Attendants: a Messenger meets them, kneels, and gives PERICLES a letter. PERICLES shows it to SIMONIDES; the Lords kneel to the former. Then

1 The quarto of 1619 reads :—

2 Eke out.

"Even as my life or blood that fosters it."

3 The lords kneel to Pericles, because they are now, for the first time, informed by this letter, that he is king of Tyre.

enter THAISA with child, and LYCHORIDA.

SIMON

IDES shows his daughter the letter; she rejoices; she and PERICLES take leave of her father, and depart. Then SIMONIDES, &c. retire.

Gow. By many a dearn and painful perch1
Of Pericles the careful search
By the four opposing coignes,
Which the world together joins,
Is made with all due diligence,

That horse, and sail, and high expense,

Can stead the quest.

At last from Tyre,

(Fame answering the most strong inquire,)

To the court of king Simonides

Are letters brought; the tenor these:
Antiochus and his daughter's dead:
The men of Tyrus, on the head
Of Helicanus would set on

The crown of Tyre; but he will none.
The mutiny there he hastes t'oppress;
Says to them, if king Pericles

Come not home in twice six moons,
He, obedient to their dooms,

Will take the crown.

3

The sum of this,

Brought hither to Pentapolis,

Y-ravished the regions round,

And every one with claps 'gan sound.
Our heir apparent is a king;

Who dreamed, who thought of such a thing?
Brief, he must hence depart to Tyre;
His queen, with child, makes her desire,
(Which, who shall cross?) along to go;
Omit we all their dole and woe ;)
Lychorida, her nurse, she takes,

And so to sea.

Their vessel shakes

1 Dearn signifies lonely, solitary. A perch is a measure of five yards and

a half.

2 i. e. help, befriend, or assist the search.

3 i. e. to suppress: opprimere.

On Neptune's billow; half the flood
Hath their keel cut; but fortune's mood
Varies again; the grizzled north
Disgorges such a tempest forth,
That, as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives.
The lady shrieks, and, well-a-near!1
Doth fall in travail with her fear;
And what ensues in this fell storm
Shall, for itself, itself perform.
I nill relate; action may
Conveniently the rest convey;
Which might not what by me is told.2
In your imagination hold

This stage, the ship,3 upon whose deck
The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak.

[Exit.

SCENE I.

Enter PERICLES, on a ship at sea.

Per. Thou god of this great vast, rebuke these surges,

1 An exclamation equivalent to well-a-day.

2 "The further consequences of this storm I shall not describe; what ensues may be conveniently exhibited in action; but action could not well have displayed all the events that I have now related.”

3 It is clear, from these lines, that when the play was originally performed, no attempt was made to exhibit either a sea or a ship.

4 It should be remembered that Pericles is supposed to speak from the deck. Lychorida, on whom he calls, is supposed to be in the cabin beneath. This great vast" is "this wide expanse." This speech is exhibited in so strange a form in the old editions, that it is here given to enable the reader to judge in what a corrupt state it has come down to us, and be induced to treat the attempts to restore it to integrity with indulgence:

"The God of this great vast, rebuke these surges,

Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou that hast
Upon the windes commaund, bind them in brasse ;
Having called them from the deepe, o still
Thy deafning dreadful thunders, gently quench
Thy nimble sulphirous flashes, o How Lychorida!
How does my queene? thou storm venemously,

Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou, that hast
Upon the winds command, bind them in brass,
Having called them from the deep! O, still thy deaf-

ening,

Thy dreadful thunders; gently quench thy nimble
Sulphureous flashes!-O how, Lychorida,

How does my queen!-Thou storm, thou! venomously1
Wilt thou spit all thyself?-The seaman's whistle
Is as a whisper in the ears of death,
Unheard.-Lychorida!—Lucina, O

Divinest patroness, and midwife, gentle
To those that cry by night, convey thy deity
Aboard our dancing boat; make swift the pangs
Of my queen's travails!-Now, Lychorida-

Enter LYCHORIDA, with an Infant.

Lyc. Here is a thing

Too young for such a place, who if it had
Conceit, would die as I am like to do.

Take in your arms this piece of your dead
Per. How! how, Lychorida!

queen.

Lyc. Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm.

Here's all that is left living of your queen,

A little daughter; for the sake of it,

Be manly, and take comfort.

Wilt thou speat all thyself? the sea-mans whistle

Is as a whisper in the eares of death,

Unheard Lychorida? Lucina oh!

Divinest patrioness and my wife gentle

To those that cry by night, convey thy deitie

Aboard our dauncing boat, make swift the pangues

Of my queenes travayles? now Lychorida ?"

Pericles, having called to Lychorida, without the power to make her hear, on account of the tempest, at last, with frantic peevishness, addresses himself to it:

Thou storm thou! venemously

Wilt thou spit all thyself?".

Having indulged himself in this question, he grows cooler, and observes that the very boatswain's whistle has no more effect on the sailors than the voices of those who speak to the dead. He then repeats his inquiries of Lychorida, but, receiving no answer, concludes with a prayer for his queen.

1 Maliciously.

2 i. e. “who if it had thought."