Pericles

By William Shakespeare.

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Dramatis Personae

Antiochus, King of Antioch
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Helicanus, lord of Tyre
Escanes, lord of Tyre
Simonides, King of Pentapolis
Cleon, governor of Tarsus
Lysimachus, governor of Mytilene
Cerimon, a lord of Ephesus
Thaliard, a lord of Antioch
Philemon, servant to Cerimon
Leonine, servant to Dionyza
Marshal
A pandar
Boult, his servant
The daughter of Antiochus
Dionyza, wife to Cleon
Thaisa, daughter to Simonides
Marina, daughter to Pericles and Thaisa
Lychorida, nurse to Marina
A bawd
Lords, knights, gentlemen, sailors, pirates, fishermen, and messengers
Diana
Gower, as chorus

Scene: Dispersedly in various countries.

Pericles

Act I

Enter Gower.

Before the palace of Antioch.

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 these 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 fere,
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 no sin.
The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,
To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures play-fellow:
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.
What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify. Exit.

Scene I

Antioch. A room in the palace.

	Enter Antiochus, Prince Pericles, and followers.
Antiochus	Young prince of Tyre, you have at large received The danger of the task you undertake.
Pericles	I have, Antiochus, and, with a soul Embolden’d with the glory of her praise, Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
Antiochus	Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride, For the embracements even of Jove himself; At whose conception, till Lucina reign’d, Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence, The senate-house of planets all did sit, To knit in her their best perfections.
	Music. Enter the Daughter of Antiochus.
Pericles	See where she comes, apparell’d 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 razed, and testy wrath Could never be her mild companion. You gods that made me man, and sway in love, That have inflamed desire in my breast To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree, Or die in the adventure, be my helps, As I am son and servant to your will, To compass such a boundless happiness!
Antiochus	Prince Pericles⁠—
Pericles	That would be son to great Antiochus.
Antiochus	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 thy whole heap must die. Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself, Drawn by report, adventurous 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.
Pericles	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 remember’d 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